1st entry

Role of libraries and librarians in managing digital information

There many digital information created, used, widely spread and accpeted in this digital era. Libraries are now focusing on provide access to information, ideas and works of imagination in any medium. The term of ‘Library Without Wall’ dan ‘Library 24/7’ is not strange for us. People may access on what ever held outside the library, that is beyond of what the library had and they also can access what was owned by a libraries from remote location. Many new library services being offered due to the growth of digital information such as: 

• Online ordering and delivery from local and remote
• Portals
• Regional or national catalogue databases
• Personalized services
• Online reference
• Collections digitized by the library
• Electronic publishing services
• Online self-paced training facilities
• Internet access via library’s workstations or network. 

All of these services has change the role of libraries and librarians in managing digital information.

           

Libraries serve as gateways to knowledge, thought and culture. It bridging the digital divide where the knowledge is sharing via network or the use of internet. Libraries commit to offering access to relevant resources and services without restriction or any form of censorship. Nowadays, the roles of library has been expand includes:

• Acquire, preserve and make available the widest variety of materials, reflecting the plurality and diversity of society. It is not just limit to the certain collection. 
• Select and provide library materials and services with regard to professional considerations and not to political, moral and religious views. 
• Libraries make materials, facilities and services equally accessible to all users. 
• Libraries, protect each user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted. 
• The intervention of technologies in libraries, it will give impact of new services on the library such quickness of delivery, accuracy, higher market penetration by attracting more users and new user groups and can easily get what is relevance for users. 
• The role of libraries become significant as consumers, as intermediaries and aggregators, as publishers, as educators, as R&D organizations, as entrepreneurs and as policy advocates.

With the existence of digital information, librarians are moving beyond the traditional roles of collection maintenance and custodial duties to newer functions of translating, accessing and marketing resources beyond the walls of the physical library collections. The rapid development of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and growth of digital information, librarians are responsible to provide intellectual access to information in any format, to evaluate available sources of information, to organise and structure information, to ensure the preservation of information and to provide specialised staff to offer instruction and assistance in interpreting resources and access to resources. So, in order to become a good librarians in managing digital information, librarians should required to have
knowledge and skills about:

• Resources (books, journals, i.e. resources, Internet)
• Teleological facilities and resources (computer, online catalogues, websites, LANs file servers etc.)
• Financial (budget)
• Human resources (skills for manpower training)
• Competencies to acceptance of change
• Knowledge of user interaction with knowledge resources
• Provide quality service
• Be adoptive
• Flexible and resistant
• Be resourceful
• Excellent communication
• Constantly update personal knowledge base
• Create awareness among the users and be an information management strategist
• Technical knowledge required such as operating systems - Windows, UNIX, LINUX, word processing, Graphics, Spread sheet and Presentations
• DBMS including the skills in Bibliographic DBMS
• General purpose programming
• Networking 
• Web page Development
• Content Management
• Information Retrieval software for online
• CD-ROM 
• Internet
• Library software packages 
• Acquaintances with digital library tools
• Capacity to use free/open source resources

The role of librarians become wider when they have all the knowledge and skill regarding managing digital information. Librarians can serves as:

• Search intermediary
• Facilitator
• End-user trainer/ educator
• Web site builder or publisher
• Researcher
• Interface designer
• Knowledge manager/professional
• Sifter of information resources and librarian as the changing of the environment

World of information undergoing rapid change. IT playing crucial role in restructuring the libraries. Shifting from human dependent operations to machine dependency, mechanization (data processing) to knowledge processing, stand alone system to network computing, local LAN to wireless access protocol systems. Many new terms like digital librarian, libraries without walls, virtual libraries, are emerging to describe the libraries of digital age, librarians need to be aware of the implications of these changes and develop technological and managerial skills.