Access To Electronic Resources Types Of Electronics

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

University Librarian i/c.,

University Library, JNT University Hyderabad, Kukatpally – 500 085. A.P.India

e mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Recent advances in the field of Information Technology have already influenced the life in more than one direction. Its impact on the field of Library and Information Science is also quite significant, more so in advanced countries. Most obviously the situation is a resultant of the growth of electronic publishing and of networks that facilitate scholarly communication. Technological advances, especially the Information Technology are facilitating a fascinating change in libraries with a vision and are trying to accommodate all types of media for providing electronic information services to the users in a more convenient and effective way. The article describes various types of eminent Electronic resources used in libraries. It briefly touches their advantages, disadvantages and usage in libraries.

Key words: Access to Electronic resources, Types of Electronic information resources.

INTRODUCTION

The word access means in computer-based information retrieval, "the method by which a computer refers to records in a file, dependent upon their arrangement". Over the last decade there have been significant changes in the way people work. The changes are due to advances in technology such as the introduction of computers, the expansion of telecommunications and the rise in popularity of the Internet. These advances are on going, and are especially important in that they offer access to huge amounts of information to people at home or at work. Information once stored in electronic form can break all the physical and geographical barriers and reach the remotest corners of the world. New technologies are emerging to store and process large amounts of information electronically. New methodologies for accessing information are evolving on an almost daily basis. Access to right information at the right time is the need of the hour. Different types of information, a user can get at different levels beginning from resources available in a library or information centre to the network based information services from different networks.

Characteristics: The following are the characteristics of Electronic Resources:

The Potentiality of the E-Resources are huge and do not occupy physical space

Encompassing every thing

Elimination of time, space, cost limit

Public domain of information (Internet)

Easy archiving of the content and organized subjectively

Full content can be searched

Preservation & Dissemination of knowledge

Faster and vast

Backup preservation

Types of Electronic Resources:

The following are the sources of Electronic Information:

CD-ROMs.

DVDs

Electronic Journals

Electronic Databases

Electronic Books

ETD’s (Electronic Theses and Dissertations)

Digital Libraries

Internet Resources

Electronic mail Data

OPAC

Institutional Repository System

2.1 Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM)

In the digital age, a paperless library has already come into existence with the availability of CD-ROM databases; CD-ROM has an indispensable role to play in the dissemination of electronic information and it has already found a special place in the rapidly growing digital libraries. In CD-ROM, text and graphics are available in digital form in the modern publishing process.

Definitions:

1. Compact Disk Read-only Memory. A type of storage device that looks just like an audio CD and stores as much as data of large hard disk (700-800 MB), making it a popular means of distributing fonts, photos, electronic encyclopedias, games and multimedia offerings. As the name indicates, however, one can’t change files on a CD-ROM, but only read them.

2. CDROM can be used to store computer programs, databases, books, video, pictures and sound. These media are stored on the same disc to create "multimedia" information and playback. The electronic computer together with its peripheral equipment provides an electromechanical capability for modifying and reprocessing stored information to produce vast new stores of information. The CD-ROM, one of the storage and distribution technologies uses the laser power and optical techniques. Drives for rewriteable CD-ROMs (CD-RW), which overcome the immutability of CD-R.

2.2 Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

DVD – Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc for the computer industry, is the next generation to Compact Disc in optical disc storage technology. A DVD looks just like a CD (both 120 mm. diameter), but has higher data storage capacity. The DVD’s larger capacity is achieved by making the pits smaller and the spiral tighter, and by recording the data in as many as four layers, two on each side of the disc. To read these tightly packed discs, lasers that produce a shorter wavelength beam of light are required, as are more accurate aiming and focusing mechanisms. The DVD technology provides a storage capacity that is at lease 6 to 7 times greater than that of a CD, in the same aerial space. With very high quality video (two to three times greater than with a VCR tape).

Definition:

Digital Versatile Disc: An advanced type of CD-ROM that holds a high-density mass storage medium similar to CD-ROM, but capable of storing much larger amounts of information due to improvements in recording density and use of multiple layers per side.

