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The Ultimate Digital Library: Where the New Information Players Meet. By Andrew K. Pace. Chicago: ALA, 2003. 168p. $35 (ISBN 0-8389-0844-6). www.ala.org.
This book is not about digital libraries, in any of its many definitions. Instead, a wide-ranging discussion of vendor-library models and relationships explores the effects of technologies and vendor business plans on digital library services. It argues that libraries can learn a number of lessons from their vendors, such as Innovative Interfaces Inc., and dot.com corporations like ebrary, Amazon, and Google. The models to emulate or cooperate include hiring IT professionals, embracing new technologies, and adapting libraries to the business models used by vendors and dot.coms to create and maintain digital services. The book's focus is on digital services, not digital collections. A survey of library automation vendors, with the questionnaire and list of...