Digital Library

INTRODUCTION :

The idea of easy and finger tip access to information began with the introduction of VANNENAR Bush’s Memex machine and gradually evolving with the advancement of Information Technology

. With the advent of computers , the concept centered on large bibliographic databases, the now familiar online retrieval and public access systems that are part of any contemporary library. When the computers are gradually networked forming the internet, the concept evolved again and the research gradually turned to creating libraries in digital format and terms like “ virtual library “, “electronic library ”, “library without walls” and the most recent term ‘digital library’ have come. The rapid advancements in information processing, storage, and communication technologies have revolutionized the role of world wide libraries in the disseminating information services to the users. The data are now being provided in the digital format by the librarians.

According to Fox Digital library is defined as “ New way of carrying out the functions of libraries of libraries encompassing new types of information resources new approaches to classification and cataloguing, intensive use of electronic systems and networks and dramatic shifts in intellectual, organizational and electronic practices.”

Some of the common elements by which a digital library can be identified as the most essentiality of today’s world as illustrated by ARL are :

I) The digital Library is not a single entity;

ii) The digital library by requires technology to link resources of many ;

iii) these links are transparent to end users from an information retrieval point of view , it is a large database ;

iv) for library science it is a bold step in the continuing automation of libraries that began 25 years ago;

v) Universal access to the digital libraries and information services in the goals;

vi) For those working in wide- area information delivery , it is an application of the web ;

IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF A DIGITAL LIBRARY :

The digital library require digital technologies and is the combination of traditional and media collection .The characteristics have been gleaned from various discussions about digital libraries both online and in print :

i) Digital libraries are the digital face of the traditional libraries that includes both digital collections and traditional , fixed media collections. So both electronic and paper materials get their importance.

ii) Digital libraries will include digital materials that exist outside the physical and administrative bounds of any one digital library

iii) Digital library supports both formal and informal learning procedures

iv) Digital libraries will require both the skill of librarians and well as those of computer scientists to be viable

v) Digital libraries ideally provide a coherent view of all the information contained within a library , no matter its form or format

vi) Digital libraries will serve particular communities or constituencies, as traditional libraries do now, though those communities may be widely distributed throughout the network.

These characteristics are most logical because it expands and extends the traditional library, preserves the valuable work that they do , while integrating new technologies , new processes and new media.

LIBRARIANS IN A DIGITAL LIBRARY :

Dr. S.R. Ranganathan has stated that Librarianship is a noble profession in which he derives the joy by seeing the dawn of joy in the face of the readers, helped by him to find the right book at the right time. Now - a –days librarians equipped themselves with the skill of handling the new technologies. Electronic media like Floppy disk, DVD, CD-ROM are replacing the books and Journals . Thus the information literacy is a must for the librarians and so the library professionals are now a days more regarded as an Information Personnel.

The librarian must look that these factors must be present in case of a digital library:

Collection of services : A digital library is more than just the collection of material in its repositories. It provides a variety of services to all of its users( both humans and machines , and producers, managers and consumers of information). There are a large and varied set of services like support management of collections, services to provide replicated and reliable storage , services to aid in query formulation and execution etc.

The collection of information objects : the basis for a digital library however , must be the formation objects that provide the content. The information objects are found in collections with associated management and support functions. The types of information objects vary from traditional ‘documents’ through to live objects or dynamic query results.

Supporting users deal with information objects: The librarians must assist the users by satisfying their needs and requirements for management, access , storage and manipulation of the variety of information stored in the collection of material that represents the ‘holdings ‘ of the library.

The organization and presentation of those objects :A library is created to serve a community of users. Users who participate in the digital library should be aware of its design and be able collectively refine the design to better serve their own information needs. Thus the usability of a digital library depends on the clear and unobtrusive exposure of the library’s design, its near term goals and its overall objectives.

Available directly or indirectly: The information objects may be digital objects or they may be in other media(like paper) but represented in the library via digital means ( eg. Metadata) . They may be available directly over the network (eg. Using a query service of the library to find and then retrieve electronically the information object) or indirectly (eg. The result of the query may give instructions on how to obtain the object but that is done outside the scope of the library itself)

Electronic / digital availability: Although the objects may not be even electronic, and although the objects themselves may not be available directly over the network, the objects must be represented electronically in some manner through eg. Metadata or catalogues. Otherwise that should not be considered a part of the digital library.

