DIGITAL LIBRARY OF INDIAN LIBRARY SCIENCE JOURNALS: A PROPOSAL

Abstract

As a means for improving access and for preserving the contents for posterity, a proposal for developing a digital library of Indian Library and Information Science journals is attempted in this paper. A brief about the purposes, functions, and tasks involved in digital library development is discussed. Around 29 journals are identified for digitising, by considering the style and coverage of articles published in them from those listed as from India in Ulrichs, and by making a survey of journals published. Since digitisation and digital library development are stupendous tasks involving computer and communications infrastructure, and considerable specialized human skill, institutions like INSDOC, DRTC, NCSI, DELNET and INFLIBNET are identified to host this decentralised digital library. To have the state of affairs in the national level, two case studies of Current Science online and the recent venture by NISSAT to host their Newsletter, Information Today and Tomorrow on Tripod Server is presented. The need for proper formats like PDF, as the initiatives discussed are resorting to multiple formats of html, gif and jpg to deal with text and figures, is stressed. Since some of the journals have a collection of over 4 decades and in all probability old issues in electronic form may not be available, scanning and CD archiving of old issues is suggested with web access to the latest volumes, may be 5-10 years to begin with. Problems and prospects of how the copyrights are transferred to the developer, how the contents are accessed, security mechanisms, sponsorships needed to host it as a free facility permitting unhindered access, and the unresolvable problem of Internet bandwidth demands are highlighted.