Digital and virtual libraries in the light of brazilian literature: from construction to access

Abstract

The reflexes of information and communication technologies in libraries is a recurring theme in the library and information science literature. This article is a literature review on the topic "Digital Libraries" and "Virtual Libraries", in order to verify the main subjects discussed in the literature, therefore, presenting quantitative aspects that characterize the scientific production on the subject. The research is descriptive, qualitative and quantitative, and articles from the Information Science Periodical Database, SciELO and Portal Capes, published in Portuguese, from 2010 to 2014, were selected using the survey collection technique and content analysis. The procedures performed in the study allowed the identification of 21 articles that cover different subjects related to the theme: library structuring, products and services offered, education and training, and library access and usability. The quantitative data analyzed showed a preference for the term “Digital Libraries” over the term “Virtual Libraries”, with predominance of the subjects “library structuring” and “access and usability”. The works were published in a balanced way, over the years, predominance of collective authorship, and there was a uniform distribution among most Brazilian journals of Information Science / Library Science. The main limitation is the use of articles in Portuguese, which prompts future studies in articles published in English and Spanish, limiting the time to more recent years.