Distribution of date elements and its relationship to the types of digital libraries: Analysing aggregated metadata of a Polish large-scale distributed system

Abstract

Large-scale distributed digital library systems with aggregated metadata provide platforms for resource discovery and retrieval. For researchers, aggregated metadata offers a potential for big data analysis and exploration of digital knowledge growth. The paper reports the findings of the study that investigated the distribution of the date elements in the metadata aggregated in the Polish Federation of Digital Libraries and related it to the types of libraries. The purpose of this study was to address the gap in research about heterogeneous digital libraries and explore the dynamics of their growth. The authors included timeline characteristics of the development of Polish digital libraries and proposed a new dynamics parameter – resource release interval. They used histograms, which have been grouped according to the organizational and thematic criteria, developed for this study. All charts are characterized by two similar maximum points. Their shapes and ratio have been analysed by both statistical and visual methods. The shape of resource release interval charts revealed characteristic differences for libraries types. The proposed approach, based on time characteristics, is an important step in the development of systematic classification of digital libraries and digitizing institutions. It can be also considered as a new tool in monitoring the dynamics of digital knowledge growth.