Digital libraries are libraries in which collections are stored in a digital format. A digital library has also been known as a virtual or electronic library. In this essay, different types of digital libraries will be compared. This essay will provide an in depth look at the many different digital library programs that have had a profound impact on the field of digital libraries. Archival formats will be explored. Techniques for the conversion of textbased formats into digital formats will be analyzed and compared. This essay will also uncover the pros and cons of a digital library compared to a traditional library. Suggestions for the future of digital libraries will also be considered. In 1945, Vannevar Bush had a vision. In his article, "As We May Think," he describes a technical fix for the information explosion that begun after World War II. Vannevar named this technical fix the Memex. The Memex was descibed as "a device in which an individual stores all his books, records and communications which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility" (Bush, 1945). Vannevar was most certainly a visionary. His ideas were well before his time. His idea of the Memex can be considered the basis for digital libraries and maybe even the world wide web. In the 1980s, libraries card catalogs were being replaced by Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs). These were usually closed systems that could contain little more than bibliographic data. Most OPACs were are done in Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) format. It generally represents an individually published item or "information product," and describes the physical characteristics of the item itself (Brenner et al, 20... ... middle of paper ... ... Materials. A Case for Full Information Capture. Digital Library Magazine. Digital Library Foundation (1995). America's Heritage: Mission and Goals for a Digital Library Federation. Retrieved April 25, 2007, from http://www.diglib.org/about/dlfcharter.htm American Memory, The Library of Congress. Mission and History. Retrieved April 24, 2007, from http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/about/index.html Morgan, E (2007). Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts. Retrieved April 26, 2007, from http://www.infomotions.com/alex/ Alexandria Digital Library Project (2007). About ADL. Retrieved April 26, 2007, from http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/research/about/history.htm CSDL (2007). The Center for the Study of Digital Libraries. Texas A&M. Retrieved April 25, 2007, from http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/csdl/center/center.html
This source considers the issue of converting to digital books, specifically as it pertains to the effect that this change would have on the global environment. Although the research does recognize that there are disadvantages to not having a physical copy of a book and to abandoning certain platforms that do not transfer well to a digital form, overall, these researchers conclude that publishers should move towards digital products not only for the sake of cheaper long-run costs, but also for the good that going paperless can do for the environment. By displaying a series of graphs, as well as including multiple data sets, the text explains how e-books compare with printed texts; then, analysis of these facts is also included to show the reader the authors’ point.
This library system is utilizing all the technologies and materials available to them to serve the community in the best way. Despite certain social indicators and demographic statistics indicating that the library should not be overly utilized, it is thriving and is heavily in use. There are areas that the library can look to improve based on statistical evidence, such as reaching out to the low income population and the over 55 years age group. This library seems to be meeting numerous needs for a wide range of patrons, and doing it well.
Papakhian, A. Ralph. “Cataloging.” in Music Librarianship at the Turn of the Century ed. Richard Griscom, 19-28. Music Library Association Technical Reports, No. 27. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2000.
Darnton, Robert. "The Library in the New Age." NYBooks.com. The New York Review of Books, June 12, 2008. Web. 6 March 2012.
While the Dewey decimal system contains a comprehensive index, the Library of Congress Classification system does not (Taylor 430). Each volume of the LCC schedules contains its own index and these indexes do not refer to one another. Finding subjects in the schedules can be awkward. To locate a topic, one must check through each volume index of all the different disciplines that may ...
Schoener, Steven E. "The Digital Revolution." Internet Archive: Wayback Machine. Last modified May 5, 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20081007132355/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/digital.html.
The future of economic competitiveness for most enterprises relies on entrance and active participation in the E-commerce. Furthermore, Dorner & Curtis, 2003 believe a common user interface replaces the multiple interfaces found among individual electronic library resources, reducing the time and effort spent by the user in both searching and learning to use a range of databases. Although the primary function of a common user interface is to simplify the search process, such products can be holistic solutions designed to address requirements other than searching, such as user authentication and site branding.
Works Cited The 1920s an Overview. Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web.
Paul, E. Geruzzi, “Ready or Not Computers are Coming to the People”, OA4 Magazine of History, July 2010, 25-28
A library or information unit must have a dedicated plan on having an organized Collection Development Policy, represents the guideposts of all types of library institutions. Collection development is the process of planning, selecting, acquiring and evaluating the library collections’ convenience to print and electronic collection developments. Thus, it is essential to have a written collection development policy, a statement of general collection building principles with desalinating the purpose and content of a collection in terms of relevance and internal audiences (Clayton and Gorman 2007). Broadly, the international and local libraries have sketched written collection development policies which they are aware of its uses. Recently, the written policies consistently renewed with the rise of digital collections. However, the value of the written collection development plan shakes with the complexity of managing electronic resources, funding and time considerations, criticism on how it written and also its inflexibility. This essay will examine the arguments for having the advantages of the written collection development policy (CDP) and the issues evolve which against the latter.
