Enhancing the outreach of special libraries with application of ICTs

इस ब्लॉग्स को सृजन करने में आप सभी से सादर सुझाव आमंत्रित हैं , कृपया अपने सुझाव और प्रविष्टियाँ प्रेषित करे , इसका संपूर्ण कार्य क्षेत्र विश्व ज्ञान समुदाय हैं , जो सभी प्रतियोगियों के कॅरिअर निर्माण महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान देगा ,आप अपने सुझाव इस मेल पत्ते पर भेज सकते हैं - chandrashekhar.malav@yahoo.com

Enhancing the outreach of special libraries with application of ICTs

P- 15. Special and Research Libraries *

By :malhan v,Paper Coordinator

Objectives

After reading this unit, you will be able to:

• Know the role, services and activities of Special Libraries
• Learn about NKC recommendations for Libraries
• Learn about various ICT tools which can be implemented in Special Libraries to enhance its outreach activities

1. Introduction

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have transformed the world in more than one ways. Easy and fast access to information, communication and networking have created a world where people from every corner of the world have come closer to each other. Hence, today the world is being termed as a global village. ICTs have impacted practically every field of human endeavour. Libraries being centres of information dissemination have been profoundly impacted by ICTs. ICTs is a term used for a multivariate group of technologies, which include storage, communication, printing and networking technologies. The following sections will discuss various information and communication technologies and how special libraries can enhance their outreach activities with the help of these technologies.

2. Special Libraries

Special library is defined as “A library established and funded by a commercial firm, private association, government agency, nonprofit organization, or special interest group to meet the information needs of its employees, members, or staff in accordance with the organization's mission and goals. The scope of the collection is usually limited to the interests of the host organization.” (Reitz, 2013) Libraries which cater to: a specialized target group of users (children's library, library for visually-challenged, etc.), or which hold a particular type of collection of documents (video library, map library, etc.), or specific subject documents are also termed as special libraries.

The information needs of the users of special libraries are very particular and demanding in nature. A special library plays a pivotal role in its parent organization for timely dissemination of relevant information. The collections and services in a special library need to be highly targeted and personalized in nature. The special libraries develop specialized collections and provide different kinds of personalized services such as current awareness services, selective dissemination of information, indexing and abstracting, document delivery and search services, etc. (Singh, 2006)

3. National Knowledge Commission (NKC) Recommendations

Rapid developments in ICTs in the last two decades, has drastically changed the way information and knowledge is created, stored, organized and disseminated. This has in turn raised the user expectations. Users of information have become more demanding and accustomed to individually personalized services. Even the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) in its draft National Mission on Libraries states that “In the emerging knowledge society era, special libraries must be reshaped as knowledge management centres that will require linking people, knowledge, and technology that would facilitate knowledge flow and transfer to foster knowledge assimilation and knowledge creation.” . NKC has made recommendations for all types of libraries in the country.  (National Knowledge Commission, 2007) One of the major recommendations made by NKC is: 

“Promote Information Communication Technology (ICT) applications in all libraries: The catalogues of all libraries should be put on local, state and national websites, with necessary linkages. This will enable networking of different types of libraries and setting up of a National Repository of Bibliographic Records and a centralized collaborative virtual enquiry handling system using the latest ICT. To enable equitable and universal access to knowledge resources, libraries should be encouraged to create more digital resources by digitizing relevant reading material in different languages; this can be shared at all levels. Peer-reviewed research papers resulting from publicly funded research should also be made available through open access channels, subject to copyright regulations. The use of open standards and free and open-source software is recommended for this.”

The recommendations made by NKC in context of application of the available ICTs in libraries for faster, easier, universal and 24x7 dissemination of information to the users are as follows:

• Providing Internet access – This should link the local library to national and global information.
• Document delivery, including Electronic Document Delivery (EDD)
• Online public access catalogue (OPAC);
• Electronic/AV resources, workstations and appropriate infrastructure for use and delivery;
• All academic institutions must set up institutional repositories of research articles, reports, institutional publications and Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD). This should be made mandatory for accreditation. Such repositories should offer open access.
• Websites, portals, subject gateways, etc (especially in case of special libraries);
• Digitization of rare resources (before any digitization programme, one must consider what is to be digitized and whether any other libraries have undertaken similar exercises);
• Libraries having collections of print and electronic resources should provide integrated access using the latest ICT.
• Union catalogues (print and electronic) of periodicals should be updated and put online.

4. ICT applications for Special Libraries

Information Communication Technologies is an umbrella term which encompasses a range of technologies but basically includes: Computer technology, Communication/Networking technologies, printing technology, scanning technology, etc. The developments in the size and the capacities of storage devices seems to have been opposite to each other. The size of storage devices have decreased considerably and have become highly portable and compact. However, storage capacities have increased vastly, Gigabyte is passé now we talk of storing Petabytes of data. The current pendrives have capacities upto 256GB. Transcend is working on a 2 terabyte USB 3.0 flash drive. Data Transfer speeds also have increased considerably. Broadband internet speed upto 100 Mbps is becoming common. Netbooks and Tablets as small as 7” screen size and lightweight which can be stored in a hand bag are available with large storage capacity and high speed of working.

