Current Digital Library systems: user requirements vs provided functionality

DELOS recognizes the need for a Reference Model for Digital Library Management Systems providing a formal and conceptual framework describing the characteristics of this class of information system. A Task-group under the Digital Library Architecture Cluster has begun constructing such a reference architecture for digital libraries. As part of the process of constructing this architecture the five core members analysed a suite of existing digital library systems in order to highlight commonalities. As we are very well aware that existing systems only marginally satisfy the needs of the potential digital library application areas, as a second step we considered the requirements collected in the framework of on-going projects that aim at building the digital libraries of the future. These two activities enabled us to sketch a broad overview of the concepts of digital library systems that we will use to refine our working model. Readers will find this report useful as it indicates how existing implementations have influenced our thinking.