Page 237 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Library Automation

Notes build information concerning the collection and users, to conduct various aspects of
organizing the collection and offering information services. Thus software needs to
be evaluated for its suitability for the target library before purchase. This may
include case studies from other libraries using the software, evaluation of hardware
and operating system required, computer awareness among staff and users, network
as well as computer infrastructure in the institution, and above all estimation of cost
and charges for after-sales support. Using suitable software for library automation
will significantly reduce manual operations and enable professionals to dedicate
more time for professional jobs.
2. CD-ROM and Electronic Databases: Due to the poor communication infrastructure
prevalent in India and to the immense costs involved, online database services were
used only by few institutions. The distribution of the same content of online data
repositories subsequently in CD-ROMs made it affordable (minus communication
costs) to a larger number of institutions. While the library automation package gave
search and access facility to information sources present in the local collection, CD-
ROM databases attempted consolidated access irrespective of holdings to the
bibliographic data of publications in a discipline. CD-ROM databases have also
freed library professionals from conducting searches and allowed the end user to
conduct the searches. CD-ROM is so common nowadays that a library holds a good
number of them not only for bibliographic, numeric and full-text databases, but
also those received along with printed books and other reference sources. Managing
and serving these high capacity discs was a problem earlier due to the stand-alone
software required, whereas the onset of networking and hard-disk cached solutions
provides an effective and functional way to enable access to them through the intranet.
3. Web: Since the 1990s, the Internet has changed the dissemination of information,
such as electronic copies of traditional paper-based journals and conference
proceedings, free electronic-only refereed journals, haphazard copies of all kinds of
material on home pages and a handful of electronic preprints archives (Bjork and
Turk 2000). Most libraries in India now have a website and they use the site to
present the basic strengths of the library and to host services such as the OPAC and
Web access to electronic information. The ‘size of the catalogue card’ and the field
lengths of primitive database technology are surpassed in the Web era. Types of
information resources on the Web also vary from authentic primary information
about the latest research results to ephemeral product catalogues. Issues worth
consideration are often the content of the sites that are deleted, modified or changed
to new machines without proper redirection and the extraction mechanism through
search engines, when a flood of sources is retrieved against a query, of which few
are relevant. The Internet and Web demonstrate that a large amount of electronic
information can be hosted in a decentralized fashion in a cost-effective manner. The
Web has also freed the user’s dependence on library resources for finding information
related to address and contact details of a person/institution, contents pages of
books, journals, etc. As far as possible, especially for reference and information
services, looking at the Web has become an innovative trend in the reference service
to complement dated print sources. Many publishers visibly feel the benefits and
reach of the Web, and have considered it as an alternate medium for delivering
information sources; some publishers even permit unrestricted access of tables of
contents and abstracts of their primary journals. As a result of these initiatives, the
‘print and distribute’ paradigm is challenged by ‘distribute and print’ paradigm.
4. Digital Libraries: Libraries in India are engaged in the development of prototypes
of digital information resources, as influenced by developments in other countries.
Contd...

232 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY