On Adopting Software Agents for Distributed Digital Libraries

We present here our findings of a study, part of larger research focusing on understanding the structure and composition of the academic community of Digital Library (DL). Using social network analysis, the present study analyses the structural features of editorial boards (EBs) of leading journals of DL. Following the premise that boundaries and directions of a field, especially an evolving one such as digital libraries is shaped by journals and their editors, we undertook a study of the editorial boards of the top 56 journals in the field of digital libraries. Techniques from social network analysis are applied to the data to reveal the structures and relationships within the EBs and journals of the DL community. The paper reveals the structure of the scientific grouping as well as the key players in the system and finds the ‘diversified convergence’ of fields. The focus is on the stars of the DL community as well as journals. We have compared the results with our previous studies carried out on different communication platforms of the DL world. Our results show that while computer science is the common thread, library and information science is the field that dominates, both in the scheme of things of top-ranking journals as well as editors.

This study is an examination of features of the four most popular digital library open source software packages against a set of predetermined criteria that is deemed to be essential for the development of a digital library. While analysing and identifying the similarities, differences, strengths, and weakness of the open source software packages, it is indicated that open source digital library software still lacks certain functionalities that are perceived to be important. Each software package has its own individual strengths and weaknesses that will appeal to organizations and stakeholders with different needs. The study is expected to help those library professionals, seriously interested in implementing a digital library by providing a checklist to evaluate how well a particular software fits into their specific implementation requirements. Certain good features of the four open source software packages have also been pointed out via a comparison analysis.

Tools, techniques and protocols necessary for building up digital libraries have now fully evolved with computing power that allows parallel processing, multitasking, parallel consultation and parallel knowledge navigation and sohare tools that facilitate artificial intelligence and interadivity. Coincided with availability of sofhvare, hardware and networking technology, the advent of world wide web 0its, ever incr easing usage and highly evolved browsers have paved the way for creation of digital libraries. With rapid developments in technologies necessary for developing digital libraries, the world of digital information resources has expanded rapidly and exponentially. Increasing number of publishers are using the internet as a global way to offer their publications to the international community of scientists and technologists. With the technology available at an effordable cost, the libraries are initiating small digitisation projects as an individual library or as a group of libraries. Building-up digital collection and the infrastructure required to access them is a challenge that every library has to deal with. The article delves into technological evolution, cultural revolution and contents enrichment that led to revolution in growth and development of digital libraries. The artide has two distinct parts, while the first part deals with various aspects of building, accessing and organising digital resources and collection, the second part elaborates on the process, technology, formats, compression techniques and tools used in digital imaging. The article describes optical character recognition (OCR) and advocates for hybrid solution for preservation of digital information. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dbit.21.6.3547

A partir da análise dos estudos realizados sobre o Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes), este trabalho propõe a criação de um indicador automático de avaliação da adequação do conteúdo do Portal à produção de teses e dissertações cadastradas na Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD) do Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia (IBICT). São descritos os passos básicos para a criação desse indicador e as ponderações sobre a sua viabilidade tecnológica. Ao final, são discutidos possíveis impactos e a importância desse indicador para a avaliação da adequação do Portal de Periódicos da Capes em relação às necessidades informacionais da comunidade científica brasileira. O indicador forneceria informações para a implementação de medidas de adaptabilidade contínua do Portal às necessidades de seus usuários.

The principles and methods of TQM (total quality management) were applied to digital library management. TQM puts emphasis on process control and continual improvement. The TQM theories and measures explained clearly in this paper were the scientific tools used in the experiment in the Wenzhou University Digital Library. This paper deals with a very broad range of subjects related to a digital library: system model of TQM for digital library, organization structure, and tasks of Wenzhou University Digital Library, task flow chart of electronic reading room, cause and effect of electronic reading room quality man- agement, systematic model of enhancing electronic information acquisition rate, quality comparison of electronic reading room service, etc.

