Management of Digital Libraries:

Issues, Challenges, Present Scenario

and Future Prospects

Anil Kumar Mishra

LIO, NCHRC, NIHFW
New Delhi
Email id: anilmlis@gmail.com
Blog: http://anilkmishra.blogspot.com
Introduction

The development of the information structure of the world

and growing use of the Internet are creating a rapidly-
changing environment that provide easy access to the
digital material. The new generation whose demand for
information is never met is always demanding that
traditional libraries should be developed as 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?
Cont.

There is no doubt that the present era is an age of

information and hence structurally our libraries and
allied entities are the branded responsible organization
for procuring organizing and disseminating the
information to the users.

But the widely experience factors such as budgetary crisis

and voluminous character of information have changed
the concept of libraries which has to move parallel with
rapidly changing development in the field of information
technology taking place every moment.
 Definition
The Digital library federation in the USA defines the
digital library as:

• Digital Libraries are organization that provide the

resources, including the specialized staff, to select,
structure, offer intellectual access to interpret,
distributed, 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.
Cont.

 Technically speaking, digital libraries can be viewed as

infrastructures for supporting and creation of information
resources, facilitating the movement of information across
global networks, allowing the effective and efficient
interaction among knowledge producers, librarians and
information and knowledge seekers.
• The term digital library has 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 sense that make that
information useful to all possible users.

• Digital libraries don’t mean libraries in the classical sense but

a network of multimedia system which call for carrying out of
the functions of libraries in a new way, which are digital in
nature.
Digital libraries: Viewpoints

1. From an information retrieval point of view, it is

a large database.
2. For people who work on hypertext technology, it
is one particular application of hypertext
methods.
3. For those working in wide-area information
delivery, it is an application of the web.
4. For software developers collections of computer
algorithms or software programs are digital
libraries.
Objectives

 The Primary objective of a digital library is to enhance the

digital collection in a substantial way.
 To Provides scalability and flexibility to access the
information.
 To collect store, organize and access information in
digital form via communication channel.
 To provide personalized & retrospective service in
efficient way.
 To have large digitized database.
 To provide coherence view of all information with a
library in any format.
 To meet the requirement of patrons by providing better
services.
Issues And Challenges

 Financial Management.
 Copyright.
Hardware
 Inconvenient system/infrastructure.
management
 Managerial issues and challenges
Software
 Preservation archiving. Management
 Attitude of professional.
Collection
 Technical barrier Management
Cont.

 The cost involved in the creation and maintenance

of digital library is very high.
 Copyright has been called as the “single most
vexing barrier to digital library development.
 Poor electricity, poor quality of telephone service
lack of technology standards inadequate library
collection ,legal restrictions etc.
Managerial issues and challenges:

Inadequate & poor hardware are another issue

for digital library.
Decision regarding the use of a site license
Internet Protocol access or to have individual or
group passwords is major software
management activity.
Preservation of material has become a great
challenge as the cost involved in this process is very
high.
Attitude of professional
Lack of proper technical skill & technical
architecture.
12/08/21
 Present scenario and future prospects
 In the present era there have been lots of advancement and development
in the field of Information technology.
 The joint Digital Libraries Initiative (DLI) sponsored by the National
Science Foundation (NSF), Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA)
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was
established as a project of the US Federal Internet Infrastructure
Technology and Application Working Group of the High Performance
Computing and Communications initiatives.
 The joint initiative funded digital library proposals from six universities
with several external collaborators. Joint Digital Libraries Initiative (DLI)
and the project of Library of Congress (LC), Xerox, TULIP (The
University Licensing Program), Network Computer Science Technical
Report Library (NCSTRL), Research Library Group (RLG), Online
Computer Library Centre (OCLC), Network Digital Library of Thesis and
Dissertation (NDLTD) (http://www.netltd.org/) is a digital library project
of international significance, launched at the initiative of the Virginia
Tech. University, U.S.A.
 Benchmarking proper standard are required because digital libraries are
operated in such a network environment where there are both consumer
and suppliers of digital collection & services.
 Suggestions:
 The uniformity of standards must be maintained. e.g. raster
graphics, ASCII texts, GIS and metadata schemes.
 Digital library system should also have a strong collection
interface capable of embracing almost all the popular digital
standards and formats and software platforms .
 The preservation of digital content for long periods of time,
across multiple generations of hardware and software
technologies and standards is essential in the creation of
effective digital libraries Therefore due consideration must
be given to the important stage in maintaining efficient
service provision.
Contd.

 There is need to accommodate these techniques

and technologies in an efficient manner. This is
possible only if experts hands are there in each
and every field.
 Deploying cutting edge Resource Description
Framework (RDF) standards for metadata and its
encoding to minimize the efficiently &
effectiveness of the information access and
retrieval
 Providing adequate no. of computer workstations
and other equipments.
 The sources of finance should be planned
efficiently for the management of common
contents of the digital library.
conclusion
As the professionals have an ultimate responsblity
to break through this there hold of seminar to
move into cyber space and navigate through world
wide to realize the dream of digital libraries in true
senses. If we concentrate at the reasons why there
are very few digital libraries In India, we can very
clearly see that our government is not taking
proper decisions for the development of it. Our
government must take proper steps for the
development of digital libraries and should have
the motto “each library a digital library”, then only
librarians and information professionals are going
to progress into the 21st century by presenting an
effective "digital library" model.
 anilkmishra

Thank You