Digital Library

M. UMA M.C.A., M.Phil.,

Head & Assistant Professor in Department of Computer Applications

R. Rajeshkumar M.C.A., M.Phil.,

Assistant Professor in Department of Computer Applications

Saiva Bhanu Kshatriya College, Aruppukottai.

Abstract

This paper explains what a virtual library is and the way it’s designed to assist in getting entry to virtual content and services. In a large feel, a virtual library is certainly an online device supplying get right of entry to a huge kind of content and services. Contents consist of truly any type of digital cloth including diverse forms of digital media (text, images, video, etc.), certified databases of journals, articles, and abstracts, and outlines of bodily collections. Digital Libraries provide special kinds of reference and referral offerings, academic offerings, introduced cost offerings, and promotional offerings. The process of those offerings is various however normally serves the same reason as conventional library offerings.

 Keywords: Digital libraries, virtual library content, Digital library services.

1. INTRODUCTION

            Today’s converting and extraordinarily advancing technological surroundings calls for the entirety to be advanced. To cope with this type of environment every field is supposed to accept the fact and implement new emerging technology in it. So is the case of Libraries. A digitally superior library affords each viable requirement of its technically superior users. A digital Library (DL) wider the area and scope of library, it will enhance the library facility. DL will haven’t any limitations of time, space, geographical area, and racial discrimination among human beings for gaining access to the information. One can get admission to the Digital Library from a far flung vicinity or from a few different country additionally and at a totally inexpensive rate. Accessing a virtual library will permit one for quick, reasonably-priced and smooth information.

2. DIGITAL LIBRARIES

The time period digital library, virtual library and digital library had been used interchangeably and now broadly frequent as description of the usage of virtual generation through libraries to acquire, store, preserve and make to be had their contents to far flung users. In overseas sense, virtual library can be described as an prepared and controlled series of exceptionally nice statistics contents in a whole lot of media (text, nevertheless image, transferring image, Sound or aggregate thereof), however all in virtual bureaucracy on hand over one of a kind digital networks. Such a virtual library consists of some of seek or navigation aids that each operates inside that unique library and permit get right of entry to to different series of records related through community worldwide.

3. DIGITAL LIBRARY SERVICES

Always library services are followed by library works. But now the advancement in information technology has brought changes in the concept of traditional library work as well as service. The recent trend and change in the information related field especially in collection, storing, processing and dissemination of information have resulted in to the evolution of digital libraries. Now most of the reference books like encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, hand books, etc. are published in electronic form. Similarly about 50% of the existing secondary resources like abstracting and indexing services are available in electronic form for example, Chemical Abstracts Service, Index Medicos, and Engineering Index. At present most of the digital libraries have been highlighted mainly on providing access to diverse digital information resources. The provision of personalized reference and records offerings is taken into consideration as one of the crucial traits of the library and records profession. However reference services include (I) Either finding the required information on behalf of users, or assisting users in finding information themselves; (ii) Instruction in the use of library resources and services, and (iii) user guidance in which users are guided in selecting the most appropriate information sources and services.

4. DIGITAL LIBRARY PROCESSES

4.1. Content selection:

The content selection for the Dl is depends on the utility, value and rarity of collection. It can be Internal or external, lose or commercial, owned or licensed, print or digital formats. The content may include Staff publications, e-mail archive, news, reports, policies and plan documents, drawings, software, press releases, presentations, courseware, lectures, best practices, etc. for education and corporate purpose.

4.2. Content acquisition:

Digital Library acquired contents already in digital form as well as to be converted and they may be loaded in central or distributed sites. The format (PDF, TIFF, postscript, html, xml) of the digital content may selected as those supported subsequent presentations today & tomorrow and It should not needs special access mechanism.  

4.3. Content organization:

The idea of content material control has been round in highbrow enterprise and bodily enterprise. Intellectual organization consist object description, categorization, indexing control and automatic content extraction. Physical organization includes databases, indexes, storage, content granularity (full text tagging or hierarchical browsing support), search and retrieval. Digital item identification hearth place additionally paying vital function in content material organization. The content material enterprise wishes unique interest in DL due to the fact it’s miles the bottom of the DL offerings and products.

