Building Digital Resources: Creating Facilities at INSA |
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| Authors: | Usha Mujoo-Munshi |
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| Institution: | 1. Informatics Center, Indian National Science Academy, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi, 110 002, India. newexp@nda.vsnl.net.in;2. umunshi@hotmail.com |
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| Abstract: | Today libraries are at a transition phase where twin processes of paper-based environment and changing information-seeking patterns in the electronic/digital environment go hand-in-hand. Hence, all components of the information chain are in a state of flux. The rapid growth in computer and communication technologies have greatly benefited the advanced countries, while the developing countries have not adequately reaped the benefits of such facilities to the desired extent. The application of information technology (IT) in India started on a very modest scale. During the past decade or so several Indian libraries have initiated activities to create, acquire, and provide access to electronic resources. The establishment of networks has had a great impact on libraries and information centers (LICs) in the country, and have further buttressed the IT applications in the LICs to a certain extent. The emergence of the Internet, especially the World Wide Web (www), added a new dimension to information creation and delivery, which also globally triggered digitization programs. Buying access or acquiring digital resources started taking root. The digitization of records (document management) crept in, which attracted librarians and people from other professional backgrounds into records management. This was followed by content management, (currently a popular phrase in this part of the world), also known as digitization. The digitization of documents is now becoming a major activity in libraries and archives. The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a premier scientific body engaged in the dissemination of information to the scientific community at large, publishing and promoting scientific endeavors, besides having other multifaceted human welfare-oriented activities. The growing acceptance of digital media has resulted in libraries buying and providing access to Internet resources, acquiring CD-ROM-based data-sets, and providing services for stand alone or networked CD-ROM environments, and digitizing documents. The Academy library facilitates all three. The Academy has initiated several digitization initiatives for content development and management by way of the scanning of publications, image management, and conversion from digital documents to web-enabled resources. The Academy has adopted a three-pronged approach of providing access to digital resources, and acquiring and creating digital resources, for which INSA suitably augments with IT infrastructures and takes initiatives to provide links to requisite data sets for the benefit of its users. INSA developed and provided IT facilities at a modest scale to its users at a time when only a limited few had developed such facilities in the country. The facilities developed at INSA augur well with the initiation of pilot and sponsored projects pertaining to digitization of records and making provision for creating digital resource bases, thereby contributing to the national digital repository on the one hand and providing access and visibility to national resources on the other. The article dwells upon various elements that have contributed to providing services in the changing information seeking patterns of users in the electronic environment, and the building of digital resource bases, while facilitating others to get involved in digital content creation activities. It is hoped that such endeavors shall help in the building up of a national digital knowledge resource base for the country, and INSA would in the process act as a facilitator. |
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