Introduction

Introduction

The Digital Library universe is a complex framework bringing together many disciplines and fields, spanning data management, information retrieval, library sciences, document management, information systems, web image processing, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction and digital curation. The Digital Library universe is also an interplay of professional roles, encompassing cataloguing and curating, defining, customising and maintaining the Digital Library and its services, as well as developing and customising software. Such complexity and diversity in terms of approaches, solutions and systems has driven the need for common foundations that foster best practices and help focus further advancement in the field.

The DL.org Digital Library Reference Model, which stems from the DELOS Reference Model, provides a roadmap enabling the diverse stakeholders involved to share a common understanding and follow the same route when dealing with the multi-faceted Digital Library universe. The DL.org Digital Library Reference Model comprises four equally important parts with varying layers of abstraction and concretisation: The Digital Library Manifesto, The Digital Library Reference Model in a Nutshell, The Digital Library Reference Model Concepts and Relations and the Digital Library Reference Model Conformance Check List. The Manifesto is the driving force behind the Digital Library Modelling Foundations, laying down the main notions characterising the Digital Library universe in rather abstract terms. The Digital Library Reference Model in a Nutshell examines these notions in greater detail and with reference to the main concepts and relationships that are related to each of the aspects captured. The Reference Model Concepts and Relations is scoped to cover these concepts and relations in greater detail, explaining their rationale, as well as offering examples of their instantiation in real scenarios. The Digital Library Conformance Check List, which is the focus of this publication, provides assessors with a set of criteria which can be used to determine whether a digital library complies with the DL.org Reference Model. These criteria are clustered into mandatory, recommended and optional criteria.