Introduction to Literary texts in an electronic age: Scholarly implications and library services [papers presented at the 1994 Clinic on Library applications of Data Processing, April 10-12, 1994]
Show full item record
Files in this item
| Title: |
Introduction to Literary texts in an electronic age: Scholarly implications and library services [papers presented at the 1994 Clinic on Library applications of Data Processing, April 10-12, 1994] |
| Author(s): |
Sutton, Brett
|
| Subject(s): |
Electronic texts
|
| Abstract: |
The explosive rate of technological progress in the development of
information systems has not benefited all users to the same degree. Even
with the appearance of advanced information retrieval systems and the
availability of previously printed texts in electronic form, for many
library users, the main purpose of computers in libraries is still to provide
fast and precise access to printed documents, not electronic files. In
academic settings, this is particularly true for humanistic scholars for
whom the traditional print-oriented library is laboratory, toolkit, and
the single most important source of scholarly materials. Although there
has been no shortage of fantasizing about the all-electronic library, even
in the more technologically advanced academic institutions, literary
work is practiced by many scholars using techniques differing little
from those in use a century ago. These patterns, however, are changing.
Literary scholars no longer have to learn computer programming in
order to gain useful access to literature in electronic form: programs
are now available that are capable of performing in minutes analytical
tasks that used to take months; scholars are beginning to create electronic
editions of classic literary works and are pooling their efforts to make
those texts available to others; new fast and efficient delivery systems
for electronic texts are beginning to appear; working prototypes of fully
electronic libraries are now in operation in academic library settings.
Scholarly work in the humanities that bypasses print altogether is now
possible.
The papers in this volume explore the potential of electronic texts
in the humanities and describe the possible roles for libraries as electronic
books take the place of printed ones. This apparently simple topic
embodies a considerable amount of complexity, however. Glancing over
these papers, it is easy to see that the question of literary texts in the
humanities spans many areas of interest, reflecting the various needs
of librarians, publishers, system administrators, scholars, readers, and
writers. It is one purpose of this collection to bring these diverse
perspectives into conjunction. |
| Issue Date: |
1994 |
| Publisher: |
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Citation Info: |
Sutton, B. (1994) Introduction. In B. Sutton (ed) Literary texts in an electronic age: Scholarly implications and library services [papers presented at the 1994 Clinic on Library applications of Data Processing, April 10-12, 1994]: 1-6. |
| Series/Report: |
Literary texts in an electronic age: Scholarly implications and library services [papers presented at the 1994 Clinic on Library applications of Data Processing, April 10-12, 1994] |
| Genre: |
Conference Paper / Presentation |
| Type: |
Text |
| Language: |
English |
| URI: |
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/394
|
| ISBN: |
0878450963 |
| ISSN: |
0069-4789 |
| Publication Status: |
published or submitted for publication |
| Date Available in IDEALS: |
2007-03-20 |
Items in IDEALS are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Show full item record
Item Statistics
- Total Downloads: 28
- Downloads this Month: 1
- Downloads Today: 0