A library is a collection of sources, resources. and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. It can mean the collection, the building or room that houses such a collection, or both. The term "library" has itself acquired a secondary meaning: "a collection of useful material for common use." This sense is used in fields such as computer science, mathematics, statistics and biology. Libraries often provide a place of silence for studying.Public and institutional collection and services may be intend for use by people who choose not to- or cannot afford to- purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research. In addition providing materials, libraries also provide the services of librarians who are experts at finding and organizing information and at interpreting information needs.
However, with the sets and collection of media and media other than books for storing information,many libraries are now also repositories and access points for maps, prints, or other documents and various storage media such as micro form, audio tapes, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, DVDs, and video games,Libraries may also provide public facilities to access subscription database and the Internet.
Thus modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and formats and from many sources.They are understood as extending beyond the physical walls of a building, by including material accessible by navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with variety of digital tools.
Types of Libraries
Libraries can be divided into categories by several methods such as:
- By the entity that supports or perpetuates them(e.g. academic libraries, corporate libraries, government libraries, historical society libraries, private libraries,public libraries, school libraries and special libraries)
- by the type of documents or material they hold(e.g. data libraries, digital libraries,picture libraries, slide libraries and tool libraries)
- By the subject of documents they hold(e.g, architecture libraries, fine arts libraries, law libraries, medical libraries, theological libraries)
Academic Libraries:These libraries are located on the campuses of colleges and universities and serve primarily the students and faculty of that and other academic institutions. Some academic libraries, especially those at public institutions, are accessible to members of the general public in whole or in part.
Public Libraries or Public Lending Libraries: These libraries provide service to the general public and make at least some of their books available for borrowing, so that readers may use them at home over a period of days or weeks, Typically,libraries issue library cards to community members wishing to borrow books. Many free services and events to the public, such as reading groups and toddler time.
Research Libraries: These libraries are intended for supporting scholarly research, and therefore maintain permanent collection and attempt to provide access to all necessary material. Research libraries are most often academic libraries or national libraries within their special libraries have research libraries within their special field and very few of the largest public libraries also serve as research libraries
School Libraries:Most public and private primary and secondary schools have libraries designed the school's curriculum.
Special Libraries: All other libraries fall into this category.Many private business and public organizations, including hospitals, museums, research laboratories,law firms, and many government departments and agencies, maintain their own libraries foe the use of their employees in doing specialized research related to their work. Special libraries may or may not be accessible to some identified part of the general public. Branches of a large academic or research libraries dealing with particular subjects are also usually called "special libraries": they are generally associated with one or more academic departments.Special libraries are distinguished from special collections,which are branches or parts of a library intend for rare books, manuscripts,and similar material.
Many institution make a distinction between circulating libraries and collecting libraries Many modern libraries are a mixture of both, as they contain a general collection for circulation.and a reference collection which is often more specialized, as well as restricted to the library premises
A Shift from Traditional to Digital Library
Information and communication Technology has revolutionized the concept of libraries.The traditional closed access libraries are shifting towards open access library. The open access libraries are shifting towards automated library, the automated one towards the electronics, the electronics to digital and finally end in Digital library.Based on the technology used, libraries can be categorized as follows:
Traditional Libraries: The Collection of the traditional libraries is mostly print media. manuscripts etc are not well organized.The documents are deteriorating at a rapid rate, the collection information is not easy to locate and so does not easily reach to user, again the traditional libraries rare confined itself within a physical boundary
Automated Library:A library with machine-readable catalogue, computerized acquisition,circulation and OPAC(Online Public Access Catalogue) are called as automated library.The holding of this type of libraries are same as that of traditional library.
Electronic Library:When automated libraries goes for Local Area Networking and CD-ROM networking and started procuring electronic library. The resources of the electronic libraries are in both print and electronics form. The electronic Medias are used for storage retrieval and delivery of information
Digital Library:It is a later stage of electronic library. In digital library high speed optical fiber are used for LAN and the access is over WAN and provide a wide range of Internet based services i.e, audio and video conferencing and like other. The majority of the holding of a digital library is in the computer readable form and also acts as a point of access to other online sources
Hybrid Library:The libraries, which are working both in electronic or digital and print environment, are known as hybrid library. Actually it is a transitional state between print and digital environment. It is estimated that in near future libraries will be of hybrid nature, some of the very strong point in favor of this view are centuries old reading habit of paper,convenience of handling and reading a paper document then the digitized one, incompatible standard of electronics product,different display standard of digital product and its associated problem etc,
Automated Library:A library with machine-readable catalogue, computerized acquisition,circulation and OPAC(Online Public Access Catalogue) are called as automated library.The holding of this type of libraries are same as that of traditional library.
Electronic Library:When automated libraries goes for Local Area Networking and CD-ROM networking and started procuring electronic library. The resources of the electronic libraries are in both print and electronics form. The electronic Medias are used for storage retrieval and delivery of information
Digital Library:It is a later stage of electronic library. In digital library high speed optical fiber are used for LAN and the access is over WAN and provide a wide range of Internet based services i.e, audio and video conferencing and like other. The majority of the holding of a digital library is in the computer readable form and also acts as a point of access to other online sources
Hybrid Library:The libraries, which are working both in electronic or digital and print environment, are known as hybrid library. Actually it is a transitional state between print and digital environment. It is estimated that in near future libraries will be of hybrid nature, some of the very strong point in favor of this view are centuries old reading habit of paper,convenience of handling and reading a paper document then the digitized one, incompatible standard of electronics product,different display standard of digital product and its associated problem etc,
Factors of Change to Digital Libraries
The limited buying power of libraries,complex nature if recent document,storage problem, etc are some of the common factor which are influencing to change to digital mode.Some other factors are:
- Information explosion
- Searching problem in traditional libraries
- Low cost of technology
- Environmental factors: the use of digital libraries is the cleanest technologies to fulfill the slogan "Burn a CD-ROM save a tree"
- New generation needs
Advantages of the Digital Library
The advantages of digital libraries as a means of easily and rapidly accessing books, archives and images of various type are now widely recognized bby commercial interest and public bodies alike.
Traditional libraries are limited by storage space. Digital libraries have the potential to store much more information,simply because digital information requires very little physical space to contaoin it. AS such the cost of maintaining a digital library is much lower than of a tradional library.
A traditional library must spend large sums of money paying for staff, book maintenance, rent, and additional books.Digital libraries may reduce or , in some instances, do ways with these fees. Both types of library require cataloging input to allow users to locate and retrieve material. Digital libraries may be more
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