ctor, but there are signs that
similar facilities will also be available elsewhere, particularly in
the industrial and commercial sector, and for public libraries. Our
vision of network access encompasses all these. (...) The development
of the Digital Library will enable the British Library to embrace the
digital information age. Digital technology will be used to preserve
and extend the Library's unparalleled collection. Access to the
collection will become boundless with users from all over the world, at
any time, having simple, fast access to digitized materials using
computer networks, particularly the internet." (excerpt from the
website)

Other national libraries started digitizing their collections to offer
a free digital library.

When interviewed by Jerome Strazzulla in the daily newspaper Le Figaro
of June 3, 1998, Jean-Pierre Angremy, president of the French National
Library, stated: "We cannot, we will not be able to digitize
everything. In the long term, a digital library will only be one
element of the whole library." The digital library Gallica went online
in 1997 with thousands of texts and images relating to French history,
life and culture. A major collection of 19th-century French texts and
images was available one year later.

1998: DIGITAL LIBRARIANS

[Overview]

The job of librarians, that had already changed a lot with computers,
went on to change even more with the internet. Computers made catalogs
much easier to handle. Instead of all these cards to be patiently
classified into wood or metal drawers, librarians could type in
bibliographic records in a program that was sorting out books by
alphabetical, chronological and systematic order. Librarians also began
using computer programs to lend books and buy new ones. By networking
computers, the internet gave a boost to union catalogs for a state, a
country or a region, and furthered interlibrary loan. Electronic mail
became commonplace for internal and external communications. Librarians
could subscribe to newsletters and participate in newsgroups and
discussion forums. A number of librarians became webmasters to run
library websites, online catalogs and digital libraries.

[In Depth (published in 1999)]

I interviewed Peter Raggett, a digital librarian at OECD (Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development), and Bruno Didier, a digital
librarian at Institute Pasteur. Here are some excerpts.

= At the OECD Library