The success of a digital library is a function of the combination of technologies’ standards and protocols used to develop it among others. Standards and protocols are used for determining content, defining structure, facilitating discovery and transmission of data, authentication and displaying information in a digital library. Some of the standards and protocols discussed in this chapter include Content standards which are specifications and guidelines for the creation, presentation and delivery of the digital resources in a digital library e.g. PDF, JPEG, TIFF; Metadata standards which present the rules and formats for creating and exchanging metadata among different systems and platforms e.g. Dublin Core, MARC, MODS; and Quality standards i.e. the criteria and measures for evaluating and improving the performance and effectiveness of a digital library e.g. ISO 9001 and ISO 16363. The chapter also discusses web environment and its characteristics as well as the web technologies that make digital library projects successful.
Part of the book: Aspects of Digital Libraries