Automation and Digitization of University Libraries: Status Prospects and Problems

by Neelam Sharma

Resource sharing library networks have been functioning effectively in developed countries since 1930s. Computerization of library and information centres and their networking gained momentum in the developed countries during the mid-1960s. In India, computerization and networking activities started with the establishment of National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT) in 1979. Special libraries were the first to start automated automation of their services. University libraries joined the fray only during the 1990s, when the University Grants Commission established Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) as the national agency for coordinating the library automation activities of universities. The university libraries play a vital role in acquiring and disseminating information for academic and research activities. Digitizing their services therefore, will go a long way in enhancing information delivery. Digital libraries are a way of making educational and research data and information available to faculty, researchers, students and others at the institutions and worldwide. Indeed, the growth of virtual libraries, digital libraries, online databases and library and information networks have transformed the traditional ways of collecting, storing, processing and accessing information. The stories of the automation of various university libraries have been written in recent years all over the world. This has been necessitated as scholars take stock of their intellectual heritage and try to situate higher education in the context of knowledge production. This book gives an overview of development of automation and digitization in university libraries, the university libraries and library networks in India and the status of the use of these technologies in northwest Indian University libraries.

300 pages, Hardcover

Published December 14, 2012