Developments in the software arena range from Free and Open Source Software, Software as a Service (SaaS), LiveCDs, Virtual Machines, Turnkey projects, Cloud Computing. The following sections will discuss in detail the various ICT applications which can be implemented in special libraries to enhance outreach services.

4.1.1 Free Software

Free generally is understood as the freedom to copy and reuse as well as free-of-cost. But the definition of Free Software advocated by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) focuses on the fundamental freedoms given to the user. (Free Software Foundation, 2013) It says, a software is free, only when it provides the computer user the following freedoms:

1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
2. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
4. The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

4.1.2 Open Source Software

Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria (Open Source Initiative, 2013):

1. Free Redistribution: The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
2. Source Code: The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.
3. Derived Works: The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code: The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
7. Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.
9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software: The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.
10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral: No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.

4.1.3 Free Software [or] Open Source Software?

Richard Stallman, founder Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the most vocal supporter of Free Software in “Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software” discusses the difference between the terms “Free” and “Open”. He agrees that free software and open source software developers work towards common goal of development of free software. But he points out that there are differences in implementation. Some of the open source licenses are too restrictive. He also points out that many products like for example Android phones, though they allow and use free software code, the devices do not allow the users to install modified versions of these executables. These executables are not free software though their source code is free software. Open source licenses ignore this and are focused only on licensing of code rather than on the freedom of the users.

Presently, the terms Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) [or] Free, Licensed and Open Source Software (FLOSS) [or] Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) are used. FOSS is an inclusive term which means free software and open source software.

4.1.4 Advantages of FOSS

Besides, being secure and stable there are many other advantages that FOSS provide over proprietary software. These advantages are:

• Full Software available without any locked-in modules which is a common practice among proprietary software.
• Firmware required by some hardware components also provided by the FOSS community.
• Prerequisite software also free and open source.
• Upgrading and updating is done regularly and frequently and anybody can update. Hence, is future-proofed and not dependent on the company.
• No extra charges for upgrading or updating.
• Even if software becomes obsolete, data can be retrieved since source code is open.
• No vendor lock-in as the software is supported by the FOSS community.
• No Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) hassles.
• Instant online support via scores of mailing lists, user groups, even directly from developers (which is very rare in the case of proprietary and closed source software)

Because of these incomparable benefits, flexibility and freedom in the true sense for the end-user provided by FOSS, it is highly recommended to use FOSS over proprietary software.

4.1.5 NKC recommendations on OSS for libraries

• Open source software should be used wherever possible at present and eventually at all levels.
• An open source web-enabled library management software should be developed if necessary and provided to all public libraries for facilitating networking. This software should support multiple Indian language scripts and dialects.

4.1.6.1 Koha

Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). Its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals.

4.1.6.1.1 Benefits of Koha

• Full-featured ILS. Koha is used worldwide in libraries of all sizes with comprehensive functionality including basic or advanced options. Koha includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.
• Dual Database Design. Koha uses a dual database design that utilizes the strengths of the two major industry-standard database types (text-based and RDBMS) which ensures that it meets the transaction load of any library.
• Library Standards Compliant. Koha is built using library standards and protocols that ensure interoperability between Koha and other systems and technologies, while supporting existing workflows and tools.
• Web-based Interfaces. Koha's OPAC, circulation management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies.
• Free / Open Source. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL).
• No Vendor Lock-in. Libraries are free to install and use Koha themselves if they have the in-house expertise.
• Supports MARC 21 bibliographic framework for data entry and it is very easy to download download MARC records with Z39.50 server and bring those records into local Koha installation which helps to achieve standardization in cataloguing.

4.1.6.2 Evergreen

The Evergreen Project (Georgia Public Library System, 2013) was initiated by the Georgia Public Library System in 2006 to serve their need for a scalable catalog shared by (as of now) more than 275 public libraries in the state of Georgia. After Evergreen was released, it has since been adopted by a number of library consortia in the US and Canada as well as various individual libraries, and has started being adopted by libraries outside of North America.

The Evergreen development community is still growing, with about eleven active committers and roughly 65 individuals who have contributed patches (as of March 3, 2013). However, the Evergreen community is also marked by a high degree of participation by the librarians who use the software and contribute documentation, bug reports, and organizational energy.

According to their website description, Evergreen has an interesting mixture of functionality:

• Evergreen is a metadata search engine
• Evergreen is a transaction processing engine
• Evergreen is just another web application
• Evergreen is based on a robust, scalable, message-passing framework – OpenSRF (pronounced “open surf” stands for Open Scalable Request Framework. It is a framework that allows the development of software without requiring a detailed knowledge of Evergreen's structure.)

Evergreen is an open source library automation software designed to meet the needs of the very smallest to the very largest libraries and consortia. Through its staff interface, it facilitates the management, cataloging, and circulation of library materials, and through its online public access interface it helps patrons find those materials.

The Evergreen software is freely licensed under the GNU General Public License, meaning that it is free to download, use, view, modify, and share. It has an active development and user community, as well as several companies offering migration, support, hosting, and development services.

The community’s development requirements state that Evergreen must be:

• Stable, even under extreme load.
• Robust, and capable of handling a high volume of transactions and simultaneous users.
• Flexible, to accommodate the varied needs of libraries.
• Secure, to protect our patrons’ privacy and data.
• User-friendly, to facilitate patron and staff use of the system.

