CHAPTER 2

GLOBAL DIGITAL LIBRARIES: BUILDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Raj Reddy

INTRODUCTION

Building a digital library is a daunting challenge, involving a wide variety of technological, social and policy issues. One of the goals of this WTEC study was to compare the relative progress being made on these problems in the United States and Japan. To set the stage for the comparison and the chapters that follow, this chapter will put forward a futuristic vision of the digital library (and shared digital libraries) and lay out the obstacles to its realization. This will set the stage to compare the United States and Japan based on the panel's firsthand observations.