Key Issues for the Design of a Bibliotheque Nationale de France Image and Sound Digital Library (abstract only)

Three major technical issues can be identified in th e design of the digital part of the audiovisual library of Bibliotheque Nationale de France : digitizing policies, end-user interface issues for time-base d media and real-time media impact on network an d software design. Two specific factors have to be considered with special care in the research library environment: one has to deal with large existin g collections of documents stored on various analo g carriers, and technical systems have to be designe d in such a way that they will be able to evolve in order to adapt to future technological trends in a context of limited funding and human resources. Scholar work on printed texts in the research library is based on the ability to do analytical and critical work on documents. In the full paper, particular emphasis is put on the cultural and scientifi c benefits of end-user software enabling the sam e type of analytical and critical work for time-base d documents. which provides the Navy with an in-house researc h capability, occupies as its principal site a 130-acr e campus of 152 buildings located on the Potoma c River in Southwest Washington, D .C. The Library facilitates end-user access to a range of scientifi c and technical information resources through the development and implementation of networked information systems and the conversion of print-based information to digital formats. The Library' s networked information capabilities extend to othe r Three library initiatives that lay the foundatio n for the "digital library" are discussed. The first tw o of these, the InfoNet Campus-Wide Informatio n System and the Research Reports Imaging System , are fully mature and operational. The InfoNet, introduced in August 1992, allows users to query local and remote information systems and enable s them to request Library materials and service s without leaving their offices ; from a single men u users can select a wide variety of information resources including : library-mounted CD-ROM databases ; "electronic books" downloaded from th e Internet; other Laboratory databases including th e Library catalog ; and resources located throughou t the world through pre-programmed access to selected Internet hosts. The Research Reports Imaging System store s major portions of the Library's collection electronically as page images ; almost 100,000 reports , about 5 million pages, are seamlessly linked to a n on-line catalog, enabling users, seated at in-library …