Long Tail: An Emerging Technology for LIS in the Network Environment

Abstract

The enormous growth of the web, starting from zero to everything in the last decade, has forced us to believe in the impossible again. It might be the long-heralded great library of all knowledge really being within our grip? Today we need a building about the size of a small-town library to house 50 petabytes. With the advancement of tomorrow’s technology, it will fit into our iPod or may be some new device, which can store large amount of data. When that happens, the library of all libraries will ride in our purse or every individual’s pocket. If it doesn’t plug directly into our brain with thin white cords… Converting inked letters into electronic dots that can be read on a screen is simply the first essential step in creating this new library. The real magic will come in the second act, as each word in each book is cross-linked, clustered, cited, extracted, indexed, analyzed, annotated, remixed, reassembled and woven deeper into the culture than ever before. In the new world of books, every bit informs another; every page reads all the other pages… This paper mainly discusses about the long tail as an emerging technology for libraries in the network environme