Page 250 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Unit 13: Computerization in Information Services

etc.), research communities and university libraries are developing electronic publishing facilities Notes
for their own scientific production (preprints, theses, symposia) and for distance learning
technologies (courses, educational software). These productions are processed in more elaborate
formats than the image mode that was preferred for the digitization of paper documents. The
formats are of the Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML) type, in particular Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML) and Standard Markup Language (SML). The Description of Type of
Document (DTD) of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is the basis for all recent operations aimed
at classifying academic documents in the social and human sciences in America and in Europe.

13.2.4 Acquisition of Published Electronic Documents

The supply of electronic documents is currently posing a great many problems for libraries.
Certain publications appear only in that form, and it is clear that libraries need to acquire them
or at least to have access to them. However, the regulations now being introduced regard the
acquisition of electronic documents as equivalent to a licence to use the contents, and require a
bilateral contract. The legal issues are at present the centre of international attention. In essence,
libraries set access to documents via the publisher’s server or a service provider which may be
a subscription agency (Swets, Dawson, Blackwell’s, etc.) or a cooperative network (OCLC, Pica,
etc.). The delivery of electronic documents to the local site of a university or consortium of
libraries is still at an experimental stage, but seems to be the most promising solution for
making use of published scientific literature.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
5. The most important component of IT is technology rather than information.
6. The libraries have to build into their future strategies the concept of continual change.

7. One of the first uses of computerization was for the compilation of library catalogues.
8. Libraries were very slow to computerize their management systems.

13.3 The Internet

The use of computers is revolutionizing working processes in libraries and archives, and the
network of computers known as the Internet, is a revolution of similar importance. It is now
possible to retrieve information independently of time zones and geographical location, and to
obtain the most up-to-date information, because the printing and editing processes are either no
longer necessary or have been considerably reduced.

The system of e-mail provides a communication facility which, to a great extent, replaces the
traditional mail and fax systems formerly used by institutions, thus saving time for the user. The
World Wide Web (WWW) can be regarded as a huge reference base, with all types of information
available, either as metadata or full text, sound and images.
The World Wide Web, which is one part of the Internet, is useful in many daily activities
involving the transmitting of information which in the past could be found only in print or by
teletext and there are many kinds of useful sources of information for education and research on
the Internet. Such activities can be said to have laid the foundations for the worldwide electronic
information and communication networks. Individual institutions also have the opportunity to
create their own Web sites to inform users about their services and to guide them through the
organization. Different Web sites are linked together so that one entry or access point will lead
on to several others.

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