4.1.7.1 DSpace

DSpace is an open source software that enables open sharing of content that spans organizations, continents and time. It is a platform that allows capturing items in any format – in text, video, audio, etc., distributing it over the web. It indexes all the data so users can search and retrieve items and supports to preserve digital work over the long term. (DSpace, 2013).

4.1.7.1.1 Benefits of using DSpace (Dspace (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.dspace.org)

Some of the major reasons for using the DSpace are:

• Largest community of users and developers worldwide with over 800 organizations currently using the DSpace software in a production or project environment.
• Free open source software available for free to anyone. Any organization can use, modify, and even integrate the code into their commercial application without paying any licensing fees.
• Completely customizable:

1. User interface – Using Mankin extension, one can fully customize the look and feel of DSpace to suite your own institution's website.
2. Ability to customize the metadata - Dublin core is the default metadata format but one can add or change any field to customize.
3. OAI-PMH compatible - Ability to configure Browse and Search, i.e. one can decide what fields you would like to display for browsing, such as author, title, date etc.
4. Configurable database – one can choose either Postgres or Oracle for the database which DSpace manages items and metadata.
5. Ability to choose the default language - DSpace web application is available in over twenty languages.

• Used by educational, government, private and commercial institutions as well as the museums, state archives, state and National Libraries, journal repositories, consortiums, and commercial companies.
• Install out of the box - DSpace comes with an easily configurable web based interface, where any system administrator can install on a single Linux or Windows box to get started.
• Manage and preserve all types of digital content - Common formats currently managed within the DSpace environment are PDF and Word documents. JPEG, MPEG, TIFF files.

There are many live DSpace based repositories (DSpace Registry, 2013) available on Internet and lot of material is now available through Dspace.

4.1.7.2 Eprints (Eprints, 2013).

Retrieved from: http://wiki.eprints.org/w/Introduction)

EPrints is the first repository software of its type. EPrints version 3 is generic repository building software developed by the University of Southampton. It is intended to create a highly configurable web-based repository. EPrints is often used as an open archive for research papers, and the default configuration reflects this, but it is also used for other things such as images, research data, audio archives - anything that can be stored digitally. The EPrints series began in early 2000 and is in use by over 200 sites.

4.1.7.2.1 Benefits of EPrints

• Repository managers can lower the barrier for your depositors while improving metadata quality and the value of your collection.
• Depositors can

◦     Save time in document deposits

◦     Import data from other repositories and services

◦     Autocomplete-as-you-type for fast data entry

• For Researchers, Eprints

◦     Is optimised for Google Scholar

◦     Works with bibliography managers

◦     Works with desktop applications and new Web 2.0 services

◦     RSS feeds and email alerts keep you up to date

• For Developers

◦     Tightly-managed, quality-controlled code framework

◦     Flexible plugin architecture for developing extensions

• For Webmasters

◦     Easily integrate reports, bibliographic listings, author CVs and RSS feeds into your corporate web presence

• For Institutions

◦     High specification repository platform for high visibility, high quality institutional open access collections

◦     Conform with research funder open access mandates

4.1.7.3 Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL)

Greenstone (Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL), 2013) is a suite of software for building and distributing digital library collections. It provides a new way of organizing information and publishing it on the Internet or on CD-ROM. Greenstone is produced by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato, and developed and distributed in cooperation with UNESCO and the Human Info NGO. It is open-source, multilingual software, issued under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

4.1.7.3.1 Benefits of Greenstone

• Platforms: Greenstone runs on all versions of Windows, and Unix/Linux, and Mac OS-X. It is very easy to install.
• Interoperability: Greenstone is highly interoperable using contemporary standards, It incorporates a server that can serve any collection over the Open Archives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), and Greenstone can harvest documents over OAI-PMH and include them in a collection. Any collection can be exported to DSpace ready for DSpace's batch import program, and any DSpace collection can be imported into Greenstone.
• Interfaces: Greenstone has two separate interactive interfaces, the Reader interface and the Librarian interface. End users access the digital library through the Reader interface, which operates within a web browser. The Librarian interface is a Java-based graphical user interface (also available as an applet) that makes it easy to gather material for a collection (downloading it from the web where necessary), enrich it by adding metadata, design the searching and browsing facilities that the collection will offer the user, and build and serve the collection.
• Metadata formats: Users define metadata interactively within the Librarian interface. These metadata sets are predefined:

◦     Dublin Core (qualified and unqualified)

◦     RFC 1807 (A Format for Bibliographic Records)

◦     NZGLS (New Zealand Government Locator Service)

◦     AGLS (Australian Government Locator Service)

• New metadata sets can be defined using Greenstone's Metadata Set Editor. "Plug-ins" are used to ingest externally-prepared metadata in different forms, and plug-ins exist for: XML, MARC, CDS/ISIS, ProCite, BibTex, Refer, OAI, DSpace, METS
• Document formats: Plug-ins are also used to ingest documents. For textual documents, there are plug-ins for: PDF, PostScript, Word, RTF, HTML, Plain text, Latex, ZIP archives, Excel, PPT, Email (various formats), source code. For multimedia documents, there are plug-ins for: Images (any format, including GIF, JIF, JPEG, TIFF), MP3 audio, Ogg Vorbis audio, and a generic plug-in that can be configured for audio formats, MPEG, MIDI, etc.