The "pervasive, invasive information infrastructure...is as much a part of our lives as religion was for medieval surfs" (Tetzeli 1994, p. 60). But is it too much? We've all seen the mind-numbing statistics about the exponential growth of information and of technological means of distributing and accessing it. However, some people question whether the problem really is one of overload. One source of the problem is actually the multiplicity of communication channels. Unlike earlier eras, such as when printing presses replaced manuscript copying, new technologies are not replacing older ones but are adding to the host of media choices (Davidson 1996). With these multiple channels the information flow is now simultaneous and multidirectional. However, most traditional information management practices are too linear and specific: they were pipes developed for a stream, not an ocean (Alesandrini 1992). The sheer quantity of information and the speed with which it can be acquired give an illusion of accomplishment (Uline 1996).
The proponents of technology have always believed that technology is a product of independent creation and thus follows its own pace. They say that technology is forceful and society does not have a choice but to adapt to the changes that it imposes on the people. The members of any particular society may not be actually happy with the change but eventually they learn to accept it, as a result of which the process of change comes a full circle. This idea however is debatable because many critics point out that technology is in fact a planned phenomenon. Not only this but also they point out that there are certain forces that control and introduce technology into the society and that the expected changes from such an introduction is said to be a deliberate attempt at transforming the society. Marshall McLuhan wrote extensively about this subject in his book The Gutenberg Galaxy. The book is basically about the changes that were imposed in the European society as a result of the creation of the printing press in the fifteenth century. It was this printing press that was responsible for a number of changes in the society, which include the social, political and economic forces that were present at the time. The printing press was primarily responsible for the Protestant Reformation because a large number of bibles were available for everyone to read which meant, “Every man can be a priest.” The following essay will thus attempt to discuss McLuhan’s ideas in the light of the phenomenon of technology and discuss whether it is relevant to the current revolution in electronic publishing. The initial Gutenberg revolution discussed by McLuhan is just an introduction of other things to come. He is more interested in finding out about the...
...arena. 500 years ago there was a shift from transcription of texts by hand to a much more efficient process of duplication. The internet has made strides in making the printed book obsolete in the same way. More and more people are retiring their old encyclopedias in exchange for the internet’s fast and broader database of information. The comparison between the printing press and the internet highlights the pattern in which history unfolds. Rufus Historie is famously quoted for saying, “History follows a pattern of events that recur in different eras.” It is true. New inventions evolve and replace the old, the new inventions too become dated and are replaced by something newer. The pattern present in the evolution of handwritten texts to the printing press to the internet represents the cycle of human technological advancement; out with the old, in with the new.
However, iIn spite of the current pre-eminence of e-books, it may be argued that they are not likely to replace print books anytime soon or possibly at all. Both formats have their advantages and drawbacks, which makes for one of them difficult to replace the other. Moreover, they serve differents needs and purposes. E-books are famous for their portability. Hundreds of e-books can be stored on a single device. Thus e-books don’t take shelving space and are convenient to take on travel, while even a few paper books are bulky and quite heavy to carry around. Numerous e-books are in open access, while paper books are not routinely available free of charge. E-books may be acquired and accessed immediately online, a feature I enjoy especially and treasure most: many a time I was able to buy and read an e-book at home within minutes of learning of its existence. Needless to say, e-books are considerably easier to cite and quote than print books, since the copy-paste feature spares us the trouble of retyping the quoted text. Another important advantage of digital books is their specialized software, which makes reading much easier: search and reference tools, changeable font size and day/night mode, dictionaries. Last but not least, e-books conserv...
The discussion into the relevance of this question can only be fabricated based on the definitive consideration of the internet, a key digital facet that expedites the abrasion of print publications. The internet has rendered access to information very effective, easy and strategic. Gone are the days when one would walk miles to the nearest library in order to satisfy their appetite for reading. With the internet, information storage has largely been restructured and can be retrieved in various digital forms. It is therefore commonsensical to assume that many publications, previously in print form, will eventually appear in digital format as e-books. To champions of printed books, this futuristic scenario provides the basis for their arguments.