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Background
For
more than 500 years, the bulk of human knowledge and information
has been stored as paper documents. Paper will be with
us for a long time to come, however, its importance as
a means of preserving, finding and distributing information
is already diminishing.
The role of Libraries and Resource Centres (‘Information
Centres’) is changing rapidly. Users (patrons) are
no longer satisfied with traditional services libraries
used to offer. The need for intuitive and meaningful information
on demand, delivered to the desktop, at the right place
and is a powerful catalyst for Information Centres to
change.
Technology is taking a central role in the effort of Information
Centres to satisfy its patrons. With the proliferation
of the Internet, availability of material in digital form,
ability to digitize cost-effectively, and content collaboration,
traditional libraries are able to transform into Digital
Libraries.
What is a Digital Library ?
A
Digital Library is a library that maintains repository(s)
of information in digital form or is able to obtain on
demand information in digital form from external sources
for dissemination to its patrons in particular and the
community in general.
Why Digital ?
The
transformation of traditional libraries to Digital Libraries
is inevitable. For a given community to transform into
a knowledge based one, information and knowledge must
be readily available. Libraries, hence have their roles
re-defined. Libraries must transform into information
and knowledge centers.
Libraries as they exist today may not have the infrastructure
to satisfy the needs of a K-Society. Traditional obstacles
include :-
Limit to patron base due to :-
- physical
limitations – space availability for simultaneous
access by unlimited patrons at any one time.
- geographical
considerations.
- predetermined
criteria based closed group pool to base membership
on.
- availability
of human resources to provide the relevant services.
- Inadequate
or non-existent document delivery service options
due to factors such as cost, and again geographical
considerations, security and transactions tracking.
- Inadequate
material – due to many factors, some of which
are but not limited to, cost, shelving space, out
of print or non-availability and specialization.
- Collaboration
– despite inter-library loan services, sharing
physical media takes a toll on scarce resources
(material and human).
Libraries
are more often than not caught in a vicious cycle. Due
to factors, some of which have been outlined above,
the patronage leaves much to be desired. As a direct
result, funding is affected and the role and position
downgraded. This again affects the depth of services
resulting in a chain reaction affecting patronage.
Having
identified some of the constraints faced by traditional
libraries, we can explore the role a Digital Library
can play. A cross-section of the advantages a Digital
Library can offer include :-
- No
geographical limitation – in view of the fact
that information can be delivered to the desktop
via the internet, patrons can be offered virtual
library services.
- Unlimited
patrons can be availed services simultaneously (bandwidth
and web server response speeds will be significant).
- Content
collaboration – to access material from just
about any repository in the world, requires just
about access permission and an URL link.
- Saving
cost due to duplication (multiple copies within
the same library and multiple copies across libraries)
will be a thing of the past. There may be royalties
involved but one needs to consider the savings on
raw material (eg. paper, tape etc.), physical space
for storage and other savings mentioned elsewhere
in this document.
- Digital
content will not deteriorate due to wear and tear
and cannot be lost or stolen. Rare collection can
be preserved if the material is also made available
in digital form.
- Ability
to harness on technology to offer personalized services,
offering intuitive customized responses.
- Disaster
recovery – digital contents can be backed-up
and restored in the event of a disaster much easier,
faster and at much less cost than material on physical
media.
When do we go Digital ?
Globalization
has dismantled traditional boundaries of the economy.
The playing field is uneven again. To be competitive we
have to transform our economy. We talk so much about K-economy.
K-economy cannot be realized without a number of knowledge
elements, one of which is content. Technology is being
given too much credit. It is just an enabler. It is content
that we should be harnessing. When we talk about content,
there must be managed repositories. Libraries are already
repositories of information and knowledge albeit more
traditional in media management. In order to harness the
innate capabilities of a library to be an agent in transforming
our society into a Knowledge-society, we must transform
them into Digital Libraries and time is of essence.
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