Impact of Electronic Technology on Libraries
Umeshbhai A Patel
Librarian
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology,
VASAD- 388 306, Anand, Gujarat
Electronic technologies have already had
considerable impact on modern day
documentation. Most of the developed
countries are now using Internet to
facilitate identifying and locating
sources of Information and the gain
access to them. Use of computer
terminals to access database of various
kinds is now routine for many libraries
and online catalogues have replaced card
catalogues. In addition, most libraries
now add electronic resources to their
collection in CD or other forms. These
developments have occurred with
lightening speed.
Electronic Publishing
The handling and use of rare books,
fragile books and non- book materials
are not new problems to libraries. In
recent years, libraries are acquiring non-
book materials and have been
developing special collections at an
accelerated pace. This collection covers
rare books, maps, manuscripts, and
pamphlets, posters, newspapers,
microfilms, slides, little magazines,
graphic materials etc. Preservation of
library materials is a most serious
problem for today’s librarian. The
modern libraries are more concentrating
on dissemination of information than the
preservation of library materials.
What happens to the library in the future
will depend to a very large extent on
developments in related sectors, most
obviously the publishing industry. One
must assume that the quantum of the
World’s publications delivered in
electronic form will increase and so
quantum in print on paper form will
decline.
Networking of libraries provides
linkages through sharing and exchange
of bibliographic and reference services
and text. With the growth of machine-
readable database in libraries, there has
been an increase in the computerized
library system. This in turn results in
upgrading the quality and quantum of
technical communication. Internet
provides the path for the continuous flow
of data among computers using protocol
software. It is the information
superhighway. Its basic applications like
ftp, e-mail and remote login allow flow
of information; various tools like gopher,
www and Archie enable fast access of
reliable data. Its various services like use
net service, telnet service etc. further
enhances its capabilities. Internet is
operating as the network of networks as
if all the libraries of the world are
interconnected, one can therefore get
access to information through PC &
Internet without walking into library. It
is the fastest medium of access to
information of all types at the click of a
mouse. It is an essential element in
libraries today and provides new
dimensions to the way libraries acquire,
process, store and disseminate
information. Access to online
information service has become an
inseparable part of library practice and
libraries have acquired CD-ROM’s and
have mounted them on campus networks
for wide access. Under these
circumstances libraries need to redefine
their role. The Indian library scenario is
not cut-off from the development-taking
place around the world.
E- Documents
A Library document can no longer be
regarded in simple terms as static or a
physical item. Information cannot
necessarily be considered as a complete,
finished piece of work that can easily be
catalogued, classified and consigned to a
collection. Information held in electronic
form can take several forms atonce- a
multimedia fusion not just of sound, text
and image but animation, video clips,
software applications and real time
exhibit. There are three types of
documents for use in a digital resource:
Static, Dynamic and Living. Static
documents are the most basic; they
contain fixed information and never
change their form. Dynamic documents
also contain fixed information but are
able to change their outward form the
embedded
way embedded material is presented to
users. Living documents are able to
change both their form and their
embedded information.
Internet and World Wide Web
In special information units, the
traditional online database and familiar
CD-ROM products have been joined by
the Internet and World Wide Web.
Electronic journals, groupware, e-mail
and intranets technology is advancing at
a phenomenal pace and information
managers face a relentless deluge of new
electronic products and services in the
market.
In developing facilities geared towards
improving end-user access the goal is
therefore to ‘minimize the skill but
maximize the power’. The World Wide
Web currently represents the single most
important common interface from which
a diverse and desperate range of
information can be accessed. A major
feature of the commercial online sector
in recent years has been the rush to
produce Web-based versions of their
products, seen as a crucial prerequisite in
tapping the lucrative end-user market.
E- Books
Electronics publishing has created
opportunities for writers who might not
get their work exposed to a wide
audience, or who might not gain the
chance to publish through the traditional
channels provided by mainstream print
publishing. It has led to new
opportunities to deliver information.
