THE VIRTUAL HOSPITAL - EXPERIENCES IN CREATING AND SUSTAINING A DIGITAL LIBRARY

A university and its faculty encompass a wealth of content, which is o ften freely supplied to commercial publishers who profit from it. Emer ging digital library technology holds promise for allowing the creatio n of digital libraries and digital presses that can allow faculty and universities to bypass commercial publishers, retain control of their content, and distribute it directly to users, allowing the university and faculty to better serve their constituencies. The purpose of this gaper is to show how this can be done. A methodology for overcoming th e technical, social, political, and economic barriers involved in crea ting, distributing and organizing a digital library was developed, imp lemented, and refined over seven years. Over the seven years, 120 text books and booklets were placed in the Virtual Hospital(R) digital libr ary, from 159 authors in twenty-nine departments and four colleges at The University of Iowa. The digital library received extensive use by individuals around the world. A new paradigm for academic publishing w as created, involving a university and faculty owned peer reviewed dig ital press implemented using digital library technology. The concept h as been embraced by The University of Iowa, and it has pledged to sust ain the digital press in order to allow The University of Iowa to fulf ill its mission of creating, organizing, and disseminating information better.