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Digital Library: Services and its Applications in the Information Age

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Volume 6, Issue 1 (XXVII) ISSN 2394 - 7780
January - March 2019

International Journal of
Advance and Innovative Research

Indian Academicians and Researchers Association

www.iaraedu.com
International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research
ISSN 2394 - 7780
Volume 6, Issue 1 (XXVII): January - March, 2019

DIGITAL LIBRARY: SERVICES AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN THE INFORMATION AGE

Fakir Ashraf Shah Sattar Shah1 and Dr. Shilpa Satish Waghchoure2
1
Research Scholar , Department of Library and Information Science, Shri J. J. T University Jhunjhunu
Librarian2 Gokhale Education Society’s College of Education and Research, Parel, Mumbai

ABSTRACT
Over the last three decades a new technologies have helped the early visualizations of digital libraries to
become a reality. Digital libraries are becoming a vital part of digital learning age. Their vital role is
increasingly becoming a measure of the library’s part to the revolution and development of a society and the
nation at large. A digital library that deals with data those are born digital as well as those that have been
digitized from their analogue form. The aim of this paper is to discuss services and implications of digital
libraries in the information age. It represents basic concepts, historical environment, components,
characteristics, process, advantages, and disadvantages in digital environment.
Keywords: Digital Library, library services, advantages, ICT, digital age.

INTRODUCTION
The present age is the age of ICT. To adopt with the new trends information technology environment, every
field, and department is suppose to accept new emerging technology in it. So digital library is emerged in the
case of library. The concept of digital library is depending on storage, process and disseminates information to
users through electronic systems. Digital information may include a combination of structured/unstructured
text/numeric data, scanned images, photo, video, audio, graphics, recording etc.
DIGITAL LIBRARY: MEANING AND CONCEPT
Digital libraries summarize different aspects hence cannot be explained in a simple definition. Many authors,
researchers and organizations tried to define digital libraries that reflect their basic nature and characteristics.
Some of the definitions given by the authors are given below.
According to Gladney H.M, et.al.(1994) “ A digital library service is an assemblage of digital computing,
storage, and communications machinery together with the software needed to reproduce, emulate and extend
services provided by conventional libraries based on paper and other material means of collecting, storing,
cataloguing, finding and disseminating information.
Edward A. Fox defined the term “digital library is a machine readable representation of materials which might
be found in a university library together with organizing information intended to help users find specific
information. A digital library service is an assemblage of digital computing, storage, and communicating
machinery together with the software needed to reprise, emulate, and extend the services provided by
conventional libraries based on paper and other material means of collecting, storing, cataloging, finding, and
disseminating information.”
Paul Duguid (1997) has defined the digital library as an environment to bring together in support of life cycle of
information in addition to digital collection and information management tools.
According to William Saffady digital library “is a library that maintains all, or a substantial part, of its
collection in computer-processible form as an alternative, supplement, or complement to the conventional
printed and microfilm materials that currently dominate library collections”
Stella Keenan "Digital library which looks and feels like a paper-based library but where items have been stored
in digital form and stored for access in a networked environment which can be used by users in remote
locations".
IFLA/UNESCO Manifesto stated that “A digital library is an online collection of digital objects, of assured
quality, that are created or collected and managed according to internationally accepted principles for collection
development and made accessible in a coherent and sustainable manner, supported by services necessary to
allow users to retrieve and exploit the resources.”
CHARACTERISTICS OF DIGITAL LIBRARY
The collection of digital libraries must be in digitized form. Therefore reading material has to be converted into
digital. The digital objects must be organized in easy to access to users. Digital library has the following
characteristics

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International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research
ISSN 2394 - 7780
Volume 6, Issue 1 (XXVII): January - March, 2019

 In Digital library resources can be used and viewed by several users with reference to their individual
information need.
 A digital library has remote access to variety of digital information resources worldwide and equally to
everyone having internet access.
 Digital Library may contain several information resources ranging from text to image, audio and video etc.
 Digital libraries are able to prevent the irrelevant information.
 Digital libraries largely reduce the need for the physical space required for the building and maintenance.
 Digital libraries break up the time, space and language barriers.
 Digital libraries provide advanced searching and retrieving technology.
 Users may build their own personal collection.
Advantages of Digital library
The main advantage of the Digital library as indicated below
 Digital libraries make use of most up-to-date information technologies to store enormous amounts of
information in digitized form
 It helps in resource sharing and inter-library Loan between the libraries.
 It provides quick services to users for searching the needed information
 It saves funds, time and manpower.
 It helps to quick access SDI, CAS, abstracting and indexing of periodicals, retrospective conversion, search,
bibliographical information, Boolean search and union catalogues.
 It reduced the repetition and duplication of new information.
 Users will get needed information with minimum time in across the world.
 OPAC through internet gives access to bibliographic records of books, e-journals, and research articles,
details of holdings of academic and research libraries and newsletters.
Disadvantages of digital library
The main Disadvantage of the Digital library as indicated below
 A problem frequently encountered and difficult to overcome will be the one of copyright and intellectual
property issues.
 This trend is faced because electronic information is more easily manipulated and reproduced and the
identity of the author or changes affected to original data is harder to establish.
 Changing habits in the arena of learning and teaching is also another problem browsing on the digitized form
is difficult when compared to printed form remote access to documents are uncomfortable when compared to
spot accesses a disappearance of nascent information in internet.
 Inadequacy of the libraries to predict the future use of documents, irrespective of its type i.e. printed or
digital.
 Multiple interfaces -Every product will be having its own distinct user interface.
 Users need to memorize different passwords for different products.
 The scope of coverage and available archives is often limited.
 Often there is no cost savings, especially when these products are maintained and the cost of hardware,
software; leasing communication circuit is generally very high.
 Access to archive e-files -There are restrictions, which vary from vendor to vendor, on how the product can
be used.
 Lack of knowledge in using to access the required information.

