Tom Rindfleisch - Digital Libraries -- From dreams to theory to practice and back: What is so hard about such a good idea?

For almost a decade, we have begun to realize the dreams HG Wells and Vannevar Bush articulated in the 30's and 40's -- to be able to access the world's best literature and professional information from one's desktop. The technologies of personal computers and Internet communications are revolutionizing the way scientific research, collaboration, publishing, and learning take place. We are a long way from realizing the real potential of digital libraries, however, and this talk explores current successes, limitations, and opportunities. The technologies for describing information resources and searching their contents to find relevant information are still feeble. Outdated economic and marketplace barriers block access to essential information. Our institutional infrastructures are slow to respond to the disruptive demands of digital information services. Examples in the talk will draw in part on my own experience in transforming the Stanford Lane Library into a digital library and in launching a Stanford research project (SHINE) into a commercial digital library venture that we still hope will change fundamentally the way medical practice and continuing education works.