A Library to End All Libraries?

I\’m sure Stephen H. Wildstrom didn\’t give that title as much thought as he should have, or maybe he did.

His Story in Businessweek is about how publishers are developing a system for locating and retrieving material on the Web–especially the sort of copyright works now found mostly in libraries.


They call it the Digital Object Identifier for eBooks, The DOI consists of two parts: a prefix that identifies the publisher, and a publisher-created suffix unique to the work.


The project is also part of a much broader effort to make Web content easier to locate and retrieve. While books are just starting to join the system, there are 3 million DOIs in use giving live cross-references in online academic and professional journals.

Check it out for yourself at crossref.org