This is a case study of the library of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences. The library has taken several initiatives for development of health science digital library. The building of a digital library of newspaper clippings using Greenstone Digital Library Software is one. The article discusses in brief some of the issues related to the development of digital library of press clippings. The article also highlights the services provided by the University Library, but only press clippings service has been explained in detail. An attempt has also been made to briefly explain the workflow of collection of print form as well as the digital form of press clippings.

The digital library is an information providing service in which all the information resources are available in computer process-able form. The functions of acquisition, storage, preservation, retrieval, access and display are carried out through the use of digital technologies. In this way we can say that Digital Libraries are the systems which provide users with coherent access to a very large, organized repository of information and knowledge. Digital Libraries may be accessed remotely by the users. The retrieval of information from a digital library database is easy and time saving process. Present paper discusses about features of a digital library, role of a digital library in dissemination of information, architecture of digital library, federal search model and its features, digital library standards, steps in building digital library and problems of digital initiatives in India in detail.

As a greater number of electronic resources becomes available, retrieving relevant and authoritative information has become progressively more challenging and time consuming. Locating relevant information in a timely manner is critical for both the researcher and the information professional. Electronic books (eBooks) are one way to enhance the digital library with global 24-hours-a-day and 7-days-a-week access to authoritative information, and they enable users to quickly retrieve and access specific research material easily, quickly, and effectively. It is crucial to not only provide these electronic resources, but to integrate them into library systems to streamline library operations, as well as promote user adoption. As an eBook provider, netLibrary, a division of OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, has been involved in the selection, cataloguing, and distribution of eBooks. Library users are able to remotely search, locate, and checkout eBooks from the library’s online public access catalogs (OPACs). As with any new opportunity, new challenges emerge and utilising the internet to deliver book content is no exception. Integrating eBooks into the digital library has created challenges and opportunities for librarians, publishers, and eBooks providers. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dbit.23.1.3585

Social Science research in universities has traditionally been supported by a central data archive, holding both the raw data (e.g. the U.S. census) and the wide variety of support materials necessary to identify, understand and manipulate the raw data. Columbia University's Electronic Data Service (EDS) has built an online system using World-Wide-Web technology to offer these support materials, and ultimately the raw data itself, to our research community. We describe our historical motivations, our data format difficulties, our filing systems and our scalable technology solution. Our emphasis is on a new set of software, inter-connected by Web protocols, which is easy to use and is self-maintaining.

The axiom to “do more with less” in university research libraries is increasingly untenable, as budgets continue to shrink and demand for novel services continues to rise. The impacts of such existential uncertainties are self-evident and widely discussed in the literature--staff burnout, lowered morale and increased toxicity, weakened local collections, and limited capacity for ambitious and genuinely innovative work. In response to calls for entrepreneurial initiatives from campus and library leadership, the Digital Systems and Stewardship (DSS) division of the University of Maryland Libraries has been engaged since 2015 in developing a revenue generation program known as Digital Data Services. This initiative tackles the challenging financial landscape of higher education and furthers our institutional mission by offering fee-based technological services to the campus community, to affiliated partners, and to the commercial sector. Conceived of as a means to generate steady revenue to support and sustain library initiatives, the program currently represents a significant source of income for the Libraries DSS division after three years of growth, and is envisioned to contribute to other divisions in the Libraries, as well. More than standard cost recovery programs, the Digital Data Services program generates returns that can be reinvested in staffing or equipment for the Libraries, and DDS projects represent unique opportunities to cultivate talent and expand expertise to benefit other library initiatives. While a large-scale revenue generating program may initially appear contrary to traditional models of library services, this program has enabled the Libraries to expand both our capacity and aptitude to improve many of our mission-driven services over time.

