18 fevereiro 2003

CONTAMINANTES
A Special Issue on Digital Reference: Digital Reference refers to a network of expertise, human intermediation and resources placed at the disposal of users in an online environment. It employs automated tools wherever possible, allowing human experts to concentrate on "hard questions". But human expertise is expensive and hard to find. Automated tools are less expensive to incorporate into online services and sites, allowing digital libraries to use tools that were, until recently, the province of a small cadre of people.
For decades, professional searchers, information brokers and reference librarians have had access to powerful and precise search engines and other tools. Information professionals learned well how to wield these tools, but average web users have not had the benefit of similar training. In short, the Web has brought to the general public many tools, but not much of the expertise required to use them.