Article Details

An Analysis on Various Techniques For Developing a Digital Library Architecture |

Balijepalli Bhagyalakshmi, in Journal of Advances in Science and Technology | Science & Technology

ABSTRACT:

Information technology has revolutionized all walks oflife and like any other profession, libraries are also at the threshold of thistechnology era. Libraries harness these technologies for the purpose ofeffective and efficient operations and services to serve their users in abetter way. In this regard, Indian academic libraries are witnessing tremendoustransition from manual system of access to automated system of access toinformation. As a result, the automation in Indian academic libraries hasbecome the top most priority. Nevertheless, the selection of appropriatesoftware package for effectively automating library operations and services hasbeen a challenging task for librarians in India. Even though, a number oflibrary software packages were developed in this direction by research anddevelopment libraries in India, however, only few of that software survived,while the rest did not last long due to their shortcomings in compatibilitywith the international standards. Against this background, a number of Indian librariesswitched over to foreign software packages to rise above these shortcomings. Notably,the research and development libraries and large academic libraries in Indiaare using standard library management software to enhance their operations andservices. In this backdrop, the researcher has described thedevelopment of library automation in detail from its historic time to modernperiod. The landmark developments have been discussed both at Indian as well asat global level. Initially, library automation received cold response inIndian academic libraries. However, with the falling price of hardware’s, easyavailability of software and ever-increasing interest among the libraryprofessionals, automation in academic libraries picked up the momentum. Thepresent research effort is an attempt to examine the current performance oflibrary software and automated library system of the central libraries of twoinstitutes of national importance and one of the first ISO Certified Universitylibraries in India.