Advantages of DVD:

The high data storage capacity of DVDs makes it possible to represent more multimedia elements, like sound and video and to integrate many reference sources on a single disc.

DVD can deliver the data at a higher rate than CD-ROM.

DVD drives can read both CD-ROMs and DVD-ROM’s.

By using DVD databases it might be possible to avoid CD-ROM jukeboxes.

DVD eliminates the need for disc swapping of deluxe multimedia databases and makes information seeking more convenient.

Blu-ray Disc:

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of the next generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufactures. The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold upto 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD-RW and DVD-ROM rely on a red laser rays to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray Disc.

2.3 Electronic Journals (e-Journals)

The advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has played a pivotal role in transforming the conventional library into a digital library. This has resulted in the proliferation of electronic publishing (e-publishing), which provides information in a digital form. The electronic journals (e-journals) occupy a major share in e-publishing and they are fast becoming the preferred format for information dissemination, especially in science and technology. The full-text e-journals can be viewed as individual issues that correspond to their print counterparts. Collections of articles bring together articles on a particular subject such as engineering or medicine and they are usually searched by subject. E-journals those are accessible via the World Wide Web (WWW). The e-journals are made available in various modes namely:

Free with a print subscription.

At a nominal cost with a print subscription

As web editions only with a paid subscription

Electronic Journals (e-Journals) are full text journals that are accessible via Internet/Intranet. The buzzword at the moment is linkage. Hypertext has made it much easier for libraries and other institutions to place their collections on the Intranet for the patrons to access them.

There are two types of electronic journals, the first is the offline CD-ROM version that can be distributed in a similar manner to printed journals and second one is the online or Internet-based journals. Latest articles can be accessed earlier due to the immediate nature of distribution of online journals as compared to CD-ROM versions. Cost of updating online journals is much less, since the files are simple added or replaced on the specific server hence issues can be made more frequent than CD-ROM versions, which come out with more or less the same frequency as the print versions.

Definition:

An article or complete journal available fully electronically via a web site on the Internet. It could be available free or as part of a paid for service. This trend is older and more established than the trend of providing e-book content via the Internet.

Full-text journal publications those are available in electronic format, covering a variety of subjects, which are available over the Internet.

A periodical available via computer usually by subscription. Most of which are available with restricted access over the Internet.

Advantages of e-Journals:

The ability to deliver 3-D images, video, animation, communication forums, and links to the abstracts or full text of other journals articles provides added value compared to the printed journal. There are several advantages in using an electronic format:

Electronic Journals are Speedy scientific communication process, Interactive, easy to search for articles by a particular author or on a particular topic or any specific information anywhere in the text, Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

They can Easily be merged with alerting services, Support multimedia, Link to other pages on the internet and scholarly publication, They don’t need library space nor shelving costs nor can they be stolen from the library.

Access to e-Journals:

In order to make the maximum use of e-journals and access options, one has to be very careful in subscribing the e-journals about various IT issues and formats available such as HTML, PDF, SGML. Because they require specific application programme for reading, retrieving, and downloading the contents. Access to e-journals is provided either by publishers themselves or through ejournals portals. The libraries and information centres cater to the information and reference needs of a variety of users in different disciplines, which indeed is tedious and problematic task to subscribe to all. e-journals through various publishers. e-journal portals are the best options for subscribing unlimited number of e-journals published through various publishers at a single gateway. There are many e-journal portals, providing access to various different e-journals ranging from bibliographic data to full text retrieval.

2.4 Electronic Databases

Data that is stored more or less permanently in a computer readable file is termed as a database. The software that allows one or many persons to use and/or modify this data is a database management system (DBMS). Major role of DBMS is to allow the user to deal with the data in abstract terms, rather than as how the computer stores it.

Users and application programs which access data do not need to be aware of the detailed storage structure of the data on a computer storage device, in other words, the data are stored in a way so that they are independent of one or more application programs that use the data.

Definitions:

1. A collection of information organized and presented to serve a specific purpose (A telephone book is a common database). A computerized database is an updated, organised file of machine-readable information that is rapidly searched and retrieved by computer.

