Digital library

A digital library is an organized collection of digital materials made available for browsing, retrieval, or preservation. It combines content with systems for describing, finding, accessing, and maintaining that content.

Metadata: Structured information that describes, identifies, or organizes other information. Descriptive metadata makes digital-library materials searchable and distinguishable.
Institutional repository: A repository that collects and provides access to an institution's scholarly and administrative output. It is a common digital-library model for universities and research organizations.
Project Gutenberg: A volunteer effort founded by Michael Hart that produces and distributes free electronic books. Its early public-domain texts demonstrated networked access to a growing digital collection.
Library catalog: An organized database of bibliographic records describing materials held by a library or group of libraries. A catalog describes holdings; a digital library also provides or preserves digital materials.
Digital object: A discrete unit of digital information, such as a document, image, dataset, or compound work. Digital objects are the individual materials collected and managed.
Digital humanities: The use of computational methods and digital media to study and communicate humanities subjects. Digital libraries supply primary sources for computational humanities research.
HathiTrust: A partnership of academic and research institutions that preserves and provides access to digitized books. It shows how libraries pooled digitized collections for preservation and discovery.
Search engine: A system that discovers and ranks information resources in response to queries. Unlike general search engines, digital libraries curate defined collections and their access.
Digital preservation: The practices that maintain access to digital information over time despite technological change or failure. Preservation systems protect collections from loss and obsolescence.
Digital archive: An organized digital collection that preserves records or materials and provides access to them. Archives emphasize preserving records, a central use of digital-library infrastructure.

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