The Role of Digital Libraries in Higher Education

Abstract

Digital libraries are quite new - about 20 years of age. At the same time, they have been growing at a fast pace. Digital libraries have the following characte ristics - they store, preserve, distribute and protect conten ts in different formats and, at the same time, they allow interaction between the user and the contents; they are always present, both geographically and over time; they can make works internationally known, enhancing referencing and citations; they can make public the products of the educational process and let them be used as inputs for further learning. This work addresses some aspects of digital libraries that make them suitabl e tools to support higher education. Examples are presented.