CONTENTS

Notice ii
Panel iii
Acknowledgment vii
Preface ix
NAS Statement xii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
  Characteristics and Benefits of Distributed Geolibraries 2
  The National Spatial Data Infrastructure 2
  Contents, Services, and Functions of Distributed Geolibraries 3
  Architecture of Distributed Geolibraries 4
  Intellectual Property Issues 5
  Organizational Issues 5
1   INTRODUCTION 7
  Examples 8
  Emergency Response 8
  Housing Relocation 10
  Public Health 11
  Natural Resource Planning 12
  A Common Theme 13
2   A VISION FOR DISTRIBUTED GEOLIBRARIES 15
  Recent Developments 15
  A Library Vision 19
  Defining a Distributed Geolibrary 20
  A Distributed Library 20
  Geoinformation 22
  Characteristics of a Distributed Geolibrary 25
  Distributed Geolibraries and the NSDI 28
  Distributed Geolibraries and Digital Earth 32
3   THE DISTRIBUTED GEOLIBRARY IN SOCIETAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT 35
  Local Focus 36
  Library Considerations 37
  The Library as an Institution 37
  Economic Considerations 38
  Distributed Geolibraries and the
  Existing Library Institution 39
  Data, Information, and Knowledge 40
  Intellectual Property Concerns 42
  Uses of Data, Information, and Knowledge 43
  Access 45
  Summary and Additional Issues 47
4   SERVICES AND FUNCTIONS 53
  Library Services 53
  Distributed Geolibrary Services 55
  The Need for Distributed Geolibrary Services 56
  Services as Collections of Function 57
  Necessary Distributed Geolibrary Functions 58
  Search by Geographical Location 58
  Search by Place Name 60
  Search by Subject Theme or Time Period 61
  Item Display and Description 62
  Collection Creation and Maintenance 63
  Searching over Distributed Assets 65
  Integration, Analysis, and Manipulation 66
  Assisting Users 69
  Assessment and Feedback 69
  Options for the Delivery of Distributed Geolibrary
  Services 70
5   BUILDING DISTRIBUTED GEOLIBRARIES 73
  Requirements 73
  Standards and Protocols 75
  Data Sets 77
  Georeferencing 79
  Cataloging 80
  Visualization 81
  Knowledge Construction 82
  Research Needs 82
  Institutional Needs 85
  Measuring Progress 87
6   CONCLUSIONS 89
  Revisiting the Rationale for Distributed Geolibraries 89
  Distributed Geolibraries in Context 90
REFERENCES 93
APPENDIXES  
  Appendix A: Workshop Participants 99
  Appendix B: Contributed White Papers 103
  Appendix C: Workshop Agenda 105
  Appendix D: Example Prototypes 109
  Appendix E: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members 117



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