Libraries and other memory institutions have throughout history developed a range of methods and tools for transmitting full texts between material carriers and across media family borders. In this sense, library digitization belongs to the same tradition as 20th century microfilming and the ancient transcribing of manuscripts. The Gutenberg era marked a sharp decline in this full text transmitting business, and libraries devoted their time to producing bibliographical knowledge organization (KO) labels for documents rather than reproducing the full documents themselves. With digital reproduction technologies however, libraries have drawn a historic circle. They are yet again dedicating much energy and attention to the full text transmission they largely abandoned at the dawn of the printed age. In so doing, they take on a much more explicit role of producing and shaping the digital cultural heritage (CH) in addition to its accustomed role of preserving it and making it available. In this paper, we will discuss the practices of digitization within the library institutional setting, and in particular, the national library setting

The paper highlights and discusses concepts and practices of national library digitization. Two conceptual models are suggested in order to help strengthen scholarly analyses of digitization practices within libraries: the distinction between quantitative and qualitative digitization, on the one hand, and the prism metaphor for understanding the nature of qualitative digitization, on the other. Qualitative digitization, understood as a document representational practice, is defined as a knowledge organization practice. These concepts and models are then put in relation to the issue of national libraries and institutional identity. By combining research within the fields of KO, digitization and institutional identity, the paper points to a way of addressing empirical issues in all three fields of research. Special focus is on the very definition of qualitative digitization as a KO practice and the practice of selecting and digitizing documents suitable for the development of institutional identity within libraries.

This article is part of a larger research project focussing on institutional change in the Ugandan library sector from the 1960s up until today, with special focus on the development of the National Library of Uganda. The article is based primarily on official publications such as di ferent legislation passed by the Ugandan Parliament on library issues and on documentation reporting on various initiatives and projects aiming at building a functioning library and information infrastructure in Uganda during the last four decades. Findings show that initiatives have been regularly neglected at the political levels, both nationally and locally. The founding of the National Library of Uganda has a fected the Ugandan library system in a major way and the country is now better equipped to face some of the challenges created by the requirements of the global information society and by high levels of illiteracy, especially in the rural areas. The article pinpoints some of these challenges and suggests further action on both professional and political levels.