Dissertation
Prospects of digital library for developing countries:
Applying Internet technology
Submitted by:
M Ayaz Karim
ID: 0845129
Module Code: SM3039
Module Name: RESEARCH METHODS & PROJECT
A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Business
Administration.
Supervisor: G Murshed Thakur
September 2009
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In preparing this thesis I gained wonderful and considerable experience in my
educational life which has been filled with a challenges and rewards. The completion
of the present study leads to a new beginning and a step forward towards my future
and in writing the Introduction.
I oblige to thank Dr. Karim Mohammed Rezaul. I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to my Supervisor G Murshed Thakur for his valuable supervision, never
ending support and back-up during this procedure. I am very grateful to him, that
without his guidance suggestions it would not have been possible for me preparing
thesis. Moreover, working on this thesis and he has presented a new world before me
for my further academic research.
Cannot stop without expressing my heartfelt gratitude to all my family members; My
Father; that have trained me to focus on the whole instead of getting lost in the details,
my mother who has meant me the real meaning of patience and helped me by her
advices to have this thesis finished on schedule and finally: my sisters and their
husbands for continues support along the way. Outside of academic circle, I would
like to thank all my friends for their full support in my studies.
Finally, warm thanks to Mr Manoj Choudhury who taught me to get the priorities
straight.
i
DEDICATION
To my parents
ii
ABSTRACT
Digital libraries are here to stay, and the conversion of traditional to digital is
inevitable. It is a key technology for world especially for developing countries. They
can assist human development by providing a non-commercial mechanism for
distributing humanitarian information on topics such as health, agriculture, nutrition,
hygiene, sanitation and water supply (Witten I. H. et.al. 2002):. There are so many
areas like ranging from disaster relief to medical education, also benefit from new
methods of information distribution also covered by digital library in developing
countries. Globalisation of the digital concept will not be possible until we overcome
the technological gap between developed and developing countries.It is even more
important than disseminating information originating in the developed world is the
need to foster the ability for people in developing countries to build information
collections locally. Outlines a broad range of issues and then goes on to describe how
a freely available digital library system like “Greenstone” provides a flexible tool that
helps meet some of these needs. Being “open source” software, Greenstone can be
shaped by its users to meet new requirements. At last discuss the existing digital
library and prospect of digital library in developing country especially Bangladesh.
iii
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...........................................................................................I
ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................III
CONTENTS...............................................................................................................IV
LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................VI
LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................VII
CHAPTER 1.................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................1
1.2 Research Methodology.........................................................................................2
1.2.1 Design of the Study.......................................................................................2
1.2.2 Methods of Primary Data collection.................................................................2
1.2.3 Data Analysis................................................................................................3
1.3 Objectives.............................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2.................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................4
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................4
2.2. Definition of digital library.................................................................................4
2.3. Definition of developing country........................................................................6
CHAPTER 3.................................................................................................................7
DIGITAL LIBRARY...................................................................................................7
3.1: Definition............................................................................................................7
3.2. Exiting Digital Library System in Developing countries....................................7
3.2.1. In Africa.......................................................................................................8
3.2.2. In South Asia..............................................................................................10
3.2.3 In Asia.........................................................................................................12
3.3. Limitations of Existing Systems.......................................................................15
3.4. Conclusion.........................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 4...............................................................................................................17
TECHNICAL ISSUES OF DEVELOPING DIGITAL LIBRARY.......................17
iv
4.1 Understanding Meta-data Standards and its application....................................17
4.2. Making of Digital Library.................................................................................19
4.2 Software Issues in Digital Library:....................................................................21
4.4 Digital Rights Management...............................................................................22
CHAPTER 5...............................................................................................................24
DIGITAL LIBRARY IN SOUTH ASIA: A CASE STUDY BANGLADESH......24
5.1 The Bangladesh Scenario.................................................................................24
5.2. University libraries in Bangladesh:...................................................................24
5.3. Public Libraries................................................................................................26
5.4 Conclusion..........................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 6...............................................................................................................32
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS...............................................................................32
6.1 Digital library development issues in developing countries:.............................32
6.2. SWOT analysis for prospect of digital library in developing country..............34
6.3 Limitations of the study......................................................................................34
6.4. Conclusions.......................................................................................................35
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................36
APPENDIX.................................................................................................................38
Survey Questionnaire...............................................................................................38
Important Websites..................................................................................................40
v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1. Internet penetration in Africa March 2009................................................10
Figure 3.4: Different statistics about china’s internet uses. [Source:
ChinaInternetWatch.com]............................................................................................15
Figure 3.5: Relationship between literacy rate and computer use in developed and
developing country.......................................................................................................16
Figure 4.1: Resource preservation oriented digital library...........................................18
Figure 4.2: Digital Library of Indian institute of Management....................................21
Figure 4.3: Fee and Password system in a digital library.............................................22
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.3. Internet users and population statistics for Asia.........................................12
Table 3.6: Computer literacy around the world...........................................................16
vii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Information sources accessed via the internet are ingredients of a digital library.
