Digital Library Economics

This book covers all key aspects of the management and development of the digital library from an economic viewpoint. The work is a collection of essays by leading authorities in the field and. It has a strong international dimension. The book provides an overview of the current and likely future position with regard to the economics of digital library management and development, describes the key contextual aspects, provides a history of the growth of digital libraries, with special reference to financial issues, reviews current and possible future economic models and costing methodologies and articulates and responds to key challenges, themes and issues in the field. The book describes past development, summarizes and analyzes current work and good practice and highlights future trends, challenges, approaches and solutions. It incorporates 'how to' elements and will appeal to practitioners.There is little else in the field: This book fills a major gap in the literature. It is written by recognized national and international authorities. It incorporates past developments, current good practice and future trends. It will be valuable to practitioners and tutors/students in a wide variety of situations. Contents: Digital library economics: the environment; Digital library economics: the key themes; A history of digital library economics; Digital library economics: aspects and prospects; Journal publishing: implications for a digital library policy; Hybrid library management; Digital library economics: international perspectives 1 The Australian perspective; Digital library economics: international perspectives 2 The German perspective; Digital library economics: international perspectives 3 The Dutch perspective; E-journals and e-books; Digitisation trends in the economics of retro-conversion; To be or not to be: prospects for document supply in the digital library; Cost-effective decision-making in collection building; Spinning the disks lessons from the circus; The CREE project: a case study on the novel delivery of search-related library services and its economic implications; The economics of copyright; The economic future for digital libraries: a 2020 vision.