The University of Hong Kong |
D016: School Library Automation
Instructor: Mr. K.T. Lam (lblkt@ust.hk) |
Refer to the Reading List.
Related Terms of Digital Library:
Library Without Walls
Networked Library
Virtual Library
Electronic Library
Digital Library
See: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/mydefinitions.html for the a comparison of the terms "electronic libraries", "digital libraries" and "virtual libraries".
Digital Libraries usually refer to libraries that provide
access to digital information by using a variety of networks, including the Internet
services in an automated environment
Digital Libraries, as a discipline, refers to the researches on the theories and technologies for the building of digital libraries.
Digital Library Projects refer to the digitization of library materials for access through the network.
Is the University of Hong Kong Libraries (http://www.lib.hku.hk/) a digital library?
A digital library usually has ...
Library automation system
Web server acting as gateway to digital resources
Subscriptions to various web-based resources
Collections of electronic journals and electronic books
CD-ROM network
Electronic document delivery
Digital libraries projects
Internet resources selection
... etc.
Note that a digital library usually uses a Web server as a gateway (portal) to information resources.
Examples of digital library projects for school libraries
Course materials
class notes and materials
assignments/exercises
examination papers
teaching plans
School publications
newsletters
school magazines
annual reports
Special collections
school archives
rare books
News clippings
Selection Criteria
"Creation of digital versions of print, photographic, archival, and other materials may be undertaken for a variety of purposes, ranging from in-depth research to popular entertainment, and from large-scale projects to conversion of a few items for an individual’s use. It is expensive to select, create, and maintain digital resources; the cost of image capture accounts for only one-third of the total expense. It is therefore important to assure during the selection process that issues of technical feasibility, intellectual property rights, and institutional support are considered along with the value of the materials and the interest of their content." -- Extracted from: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/digital/criteria.html
Types of objects for digitization
Printed materials - Text and Images
Audio-visual materials - sound, music, slides, films, videos, etc.
3-dimensional objects
Content creation processes
Capturing
Image Scanning
Audio/Video/3-D digitization
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - to capture text from scanned images
Conversion of electronic files - e.g. to convert Microsoft Word documents or PDF file format
Metadata creation - the data describing the digitized objects
Storing the scanned images, the OCR text, and metadata to a database system
Providing a search interface (usually web-based) for public access
Digitizing printed materials...
Scanner (e.g. Fujitsu M4097D)
Image scanning software (e.g. Adobe Acrobat)
OCR software (e.g. TH-OCR)
Adobe PDF file (viewed by Acrobat Reader)
Web-based search interface (build your own interface)
Why networking CD-ROMs?
multiple users
concurrent access
Methods of networking CD-ROMs within a LAN:
Sharing a CD-ROM drive on a computer for network access
Attaching CD-ROM towers to a file server
CD-ROM server
Copying CD-ROMs to hard disk
CD-ROM databases that requires frequent updates will be eventually migrated to the Web-based environment, otherwise they will become obsolete.
Issues on software installation
installation on demand vs pre-installation
installing on the file server vs install on each workstation
network version of the software
menuing interface
Remote access
Terminal service
Web-based remote access client
Last update: 11 May 2002