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Digitization Of Local Collections And Its Impact On Scholarship In The Library
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Generally, digitization has a lot of invaluable benefits such as
increasing the visibility of libraries globally, improved services to an
expanding number of users, enhanced access to current and vast amount
of information from remote sites as users can easily access library
local content collections from different parts of the world no matter
the distance; flexibility in information search and retrieval; it
ensures better preservation of library local content collections by
reduced handling of the original analogue surrogate materials and
alleviating the problems normally associated with the traditional
library environment such as mutilation of information resources, theft,
space constraints, scarcity or limited number of copies, limited hour of
operation, and poor storage environment normally associated with manual
preservation; it is a veritable information source for e-learning and
it offers a platform for collaboration and interoperability of libraries
globally.
Digitization has the potentials of making Africa global
producers of indigenous information and preservation of our cultural
heritage rather than being passive consumers of imported information.
Hence, digitization paves way for the globalization of local content and
the accessibility of global information resources locally. In Africa,
there have been some digitization projects. Chisenga (2004) noted that
while digital libraries and archives are being created around the world
in order to preserve, store, catalogue, disseminate and share
information resources, target scale digitization projects in Africa have
not yet taken off, though there are notable efforts being made in some
countries, but mainly in a small scale. Digitization enhances the
visibility of a library globally as materials digitized can be easily
accessed by other libraries and research institutions once there are
compatible infrastructures such as relevant hardware, software, and
internet connectivity. The immense importance of digitization is that it
offers opportunities for collaboration among libraries worldwide. It
enhances the visibility of a library globally as digitized materials can
easily be accessed by other libraries and research institutions
locally, nationally and internationally, once there is compatibility of
infrastructures such as relevant hardware and software.
Digitization
has recently become a very popular term in libraries as there has been a
global need for nations to preserve their cultural heritage and make
them accessible in order to contribute positively to the global
information and knowledge economy. The concept of a library as a
physical place where one can visit to access information has
dramatically changed to services which provide organized access to the
intellectual records, wherever it resides whether in physical places or
in scattered digital information spaces paving way to the present model
of hybrid libraries (Carr, 2001)
Digital libraries emerged largely in
the 1990s because of the revolution in the ICTs and the need for
enhanced access and preservation of cultural heritage materials. The
term digital library was first made popular by the NSF/DARPA/NASA
Digital Libraries Initiative in 1994, (Eyitayo, 2007). Digital libraries
according to the Digital Library Federation (DLF, 1998) are
“organizations that provide the resource, including the specialized
staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to interpret,
distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over
time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and
economically available for use by a defined community or set of
communitiesâ€. Digital libraries offer a brighter future for academic,
research institutions, and digital information professionals. They offer
access to and opportunities for use of online primary resources. The
main purpose of digital libraries is to organize, distribute, and
preserve information resources in a digital form. Digital libraries have
the potential of improving and promoting information-related activities
(Ojedokun, 2000). Digital libraries therefore are libraries in
electronic form, with no physical location and contain digital
information that could be accessed from any part of the world via the
internet. It solves the problem of time and space.
Digital
collections usually comprise of local content and provide unlimited
access to information materials that may not be readily accessible
manually. Local content refers to what the community creates, owns or
adapts in terms of knowledge (Ballantyne, 2002). Digital materials are
stored, processed, accessed, and disseminated via digital devices and
networks. Digital technologies offer a new preservation paradigm and the
opportunity of preserving the original copy by providing access to the
digital surrogate. With this new development, it has been universally
recognized that digitization of libraries offer the opportunities of
effective organization, storage, preservation, collaboration,
interoperability, dissemination and greater access to information.
The
National Digital Library Programme (NDLP) provides remote access to
unique collections of Americana held by the Library of Congress through
Americanmemory. During the 1990s, the programme digitized materials from
a wide variety of original sources, including pictorial and textual
materials, audio, video, maps, atlases and sheet music. It was noted
that the emphasis of the programme has been on enhancing access (Arms,
2000). Libraries such as the University of Oregon and University of
Tennessee in the United States of American have digitized their
libraries and allow access to their digital content by other libraries
and institutions worldwide. The Image Services Centre of the University
of Oregon for instance, was established in July 2002 to promote
preservation and facilitate access to fragile materials.
(www.dartmouth.edu/collab/facilities/digitallibrary.html)
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study investigated the digitalization of local collection and its impact on scholarship using the status of digitalization in some federal university libraries in South-Eastern Zone of Nigeria. Seven research questions guided the study. The research design adopted for this study is a descriptive survey. The total population for this study was three hundred and twenty-three (323) library staff, but sixty (60) rspondents that were directly involved in digitization were sampled. The major inst ... Continue reading---