Today, the network connects some information sources that are a mixture of publicly
available information and private information shared by collaborators. They include
reference volumes, books, journals, newspapers, national phone directories, sound and
voice recordings, images, video clips, scientific data (raw data streams from
instruments and processed information), and private information services such as
stock market reports and private newsletters. In the developing country digital library
is one of the most important things.
Digital or Virtual Library is being introduced to the library system worldwide. The
increasing acceptance of Digital library might be due to the diverse information that
they contain, the options for what they can include are virtually endless, as well as
becoming more and more boundless as technology advances. Fabunmi (2009) The
developed countries aim to develop Digital libraries mainly is for the high value
placed on the availability of information. The concept of digital library was developed
in USA with a view to solving the problem of expansion, disorder and inefficiency of
information on the Internet.
Developing country is a term generally used to describe a nation with a low level of
material well being. There is no single internationally-recognized definition of
developed country, and the levels of development may vary widely within so-called
developing countries, with some developing countries having high average standards
of living (Sheffrin 2003)
1
1.2 Research Methodology
1.2.1 Design of the Study
These research methods included with questionnaire system, interview system, and
literature review. In this research we will discuss about the present condition of the
digital library in developing countries by collecting information from secondary
source like Journal, books, news searched by internet. However, we will explain why
we should go ahead with digital library visited of paper based or manual library: we
will discuss what its role in our social life, public access, ethical issues, open sources
software.
To get these benefits we will explain about the platforms wherefrom distribution of
digital libraries, access for readers, access for librarian, distance learning and so on
can be achieved.
1.2.2 Methods of Primary Data collection
In this study research we will contact people and students who go to libraries and who
use online libraries. The result of our research will be on the basis of our taking
interviews, questionnaires, visiting local libraries etc. We will contact 200 such
persons and divide into two sections: 1) Who came from developing countries and 2)
Who came from European Union. We will also use hypothesis method to get
approximate probability in our result. Thereafter we will explain in literature review
about digital library which will help people to get more information about digital
library.
The Questionnaire is the most effective method for this study to collect data for this
research for the following reasons:
The researcher shall conduct his survey covering 200 respondents. It
will not be possible to conduct personal interviews because of time
2
limitation. Therefore, questionnaire survey will be the most
appropriate one for this study.
Though the postal system of the country is good. Hence, postal
survey will be too time consuming to be feasible for this study.
Online survey in developing countries seems not so suitable for this
study.
In most of the studies conducted on the variables of the current study,
the researchers used questionnaire survey for their studies.
1.2.3 Data Analysis
In this context of my research I will propose to do research based on university
students and local people who use internet and library.
The proposed study is based on hypothesis. As a result, after collecting data we will
use hypothesis method to identify whether the relationships exist between measured
variables or not.
Besides we will make use of the following three data processing methods:
Completeness [each question is answered]
Accuracy[check for misleading answers]
Uniformity
1.3 Objectives
The main objectives of the study are as follows:
To find out the lacking of library facilities especially as a digital
library
To find out the problems for not to develop any digital library in the
country
Suggest the way to develop a digital library consortium.
3
CHAPTER 2
Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
Although knowledge is critical for development, few developing countries are
participating in the information revolution Just as industrialization and globalization
have increased the gulf between haves and have-nots, [World Development Report:
Knowledge for development. World Bank, 1998/99]. We identify four important areas
where digital libraries can help bridge this gap, and then review pertinent technical
issues. It has often been observed that technological advances in developing countries
can leapfrog those in developed ones. We think digital libraries will provide another
example, compensating for the failure of traditional distribution mechanisms to
address local needs and get information where it is needed. Priorities there include
health, food, housing, drinking water condition, transport condition etc. Though
computers are not a priority, simple, reliable access to targeted information meeting
these basic needs certainly is. Through Digital libraries computer professionals will
get a shining opportunity to help overturn the negative impact (witten et al. Accessed
on 2009)
2.2. Definition of digital library
There are some definition had been coated by Dr. T. B. Rajashekar of digital library:
i) According to Michael Lask ( 1997), Digital libraries are organized
collections of digital information where it combine the structuring and
gathering of information, which libraries and archives have always done,
with the digital representation that computers have made possible.
4
ii) Hurley (2002) said that "Digital libraries are different from traditional
library in that they are designed to support the creation, maintenance,
management, access to, and preservation of digital content.”
iii) Another definition by Harter (1997) is that "A Digital Library contains
digital representations of the objects found in it - most understanding of
the "Digital Library" probably also guesses that it will be accessible via the
Internet, though not necessarily to everyone. He added a also that the only
characteristic of it is that the idea of digitization on which there is
universal agreement."
iv) William Arms (2000) defined digital library is a managed collection of
information, with associated services from where the information is stored
in digital formats and accessible over a network. It has to be meant that a
stream of data sent to earth from a satellite is not a library, but the same
data, when organized systematically, becomes a digital library collection.”
v) Dr. T. B. Rajashekar also gives another definition from Witten and
Bainbridge “a focused collection of digital objects, including text, video,
and audio, along with methods for access and retrieval, and for selection,
organization, and maintenance of the collection is called a Digital
Library."