2. A database can be defined as a computerized collection of logically related data or data records about something (say about an enterprise objects, or certain problem areas) that are stored, organized or structured in the computer in such a flexible manner that it enables people to get information out of it very quickly.

The features of a database are:

Each data element is stored once and only once in a record

Any number of users can have access to a data element any number of times.

Data elements in the database are independent of data representation, devices descriptions, programs or special structures of the data.

A database is a physically available object.

2.5 Electronic Books (e-Books)

An e-Book is essentially the contents of a books distributed in the form of an electronic file. Any file that holds text can be in theory used as an e-Book. However, there are a number of specialized formats and reading programs designed with e-Book reading in mind. E-Books are exactly like print or paper books except that they are bound electronically. E-Books come in a variety of formats as well. They can be downloaded in .pdf, .html, plain text and rich text formats for example, and they can also be purchased in CD-ROM and floppy disc formats. e-Books are simply books that are available in digital formats. This definition is too generic especially when there are different types of e-Documents viz:

Definitions:

e-Book as a portable hardware and software system that can display large quantity of readable textual information to the user and let the user navigate through this information. An e-Book is digital reading material that a user can view on a desktop or notebook personal computer, or on a dedicated, portable device with a large storage capacity and the ability to download new titles via a network connection.

Working definition of e-Books is presented by AAP (Association of American Publishers). "A literary work in the form of a Digital Object consisting of one or more standard unique Identifiers and Monographic body of content intended to be published and accessed electronically".

E-Books will allow reviewers to review more books than traditional paper books. As greater number of electronic resources become available, retrieving relevant and authoritative information has become more challenging and consuming. Integrating e-Books into the digital library has created challenges and opportunities for the e-Book sellers, publishers and librarians.

The following are some special features of e- Books:

e-Books cost less than traditional books and have ability to self publish and distribute.

Books never go out of print and are economically feasible to publish low demand titles.

Look up words with dictionary software (included most e-Book readers)

Annotate or highlight text

Enjoy content which includes audio and full motion video

Read in the dark or low light conditions

Carry several books in one small package and can save e-Books on the Internet or Computers.

Copyright protected through software (prevent unauthorized duplication of e-Book content)

Create links between multiple e-Books

The visually impaired may switch to audio mode and have an e-Book read to them.

Reduce environmental waste (save trees, and reduce pollution from delivery trucks)

Libraries may loan e-Books by setting a time period in which an e-Book may be read.

Access from any where

Advantages of e-Books:

e-Books may have their advantages over regular paperback/ hardcover books. First of all, e-Books take much less space. These can be made available on a CD-ROM and occupy a fraction of the space of a paper volume of the same title.

e-Books are also nice because anyone can read them with the click of mouse. Instead of driving over the library, going to a nearby bookstore, or ordering a book online and waiting days to receive it, e-Book can be sent in the computer instantly to read. The e-Book both in its online or CD-ROM form may contain animations and live action illustrations, which are not possible in paper books.

2.6 Electronic Thesis and Dissertations (ETDs)

An ETD is a document that explains the research or scholarship of a research scholar in an electronic format. It is simultaneously suitable for machine archives and worldwide retrieval. The ETD is similar to its paper predecessor. For example, it has figures, tables, footnotes, and references, a title page with the author's name, the official name of the university, the degree sought, and the names of the committee members. Furthermore, it may describe why the work was done, how the research relates to previous work as recorded in the literature, the research methods used, the results, and the interpretation and discussion of the results, and a summary with conclusions. The ETD is different from its paper predecessor, however, in a few important aspects.

2.7 Digital Libraries

The term digital library was evolved in early 1970s. The first application of digital library concept was associated with character coded storage and full text indexing of legal and scientific documents. Digital Libraries basically store materials in electronic format and manipulate large collection of those materials effectively. When the information is organized, processed and transmitted by means of digital devices, the concept of digital library emerges. It may be the library within a real library or it can be truly a virtual library if it is started on purely digital basis. Thus digital library means:

Creation and maintenance of information in digital format.

