Seamless Aggregation and Integration of Diverse Datastreams: Essential Strategies for building Practical Digital Libraries and Electronic Information Systems

Abstract

In the current information environment libraries need to leverage on the latest digital technologies as well as the traditional paper technologies towards building practical digital libraries and electronic information systems. Digital Libraries built exclusively out of nascent electronic publications such as E-Journals, E-Books, EReference Works (WBTs, CBTs etc.), Digital Scholarly works (monographs etc. in the public domain) and Digitized documents conforming to standard digital formats are proving to be an uphill and unfinished task. Perhaps this could be the major reason why the start-success-finish ratio of most of the digital library initiatives, particularly initiated by isolated / individual libraries, are still left at alarmingly low numbers. We find the motivational and emotional bonding among the stakeholders melting down eventually as the digital library development process gets fired up. There are a host of problems the enthusiastic library fraternity face in their digita...