4.1.8 FOSS for Content Management

Librarians need to be aware of how to design, develop and maintain their respective library websites. Hosting a libraries own website increases the visibility of the library on the Web. Also, libraries can provide social networking, blogs and wikis services (which are discussed in later sections in this chapter) to their users through their library websites.  It is here that content management systems can help librarians.

4.1.8.1 Drupal

Drupal (Drupal, 2013) was created in 2000 by a Belgian student, Dries Buytaert.   Drupal is a modular CMS. The standard release of Drupal, known as "Drupal core", contains basic features common to most CMSes, which include the ability to register and maintain individual user accounts, administration menus, RSS-feeds, customizable layout, flexible account privileges, logging, a blogging system, an Internet forum, etc.  Additional new features and themes can be included to the Drupal core by using contributed modules and themes.  Hence, it is called a "Content Management Framework".  Drupal uses Apache, MySQL and PHP.

4.1.8.1.1 Main Features of Drupal

• Multi-sites feature: One can create more than one website using one instance of Drupal installation.
• Administrator can create authenticated users.
• User Roles can be created and accorded relevant permissions.
• Drupal allows users to register, login, log out, maintain user profiles, etc.
• Multi-user content creation and editing:  This feature can be used by libraries to encourage and involve library users also to participate in content creation.
• OpenID support
• Access statistics and logging
• Advanced search functions
• Caching and feature throttling (i.e. one can disable features not required by the library) for improved performance under load
• Comments, forums, and polls
• Descriptive URLs (for example, "www.example.com/products" rather than "www.example.com/?q=node/432")
• Multi-level menu system
• RSS Feed and Feed Aggregator
• Security/new release update notification

4.1.8.1.2 Drupal Modules for Libraries

As mentioned earlier, Drupal can be extended by adding new modules.  Drupal has many user-contributed modules for libraries.  The currently available library modules are:

1. Simple remote search module: This simple module allows users to search a remote database (like your OPAC) from your Drupal site.
2. Z39.50 Search: This module implements the z39.50 Protocol for Information Retrieval using PHP interface to the YAZ toolkit. With this module you can easily search or scan z39.50 targets (servers) in parallel using the standard Drupal search API and present the results.
3. Bibliography Module a.k.a. Drupal Scholar: This module allows users manage and display lists of scholarly publications. Features include:

◦     EndNote tagged and XML import/export

◦     bibTex import / export

◦     in-line citing of references in "page" or "story" node types (builds a reference list at the end of the node body)

◦     selectable output styles (CSE, APA and IEEE)

◦     taxonomy integration: register keywords as taxonomy and/or assign an entry to an existing vocabulary

4.  OAI-PMH Module: This module provides an Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), interface to the Bibliography Module.  It exposes metadata from the Biblio module.

5.  MARC: This module allows you to import MARC records as nodes, to do things like pre-populating book review sites or even recreating your library's catalog in a rich social environment.

6.  Library: The Library module allows users to manage the availability of nodes as assets. You can create custom content types using CCK and then add those content types to the library.  The module supports multiple copies of a library item associated with one node, and each copy may be individually made available or unavailable.  The module allows administrators to define their own library actions. Library actions may make an item available, unavailable, or not change an item's status. Every transaction is associated with a library patron. If you use the trigger module (part of core) with the library module, each library action generates a trigger that you can assign further actions to. The module includes a few built-in actions (send an email, extend the due date of an item).  The library module is intended to be very flexible and comes with a number of options. You may use unique identifiers on item instances (e.g. barcodes), have library patrons as users, and configure what fields display in the custom library search.

7.  Islandora Fedora-Drupal module: Robertson Library released the Fedora-Drupal module Islandora as open source. There is a Islandora project hosted by Fedora Commons.  The Islandora module allows Drupal users to view and manage digital objects stored in Fedora.

8.  Book Post: The Book Post module makes it easy to post information about books. Any 10 or 13-digit ISBN placed between double curly braces {{}} in a post will convert into the book cover, title, author and publication info. All data comes from the Open Library Project (http://openlibrary.org/), an open source catalog that allows users to add books and edit metadata. If there is no cover available for the book you want to post, you can go to the Open Library and add one.  It is also possible to use the Open Library ID number instead of the ISBN (e.g. OL8378495M). The Open Library has fulltext available for many titles in the public domain. A "Read Online" link will automatically appear in your post if the fulltext is available from the Open Library.  There are also options to include links to WorldCat, LibraryThing, and Google Books for books that you post.  This module is based on John Miedema's OpenBook Plugin for WordPress.

9.  Biblio Facets: Biblio Facets integrates with the Faceted Search module (discussed below) and allows users to browse Biblio types and fields as facets.

10.  Faceted Search: The Faceted Search module provides a search interface for allowing users to browse content.  It is an information navigation and discovery tool.  The interface exposes metadata in such a way that users can build their queries as they go, refining or expanding the current query, with results automatically reflecting the current query. This interface also combines free-text search, fully leveraging Drupal's search engine. It avoids complex search forms, and never offers facets that would lead to empty result sets.  Faceted Search is in fact a bundle of modules.

