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Unit 13: Computerization in Information Services

Provide remote access to their networks through a variety of technologies and may be Notes
demands for such devices to be made available for users.

Design policies to deal with enquiries from global users.
Make provision for providing global access to the unique resources in case of special
collections available at various libraries and information centres.

Learn to compete effectively with other organization if they are to survive in the future.
Lastly, commit themselves fully to the increasing use of IT in the future and develop
strategies to make the best use of IT for their users.

13.2.1 Impact on Techniques

Let us discuss the impact of IT on Techniques:

Preservation and Storage

It is difficult to preserve all the different storage media, whether paper, tapes, video or discs,
partly because knowledge about their durability (except for that of paper) is relatively limited.
To this should be added the fact that the old media require some kind of playing device to access
their contents, and these devices are disappearing from the market because there is less and less
demand for them and spare parts cannot be found. Digitalization of print, images and sound
provides new opportunities for preservation and storage, but the durability of the digitized
media is also an unknown quantity. It is, however, possible to provide access to the contents of
documents in archives via digitalization, thus avoiding the wear and tear on and possible
damage to the original document. The digital media are really rather new, and no general
regulations and standards for their use as preservation media have yet been established.

Searching Tools

One of the first uses of computerization was for the compilation of library catalogues. At first
computers were used as a part of the printing process, and later they entered into the process of
designing on-line catalogues. Large indexes and abstract publications have followed a similar
path, going from print, to print via computer, to on line and to CD-ROM. Computer technology
has also led to the development of search tools such as citation indexes and concordances which
are produced automatically. A number of search processes, such as Boolean operators, have
been developed and refined over the last few years. They are very expensive, as are the connect-
time prices for the databases. For many libraries the prices are prohibitive and one of the ways
to solve the problem is to write contracts between the vendors and all the libraries in a country
or with large groups of non-commercial institutions. Such types of negotiations, which also
cover vendors of electronic periodicals and other products, will be of growing importance to the
information services institutions in the future.

Use of Full Text Documents, Sound and Images

The data storage capacity of computers has made it possible to store not only the bibliographic
data on a publication, but the full text of the publication itself. Older, originally printed or even
hand-written texts are scanned and digitized, thereby making the works of great authors available
to all. The texts can be read page by page or, by searching with a combination of words, certain
parts can be selected.

One of the major problems for the information services institutions in relation to full text
documents, sound recordings and images is the complexity of copyright issues. In most countries,

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