What kinds of decisions can you anticipate?

The concept of a digital library has been around for decades, at least since Vannevar Bush's description of the “Memex” in the July 1945 edition of Atlantic Monthly. Although enormous technical challenges remain, ideological struggles around the design and implementation of digital libraries are perhaps even more complex. For example, there are ongoing arguments about whether digital libraries should primarily retain the collection, cataloging, and service functions of traditional libraries or whether they should become something altogether different (Kahle, Prelinger, & Jackson, 2001). Underlying fundamental decisions about the nature of digital libraries are a host of smaller-scale, but extremely important decisions that confront digital library developers, patrons, and funding providers.

Trying to anticipate the decisions that can be influenced by an evaluation requires creativity and trust. Many stakeholders, especially those involved in funding or developing digital libraries, do not wish to anticipate negative outcomes for their efforts, but these too must be considered. In their short history, some digital libraries have been built under misguided assumptions about the existence of eager users who never materialized. For example, “Contentville.com, a commercial digital library enterprise into which millions of dollars were invested, failed after little more than a year of its release, and the URL is now for sale for a mere twenty thousand dollars. An evaluation focused on the existence of potential audiences might have avoided the loss of these enormous investments. Such an evaluation might have also revealed the fallacy that people would be willing to pay for resources from one website that could be found for free at others.

In most instances, you won't be able to create an exhaustive list of all the decisions that must be made about a digital library or its features. Nevertheless, although there will always be unanticipated decisions, the struggle to identify decisions up front is certainly worthwhile. Unless you strive to identify decisions in advance, your evaluation activities are simply not going to be as influential as they could be.

There are many different types of decisions surrounding digital libraries. Some involve the nature of collections, e.g., how stringently should they be reviewed? Others involve the basis for sustainable funding, e.g., should user fees be established? Still others involve the provision of service, e.g., should all service functions be automated or will human-to-human interactions be enabled?

Most decisions about digital libraries will not be at the scale or scope of the issues described above, but will involve more localized challenges. For example, myriad decisions will be required in the process of designing and refining the library's interface. Should icons be used in place of text buttons? How can the interface be designed to meet accessibility guidelines? How can an interface accommodate multiple audiences with varying levels of literacy? What fonts, colors, menus, and other graphical user interface (GUI) factors should be utilized?