◦     Faceted Search: Provides the search framework and API.

◦     Faceted Search UI: Provides the search user interface.

◦     Faceted Search Views: Allows to use Views to display the search results.

◦     Author Facet: Allows users to refine the current search based on content author.

◦     Content Type Facet: Allows users to refine the current search based on content type.

◦     Date Authored Facet: Allows users to refine the current search based on content creation date.

◦     Taxonomy Facets: Allows users to search content through taxonomy. Any vocabulary can become a facet that can be used to refine the current search.

◦     Field Keyword Filter: Allows users to perform keyword searches restricted by field. Requires the Field Indexer module.

11.  Content Construction Kit (CCK): The Content Construction Kit allows you to add custom fields to nodes using a web browser.

12.  Oai2forcck: This module provides an implementation the OAI V2 Data-Provider for the Drupal CCK module.

13.  Barcode: This module provides a barcode field type for CCK. Features include:

◦     Generate a barcode image on the fly.

◦     Supports for EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, ISBN, etc.

◦     You can also display the barcode as simple text.

◦     You can provide your own font file

14.  CCK Facets: CCK Facets is a bundle of modules that integrate with Faceted Search to expose Content Construction Kit (CCK) fields as facets. This allows users to browse field values and to filter search results with those values.

15.  CCK Taxonomy Fields: Taxonomy vocabularies will show up as field types that can be added to content types using CCK. Field types can be named anything you want and you can even have several different fields from the same vocabulary on one content type.

16.  Field Indexer: The Field Indexer module indexes field data into Drupal's search index. Each field enabled for indexing becomes a type of index entry. Then, with an appropriate search module, users may perform keyword searches restricted by field.

4.1.8.2 Joomla!

Joomla! (Joomla!, 2013) is a free open source content management system for publishing content on the World Wide Web.  Joomla (Joomla 1.0.0) was released on September 16, 2005. Joomla version 1.5 was released on January 22, 2008.  It won the Packt Publishing Open Source Content Management System Award in two successive years – 2006 and 2007.

4.1.8.2.1 Features

• Page caching to improve performance
• RSS feeds
• Printable versions of pages
• News flashes
• Blogs
• Polls
• Website searching
• Language internationalization.
• The Joomla package consists of different kinds of modular extensions. These extensions are of three kinds:

◦     Plugins (Previously known as "Mambots".): Plugins are background extensions that extend Joomla with new functionality.

◦     Components

◦     Modules

4.1.8.2.2 Joomla! Modules for Libraries

1. Collection: This module manages a collection of books/CDs/DVDs/games. Features include, categories/subcategories; use Amazon web service to fetch additional information; provide a link to the Amazon product page with your partner-id; JoomFish support; users can manage their own lists of items; module to display lists.
2. BookLibrary: This module provides a full-featured book library or book collection management environment on a Joomla-based website. It allows you to manage large book libraries. The component can also be used to easily set up a book selling shop using Amazon if you want. With an Amazon Associates ID (as an Amazon affiliate) you can earn credits with book sales through Amazon, while Amazon takes care of the handling and shipping.

◦     Full category and subcategory support

◦     BookID for internal administration

◦     Lend/Return management, with frontend lend request possibility

◦     Possibility of frontend book reviews by users, reviews management in the backend

◦     Book information and covers retrieved from Amazon through ISBN or entered manually

◦     Import and export options (CSV, XML, MySQL)

◦     English included, additonal language files can be downloaded from the website

3.  Top Listing module for BookLibrary: This module can be used to display the Top books from BookLibrary. Features include, Show/Hide Covers; Set Cover Height; Choose how many books to display in the top list; Choose if only published books or all books; Choose sorting by hits, date, rating; Choose if hits are displayed; Choose if ranking displayed.

4.  "New Books Extended" module for BookLibrary: The "New Books Extended" module for the BookLibrary module is an improved version of the module to display the newest books from the BookLibrary component.  Features include:

◦     Item Count (choose number of books to display)

◦     Word Count (limit number of words to show from the book description)

◦     Show or Hide the Book Title

◦     Show or Hide the Book Authors

◦     Show or Hide the Book Cover

◦     Set the Cover Height

◦     Set the Display Orientation (horizontal or vertical)

◦     Sort by Last Added or Last Edited

5.  BookLibrary Top 10: The BookLibrary Top 10 module displays the 10 most visited books from BookLibrary in a list, with the number of hits behind it.

6.  Jbook: This module is a component for books management.

1. It allows splitting up the classification in categories and subcategories, with a tree structure, without limits in number of sub-children levels
2. For every book it is possible to insert details like the book cover (with automatic size rearrangement). You can navigate even for author, editor. 
3. Registered users can see and comment every book reviewed. They can also ask for more information on the book by sending an email to the site administrator.
4. There is a mambot to integrate the search in the entire site.
5. It is presently available in Italian, English and French.

7.  Librarything: Module which displays your library from librarything.com. It uses their javascript code, but allows changing of parameters, such as how many and cover size, from your Joomla! site module admin.

