Page 152 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Unit 8: Library Automation in Technical Processing

global networking such as internet, cheap availability of technology and new media technologies Notes
made information more accessible. Today’s integrated library systems must not only provide
modules which automate traditional library functions but also capable of connecting through
the local systems into systems of other information or knowledge suppliers, databases and
internet.

8.1 Electronic Resources

The library profession recognized the potential of computers to make library resources more
accessible early in the development of computer technology. Librarians were often enthusiastic
and sometimes early adopters of technology. The use of electronic resources in libraries began
with the development of the machine-readable cataloguing (MARC) format in the mid-1960, a
full 30 years before the introduction of the World Wide Web and its subsequent ubiquity.
Bibliographic databases became available at approximately the same time. Libraries provided
access to data sets such as census and survey data as early as the 1970’s. During the microcomputer
revolution of the 1980’s, libraries acquired software and data on diskettes and offered databases
on CD-ROM. Databases on CD-ROM began to contain full text. Search interfaces became more
straightforward and simpler to use. Online catalogues became more common, and libraries
began to offer them through the pre-World Wide Web Internet. Tim Berners-Lee created the
World Wide Web in 1990. The subsequent development of the Mosaic browser in 1992 led to
widespread use of the Web beginning in 1993.

Notes The graphical interface and the later development of Web search engines such as
Yahoo! made resources on the Internet more accessible to average patrons.

Web-based electronic resources were widely available beginning in the mid-1990’s. Libraries
offered Web-based catalogues, bibliographic and full-text databases, electronic journals, and
eventually electronic books through the Web. Patrons no longer had to go to the library to do a
significant amount of their research. The pursuit of electronic resources by libraries was driven
by the core values of library science. It is possible to recognize in Ranganathan’s five laws of
library science the motivation that drove libraries to incorporate electronic resources into services
and collections. Paraphrased to better suit electronic resources, the laws read: resources are for
use, every person his or her resource, every resource its user, save the time of the user, and the
library is a growing organism. Each technological development in library electronic resources
during the 20th century was intended to make access to resources more direct, convenient, and
timely for the user. The implementation of electronic resources made the library a growing
organism as libraries adapted processes and reorganized staff repeatedly to accommodate the
changes inherent in the use of constantly changing technology.

8.1.1 Online Catalogues

Electronic resources began to dramatically change the way patrons accessed library resources in
the mid-1960s. The card catalogue, a standard fixture in libraries for a century, faced its demise.
One of the major developments during the 1960’s was machine-readable cataloguing (MARC).
The MARC format dramatically changed the way library resources were processed and accessed.
The library professionals who created MARC recognized the need for automation and a
supporting data standard at a critical juncture in the development of technology, and took the
necessary steps and risks to develop one. The flexible and expandable MARC format
demonstrated the foresight and vision of those who developed it over 40 years ago.

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