Digital libraries are libraries , with the same purposes, functions and goals as traditional libraries. As one prominent report on digital libraries states, there is a very strong continuity between traditional library roles and missions and the objectives of digital library systems . Yet creating effective digital libraries poses serious challenges. Although traditional library processes are the basis for digital library work, they will have to be revised and adapted to accommodate the differences of digital information. Taking what we know about libraries and their work as a starting point, we can begin to examine in more detail what the specific challenges might be.
Libraries collect information.
To this growing number of media, libraries will now have to add repositories of digital information, online databases of documents, and images in various formats. Libraries will not replace works in older media with those in digital media, they will collect digital documents in addition to established media. 4 Resource Sharing Libraries have a long tradition of resource sharing. This function involves, for example, reciprocal borrowing privileges, coordinated collection development, preservation programs, shared cataloguing, and union lists of serials. Resource sharing has been carried out through many associations, consortia, cooperative projects, and other formal and informal partnerships and agreements.