This article reports the concept of digital library (DL) with its definitions, concept, generic architecture, ethics and librarianship related to DL. DLs are created by Library professionals, publishers, Government initiatives, societies and other higher educational institutions. There are different types of files and file formats are created and stored on DL. For uploading the files, the copyright / IPR issues are involved. As one cannot upload directly someone's file without the permission of that person. In information communication technology (ICT) environment, the Internet and web enables everyone to have access to the e-contents available from anywhere at any time. Due to this, DL creators cannot take it granted to upload them and make them available online. The IPR issues in digital environment plays a key role for identifying and taking permissions from the respective authors / publishers / content creators to upload the digital content. DL and IPR issues are discussed with the digital rights issues.
TopGeneric Digital Library Architecture
Figure 1 shows a generic DL infrastructure that contains a user interface and middleware.
Figure 1. The architecture of a generic digital library system (Frew, Freeston, Freitas, Hill, Janee, Lovette, Nideffer, Smith, & Zheng, 1998).
The classic tree-tier architecture: The data engine handles catalog information along with the resources. Additionally, there is a special interface for librarians to manage the content and catalog descriptions. To enable interoperability between library systems a communication interface is defined as well.
TopLiterature Review
The review of literature is an essential component of any investigation, which gives necessary input to the investigator to frame the research study on the chosen topic. As far as the field of “Digital library and the Intellectual Property Rights Issues”, a large number of studies have been conducted and it is continuous to grow. A number of research reports, articles, books and conference volumes on the subject have been published. It is extremely difficult to review the entire body of research. Therefore, some of the contributions in the aspects of DL and IPR issues are reviewed.
Tom Evens and Laurence Hauttekeete (2011) elaborated four major issues hampering the sustainability of digital preservation within cultural heritage institutions: digitization, metadata indexes, IPRs management and business models. Using a case-study approach, the digitization of audiovisual collections within the performing arts institutions in Flanders (Belgium) have been scrutinized, providing an overview of the state-of-the-art preservation and access. The analysis showed that digital preservation policies with IPRS issues in most organizations are underdeveloped and that archives suffer from deterioration and technological obsolescence (Evens, & Hauttekeete, 2011).