8.  Now Reading: Displays the cover image of the current article or book the site admin is reading.

4.1.8.3 Plone

Plone (Plone, 2013) is a free and open source content management system built on top of the Zope application server.  Plone is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and is designed to be extensible.   Additional functionality is added to Plone with Products, which may be distributed through the Plone website or otherwise.

4.1.8.3.1 Features

• Collaboration and sharing
• Versioning, history and reverting content
• Upgraded visual HTML editor
• Workflow capabilities
• Full-text indexing of Word and PDF documents
• Presentation mode for content
• Support for the search engine Sitemap protocol
• Support for multiple mark-up formats
• Wiki support
• Automatic previous/next navigation
• Rules engine for content
• Auto-generated tables of contents
• Multilingual content management
• Time-based publishing
• Human-readable URLs
• Powerful graphical page editor
• Navigation and updated site maps
• Drag and drop reordering of content
• XML exports of site configurations
• Localized workflow configuration
• Adjustable templates on content
• Standard content types
• Content is automatically formatted for printing
• Standards-compliant XHTML and CSS
• Accessibility compliant
• RSS feed support
• Automatic image scaling and thumbnail generation
• Free add-on products
• Cross-platform
• Comment capabilities on any content
• Installer packages for multiple platforms
• In-context editing
• Backup support

When compared to other CMS, Plone scores above others, in standards conformance, access control, internationalization, aggregation, user-generated content, micro-applications, active user groups and value.  Plone's Web-based administrative interface is optimized for standards, allowing it to work with most common web browsers, and uses additional accessibility standards to help users who have disabilities. All of Plone's features are customizable, and free add-ons are available from the Plone website.

It goes without saying that before selecting a Content Management System for your library it is imperative to review the types of content being handled in your library and what web-based content services you would like to provide your users through the content management system and what are your library’s future plans for introducing new services for users.  Content management systems offer a variety of modules and serve different purposes for different requirements.  Drupal, Joomla and Plone, all three offer extensible modules to improve upon the core system.  Selecting a CMS for your library also depends on the level of technical knowledge you and your library staff possess.  It would be imperative to carry out a pilot project using all three CMS, evaluate them against each other and choose the one which suits the best for your library. 

4.2. LiveCDs

According to Topbits (Live CD, 2013), “a Live CD is a bootable CD-ROM disk that loads an operating system and has the ability to perform a specific set of tasks or functions”. By means of the Live CD, end user can test whether the operating system runs properly on their system hardware, test whether the operating system meets their needs, or it is for purely learning purposes as well as can test other applications which are made available through Live CD.

4.2.1 Applications of Live CD

There are some Live CDs that perform specific functions / applications. These Live CDs are usually distributed by the Operating System vendors, Hardware Manufacturers, and Anti-Virus developers as bootable disks with a base operating system to perform functions that were not always possible with an operating system already running. Some of the examples of such Live CDs can be as follows:

• Hardware Manufacturers Live CDs allow the system user to test the hardware products without having an operating system in the way, and for consistency in testing configurations.
• Anti-virus software developers Live CDs allow the user to boot his system in a known safe condition, so any virus infections on their machine would not interfere with the virus testing software.
• System manufacturers and distributors Live CDs allow for a recovery of a broken operating system, or to re-baseline a system that needed to be reloaded for any reason.
• Operating system developers Live CD provides an environment to test system components, to install a new baseline operating system, or to recover a broken or otherwise corrupted OS.
• Public domain and third party software packages Live CD are used to test all computer hardware components without operating system intervention.

4.2.2 Functioning of Live CD

Depending on the Live CDs goals and needs, a Live CD system performs the following functions to become operational:-

• System BIOS releases control to the boot device, i.e. Live CD, causing the initial operating system (OS) to be loaded.
• Live CD OS detects hardware attached to the system like, ISA and PCI controllers, processor resources, memory buses, system resources and components attached.
• Live CD OS loads drivers for hardware and provides a baseline configuration for those devices based on system BIOS configuration.
• Live CD OS creates an area in RAM to store necessary operating system components and loads operating system components into the RAM.
• The system loads up services and applications needed for Live CD functionality.
• The system either runs automated processes for testing, or enters
• interactive mode for users to perform functions they feel are necessary.

4.2.3 LibLiveCD

One example of a Live CD in the field of Library and Information Science is Liblive CD (LibLiveCD, 2013). The latest release of LibLiveCD is configured using Lubuntu 12.04 (LTS),DSpace 3.1, Koha 3.10.04 and Drupal 7.20.

LibliveCD comes with pre-configured Lubuntu-12.04 (LTS) for i386 machines (Not a 64bit version). To accommodate many server software and still keep it below 700MB, many desktop related software are not installed. However, one can install them later using the Synaptic Package Manager.

