Page 101 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Library Automation

Notes The open source software is gaining importance day by day. They provide a free licence with the
additional facility of extensive customization to meet the local need. In case of commercial
proprietary library management software SOUL 2.0 and LibSys 7 are popular in India. In case of
free proprietary software, the E-Granthalaya of NIC is gaining importance and in case of Open
Source software, Koha is day by day heading to win the race.

Example: In case of Institutional Repository Software Packages, the Green Stone Digital
Library software (GSDL), EPrints, and Dspace are deployed in different institutions in India. In
the category of Content Management System (CMC), Drupal, Joomla, and MediaWiki is used
whereas from the category of Learning Management System (LMS), Moodle are favouring by
large number of institutes.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
11. Retrospective conversion is the process of turning a library’s existing paper catalogue
record into a machine readable form.
12. MARC records are a standard format that does not allow exchange of data between various
sites or systems.
13. In August 1979, the RECON pilot project was initiated.
14. Staff participation is most important non-cash input for the success of the project.
15. Retrospective conversion does not solve the problem of entering the data on each item in
the library into a computer system.

Case Study Retrospective Conversion of Ancient Knowledge,
Issues and Challenges “A Case Study of Central

Library, Banaras Hindu University, India”

ndian civilization is one of the world’s oldest and most developed civilizations, i.e.,
the Indus civilization. India’s culture is marked by a high degree of syncretism and
Icultural pluralism. The diversity inherent in Indian society makes it unique. Indian
culture reflects the influence of geography, with a long history of foreign invasions and
rule, to which India reacted patiently and created a space for the new customs, traditions,
and ideas within their own established traditions. Earlier, the literary tradition was mostly
oral and was passed from generation to generation. Later, written transcription was adopted
to ensure longevity and wider dissemination of information. Materials such as birch bark,
palm leaves, cloth, wood, and handmade papers were used to store the precious knowledge
belonging to different areas of the arts, science, social science, etc.
Everyone is directly or indirectly influenced by their society, which, in turn, is reflected in
its literature. Thus, these old scriptures symbolize the social and cultural life of any era.
Manuscripts mirror our past. The historical and social change is reflected in the different
styles and forms of writing over the centuries. Writing as a craft and writing as a
communication skill are inseparable in Indian cultural development. India has the largest
and most varied collection of manuscripts in the world. But due to lack of awareness, a
Contd...

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