The future of the past books: digital library contributions on rare books preservation and access

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to review literature on the advantages offered by the digital library of rare books. It describes concepts about rare books, the criteria that define then, and the main types of documents that belong to these collections. Factors that cause deterioration of bibliographical collections, and initiatives that contribute in its preservation, especially of rare books, are mentioned. It describes concepts about digital library, and present the digital library of rare books as an alternative in the preservation of originals. Some selection criteria that must be observed in the digital reformatting of rare books are presented. References are made to questions concerning the preservation of the available information in electronic format. Finally, the preservation of original documents as a consequence of remote access and new interaction forms of research are presented as the main advantages of the digital library of rare books.