Re-Engineering of Library and Information Services through the Application of ICT with Special Reference to Sanskrit Literature

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) is transforming the present society into a knowledge-based society where the scope to access, organize, manage and disseminate knowledge is a ubiquitous challenge to the Library and Information Centres who are not only the store houses of knowledge but also considered as service centres of knowledge in modern times. Literature in Sanskrit, the classical language of India, represents a continuous cultural tradition from the time of the Vedas until the present era. Given its extensive use in religious literature and the fact that most modern Indian languages have been directly derived from or strongly influenced by Sanskrit, the language and its literature is of great importance in Indian culture. The literature of Sanskrit embraces a vast number of books on nearly every imaginable subject. In this context, it is absolutely necessary to conserve the vast literature in this field so as to preserve our culture and tradition. Libraries need to redesign their services utilizing the latest technologies encompassing the field of ICT, to get the desired result of managing, archiving and disseminating Sanskrit knowledge in a meaningful way.