Many fundamental technical problems

Many fundamental technical problems in digital libraries research remain to be solved. As digital libraries become more sophisticated, more practical and more embedded in other applications,
the challenges of understanding their uses and users become ever more urgent.
These are inherently interdisciplinary problems and will require the contribution of researchers from many backgrounds.
Some of them have yet to hear the term `digital libraries',
much less recognize that their interests are relevant.

Digital libraries as institutions or services stand to bene®t from research on almost all aspects of digital libraries as content,
collections and communities. Research libraries
and universities engaged in reinventing themselves for a digital age will need to draw upon the best research,
theory and practice from a myriad of disciplines. These are urgent challenges.
As Hawkins (1998) puts it,
the traditional library is unsustainable in its present form.

Conversely,
researchers studying many digital library problems
will need partnerships with library institutions to study
and test in operational settings.
This is especially true of research on social,
behavioral and economic aspects of digital libraries.
Partnerships with other information institutions such as archives,
museums
and schools will be essential as well.