Page 235 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Library Automation

Notes Academic and Research Libraries
The application of computing to library work in India has a history of at least three
decades because since the time the computer entered premier academic institutions and
selected R&D facilities, it has been explored for improving information processing and
management routines. Information technology (IT) enriched library services arrived
initially for science and technology (S&T) information handling and for the special libraries
attached to research and development (R&D) centres and academic libraries in higher
education institutions. In comparison to other libraries, academic and research libraries
have better infrastructure and skilled manpower in greater numbers, making them able
to offer information services comparable to advanced countries. Like qualified teaching
and research personnel and well-equipped laboratories, the right information service is
another vital element in the trinity which completes a fruitful academic or research
environment.
Market-driven Collaboration

Academic and research libraries, especially in developing countries, are passing through
a very challenging phase in their existence due to unfriendly trends in the emerging
information market. On the one hand, these libraries are still left with many of the old
problems such as poor budgetary support and weak infrastructure, as well as staff in fewer
numbers and often with less expertise. But the new information marketing techniques,
like the possibilities of delivering and accessing electronic information in diverse channels,
force these libraries to be very vigilant and cautious in their approach towards information
acquisition and services. Libraries and professionals in India were quick to understand the
emerging information environment was forcing their users to depend largely on those
resources, which are becoming more expensive day by day due to the rise in production
costs, fall in subscriptions and inflationary trends of Indian currency. When individual
libraries found that alone they are not in a position to satisfy the information requirements
of their clients, they formulated various collaborative arrangements with other libraries
such as, interlibrary loan (ILL) services, document delivery services (DDS), resource-
sharing, and consortia-based subscriptions.
Present Practices and Emerging Goals

The special libraries attached to research and higher education were lucky enough to
garner resources to automate their in-house routine operations and for hosting online
public access catalogues (OPACs); some of them also set up facilities to search electronic
databases. A few of them evolved the desired infrastructure for Internet surfing, for hosting
of full-text database access, and for setting up digital libraries. The major advantage of the
progress in computerization is a considerable increase in the amount of information
available online. We have experienced that at the start of computer applications only the
surrogates (metadata) existed online, but some full-text content has been made accessible
online in recent years (online access to all content in the collection will continue to be an
unattainable long-cherished dream of librarians). These libraries are experiencing the
virtues of electronic information in different forms such as e-journals, e-books,
bibliographic/full-text electronic databases on CD-ROMs and through Web access. Due to
publishers’ ‘electronic plus’ policies, libraries are able to access electronic versions of
printed sources such as journals either for free (with the print subscription) or by paying
an additional fee. However the goal these libraries in specialized research and academic
centres should have set for themselves is to enhance their information facilities to fully
functional digital libraries, comparable with similar facilities in the developed countries.

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