Page 122 - DLIS407_INFORMATION AND LITERATURE SURVEY IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Unit 13: Web-Based Resources and Services

Self Assessment Notes

State whether the following statements are True or False:
8. Active services are those in which links are provided and the users have to help themselves
in searching and retrieving information.
9. Virtual reference is now a hot topic in libraries and many libraries are moving their reference
service online.
10. A gateway refers to a Web-based tool that provides a customisable interface to retrieve
information aggregated from a variety of sources.

13.7 Online Databases

These are large collections of machine-readable data that are maintained by commercial agencies and are
accessed through communication lines. Many libraries subscribe to them for easy access and use of current
information. The disadvantage is that only bibliographic data is presented and not full text. The information
cannot be accessed when the system is down for any reason. Examples Ei Compendex, SciFinder Scholar,
Web of Science, Current Contents etc.

13.8 Search Engines

Search Engines are huge databases of web page files that have been assembled automatically by
machines where as the subject directories are human-compiled and maintained. Search engine indexes
every page of a website and subject directories linked only homepages. Search Engine is the popular
term for an information retrieval (IR) system. A search engine is computer software that searches
a collection of electronic materials to retrieve citations, documents, or information that matches or
answers a user’s query. The retrieved materials may be text documents, facts that have been extracted
from text, images, or sounds. A query is a question phrased so that it can be interpreted properly by
search engine. Depending on the type of software, it may be a collection of commands, a statement in
either full or partial sentences, one or more keywords, or in the case of non-text searching, an image
or sequence of sounds to be matched.

Task Make a list of key library portals available in India.

Self Assessment
Fill in the blanks:
11. ……………..are large collections of machine-readable data that are maintained by commercial
agencies and are accessed through communication lines.
12. A …………………is computer software that searches a collection of electronic materials to
retrieve citations, documents, or information that matches or answers a user’s query.

13.9 Summary

y The emerging technologies have empowered the libraries to address essential issues like
enhancing convenience and expediency, providing varying and overlapping information
formats, extending operating hours and reaching out to a wider user base.

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