With the new method of information delivery for the library, the quality of service and Digital Library issues become paramount importance. Various model and framework have been proposed to evaluate the Quality of Service in Digital Library. Unfortunately, features that contribute towards the Digital Library services quality have not been factored into the design of most existing quality of services model in Digital Library. This paper presented a result of hypothesis testing which eventually proposed a new conceptual model on the service quality of the digital library. This model incorporated two new features that determine the right third-party source services. It also offers an opportunity for further investigation for evaluating the service quality effectiveness in the digital library. It is conforming to the study backgrounds through a variety of research designs and settings by examination of the hypotheses presented in this study. Survey research designs employing third party sources services as a sample in the model would best match the requirements for validating the proposed framework. The result shows that all three hypotheses are supported. As a result, we propose a conceptual model for evaluating the service quality of the digital library and further analyze the effectiveness model with several contributing features grouped as a thirdparty source.

Objective To investigate the clinical status of health literacy and uncertainty in illness among patients after hemopoietic stem cell transplantation and to analyze the influence of health literacy on uncertainty in illness. Methods Inpatients after hemopoietic stem cell transplantation in Hematology Department of He'nan Provincial People's Hospital were selected as subjects by convenience sampling from January 2015 to March 2017. The cross-sectional study was conducted with the health literacy scale and Mishel uncertainty in illness scale (MUIS) . Simple correlation, correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were used to explore the influence of health literacy on uncertainty in illness. Results The score of MUIS of patients after hemopoietic stem cell transplantation was (76.69±27.65) along with more than 80% of patients with a medium or a high level of uncertainty in illness. The score of health literacy was (92.33±14.58) with more than 90% of patients with a low or medium level of health literacy. There were significant differences in the score of uncertainty in illness among patients with different education levels and average monthly earnings (F=4.243, 5.746; P<0.05) . The total score of health literacy as well as the score of basic health care literacy, disease control and prevention literacy and first aid literacy had negative correlations with the total score and scores of dimensions of uncertainty in illness (r=-0.298--0.363; P<0.05) . Hierarchical regression analysis showed that dimensions of health literacy had a single predictive power on uncertainty in illness along with explaining 42.8% of the variance separately. Conclusions The uncertainty in illness among patients after hemopoietic stem cell transplantation is in a high level and the health literacy is in a bad level. Beyond education levels and average monthly earnings, health literacy has influence on uncertainty in illness separately. Key words: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Health literacy; Uncertainty in illness

The paper discusses the need for digital libraries for open and distance learners in India. It also highlights the various features of the digital libraries for open and distance learners; looks into the problems and issues related to the provision of library services to the open and distance learners in India. Utility of digital libraries is further examined and strategies for its adoption are suggested.

Access to publications is provided by conventional libraries, digital libraries operated by learned societies or commercial publishers, and a huge number of web sites maintained by the scientists themselves or their institutions. But comprehensive meta-indices in combination with a helpful graphical user interface for this increasing number of information sources are missing for most areas of science.Our DBLP (Digital Bibliography & Library Project) Computer Science Bibliography is a major service used by thousands of computer scientists. It provides fundamental support for scientists searching for publications or other scientists in similar communities. For better assistance we developed a new browser prototype which has a user-friendly interface and plays a central role in the search and browsing of the data. The DBL-Browser provides smart search functions and several textual and graphical visualization models. This paper gives an overview of some important research issues within the field of bibliographical information retrieval and visualization. After introducing the whole framework, the DBL-Browser itself and various visualization models are described.

This study is intended to investigate the perceptions of South Asian LIS community towards open source software (OSS) adoption in libraries by adopting a quantitative research design. An online questionnaire-based survey was conducted to reach the geographically dispersed population in the vast region of South Asia. A Likert-type scale with 20 items was designed to collect data. A total of 190 responses were gathered from four countries, namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. The collected data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-Test, and ANOVA were used to draw conclusions. Attention was given to two independent variables: organization type (public/private sector), and library type (academic/public/special). The overall results suggested that respondents had positive perceptions towards OSS adoption in libraries. However, the results of the t-Test and ANOVA indicated that ‘organization type’ and ‘library type’ were insignificant factors, as there were no significant differences of perceptions found among the respondents on the basis of ‘organization type’ or ‘library type’.