Digitization of library resources and collection development: Preservation of digital material: A brief study

This paper discusses the new activities, methods and also the latest technology used in digitization and information of digital libraries. Digital libraries are being created today for diverse communities and in different fields eg. education, science culture, development, health and governance. The main function of the librarians of a digital library is similar to that of the librarians of a conventional library, i.e. identify, select, procure, process, organize, provide access, reserve and manage. During the last five years, India has been responding to this global trend quite proactively and positively. One of the major reasons is presently more than 70 percent of world's scholarly literature is born digital.

Collection development is a vital process in creating and building digital library collection in our library. Collection development primarily includes acquisition, selection and evolution, preservation of books, journals etc, after assessing user needs. Following the advent of internet in the digital era, there has been a shift from hand copy formats to digital formats. Hence, the collection development policy has been modified so as to include the digital context in library collection.

Now-a-days much of the information being produced is digital and in digital formats. However, digital material is at the risk of being lost and its preservation for the benefit of the present and future generation is an urgent issue to address. Preservation issues face many technical, legal and organizational challenges.