Cultural Dimensions of Digital Library Development, Part I: Theory and Methodological Framework for a Comparative Study of the Cultures of Innovation in Five European National Libraries

This study examines the influence of culture on digital libraries of the first wave. The local cultures of innovation of five European national libraries (Biblioteca nacional de Portugal, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Die Deutsche Bibliothek, the National Library of Scotland, and the British Library) are reconstructed in case histories from interviews with policy makers and developers of institutional digital libraries. The theories of culture and organizational rationality, social-choice systems, and strategies of organizational behavior helped articulate the framework for analysis. The study provides a historical foundation for understanding the processes of innovation in the earliest digital projects and digital libraries that resulted in an initial mass of digitized heritage material. Theory, methodology, institutional histories, and a summary of findings are presented here. Part II will present the foundational narratives of development--reconstructing the histories of digital initiatives in five European national libraries and their cultures of development.