Introduction:
Traditionally, libraries were collections of books, manuscripts, journals, and other sources of recorded information. In the last 50 years, libraries have increasingly developed into a provider of information resources and services that do not even require a building.
Information and Communication Technology has revolutionized the concept of libraries. Each and every library is slowly getting digitized. A 'digital library' comprises digital collections, services and infrastructure to support lifelong learning, research, scholarly communication as well as preservation and conservation of our recorded knowledge. It is also a process of democratization of information. This article will discuss the factors that will necessitate the traditional libraries to get digitized, as well as the definition, resources, characteristics, functions and analog of Traditional and Digital Library.
We are in the age of a networked society where information technology in addition to its use in all spheres of human activity has been used extensively to record, store, and disseminate the information in the digital form. Information technology has almost converted the world into a global village. The revolution in the information technology sector is influencing medical information and information. Libraries are also changing to meet the demand put on them. The new generation whose demand for information is never met is always demanding that traditional libraries should be developed as a well equipped and interconnected as digital libraries.
The terms digital library are used to refer to the vast collections of information to which people gain access remotely.
Traditional Library:
Traditionally, a library refers to a collection of books, manuscripts, journals, along
with other sources of recorded information.
1. Traditional resources:
A) Indexes, Catalogues
B) Catalogues of catalogues
C) Books
D) Journals (Articles technical reports, teaching aids, references tools
E) Multimedia collection: Photographs
F) Numerical data: Census report, weather report
2. Non- traditional resources: scholarly communication, pre-print archives, newsprint and list serve postings, collection of mails.
3. Resources that is not informational in a traditional library. Materials of special interest groups, personal papers, collections, essays, home papers.
4. Library services: Reference queries, statistical analysis, customized maps, readers’ advisory service, search tools.
A traditional library is characterized by the following:
Functions of traditional library:
What is Digital Library?
According to Wiederhold (1) “A digital library is popularly viewed as an electronic version of a library where storage is in digital form, allowing direct communication to obtain material and copying it from a master version.”
“Digital Library is a combined technology and information resources to allow remote access, breaking down the physical barrier between resources”.
Winensky (2) viewed that 'the digital library will be a collection of distributed information services, producers will make it available, and consumers will find it through the automated agents.'
Digital Library by Ian Whitten (3)
“Collection of digital object (text, video, audio) along with method for access and retrieval, [as far as users are concerned] and also for selection, organization, and maintenance (from the point of view of librarian).
"The digital library is not merely equivalent to a digitized collection with information management tools. It is also a series of activities that brings together collections, services and people in support of the full life cycle of creation, dissemination, use and presentation of date, information and knowledge.
Lynch (4) says that, "digital Libraries provide users with coherent success to a very large, organized repository of information and knowledge." The purpose of a digital library includes:
Digital Resources:
There are many digital resources adapted to the technological environment and using them in libraries. These are as follows:
A) Directories in electronic format.
B) Abstracts, indexes and table of contents services (including those of full text journals and magazines indexed) in electronic format.
C) Every clepedia and alamanaces in e-format
D) Full text and multimedia databases.
i) e.-book
ii) e-serials
iii) Recordings
iv) Videos
v) Pod caste
vi) Image
E) News and News service (current awareness) sources
F) Key primary documents
i) Company filings
ii) Laws and regulations
iii) Research data
iv) Research reports
vi) Statistical resources
G) Search engines
H) Meta sites
I) E-mail
1.) Listserv
2.) Major demo
J) Blogs, social networking tools and web forums.
Charactrics of Digital Library
Cleveland (1998) describes some characteristics of digital libraries that have been gleaned from various discussions about digital libraries (DLs), both online and in print:
d traditional fixed media.
Cleveland (1998) believes that this definition of a digital library, and these characteristics, are the 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.
Functions of digital Library:
1. Evolution Dynamics – Digital libraries are highly dynamic, ephemeral and versioned.
2. Object Structure – Digital libraries hold inter-linked, multimedia objects which are multi-size, fractal, and ill-defined.
3. Structure -Digital libraries support documents with significant internal scaffold structure and significant context/meta information which might be automatically extracted
4. Origin – Digital libraries allow anyone to publish in a lightweight way, and can support pre-credential led through use.
5. Access Control – Digital libraries can be distributed and ubiquitous.
6. Object Structure – In digital libraries the physical and logical organizations can be separated (allows virtual collections).
7. Free Access – Digital libraries could support rich layers of access control and management of terms and conditions.
8. Interaction – Digital libraries support two-way communication with tight, fast interaction.
9. Simple Search – Digital libraries support symmetric search (consumer looking for an object a producer of the object looking for a consumer).
10. Interactive Complex Search -In digital libraries complex interactions of query, navigation/browsing and social filtering can be used.
Analogue of Traditional and Digital Library
Conclusions
Traditionally, libraries were tedious and materialistic as the collections of books, manuscripts, journals, and other sources of recorded information which are stocked in manual form and need to be maintained and protected from termite. It also involves space and handling cost. A lot of space is occupied by outdated material which is must to maintain for references.
Digital library is the revolutionary mode of the next generation with high-speed Internet information resource. The characteristic of the digital library is intellectualized searches with low cost, direct accessibility and the service mode rounding the customers. The final aim of digital library is to make every people access man’s knowledge through digital instrument at anywhere, in any time. And its value lies in offering any services that people need.
References:
1. Wiederhold,Gio (1995). Digital Libraries: Value and Productivity. Communication of the ACM, 38(4).
2. Wilensky, Robert (1995). U C Berkley’s Digital Library Project. Communication of the ACM, 38(4).
3. Ian, H. Witten & David, Bainbridge. (2003), How to Build a Digital Library, London: Morgan Kaufman Publishers
4. Lynch, C.A. (1994). The integrity of digital information: Mechanism and definitional issues. Silver Spring, MD: ASIS.