Digital Libraries in the Making

The advancements in science and technology led to miraculous changes in the art of recording and reproduction of knowledge, making it possible to preserve huge quantities of information with greater accuracy, economy and durability. Digital libraries are the future avatars of the present day libraries. Most of them are in the process of making and are generally being developed in isolation by a number of organizations, specially the educational institutions all over the world. Once developed and connected, the digital libraries will supercede all the traditional libraries of today reducing them to merely museums of books and it is going to happen within a short span of speed of information retrieval and accuracy they offer is unparallel to the existing type of libraries. This book covers the development of the various kinds of information media specifically the digital technology of recording and reproduction of information which led to the transformation which led to the transformation of the present day libraries. A reference has been made to the major projects of digitizing the library and information resources at the national as well as the international level. It has been found that India being strong enough technically is playing a major role in developing the digital libraries both domestically as well as on the international scene. The book also discusses about some of the major information networks and the sources of information available digitally at present. It is hoped that the book will be useful for the students and faculty of library and information science, working librarians and information professionals educationists and all those persons who are interested in recording and retrieval of information through the modern means.