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International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research
ISSN 2394 - 7780
Volume 6, Issue 1 (XXVII): January - March, 2019

DIGITAL LIBRARY SERVICES AND APPLICATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE

Every library followed different type’s services to users. In this age of Information ICT changes the concept of
traditional library work as well as service. Now days many reference books like dictionaries, hand-books,
encyclopedias, directories, abstracting and indexing services etc are published in electronic form. Digital
libraries have been focused mainly on providing access to current digital information resources. The new trends
of ICT and in Web technologies have brought significant changes in the concepts of traditional reference
services and a number of web-based ‘expert services’.
1. Web-based Services
Libraries provide Web-based real-time reference services using specific software, BBS, interactive
communication tools, call centre management software.
 library catalogue and union catalogue
 bibliographic databases
 subject gate ways in specific discipline
 Remote information services
 CD-ROM databases
 Providing link to websites
 Accessing and procuring e-reference sources
 Document delivery services
 Bulletin board service
 Discussion groups and forum
 Electronic document delivery services
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is focus on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers
to the conversion from static HTML web pages to a more dynamic web that is more organized and is based on
serving web applications to users.
Web 2.0 Services and Tools
Web access to OPACs: - With the help of WEBOPAC users can learn how to use one universal access client,
the web browser.
Online Instructions: - with the help of Web Browsers library professionals provides online based bibliographic
or library use programmes. It provides online instructions on searching online resources and virtual tours of
library collections.
Electronic document delivery: - The libraries to deliver the copies of journals and other documents in digital
format mainly in PDF to the library users.
Wikis: - It is influential content management and knowledge management tools. It allows any one add a new
article or revise an existing article through a web browser. It is an ideal for students, teachers and researchers
and support staff for collaborative work allowing focus and content.
Flickr:- It is a social network for showing photos with the help of Flickr users can work together to photo
projects and use each other tags to find new photos.
Podcast:-It is a series of digital media files which are distributed over the internet using syndication feeds for
playback on portable media players and computers.
2. CAS, SDI services
1. Content pages services from commercial publishers, e.g. Elsevier’s Content Digital Service.
2. Notification service- information of availability of new books by publishers and vendors, e.g. Wiley &
Amazon.com.
3. Current contents and ISI Alerting services from ISI.
4. SDI services from online search service providers such as Dialog.
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International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research
ISSN 2394 - 7780
Volume 6, Issue 1 (XXVII): January - March, 2019

3. Search Engine Services

The useful search engine services are as follows
5. www.askjeeves.co.uk: It is useful for complex questions and is a good choice for searchers who lack
Boolean or other searching skills.
6. The Electric Library helps the researchers providing various online reference sources.
7. www.help.com: that claims to offer real time search assistance any time in 24 hours.
8. www.about.com: It is a service that shows a number of pre-defined categories related to a search topic given
by the user.
4. Personalized Services
The development of digital library has focused on access to and disseminate of digital information but they have
ignored the personalized service aspects. On priority basis the personalized services in a digital library
environment would help the users to find information resources available in a digitally disorganized world.
5. Co-operative digital Library Services
Due to high cost of digital reference sources, lack of trained staff and suitable infra in libraries have influenced
different organizations to choose a cooperative model of digital reference services. For example The Library of
Congress, USA has launched the collaborative digital reference services with a mission to provide the users,
anywhere, anytime in corner of world through an interactional digital network of libraries. In June, 2002 the
library of congress and OCLC have developed a cooperative ‘Question Point’ the advanced generation of CDTS
which integrates local as well as global electronic reference networks.
6. Digital Archives
Digital technologies increasingly provide to integrated information resource. Images, Audio, Video and Text
numeric data have heretofore resided in print or other analogue media for storage and retrieve. Multimedia and
hyperlinked objects on the WWW show some of the new types of information and new paths of knowing in the
digital that bring together. Digital archives are very useful to save the place and save a lot of time of the users in
searching of information.
CONCLUSION
A digital library is imagining as a comprehensive library of the digital resources and services that are available
for education in all area of interest and disciplines. It is considered to be a association of library services and
collections that function together to create a digital learning community. Digital library should have a variety of
models for access to the materials; some content will be free of charge while other materials will be available on
a payment basis. Digital library will also facilitate resource sharing of educational resources within an
institutional. The digital library provide the opportunity for students at different institutions to work on joint
projects or experiments, perhaps sharing and adding to the same data set and its analysis.
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