CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

We are in the age of a networked society where IT in addition to its use in all spheres of human activity has been used extensively to record, store, and disseminate the information in the digital form. IT has almost converted the world into a global village. The revolution in the IT sector is influencing the information industry also. Libraries are also changing to meet the demand put on them.

The new generation whose demand for information is never met is always demanding that traditional libraries should be developed as a well-equipped and interconnected as digital libraries. If we consider that the information is for use and for all then why not libraries for all? Why not libraries become universal’ open for all those who seek for information. By considering this view, a number ‘ of large organizations in USA and Europe have already more or less switched over to digital mode. They are making digital images of periodicals which are not available in electronic form and there after no new procurement are being made on print media if a digital version is available.

Examples of such organizations are University Micrographic Inc. (UMI of USA), National lnstitute of Scientific and Technical Information (INIST of France) etc.

The term Digital Library has a variety of potential meanings, ranging from a digitized collection of material that one might find in a traditional library through to the collection of all digital information along with the services that make that information useful to all possible users. As there are many definitions of a “digital library,” terms such as “electronic library” and ‘Virtual library” are

often used synonymously. A digital library is nothing but a large database for

the people who are working on hypertext environment. It is an environment, which supports the full life cycle of creation, storage, preservation, dissemination and use of data, information and knowledge.

According to Arms a digital library is a managed collection of information with associated services where the information is stored in digital format and accessible over a network. The digital library federation in the USA defines the digital library as: Digital libraries are organizations that provide the resources, including the specialized staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities.

A digital library is an organized collection of digitized material or it’s holding in the digital form, which can be accessible by a computer 011 the network by using TCP/IP or other protocol.

The Digital Library is:

1.       Organized collection of multimedia and other types of resourcecues.

2.       Resources are available in computer process able form.

3.       The function of acquisition, storage, preservation, retrieval is carried out through the use of digital technology.

4.       Access to the entire collection is globally available directly or indirectly across a network.

5.       Support users in dealing with information objects.

6.       Helps in the organization and presentation of the above objects via electronic/digital means etc.

The first major acknowledgment of the importance of digital libraries came in a 1994 announcement that $24.4 million of US federal funds would be dispersed among six universities for’ ’digital library” research (NSF 1994). This funding came through a joint initiative of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The projects were at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois, the University of California-Santa Barbara, and Stanford University.

These six well-funded projects helped set in motion the popular definition of a’’digital library.” These projects were computer science experiments, primarily in the areas of architecture and information retrieval. According to an editorial in D-Lib Magazine, ‘Rightly or wrongly, the DLI-1 grants were frequently criticized as exercises in pure research, with few practical applications” (Hirtle, 1999).

Though these projects were exciting attempts to experiment with digital collections, in no sense of the word did they resemble libraries. They had little or no service components, no custodianship over collections, no sustainability, no base of users, and no ethical traditions. We will call this the “experimental” stage of digital library development (see Table 1.1). Because efforts during this experimental stage were the first to receive such widespread acknowledgment under the term “digital library”, they established a popular understanding of that term that has persisted for many years.

1.2 Table Stages of digital library development

State           date             sponsor                                   what 

I                  1994           NSF/ARPA/NASA                  experiments          on

Experiment                                                                    collections  of digital                                                                                   materials

II               1998/99        NSF/ARPA/NASA                  begin to consider

Developing                    DLF/CLIR                               custodianship,                                                                                             sustainability, user                                                                                               communities

III Mature   ?                 funded        through Real sustainable normal channels?                                      Interoperable digital libraries

By 1996, social scientists who had previously worked with conventional libraries began trying to broaden the term “digital libraries” (Bishop and Star1996; Bergman et al. 1996). But the real breakthrough came in late 1998 when the US federal government issued their highly funded DL-2 awards (Griffinto projects that contained some elements of traditional library service, such as custodianship, sustainability, and relationship to a community of users.

          Also around that time, administrators of conventional libraries began building

serious digital components As librarians and social scientists became more involved in these digital projects, efforts moved away from computer science experiments into project that were more operational. We shall call this the “developing” stage of digital libraries. By the late 1990s, particularly under the influence of the US Digital Library Federation, projects began to address traditional library components such as stewardship over a collection and interoperability between collections. But even though digital library developers have made great progress on issues such as real interoperability and digital preservation, these are far from being solved in a robust operational environment. In order to enter the “mature” stage where we can really call these new entities “digital libraries”, they will need to make much more progress in moving conventional library components, such as sustainability and interoperability, into the digital realm. And developers need to begin to seriously address how they can move library ethical traditions (such as free speech, privacy, and equal access) into the digital realm as well. The remainder of this chapter examines important efforts to move us in those directions.