Digitization of the documents of the library, which are in print form and

Online access to the external digitized information with the provision of user ID and password to the users.

Digital library requires well-tested and proven information technologies for accessing the database or servers through networks. The following components are very essentials to create digital library.

Definitions:

Digital Libraries are the repositories of electronic texts, images, and other materials. Digital Libraries are generally found on the Internet, although large collections of remotely accessed CD-ROMs could also be considered a digital library. Materials in a digital library may have been "born digital" or they may have been digitized using a scanner.

Digital library is a system of distributed databases, most often in full text and multimedia form, accessible online on computer networks. The important components of a digital library are a ‘digital object’ or information object, which may be textual, audio, video, image, numeric, computer programmes or multimedia composites.

Advantages of Digital Libraries:

Electronic resources offer ever-increasing abilities to store, both print and non-print material such as sound, images and video. They provide faster access, and libraries do not have to deal with the problems of misplaced, missing, or mutilated books. Electronic resources are able to meet the users increasing demands and expectations for quicker and easier access to information, where physical space is of little concern. Digital Libraries make use of latest information technologies to store vast amounts of information in electronic form. Preservation is also very easy for digital materials when compared with documents.

Disadvantages:

Some people criticize that copyright law hampers digital libraries, because works cannot be shared over different periods of time in the manner of a traditional library. The content is, in many cases, public domain or self-generated content only. Many people also find reading printed material to be easier than reading material on a computer screen although this depends heavily on presentation as well as personal preferences. Digital libraries are wholly dependent on cheap, abundant sources of electricity. Without electricity, the content cannot be accessed.

2.8 Internet Resources

The INTERNET and its World Wide Web (WWW) have given a paradigm shift to information management. The information available on net is increasing rapidly and the task of providing relevant information to patrons is gaining paramount importance in all types of libraries. Most of the reputed publishers, learned and commercial societies are hosting their products on net and also all libraries are sharing their internal and external information resources by means of web pages and Web-OPACs. The powerful search engines over net are aiding the information location quite efficiently.

Networks:

A number of PCs can be linked together so they can share resources like printers, files and disk space. A network uses a connecting cable to pass information between the different PCs in the network, each of which has a unique "address" so that it can be identified unambiguously. There are a number of ways that networks can be formed depending on the type of hardware and software in use, but essentially there are two types of network: a centralized network has one machine that holds all the crucial software, and the other linked machines are dependent on this central machine to run correctly. In this network, the linked machines will not run as standalone machines. Whereas, a decentralized network consists of a number of PCs, which are equivalent. They may be run as standalone machines, or as part of the network.

The Internet:

Due to impact of Internet, there is a swift migration from offline to online, as Web is becoming a popular user interface for providing access to remote and frequently updated resources. At first military, then academic institutions began to see the benefits of connecting computers, mainly for the purpose of communicating and sharing information. The resulting loose decentralized conglomeration of local/regional networks has become known as the Internet. It is important to realize the distinction between "the Internet", which is the system of interconnected computers, and "Internet services" which are what people use the Internet for, and include applications such as e-mail and World Wide Web browsers which are discussed below. Connecting to the Internet allows access to a number of different services, some of which are explained below. The most popular services are e-mail, newsgroups and the World Wide Web (WWW).

Electronic mail (e-mail) :

Electronic mail (e-mail) is one way of sending information from one computer to another. It works in the same way as posting a letter "snail-mail". Each network on the Internet has a unique identifier, and each person on a network also has a unique username; the combination of these two make up their e-mail address and are unique worldwide. Once connected, one can communicate with anyone else on the Net of course when the e-mail address is known.

Mailing lists (or list serves):

Mailing lists (or list serves) are public e-mail addresses set up for a particular topic, for example the British Computer Association of the Blind (BCAB). Anyone who wishes to publicize information which they think will be of general interest to members of BCAB can post it to the list. Anyone who subscribes to the list will be sent a copy of the message, and may address questions or comments to it. This enables to contact people who share an interest.

