Page 7 - DLIS102_LIBRARY_AND_ITS_USERS

Library and its Users

Notes Library collections in the different countries represent their cultural identities. Language is at the
heart of these identities. The internet provides an incredible opportunity to circulate our heritage to
advantage and to make it known on a world scale.
Economically, cultural industries and cultural heritage are major sectors of activity. For example,
according to statistics collected by the LIBECON study, European libraries employed nearly 337
thousand staff in 2001 and had 138 million registered users. This is almost one third of the entire EU
population. This show the social impact libraries have.

1.1 Changing Role of Libraries

The emergence of a vast storehouse of information on the Internet poses a different kind of conundrum
Librarians, the traditional gatekeepers of knowledge are in danger of being bypassed, their skills are
ignored, their advice unsought. Search engines send user straight to the information they require or
so users may think without any need for an intermediary to classify, catalogue, cross-reference, advice
on sources.
The location and provision of information services has dramatically changed over the last ten years.
There is no need to leave the home or office to locate and access information now readily available
on-line via digital gateways furnished by a wide variety of information providers (e.g. libraries,
electronic, publisher, businesses, organizations, individuals). Information is electronically accessible
from a wide variety of globally distributed information repositories.

Information is no longer simply text and pictures. It is electronically in a wide variety
of formats, many of which are large, complex (i.e., video and audio) and often
integrated (i.e., multimedia).

Traditional Library

Libraries are where the access points such as, library catalogues as well as library collections are print
based and their management is by and large manual.

Automated Library

A library where access points and housekeeping operations are computerized is called an automated
library. The graphic records are still print-on-paper publication.

Electronic Library—Digital Library

The access point as well as the graphic records are in electronic digital form when these electronic
digital libraries are connected via various networks, particularly the INTERNET, this is called virtual
library.
Digital library is not only digitization of physical resources, but also thoughtful organization of
electronic collection for better access. Such organization provides coherence to a massive amount of
shared knowledge base. While the method of access provides convenient information retrieval for a
wide range of global user. Essentially a digital library deals with organization and access of a large
information repository. In all probability, digital libraries are likely to augment traditional libraries,
such as an on-line card catalogue augments, rather than strictly replacing, a book collection. The

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