Library Technology – Between Local Tools and Global Solutions

Abstract

Abstract Digital information infrastructures such as Google or Wikipedia are often compared to libraries. As traditional libraries, they support the circulation of knowledge resources. However, they are neither operated by nor designed for library institutions. In order to describe the contribution of libraries to the digital infrastructures of the 21st century more precisely, the term Library Technology is applied in this text. Library Technology will be demarcated from terms such as Digital Libraries, a frequently used concept in Computer Science and colloquial language. The focus lies on present and future developments of infrastructures in science, such as the European Science Cloud (EOSC). It is suggested that the original contribution of libraries to current and future data infrastructure is present but not explicitly visible or referenced in communications. This rather hidden, implicit role is interpreted to be detrimental to the library identity in the 21st century. It is recommended to reference the role of the library more explicitly.