Summary

This book brings together international experience of business planning for digital libraries: the business case, the planning processes involved, the costs and benefi ts, practice and standards, and comparison with the traditional library where appropriate. Although there is a vast literature already on other aspects of digital libraries, business planning is a subject that until now has not been systematically integrated in a book.

Digital libraries are being created not only by traditional libraries, but by museums, archives, media organizations, and indeed any organization concerned with managing scientific and cultural information. Business planning for digital libraries is the process by which the business aims, products and services of the eventual system are identified, together with how the digital library service will contribute to the overall business and mission of the host organization. These provide the context and rationale, which is then combined with normal business plan elements such as technical solutions, investment, income and expenditure, projected benefi ts or returns, marketing, risk analysis, management, and governance.

Business Planning for Digital Libraries is designed for practitioners in the cultural and scientific sectors, for students in information sciences and cultural management, and in particular for people engaged in managing digital libraries and repositories, in electronic publishing and e-learning, and in teaching and studying in these fields.