Usenet newsgroups:

Usenet newsgroups are another way of giving and getting information. A newsgroup is a public address, which many people can access. You may add messages to the newsgroup, and anyone else who is registered can read the message; they may then reply to you through the newsgroup or privately (i.e. to your unique address). Like mailing lists, newsgroups tend to be focused on particular topics, to limit the number of messages that will be posted to them. The difference between mailing lists and newsgroups is that a mailing list automatically mails out messages to subscribers, whereas newsgroup users still have to contact the newsgroup and scan for anything new.

2.9 Information through Electronic Mail (e-Mail)

Electronic mail, abbreviated as e-mail or email, is a method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. The term e-mail applies both to the Internet e-mail system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and to intranet systems allowing users within one company or organization to send messages to each other.

Messages:

Messages are exchanged between hosts using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol with software like Sendmail. Users download their messages from servers usually with either the POP or IMAP protocols, though in a large corporate environment users are likely to use some proprietary protocol such as Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange Server's.

Mailboxes:

Mail can be stored either on the client or server side. Standard formats for mail boxes include Maildir and mbox. Several prominent e-mail clients use their own, proprietary format, and require conversion software to transfer e-mail between them. When a message cannot be delivered, the recipient MTA must send a bounce message back to the sender, indicating the problem.

2.10 Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

Online Public Access Catalogue is a term used to describe any type of computerized library catalogue. Online Public Access Catalogues allows in providing the flexibility to:

Find out what the library has to offer

Check the status of an item (checked out, on shelf, on hold, and so on)

Check the library record for fines, reserves, or over dues

Reserve an item

Look up community information

Use CD-ROM databases (such as indexes or encyclopedias)

Link up with library catalogues or databases in other communities

Some OPACs are user-friendlier than others. In some libraries there are instruction sheets right at the terminal. In addition, guides to using the OPAC, called "help screens", appear on the screen whenever required while searching.

A library's card catalogue allows a search by title, author and subject, but that 3x5 card catalogue is almost gone. The same information is available online with some subject expansion. Some systems, allow to search by a combination of fields such as title and author, thus narrowing the search. As well, it may allow searching by keyword.

Keyword Searching:

In most systems the first option on the menu is a keyword search, such as a title or any word from the title. Users can search for books on a special subject by keyword.

2.11 Institutional Repository System

An Institutional repository is an online locus for collecting, preserving, and disseminating - in digital form - the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution. For a university, this would include materials such as research journal articles, before (preprints) and after (postprints) undergoing peer review, and digital versions of theses and dissertations, but it might also include other digital assets generated by normal academic life, such as administrative documents, course notes, or learning objects.

The main objectives for having an institutional repository are:

to provide open access to institutional research output by self-archiving it and to create global visibility for an institution's scholarly research

to collect content in a single location and to store and preserve other institutional digital assets.

Opening up outputs of the institution to a worldwide audience;

Maximizing the visibility and impact of these outputs as a result;

Showcasing the institution to interested constituencies – prospective staff, prospective students and other stakeholders;

Collecting and curating digital output;

Managing and measuring research and teaching activities;

Providing a workspace for work-in-progress, and for collaborative or large-scale projects;

Enabling and encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to research;

Facilitating the development and sharing of digital teaching materials and aids, and

Supporting student endeavours, providing access to theses and dissertations and a location for the development of e-portfolios.

There are a number of open-source software packages like DSpace, Eprints, and Fedora and there are also hosted (proprietary) software services like Digital Commons, SimpleDL.

Conclusion:

The field of Library and Information Science is dramatically changing scenario involving incorporation of digital media in the library systems and making the same accessible globally through the use of Electronic Information resources. The implementation of Electronic information resources in libraries are very use full for users and library professionals for speed up the accessing and maintaining of the library information as well as the automation of the libraries. Increasing demands from Library users for access to more and more information are accelerating in the digital libraries era. More and more information is readily available in machine-readable form there has been a fundamental shift in the concerns of the information in print form. Computers are increasingly used for providing information, librarians and other information professionals must familiarize themselves with the latest technological development in this field of Electronic Information resources. Electronic Information services are thus going to assume increasing importance in times to come.