Digital Libraries Essay

Ashley Tipton digital Libraries Introduction A simple definition of a digital program depository subroutine program library is a library where exhibitions atomic number 18 stored in digital formats instead of somatogenic formats and accessible via com come outers. The content skunk past be accessed loc completelyy, as in at heart a library, or remotely more(prenominal)(prenominal) as from other places on a college campus or from a usagers home. Many people believe that digital libraries are the future. on that point are as well as those that still hold on to the belief that the tralatitious brick and mortar building is the musical mode a library is supposed to be and that moving to the digital real is non the direction a library should be heading.History The culture revolution is superstar of the marvels of the 20th century. We are at a time animate in an reading society where roughly every matchless around us has a computer, a smartphone, and is connected to the Internet. As our society has compel more and more connected, libraries pull in as well as started to become more digitized. Library mechanization came into popularity in the early 1950s. It started with punched card applications to library technical services operations. In 1965, Licklider coined the contrive library of the future to refer to his resourcefulness of a fully computer-based library and and so in 1978, F.W. Lancaster wrote of the paper little library (Harter, 1996).Other price later on that were used to recognize the library of the future were electronic library, practical(prenominal) library, library without walls, and bionic library (Harter, 1996). The margin digital library came to be from the digital Libraries Initiative. In 1994, six universities in the joined States were granted 24 million dollars for digital library research. This was brought on by the sharp boom of the Internet.Digital library is the call up that was most widely adopted by ac ademics, researchers, and bibliothecs and is used to describe the touch of digitizing selective information resources. Digitization According to Ram Nath Maurya, in that respect is a stress for three things in the digital world (Maurya, 2011) Awareness of information which gives the breath of vision. Awareness of technology which gives the exponent to make the visions manifest. Awareness of needs bid the insight to use professional skills and talents to greater effect.The meaning of this is that it is important for the user to bedevil information that is soft locatable and easily accessible. Nowadays, library patrons have become information certified and no longer essential to handgrip and go to the library to go steady what they need. They want to access it access the information electronically. The process of digitizing implies the production of a digital adoptive for a physical object (Unsworth, 2004). in that respect are legion(predicate) different items in libr aries that are digitized.This ranges from serials that apprise be establish either in print or online to rare books and archives that are now organism preserved in a digital format. There are galore(postnominal) positive outcomes that come from digitizing parts of a librarys collection. There is slight live in reshelving the item. The item is simultaneously available to multiple users. The item does non have to be replaced, since it is not being used and there is no calamity of it being lost. Also, if it is a rare item, it can be preserved more easily as it will be less frequently handled. Why Go Digital?The most valuable aspect of the digital library is its reduction in cost. There are some(prenominal) fees that are negated much(prenominal) as staff pay, book maintenance, rent, and excess books. This makes the cost of the digital library much less to guard than that of a traditional library. Also, increased reduction in the use of paper has a positive wedge on the envir onment. Environmental scientists all all over the world favor digital libraries to answer reduce paper usage. Libraries that have a digital presence can be r to each oneed all over the world, thus allowing the library to have a far greater audience beyond their local community.Their collection can be pctd and accessed from anywhere. As distance education becomes more popular, it is level off more important for libraries to have an online presence. Students who talent not be able to physically access their work librarys collection can instead find what they need on their website. Many libraries are offering a vary tumescent amount of databases containing full-text journals and also electronic books. The interlibrary give program allows students to order books from their own school and other libraries without leaving their home.The role of the librarian in a digital library is still vastly important. They are infallible to package and repackage information. Librarians set up the proxies and open-URLs. They do electronic publishing, provide reference instruction, and hear patrons how to use electronic resources. Also, there is ceaselessly more information that needs to be digitized. Disadvantages of Digital Libraries There are many threats to the nature of digital libraries. Computer viruses are a danger if libraries are not careful to protect their hardware and software.Also, the lavishly initial cost of infrastructure such as the hardware, software, network, and IT professionals can be a downside and then also the cost to maintain and upgrade when needed. Standardization is another divulge that libraries can face when moving to a digital format. Each library is different and therefore it is extremely likely that each library will have a very different way of digitizing their collection and presenting their information online. Another potential hassle is copyright. Digital libraries have to find a way to properly distribute information without vio lating copyright law.The copyright of the author has to be protected as items are digitized and put into an online collection. Future of Digital Libraries The future burn for libraries is to keep moving toward a digital format. Daniel Akst, the author of The Webster Chronicle, sums it up in one simple statement the future of libraries-and of information-is digital. He states, All the problems associated with digital libraries are clothed up in archiving, and goes on to state, if in 100 years people can still read your article, well have resolved the problem.Computer storage continues to rise up at an exponential rate and the cost keeps going down. It is believed that eventually, given the current progression of technology, a person will be able to virtually access all recorded information. There are many large scale digitisation projects current at places such as Google, the one thousand thousand Book Project, and Internet Archive. The technology fundament scanners and the di gitization techniques also keeps improving. There have been recent advancements in how books are handled and insertion technologies such as optical role recognition.Libraries will continue to become more equipped to digitize their own collections and share them with the world. Bibliography Akst, Daniel. The Webster Chronicle. New York Bluehen, 2002. Print. Harter, S. (1996, September). What is a digital library? definitions, content, and issues. A paper presented at KOLISS DL 96 international conference on digital libraries and information services for the twenty-first century, Seoul, Korea. Retrieved from http//php. indiana. edu/harter/koreapaper. htm Lagoze, C. , Krafft, D. , Payette, S. , & Jesuroga, S. (2005). What is a digital library anymore, besides?.D-Lib Magazine, 11(11), Retrieved from http//www. dlib. org/dlib/november05/lagoze/11lagoze. html Maurya, R. (2011). Digital library and digitization. internationalistic Journal of Information Dissemination & Technology. , 1( 4), 228-331. Retrieved from http//web. ebscohost. com. proxy. lib. fsu. edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=7&hid=9&sid=4c2e1991-9b6d-48bc-bd10-edec1ba6b69esessionmgr11 Unsworth, J. (2004, May 17). The value of digitization for libraries and humanities scholarship. Retrieved from http//people. lis. illinois. edu/unsworth/newberry. 04. html