Liblive CD is developed by Prof. ARD Prasad, and is available for download fromhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/liblivecd. Liblive CD is a bootable CD that comes with a variant of Linux i.e. Lubuntu-12.04 (LTS). If one boots the system with Liblive CD, it will neither be loaded on the hard disk nor will the hard disk be touched. It will work only from the CDROM and whatever you do, will disappear once you shut down or restart the computer. Nothing will be saved, as CDROM cannot be written. One can resume normal operations with the system as soon as system is restarted and CD is out from the drive. The purpose of the Liblive CD is that:

• One can test an operating system without actually loading it
• One can test all the applications under an OS that come with the livecd without loading them
• If one is satisfied, one can load the OS onto the hard disk

Liblive Bootable Media can be used by a:

• CD-ROM of 700MB or
• USB memory stick (fastest) or
• Virtual Machines like VBOX, qemu, VMWare, kvm, etc. (slowest – unless you have the main memory more than 2 GB). 
• One need not use a DVD as the LibliveCD requires just 700MB space

4.2.3.1 Components of Liblive CD

LibLive CD comes with the following Library related Open Source Software:

• DSpace (version: 3.1)
• Koha (version: 3.10.04)
• Drupal (version : 7.20)

Additional Prerequisites loaded with the Liblive CD are:-

• LXDE Desktop
• Apache2
• Open-ssh server
• Vsftp
• Server
• MySQL and
• PostgreSQL
• Exim4 (mail server)
• Dovecot (IMAP server)
• SquirrelMail (web based mail client)
• OpenJDK Java and Tomcat
• epdfview/Foxit (To read PDF files)
• Abiword (To read/edit doc files)
• IBus (Multilingual Input Method Framework)
• Gnumeric (To read/edit excel files)

There are many software not included in the CD to keep it under 700MB, like mail clients, Languages other than English and Indic, Games, Multimedia related s/w , etc.

But, as mentioned earlier,  one can install them later using the Synaptic Package Manager.

One disadvantage with any LiveCD is, you should NOT install it on an existing server on which you already have lots of data and software configured. In future, '.deb' files may be released to facilitate configuring these software on Debian Linux compatible operating system like Ubuntu.

4.3 Web 2.0 technologies

Information services being rendered by libraries have undergone a sea change with technological developments.  With the advent of computers innovative and in-anticipation services became possible.  Services like Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), Current Awareness System (CAS), Reference and Referral services took on a new meaning.  The Internet era brought about more challenges, but also an exciting platform for providing information services.  Universal and remote access, 24x7 service became realities.  In fact, the term Library 2.0 has become quite common, though lot of debate is going on about what the term actually implies.  While, many people believe it is the implementation of Web 2.0 technologies which make libraries “Library 2.0”, there are others who claim the term implies much more than mere implementation of Web 2.0 technologies.  The term Web 2.0 itself is still being debated.  The founder of the World Wide Web, Tim-Berners Lee himself rejects the term Web 2.0 as a piece of jargon.  (Berners-Lee, 2006). Retrieved fromhttp://www.ibm.com/developerworks/podcast/dwi/cm-int082206txt.html] Lee says "if Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along."

Library 2.0

Similarly, the term Library 2.0 may turn out to be merely a buzzword.  Merely, using the Web 2.0 technologies cannot be termed as Library 2.0.  Libraries have been providing pro-active services to users much before the advent of the World Wide Web.  But, what new services like social networking websites, blogs and wikis have done is that, they have added a new dimension to the way services can be provided by the libraries.  With these web-based services libraries can now collaboratively produce, share and disseminate information along with the users.  User-participation in content production and sharing can help libraries in knowing their users better as well as disseminate their services to a wider clientele. 

The term Web 2.0 is closely associated with Tim O'Reilly because of the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in late 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specification, but rather to cumulative changes in the ways Internet users use the Web. Web 2.0 is characterized by software that supports easy Web content creation in the form of:

• Blogs,
• Wikis,
• Digital media sharing websites, and
• Social networking websites.

A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community. (Web 2.0, 2013)

4.3.1 Blogs

A blog is a website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, often hyperlinks provided by the writer. Increasingly being used to deliver content like online tutorials, course material, posting job vacancies and many other uses.

4.3.1.2 How to create a blog?

There are basically two ways in which a blog can be created. One, is to use a hosted blogging service, like Blogger, LiveJournal or Typepad to name a few. It is the easiest and quickest way to get started with blogging. Two, install and host a blogging service on one's own server. There are many commercial as well as open source software for blogging e.g. Wordpress, Movable Type (OSS), Textpattern (commercial and proprietary).

4.3.2 Wikis

Wiki is a term used variously to either refer to a collaborative website where users can create, edit or delete content using a web browser or it may refer to a software used to run a wiki website. Ward Cunningham first developed the wiki software and hosted the first wiki website called WikiWikiWeb. The most distinguishing features of wiki which differentiate it from normal websites are (Wiki, 2013):

1. a wiki website allows it's users to create, edit or delete content,
2. provide meaningful page links between relevant topics.

4.3.2.1 How to create a Wiki?

Like blog, one can either use an already hosted wiki websites like Wikipedia and Wikispaces to add, edit or delete content or a wiki website can be hosted on one's own server using wiki software such as MediaWiki (which incidentally is used by Wikipedia), Twiki etc.

4.3.3 Social Networking Websites

Social networking websites are websites where people can create their online profiles and develop a network of online community with like-minded people.  On social networking sites members can share their common interests., read profile pages of other members and may contact them, organize and combine their different online profiles, develop an online friendship from distant countries and learn about new cultures and new languages, create their own network of friends and block members who do not share common interests or goals. There are many social networking websites such as MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Hi5, etc. Though initially used more for developing personal network, now it is popularly used to connect professionally as well. In its present format it may not offer much in terms of disseminating e-learning content in a formal way. But, discussions, debates, updates can be definitely shared on these sites.

