AIB. Commissione nazionale università e ricerca | |
To facilitate users access to information sources (both in the short and the long term), libraries have relied on a system that, on the whole, provides and safeguards such a service. A public library, for instance, can provide access in the short term as it forms part of a system that assigns to national libraries the long term role. This is true of printed material: all libraries take part in co-operation programmes which have produced remarkable results, thanks to new tecnologies and networks (although as we know that there is still a lot to be done). An analogous system for networked resources and for electronic publishing simply does not exist as yet. If the so called volatility of electronic resources render their identification difficult (i.e. through cataloguing and access) the solution cannot be solely the creation of permanent identifiers (URN).
Besides updating the law on legal deposit (only very few countries have extended legal deposit to electronic publishing), access in the long trem ought to be guaranteed beyond the quick changes of information technology.
National libraries in Europe are looking – with interest – at an 'ISO born' proposal for a model of an open archive [Reference Model for an open archival information system: http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/].
In brief, an open archive, according to the ISO model, should:
Simply, a new technological standard needs to be applied: the model requires a high degree of co-operation among those who work on the production and distribution of information 'chain'.