CONCLUSION:

To organize a digital library with all the characteristics mentioned above the library must have the professionals who have a flair of moving out of the traditional systems and cope up with the modern advanced technology. Keeping in mind the new challenges the information professionals can undergo short term courses, refresher courses, seminars and workshops which would help them to acquire new skills as networking, web based technologies, searching of Electronic database CD- ROM, e-journals. As with most other technical developments in libraries over the years, we will have to move forward in small manageable , evolutionary steps rather than in rapid revolutionary manner.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

i) Role of Library Professionals: Dr. Shaista Muqueem

ii) Key concepts in the architecture of the Digital Library- D-lib Magazine, July, 2005

iii) Graham , P.S(1995A) Requirements for the digital Library (www.aultnis.rutgers.edu/texts/DRC.html)

iv) Steele Collin (1998) The Digital Library: do’s, don’t’s and developments . The Electronic Library 13(50 , 433- 437.

Author: saswati sen

Libraries: Going Online

For as long as can be remembered, libraries have offered mass amounts of free information that is easily accessible to the nearby community. This unlimited access has been an asset to communities everywhere for research, educational and recreational purposes. Patrons could go to the library and access all this information for free, keep it for a set time, and return it later. All seemed to work well and both library and patron were happy.

However, patrons encountered one large problem with libraries: their inability to be accessible at all hours of the day. When patrons needed to return a book late or pick up one early, they would encounter the discouraging pictures of closed doors. Enter the online library, a place that contained all the same information as an actual library with the added bonus of being accessible at all hours of the day from any location. By simply using their library cards, patrons could have access to these online portals. With the online library, a patron does not have to worry about finding their book or movie by closing time because no such time exists. Also, if the information a patron needs is contained within another library, they do not need to wait for their library to send for it but can instead access it immediately on the web. However, if the patron wishes to view the information in hard copy form, they can also order it and pick it up at their library.

Among the more popular of these online innovations are the Internet Public Library and Thomson Gale's AccessMyLibrary, two sites granting access to a number of libraries in one spot. These online libraries offer the same resources as traditional libraries, but now the information can be accessed quickly and easily. Patrons can search for books and media by title, author, subject, genre, and even dewy decimal system in some cases. Besides searching for books, patrons can also search for newspapers and individual articles found on the web. The search capabilities in online libraries often compete with search engines; however libraries have the upper hand. Searching in a library often yields results that are more relevant and focused than those found on a normal search engine.

The information searched on an online library is not limited to what is contained within the true library (if one is even attached to the online library), but is open to a world of resources found on the web. Material that was too expensive or otherwise inaccessible through traditional libraries is made readily available on online versions. Information from magazines, journals, newspapers and more is searched to find exactly what the patron is looking for. Online libraries often work with databases such as Gale/Thomson's InfoTrac Databases, Ebscohost Research Databases and infoUSA's Reference USA.

Opening up the net to the information stored in a library also presents the library itself with benefits. No longer does storage space become an issue for a library because all its content is stored in electronic form. Offering content online also allows for better communication between the library and its patrons due to e-mail capabilities.

Do not be swayed that online libraries will leave librarians out of a job. Content must be monitored to ensure its relevancy and sites must be maintained by those knowledgeable in the library field. Librarians are also used on some sites for an "ask a librarian" feature that allows patrons to e-mail a question to a librarian and get a response in a couple of days. Librarians are essential to keeping online libraries going.

With the establishment of online libraries, patrons and libraries are kept happy and busy. Content is no longer denied due to over stocked shelves and doors are never closed to those eager to learn. Going online has allowed libraries to reach across states, countries and continents and grant millions access to a wealth of knowledge.

Author: Sarah Deak

Library - a Place to Gain Knowledge

The liabrary provide facility to more knowledge to people. That is very important in study line or jobs time. Liabrary give more knowledge. The opti-mum knowledge of foreign languages varies with the type of library work to be performed. Opportunities the availability of library careers at any ...
In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. It can refer to an individual's private collection, but more often it is a large collection of information resources and a group of services that is funded and maintained by a city or institution. In this sense, it is not merely a collection, but an organized collection, intended for use, accompanied by a group of services for users. This collection and the services are often used by people who choose not to or cannot afford to purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research.


To design, write, and test programs.
L's dedicated online volunteer staff answers reference questions for visitors of the IPL. In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. It can refer to an individual's private collection, but more often it is a large collection that is funded and maintained by a city or institution. This collection is often used by people who choose not to or cannot afford to purchase an extensive collection themselves. The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 58 million manuscripts.

Type of Liabrary

Academic library:
These libraries are located on the campuses of colleges and universities and serve primarily the students and faculty of that and other academic institutions. Some academic libraries, especially those at public institutions, are accessible to of the general public in whole or in part.

School libraries:
Most public and private primary and secondary schools have libraries designed to support the curriculum.

Research libraries:
These libraries are intended for the purpose of supporting scholarly research, and therefore maintain permanent collections and attempt to provide access to all necessary material. Research libraries are most often academic libraries or national libraries, but many large hare research libraries within their special field and a very few of the largest Public Libraries also serve as research libraries.

