Virtual library

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virtual Libraries are libraries that consist only of resources available in a digital format, which can be accessed locally - stored on a hard disk - or through computer networks - public or private.

Unlike digital libraries, virtual libraries do not consist of full text articles and multimedia, instead they are more of an index of relevant, hand-picked links to external resources, mainly on the World Wide Web.

Professional or semi-professional virtual libraries often follow certain guidelines for the selection of content in order to maintain a consistent collection of data. The selection and categorization of information resources of a virtual library is generally handled by one expert or a group experts.

The WWW Virtual Library is one of the oldest examples of a virtual library, started by Tim Berners-Lee and maintained by volunteers. INFOMINE (University of California) is another prominent, growing virtual library.

[edit] Advantages

Information resources on the World Wide Web are increasing and changing rapidly almost without any restraint. Therefore users of the World Wide Web experience problems while searching for authoritative and authentic information. Virtual Libraries can act as "quality guide" to the resources available on the web. Virtual libraries lead users to e-books, e-journals, websites and multi media contents.