4.3.4 Media Sharing Websites

Media sharing websites allow users to upload their audio/video lectures. Youtube is one such popular video sharing website. Infact, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has several channels on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/egyankoshIGNOU?ob=0) and the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) also has a channel on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/nptelhrd?ob=4).

4.4 Virtual Libraries on Second Life

Second Life (http://secondlife.com/) is an online virtual world developed by Linden Research Inc. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another. Second Life is used as a platform for education by many institutions, such as colleges, universities, libraries and government entities.

According to Wikipedia, by 2007, there were more than 40 libraries in Second Life. Many of those libraries can be found in Cybrary City, part of the information archipelago on Second Life. This place was built for libraries to set up their virtual services and for displaying their resources. Libraries can provide their services while also learning new skills for 21st-century librarianship.

Library services in Second Life can be found at the following SL locations:

• Info Island 1
• Info Island 2
• Edu Island
• Caledon Library
• Healthinfo Island
• Imagination Island - Rachelville
• ALA Arts Island
• Cybrary City 1
• Cybrary City 2

Second Life libraries are examples of immersive learning environments i.e. the library users can interact with the services in practical ways, such as walking around a virtual space. Libraries in Second Life often put on digital exhibitions as part of their services, for example an exhibit displaying virtual representations of Van Gogh paintings. The aim of virtual library services is to attract new users to traditional libraries as well as establishing links with librarians from all over the world. Most of these services are run by volunteers.

Libraries can also put on virtual events such as conferences, seminars and lectures. In 2008 and 2009 Alliance Library System (ALS) organised a conference called Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education and Museums Conference. It took place in the New Media Consortium Conference Center in Second Life and was designed to “provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds”.

In order to have a successful virtual library in Second Life there are six different elements that should be considered. These are (Baity, Chappell, Rachlin, Vinson, & Zamarripa, 2009):

• Location
• Timing
• Funding
• Techniques
• Organisational baggage
• Computing technology

According to successful examples, more and more libraries have realised that Second Life is a new and good means to interact with their customers, helping traditional libraries to accommodate new demands and challenges.

4.4.1 Issues with managing libraries on Second Life

As with any new technology, Second Life libraries also have some issues and challenges which need to be overcome with careful planning and management.

• Difficulty in balancing online and offline duties.
• Librarians who complete virtual library work at home are not compensated by their libraries for this work.
• Adequate computing equipment and faster broadband access is important for increasing the productivity and performance of Second Life libraries, and these requirements limit the involvement of numerous librarians.
• Additional issues of computing supports include network security programs such as appropriate permissions, authentications, limitations of functionality based on security restrictions and service attacks.
• Technology challenges like the use of Radio-frequency identification (RFID) - common in most libraries - has become one of the challenges for Second Life libraries. Second Life sometimes is not able to get all the information normally stored on RFID devices such as the means keeping track of library books, people or policies.
• Some studies have found that some librarians did not pay enough attention to pre-planning their Second Life libraries. Most Second Life librarians have no time to manage Second Life Library during their working time because there is not any official timeline that designed by departments. As a result, Second Life libraries are misunderstood by many people who view Second Life libraries as just games without any educational value.
• Although the Second Life library is easier to navigate and provides many useful and good materials, it has few users. The reason is that the Second Life branch has not been well promoted in real life so library users do not know its existence.

References

Baity, Chase; Chappell, Pam; Rachlin, David; Vinson, C. & Zamarripa, Marilyn (2009). When Real and Virtual World Collide: A Second Life Library. Retrieved from: http://www.desktop-computing.com/capstone/Documents/WhenVirtualWorldsCollideFinal.pdf

Berners-Lee, Tim (2006). developerWorks Interviews: Tim Berners-Lee (22-08-2006). Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/podcast/dwi/cm-int082206txt.html

Drupal (2013). Retrieved from: https://drupal.org/

DSpace (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.dspace.org

DSpace Registry (2013). Retrieved from: http://maps.repository66.org/

Eprints (2013). Retrieved from: http://wiki.eprints.org/w/Introduction

Free Software Foundation (2013). What is Free Software? Retrieved from:http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

Georgia Public Library System (2013) Evergreen ILS. Retrieved from:http://evergreen-ils.org/about-us/

Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL) (2013). Retrieved from:http://www.greenstone.org/

Joomla! (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.joomla.org/

LibLiveCD (2013). http://sourceforge.net/projects/liblivecd/

Live CD (2013). Retrieved from http://www.tech-faq.com/what-is-a-live-cd.html

National Knowledge Commission (2007). Libraries: Gateways to knowlege.. Retrieved from:http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/NKC_Library.pdf

Open Source Initiative (2013). The Open Source Definition. Retrieved from:http://opensource.org/osd

Plone (2013). http://plone.org/

Reitz, Joan M. (2013). ODLIS Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Retrieved from: http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_S.aspx#speciallibrary

Singh, S.P. (2006). Special libraries in India: some current trends. Library Review, 55 (8), 520-530. doi: 10.1108/00242530610689365

Web 2.0. Retrieved 13th October, 2013 from Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Wiki. Retrieved 13th October, 2013 from Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki#History