Building large heterogeneous interconnected digital library infrastructures: the interoperability challenge

Interoperability is a multi-layered and context-specific concept, crucial when building heterogeneous interconnected Digital Library infrastructures. It encompasses different levels along a multidimensional spectrum. Two key problems hinder the achievement of interoperability: (i) the heterogeneity of the exchanged information which covers all types of syntactic, structural, and semantic diversities among systems used to modelling information and (ii) the inconsistency between the use of the information as intended by its originator and the intended exploitation of it by the recipient. Building heterogeneous interconnected Digital Library infrastructures requires addressing all dimensions of interoperability including content, user, functionality, architecture, quality, and policy. In this paper a comprehensive study of the interoperability issues involved when building interoperable Digital Libraries is performed.