As digital library developers construct large collections of material in digital form, we need to consider how digital works will provoke changes in long¬standing practices that have grown up around analogue works. Elsewhere this author has outlined how electronic art will likely provoke changes in conservation and preservation practices (Busser 2001a) and how the growing body of moving image material in digital form is beginning to reshape the role of film archives and archivists (Busser 2001b). But at a very pragmatic level, all repositories of digital works need to worry about the persistence of those works over time. Longevity metadata are necessary in order to keep digital material over long periods of time. While saving bits may be fairly straightforward, saving digital works is not. Digital works are very fragile, and pro-active steps need to be taken in order to make sure that they persist over time (for more on this subject, see the Digital Longevity website maintained by this author at <http:/Ysunsite.berkeley.edu/Longevity>). Elsewhere, I have outlined five key factors that pose digital longevity challenges (the Viewing Problem, the Scrambling Problem, the Interrelation Problem, the Custodial Problem, and the Translation Problem), and have suggested that community consensus over metadata can be a key factor in helping digital works persist over time (Besser 2000).

          Recently, the major US bibliographic utilities have begun serious efforts to reach consensus on preservation metadata for digital works (OCLC/RLG 2001a, 2001b). Widespread adoption of mis type of standard will make the challenge of digital persistence much more tractable. And late in 2001 the Library of Congress, with the help of the Council on Library and Information Resources, began a planning process for a National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation.

          Program (see<http://www.digitalpreservation.govndiipp/>). Widespread support for the emerging metadata standards mentioned here will greatly improve interoperability between collections and the sustainability of those collections over time. This will help us move away from isolated experiments with digital collections towards sustainable digital libraries.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In human endeavors, there are a lot of developments, researches, and, discoveries, which result in diverse production of publications and library materials. These have brought increase in difficulty of library system and its operations.

Based on these, a number of problems are facing the library systems, these include:

i.        Unnecessary delay in library processes.

ii.       High cost of staff recruitment and maintenance.

iii.      There are mistakes in operations/processes.

iv.      Incompetence in library operation.

v.       Too many paper work and replication of data on multiple pieces of paper.

vi.      Unreliable card catalogue system.

vii.     Damage of books by students i.e. students tear/hide books.

1.4     AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this research is to:

1.       To develop a Digital Library Management Resource System which is a Library Reservation System for the convenience of Library users.

2.       Creation of identification and access control i.e. Username and password.

3.       To design a secure library management system using biometric technology, in order to prevent loss of books in the library.

4.       To computerize catalog stock keeping: A computerize database of all the books.

5.       To design a functional and reliable program using VB.

6.       To create a program that will enhance the traditional searching process for the books in the library: it is much easier to search /find books or resource materials in the catalog.

7.       To help manage the effective delivery of digital library services

1.6.    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

          Library is an important part of the academic sector as well as some professional sectors too like, Advocacy etc. The efficiency of a library lies 011 how Hie books and odier materials are arranged and how easily one can get the books of their choice. This project looks into the processes involved in keeping tracks of the books in the library system. We concentrated on the operations going on in the Acquisition, cataloging and most especially, circulation sections in the library, taking Kenuel Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechniclibrary as a case study.

1.7    LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This software is meant to transform the hectic manual system to a more efficient computerize system. This application can be used efficiently in educational institute and certain professional sectors also. This application assumes that the user doesnot possess the right to modify information about books. This study will not look in detail into other sections of the library except the only three sections aforementioned in the scope of the study. The intuitive works like reading of a book before classification and technical work like ownership stamping conveyance of books are not part of this study.

1.8   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study gave birth to a new system, Secure Library ManagementSystem designed to bring efficiency in the library system operations. It will eliminate some of the problems associated with the old (manual) system of library management, which include cost of staff maintenance, theft, and inefficiency. It also allows institutions to manage the affairs of libraries effectively easily and efficiently.

1.9    DEFINITION OF TERMS

Design: A detail plan or arrangement to achieve a particular purpose.

System: An assemblage of interrelated elements, which we find interesting to study. It could be a process, a machine or a program.

Program: A set of instructions and procedures that tells the computer what to do.

Application: A program designed to perform particular tasks.

User: The user here refers to the people who make use of the library. It also refers to the person who uses the program (e.g. the User or library staff). Automation/Computerization: It is a process of making a system to carry out^ its processes on its own. That without much helps from man.

Module: An independent unit that is part of a larger development. It is the same thing as sub-tasks.