READIT - 2009 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

Proceedings of READIT-2009, Kalpakkam - 603 102, 29-30 Dec 2009
More than 100 systems are connected to and the services extended to the users. Other
services are also made available for the users like downloading to light pen’s, CD’s and
printouts. Dedicated qualified staffs are place to help students in accessing the data base
subscribed by the library.
A separate wing is totally devoted for the Audio Visual and Video Conferencing
purposes. At a time, 80 participants can take part in discussion or in debate. The interested
users can view educational films on the subjects. There is also a scope for personality
development, communication skill and power point paper presentation.
3. WHAT IS DIGITAL?
"A digital library is a managed collection of information, with associated services,
where the information is stored in digital formats and accessible over a network." (Arms,
2000)
"Digital libraries are focused collections of digital objects, including text, video, and
audio, along with methods for access and retrieval, and for selection, organization, and
maintenance involves two communities: end users who are interested in access and retrieval
and librarians who select, organize, and maintain information collections." (Witten &
Bainbridge, 2003)
4. WHY DIGITIZE?
Digitization helps to preserve the precious materials and to reduce wear and tear on
fragile items. This does not mean however, that digital copies should be seen as replacement
for the original documents. Even after digitization, original documents and artifacts must still
be cared.
It is often said that digital information is transforming the way we learn, the way we
communicate, even the way we think. It is also changing the way that libraries and archives
not only work, but more fundamentally, the very work that they do. It is early to overstateand
underestimate- the transformative power of a new technology, especially when we do not
yet understand the full implications of its many applications.
5. BASIC FUNCTIONS INVOLVED IN SETTING UP A DIGITAL
LIBRARY
- Identification and collection of content to be digitized.
- Classification and digitization of these contents.
- Editing, formatting and storage of the contents.
- Designing search engines to selectively search and access the contents.
- Publishing contents digitally for end-user access.
5.1. Digitization
- Scanning at the highest resolution at an appropriate level of quality to avoid
rescanning and re-handling of the originals.
- Creating and storing a master image file.
- Using system components that are non-proprietary.
- Using image file formats and compression techniques that conform to industry
standards.
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