Proceedings of the 10th annual joint conference on Digital libraries

Abstract

Welcome to JCDL 2010! As a participant in the digital library community for more than a decade, I am delighted and proud to be the program chair of the 10th Annual Joint Conference on Digital Libraries. For the past decade, JCDL has continued to mature and maintain its position as the premier international forum for research and practice in the dynamic and multidisciplinary field of digital library research. I'm happy to report that the papers and presentations that form the basis of this year's conference continue to exemplify both the breadth and depth of the field and the superb scholarship taking place within it. The theme of JCDL 2010, "Digital Libraries -- 10 Years Past, 10 Years Forward, A 2020 Vision", addresses both the historical legacy of this conference and the challenges that lie ahead as the technical, cultural, political, and social contexts in which the field is situated continue to change. During the past 10 years, we have witnessed dramatic changes in the broader information context and in our perception of the nature of information and the institutions responsible for its dissemination, management, and preservation. The World Wide Web, the development of which is coincident with the history of digital libraries as a research area, has dramatically evolved from a read-only document space to a semantically rich, participatory and dynamic global database. This rate of change will only accelerate. The positioning of digital libraries and the institutional and technical models that they embody in this volatile context is an area that we as a community must address. I look forward to seeing the next decade unfold as we define this position and contribute to the networked information context. This JCDL has a number of "firsts." It is the first JCDL held outside of North America, moving literally almost halfway across the world to the Gold Coast of Australia. This is an exciting opportunity for more international participation in the conference and the inevitable cross-fertilization of ideas resulting from that. In addition, this is the first JCDL to be held in conjunction with ICADL, the International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries. There will be ample opportunity for mixing of conference attendees and I look forward to the possibility of new research collaborations that cross and investigate cultural boundaries. The authors of the papers that were selected by the program committee for presentation at the conference should be very proud of their achievement. This 2010 version maintains the competitive nature of JCDL, with 110 long papers submitted and 32 accepted. This computes to an acceptance rate of around 29%. The acceptance rate for short papers was equally competitive with 13 of 45 papers accepted. While there are a number of familiar names (to me) amongst the authors of the accepted papers, it is exciting to see the number of new, young researchers entering the field and look forward to their fresh perspectives. Mixed in with the presentations of these papers, the conference program includes excellent keynote speakers and panels, both of which we have designed to challenge existing assumptions and provoke new questions and thinking. Like any research field, the future of digital libraries as an active intellectual context depends on facing these challenges and, as a community, shifting course when necessary.