Digital libraries: Part 1 - Introduction to the special topic issue

Digital libraries represent a form of information technology in which social impact matters as much as technological advancement. It is hard to evaluate a new technology in the absence of real users and large collections. The best way to develop new technology is in multi-year large-scale research projects that use real-world electronic testbeds for actual users and aim at developing new, comprehensive, and user-friendly technologies for digital libraries. Typically, these testbed projects also examine the broad social, economic, legal, ethical, and crosscultural contexts and impacts of digital library research.