THE WORLD OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES

 THE WORLD OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES

The rise of the internet and digital libraries transformed how information is accessed and shared, changing the role of libraries and increasing their influence. Today, libraries continue to evolve, combining physical and digital resources to meet the needs of diverse communities (Rohatgi and Sharma 2023: 9). The emergence of digital libraries began started long time ago. Linde (2006: 28) stated that “in the second half of the 1990s, several university libraries started building digital collections, making them publicly available. So we can say, digital libraries are organisations that collect, organise and make digital content available to a specific group of people. They provide access to digital resources and ensure they are preserved for long-term use (Linde 2006: 19). Now everything is digitized, libraries and archives have long been responsible for collecting, preserving and sharing human knowledge and culture with the advent of digital technology. Libraries took a leading role in harnessing their power to manage and provide access to digital information (Candela et al., 2011: 1).

Digital libraries help a lot, because now digital collection is shared globally, and they can be accessed 24/7. There are various types of digital libraries, to illustrate: Institutional Digital Repositories, National Digital Libraries, Open-Access Digital Libraries, Digital Archives, Virtual Libraries, etc. I have explored the British Digital Library, HathiTrust, JSTOR, Google Books, Internet Archive and the UKZN library. They are user-friendly and informative in easy to retrieve, with full-text. “The backbone of any digital library is, of course, computer software, hardware and the reliance on a high-speed network. Any digital library would rely on components such as local networks with connection to the internet, databases with user-friendly interfaces for searching and administrative purposes, which can index full documents for fast access” (Linde 2006). Digital libraries come in various forms, can contain diverse content such as metadata, full-text documents, images, audio, and multimedia materials, often available in different formats, and created with various software.

Digital libraries have become essential for many professional communities, but their development does not fall under one specific discipline. Instead, digital library applications draw from multiple fields (Bearman 2007). Digital collections bring together cultural, historical, and educational materials in a digital format, providing a unique window into the past and present. They offer insights and perspectives that might otherwise be difficult to access, and allow users to explore and interact with these resources in new and innovative ways. As digital collections continue to grow in importance, academic libraries in South Africa are taking it step further by subscribing to a vast array of online databases and embracing remote and self-service models, harnessing the power of ICTs to fuel service innovation and improve user experience (Molaudzi 2024).

REFERENCES

Bearman, D. 2007. Digital libraries. Annual review of information science and technology, 41(1), 223-272.

Candela, L., Donatella C., and Pasquale P. 2011. History, evolution, and impact of digital libraries.” E-publishing and digital libraries: legal and organizational issues. IGI Global Scientific Publishing. 1-30.

Linde, P. 2006. Introduction to Digital Libraries: Memex of the Future. 1-19

Molaudzi, A. I. 2024. Adoption of Artificial Intelligence to Transform Public Academic Library Services in South Africa (Doctoral dissertation), Durban: University of South Africa.

Rohatgi, A. And Sharma, V. 2023. LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE. New Delhi: Wisdom Press