Enabling Indic Support in Library Information Systems : An Opensource Localizer’s Perspective

Abstract

This article looks into the unique nature of challenges and opportunities facing the Free and Opensource (F/OSS) based software localizers’ community when it comes to enabling support for Unicode-based Indic Scripts in the domain of Library and Information Science (LIS). It describes the early background of Indian language support in LIS domain in terms of technology used, and moves into the present-day scenario of Unicode and Open standard based method of universal archival and access to information repositories that modern libraries represent with their multi-media capabilities. Unicode addresses many of the problems that had plagued earlier systems which had little or no capabilities in terms of universal accessibility, it also brings its own set of problems that demand solutions – e.g. the issue of collation sequences which assume significance when looked at from the perspective of indexed search capabilities in library software. While Opensource provides an open, pro-active, collaborative platform for rapid development, it still has to answer for issues like availability of extensive Opentype fonts, collation sequences, less-than desired quality of rendering by Indic script layout engines, as well as varying levels of maturity of software components that make up the technology stack on which Indic Support enabled Library Information Systems can and are being developed. The authors will try to seek answers to these practical questions by looking into their localization experiences with Koha – the world’s first Opensource library software into Bengali (this work is being followed by Hindi localization). Inputs will also include the experiences of the team from ISI, Kolkata which is working on localizing Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL) into Bengali. The article will draw upon the experiences of F/OSS Indic Localizers’ community to see whether cross-pollination of ideas can lead us towards the goal of bridging the Digital Divide.