ROAD-MAP FOR A NEW CONSORTIUM TOWARDS STRENGTHENING NARS LIBRARIES

C. DEVAKUMARPrincipal Scientist

Indian Agricultural Research InstituteNew Delhi-110012

CURRENT SCENARIO

Services too archaic in the light of ICT Revolution Localized services Possible duplication of resources Space limitation for growth Staff crunch Budget constraints Poor visibility @ world catalog

The National Agenda for Governance, which is the Government's policy blueprint, has taken due note of the ICT Revolution that is sweeping the globe

Many Indian Libraries have taken up the challenge of modernization to develop the machine readable catalogue (MARC), machine readable full text documents to provide greater accessibility to full text databases of different nature;

Changing the focus of public libraries from providing library services to the fulfilling the long pending focus of right to information.

Metamorphosis: Winds of Change

No physical boundary. Round the clock availability. Multiple access. The same resources can be used simultaneously by a number of institutions and patrons Information retrieval. The user is able to use any search term (word, phrase, title, name, subject) to search the entire collection with user-friendly interfaces, giving clickable access to its resources. Preservation and conservation. Digitization is not a long-term preservation solution for physical collections, but does succeed in providing access copies for materials that would otherwise fall to degradation from repeated use. Digitized collections and born-digital objects pose many preservation and conservation concerns that analog materials do not.. Space. Unlike traditional libraries digital information requires very little physical space to contain them and media storage technologies are more affordable than ever before. Added value. The quality of images can be improved. Digitization can enhance legibility and remove visible flaws such as stains and discoloration Operational savings

WHY DIGITAL LIBRARY?

LIMITATIONSAccess to digital libraries is dependent upon a stable information technology infrastructure (power, computers, communications links etc).Limited resources in smaller libraries and repositories may not permit in dealing with long term digitization projects. With technological standards changing over time, forward migration must be a constant consideration of every library necessitating to transfer digital objects to new and more stable formats. There would be rising costs that result from continually replacing the older technologies. Complex intellectual property matters may become involved since digital material isn't always owned by a library.

CONSORTIUM PARTNERS:Selection Criteria

Professional librarian with pro-active attitude and serviceEnough resources at handAssured internet connectivity and infra-structureRegional Balance

Proposed Title

STRENGTHENING OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT UNDER NARS

NARS LBRARY MISSION: TO TRANSFORM

FROM A TRADITIONAL LIBRARY FORMATTO A PORTAL ACCESSIBLE

BY World Wide Web

“ take an Indian Initiative to ICT to promote and facilitate the development of digitization of its resources and catalogues and provide life long accessibility of information through library resources through modernization and automation of its services.”

Proposed Consortium Objectives

Strengthening of automation of library management and to develop union catalogue compatible with the world catalog

Creation and maintenance of digital repositories Networking such digital libraries within the consortium

and extend the network to relevant organizations outside NARS

Capacity building of librarians of NARS and other professionals on modern aspects of Library and Information Management

Possible Types of Resources

Annual Reports, newsletter, success stories, special bulletins, convocation addresses, endowment lectures, faculty/ scientists’ profiles

M. Sc. Theses (only title, author, abstract and summary), Pre-prints, Research and Review papers, patents, monographs, handbooks, extension materials, course curricula and lecture schedules, lecture notes and proceedings of trainings, power point presentations etc.

Final reports of important committees, notifications and projects Statistical Reports, Archives of heritage value such as awards, certificates, visitors’

book, rare photos and such other collections

ELEMENTS OF ACTIVITIES

Conversion of library catalogs into Union Catalogues compatible and accessible to global network

Digitization of dissertations and other institutional publications

Use of Web 2.0 technologies and discussion forum Embedded search services using new standard tools Capacity building of librarians and interested

professionals of NARS

Technical Expertise to be hired

Digitalization: Identification of Standard Software and Tools, and Protocols,Benchmark for Best Practices for Developing Value Based Products, Use of New Technology for Scanning, Database Generation, Content Analysis, Content ManagementLibrary Automation Management

Conservation and PreservationWeb Enabling TechnologyPortal Application

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: BENCHMARK FOR BEST PRACTICES

DIGITIZING TECHNIQUE : SCANNING, OCR, RESOLUTION PROOFING, FORMATINGFrameworks choice of repository software: DSpace, Eprints, and Greenstone Digital Library Software. The Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) for Digital preservationMETADATA CREATION USING UNIMARC AND DUBLIN COREFile format : TIFF and PDF or any other; Organization of Images and the corresponding metadata in DBMS using standard open source softwareCONTENT ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT SYSTEMPLATFORM USED AND PORTABILITYWEB ENABLINGDELIVERABLES PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION

RETRIEVAL INTERFACE WITH STANDARD SEARCH STRATEGY: Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) or Z39.50 protocol

HRD

Capacity building of librarians and other professionals on Library management with reference to Union catalog Creation, Organization and management of online digital

libraries and Institutional Repositories Use of Web 2.0 Technologies User Interaction and web-security Online Search servicesOrganizing annual conference cum workshop

DELIVERABLES

Automated Library management Institutional digital repositories Union catalogs – serials, monographs, dissertations

etc. Website with content management system open access service provider Trained librarians in maintenance of digital online

library

As we move into the electronic era of digital objects it is important to know that there are new barbarians at the gate and that we are moving into an era where much of what we know today, much of what is coded and written electronically, will be lost forever. We are, to my mind, living in the midst of digital Dark Ages; consequently, much as monks of times past, it falls to librarians and archivists to hold to the tradition which reveres history and the published heritage of our times.

Terry Kuny, National Library of Canada (1998)

LEST WE FORGET

THANKS