5. SEARCH SERVICES

The maximum primary get entry to provider is a sleek of a library’s collection. Online catalogues had been supplied author, name and constrained concern get right of entry to nearby holdings (and extra currently to union holdings throughout more than one libraries). The expectation for virtual collections is that catalogue have to seamlessly hyperlink to the virtual series itself in order that remotely positioned customers can discover and show now no longer simplest bibliographic information but also primary information contents. The maximum not unusual place seek mechanism, to look virtual library contents, is question line or shape that lets in customers to go into time period or phrases as a question. Depending at the kind of indexing the library uses, ranked listing or exact-matched set of outcomes is again to the users. There is a rich history of query-based searching form information retrieval research community and online service industry that digital libraries may build upon.

6. CO-OPERATIVE DIGITAL LIBRARY SERVICES

The rising cost of digital reference sources and its proper processing by the trained man power and also the initial infrastructural investment for introducing new services in libraries have influenced different firms to select a co-operative version of virtual reference services. As a result some co-operative projects have been launched for providing web-based reference services to the users who can ask for such services from a remote location at any time. The Library of Congress, USA has launched the collaborative digital reference service with a mission to provide the users, anywhere and anytime through an international digital network of libraries. This network has three main components consisting of (I) Member Profiles (ii) Request Manager-Software for entering, routing and answering reference queries; and (iii) knowledge Base- a searchable database of questions and answer sets. In this network a participating library sends a question to the system on behalf of a user and the system looks in to the knowledge base for a match. Then a reply is sent to the relevant library through e-mail. In case the question and its corresponding answer is not found in the knowledge base, then it is passed on to the Request Manager where using the profiles of participating libraries and their information resources collection, expertise etc., relevant query is passed on to an appropriate library. This library receives the query, finds an answer and sends back reply to the results store and answer to the knowledge base. Thus the Knowledge Base and Request Manager become able to provide reference service in digital environment. However, the Library of Congress and OCLC have developed a co-operative “Question Point” the advanced generation of collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDTS) in June 2002 which integrates local as well as global electronic reference networks.

7.  INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES

More important, libraries are important in helping casual and expert gaining knowledge of past the formal college system. Digital libraries are offering greater near integration amongst formal, casual and expert getting to know process. Digital libraries provide new possibility to interrupt down lecture room partitions and permit humans to analyze anywhere they may be and every time they want. Many virtual library initiatives are looking for to convey multimedia sources to instructors and college students on demand. In addition to providing the contents to enrich learning, libraries help users to acquire information seeking skill (traditionally known as bibliographic instruction), which have become more essential in the information society (Many school library media specialists and public libraries collaborate on information literacy courses). Digital libraries have the potential to support collaborative distance learning and to provide intermediation services to add participants in shaping questions, findings relevant materials and interpreting and using information. These intermediations will surely require new type of human support services augmented by computational tools.

8. CONCLUSION

Although this angle of the “Digital library” is predictable due to present library models, there stays an anachronistic nice to it. Regarding the costs, technologies, legal issues and administration of “digital libraries” militate against achieving this old paradigm vision. Given that the virtual library subject continues to be pretty new, it appears abnormal to be speaking already gradually improving virtual libraries. However, on this fast-transferring environment, the preliminary virtual libraries attributable to digitization projects, or maybe digital collections, are being superior as person expectancies and era talents allow. In the midst of this furious activity, it is valuable to analyze users’ needs and interests and then to identify Knowledge Organization System that can be used to enhance the digital library. By going past the preliminary agency of the virtual library, virtual librarians can use the community surroundings to offer extra fee to its users.

REFERENCES

[1] Garrett, John. Digital Libraries: The Grand Challenges.  EDUCOM Review, July/August 1993, Volume 28, Number 4. [Available at: http://www.ifla.org/documents/libraries/net/garrett.txt] 

[2] Gladney H.M, et. al. (1994) Digital library: Gross structure and requirements: Report from a workshop. IBM Research Report, RJ 9840, May 1994. [3] Dugan, Marilyn and Tanner, Simon. Digital Libraries: strategies for the information age. London: Library Association, 2002

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