Publishers have begun to make books
available electronically. John Wiley &
Sons, the reputed publisher of Texas for
professionals in technical fields have
claimed that in the coming months two
of their important reference books – The
Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical
Technology and The Wiley
Encyclopedia of Electrical and
Electronics engineering- will be
available online. Japanese scientists are
working on a vending machine to
distribute digital magazines. This could
be down loaded on a cassette and read
with the help of special pocket sized
device. In Texas the state Board of
Education is planning to distribute
electronic books to high school students.
These and other such examples prove
that electronic communication is rapidly
becoming a familiar feature of life today.
Advocates of the printed page may decry
the notion of a paperless society, but
with two electronics book devices
already in the market and with
increasing amount of data available
online, the days of the book appear to be
numbered.
Some of the drawbacks to electronics
books are that they are difficult to use
for sustained reading from a computer
screen, and special equipment is needed
to access the book. The printed book
imposed limits to acquiring a text and
modifying it, a costly book had to be
shared or borrowed and it was
considered unethical to cut up or mark
someone else’s copy. But with the
advent of the electronic revolution, all
such considerations are out of place.
Writing no longer retains its fixity.
Without fixity signification becomes
uncertain. Books can be infinitely
reduced and modified without any
guarantee that the purity of original a
text will be maintained. In contrast, the
advantages to using electronic books
include 24-hour availability, it can be
accessed from anywhere, it cannot be
lost, stolen, or checked out, and copies
may be printed on document as and
when required. Additionally, paper and
print still work best for sustained reading
while electronic distribution of
information is better for communicating
data and small packets of information
avoiding costly postal transits and higher
cost of print media.
E – Journals
Electronic publishing has led to a new
era of communications and information
sharing. Electronic journals have helped
publishers and scholars to disseminate
information much more quickly than
was previously possible. Initially,
electronic journals were seen by many as
a passing fad. Many in the library
profession considered them problematic
and inappropriate for library collections
since they presented problems in terms
of acquisitions, subscriptions,
cataloguing and archiving. Automating
journals was a logical progression of the
trend in libraries to automate routine
practices such as cataloguing and
circulation. The emergence of electronic
journals followed the widespread
acceptance and use of electronic mail,
list serves and discussion groups to
disseminate information quickly to large
audiences. Franks (1993a) offers
following reasons in favour of electronic
publishing:
* The intended audience uses the
Internet more than the general
population and is familiar with using
documents in an electronic form;
* There is a strong move for scholars
to find cheaper ways to promote their
work.
* Libraries are experiencing extreme
financial hardships and cutbacks in
funding.
Electronic journals have not become as
central to scholarly publishing and
libraries as some forward thinking
individuals might have anticipated.
An electronic journal established
within a network can assume a
scholarly role that is more
comprehensive than the role played by
the typical journal in paper form. It can
become the central component in an
electronic center of expertise and a key
element in an online intellectual
community.
References:-
1. Cronin, Blaise, Information Professionals
in
the digital Age-1998.
2. Information Today and Tomorrow 17(2)
1998.
3. University News-36(5), 1998.
4. Horn, Andrew, Oct. 1955, Library
Trends.
5. Student manual of Lib. & Inf. Sc. Kumar.
6. University News-37(38), 1999.
7.Brain, Wave control, The Week, 27th Dec.
1998
Biography:
Umesh A Patel
graduated with
Advance
Accounting
with B. Com
from Anand
Commerce
College, Anand
(Sardar Patel
University, V V
Nagar) in 1986. He has passed M
Com with Management from Department of
Business Studies, S P University, V V
Nagar in 1989. He has passed B Lib. & Inf.
Sc. From Department of Lib. & Information
Sc., S P University, V V Nagar in 1990. He
has passed M Lib. & Inf. Sc. From
Department of Lib. & Information Sc., S P
University, V V Nagar in 1993. He is
currently Librarian at SVIT – Vasad and has
10 years experience of college librarian and
pursuing Ph. D (Planning & Use of E –
Documents in Engineering College Libraries
in Gujarat : A Study) from Dr. Baba Saheb
Ambedkar Open University, Ahmedabad.

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