Public libraries or public lending libraries:
These libraries provide service to the general public and make at least some of their books available for borrowing, so that readers may use them at home over a period of days or weeks. Many public libraries also serve as community organizations that provide free services and events to the public, particularly children.

Special libraries:
All other libraries fall into this category. Many private businesses and public organizations, including hospitals, museums, research laboratories, law firms, and many government departments and agencies, maintain their own libraries for the use of their employees in doing specialized research related to their work. Special libraries may or may not be accessible to some identified part of the general public. Branches of a large academic or research libraries dealing with particular subjects are also usually called "special libraries": they are generally associated with one or more academic departments. Special libraries are distinguished from special collections, which are branches or parts of a library intended for rare books, manuscripts, and similar material.

Use of liabrary
Many potential library patrons nevertheless do not know how to use a library effectively. This can be due to lack of early exposure, shyness, or anxiety and fear of displaying ignorance. These problems drove the emergence of the library instruction movement, which advocates library user education. Library instruction has been practiced in the U.S. since the 19th century. One of the early leaders was John Cotton Dana. Library instruction is closely related to the study of information literacy.

Author: Subhash

High-Tech Public Libraries

The best place to get the information you need is always in a library. Public Libraries are provided by the government in order to provide access for all its constituents. Books can be read and borrowed in Public Libraries without any fees, only incurred penalties for late returns. In addition, with modern technology, most of the information you need can be obtained via a simple click.

Going to libraries are usually for nerds but at this day and age, you would not be caught dead without the right information in your head, no matter if you they would still call you a nerd. Better a nerd than with someone without a brain don't you think? Some people though find it lazy to go to the library and go over all the dust covered and delicate books. They opt to search for the information they need over the Internet. Not to mention the time they will be consuming and the effort of going through shelves and shelves of books. However, not all the information you need is in the Internet and it is not as reliable as compared to doing your research in a library. Don't you think they would eventually fade out if all the information can be taken out from the Internet already?

With the advancement in technology, libraries have become more important and the secrets inside it are due to the easy accessibility it can provide to the people. Computers in libraries have made it easier for people to look for the information they need faster. With programs designed specifically for usage inside libraries, people are more encouraged to learn and study, especially those who are not fortunate enough to have a personal PC or an Internet connection at home. Of course, their only place to seek for knowledge is the library.

Another thing that a library has aside from the information you seek is the atmosphere it emits to its visitor. Its quiet ambiance can really provide an atmosphere of learning for the people who go there. Feeling the knowledge of the rich history of the place itself will be enough to encourage you to go through the halls and search what interests you. Moreover, the knowledge of people who once walked through the halls and held those books were also able to make a difference in the world and will inspire you to do the same.

Here are several "upgraded" libraries.
The New York Public Library (NYPL)

This Public Library is considered as one of the leading public libraries in the world. It is also the largest in America and the largest research library systems in the world. It is also one of the five most important libraries in the United States. It is equipped with up to date electronic resources that make the information available for the public.

The Boston Public Library

This is the first library to allow people to borrow books and take them home so as to read it. Aside from this, the Boston Public Library is known as the largest municipal library and first large public library in America. It features free Wi-Fi internet access to the public throughout this library, along with its 27 branches. It maintains internet databases for catalogues and full text access.

The Library of Congress

Considered as the national library of the United States by default, it has the largest shelf space and is the most important library in the world. With millions of catalogued books and print materials that are set up in 470 languages, it also has the largest collection of manuscripts and rare books, newspapers and many more! You name it and the library of Congress may have a 99% chance that it is there.

With millions of digital objects available at its American Memory, nearly all the catalogs of this library can be checked on its website. On-line archives are also provided by the Library of Congress.

So far, these are the world-renowned libraries in the US. As An additional fact, in other parts of the globe, other world-renowned public library would include the:

British Library (BL)

The British national library is located in London and is one of the significant research libraries in the world. It holds millions of items of books, journals, magazines, music recordings, patents, and so much more, which can be accessed through the library's web site.

The National Library of New Zealand

New Zealand's public service department and legal deposit has the responsibility to enrich the cultural and economic existence of the country. In July 2004, the NDHS program was established along with the goal to improve the infrastructure and technological settings so that it can be preserved. A hardware and software system will be specially designed for the library in order to have the ability to maintain the conditions of its items throughout the years, making it still available for the people.

Thus, Public Libraries, not only hold books, but there are also those who showcase paintings, artifacts and other valuable memorabilia of the past.

These libraries are no longer mere pillars of books; they have become institutionalized in order to cater more learning and understanding to those who seek knowledge of the things around them and even beyond. There are so many things one can learn from reading the books itself, which no amount of media can withhold.

Author: Dave Text