In conclusion we can quote vast definition by Sun Microsystems.
“Digital library as the electronic extension of functions users typically perform and
the resources they access in a traditional library.” In digital library Sun Microsystems
characterized as the information resources can be translated into digital form, stored in
multimedia repositories that is made available through Web-based services. It is very
necessary in the growth of e-learning (or distance learning) as the virtual alternative to
traditional school attendance. The advantages is as the number of student increasingly
turns to off-campus alternatives for lifelong learning, the library must evolve to fit this
new educational paradigm or become obsolete as students search for other ways to
conveniently locate information resources anywhere, any time.
5
2.3. Definition of developing country
Developing countries has been described on the basis of high level of criteria. Among
them the economic criteria have tended to dominate all the discussions. On the basis
of this criterion the country who have High gross domestic product or GDP as
describe as developed country on the other hand the country who have low gross
domestic product they are called as Developing Country.
Another criterion is industrialization, the country who mainly secondary and tertiary
activity is the major activity these countries are developed country and who have
mostly depend on primary activity they are called as developing country.
Now a days a measure has been created with combination of national income,
economic measures, life expectancy etc. is the Human Development Index where
developed countries have the high rating and the developing nation have the low. Kofi
Annan former Secretary General of the United Nations defined a developed country
as follows. "A developed country is one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and
healthy life in a safe environment.
According to the united nation statistic division developed and developing are
intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about
the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process.
6
CHAPTER 3
Digital Library
3.1 Definition
Collection of Information, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is
housed that is accessible to public is called a Library: A digital library is a library in
which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The
digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks.
Libraries aim at unrestricted access to content over computer and communication
networks, and digitization may be taken as a visible proposition to enhance the shelf
life of non-digital content by preservation apart from the virtue of increased and easy
access, thereby furthering usage is called as Digital Library (DL). Concluded by
Jeevan (2004)
1. Sherwell (1997) gives the following as the key characteristics of a true virtual
library.
2. In a digital library there is no corresponding physical collection.
3. All the documents should be available in electronic formats.
4. Documents are not stored in any one location.
5. Accessibility of documents from any workstation.
6. Retrieval and deliverance of document as and when required.
7. Availability of effective searching and browsing facilities.
3.2. Exiting Digital Library System in Developing countries
Developing countries comprise a majority of the WTO membership. They are
grouped as “developing countries” and “least developed countries”, There are no
WTO definitions of “developed” and “developing” countries. Members announce for
themselves whether they are “developed” or “developing” countries. However, other
7
members can challenge the decision of a member to make use of provisions available
to developing countries. About two thirds of the WTO’s around 150 members are
developing countries. World Bank, July 2008. Geographic classifications and data
reported for geographic regions are for low-income and middle-income economies, as
defined by the World Bank. Total of 144 countries. WTO (2009). Mostly the
developing countries are located in Africa, South Asia and Asian continent. Here we
would like to discuss some of the leading countries digital library system.
3.2.1. In Africa
The open source Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL) software provides a unique
resource to promote the development of DLs in Africa. In 2007 eIFL.net (Electronic
Information for Libraries) was asked to execute the Greenstone Pilot Project in
Southern Africa on behalf of the Koha Foundation (U.S.A.). In this way some of the
African countries tries to set up digital libraries, but this quantities is too small
according to the number of population of this area. Followings are some example of
existing digital library progress in Africa.
Table 3.1: Internet Users and Population Statistics for Africa
INTERNET USERS AND POPULATION STATISTICS FOR AFRICA
Africa region Population
(2009 Est.)
Pop. %
in World
Internet Users,
Latest Data
Penetration
(% Population)
Use Growth
(2000-2009)
% Users
in World
Total for Africa 991,002,342 14.6 % 65,903,900 6.7 % 1,359.9 % 3.9 %
Rest of world 5,776,802,866 85.4 % 1,602,966,508 27.7 % 349.7 % 96.1 %
World total 6,767,805,208 100.0 % 1,668,870,408 24.7 % 362.3 % 100.0 %
Nigeria
8
Ashcroft and Watts (2004) observed that Nigeria has an acute shortage of digital
systems librarians, information and web technology literate staff in libraries to install
and manage technology networks.
Fabunmi B.A. (2009) in his study coated about Ifidon and Okoli (2002) that they
observed that the first and second generation universities that are those established
between 1948 and 1970; and 1971 and 1979 respectively have completed their library
buildings while the situation of the third generation universities i.e. those established
between 1980 and 1983 is very bad. Ani (2005) had done a research with 22
university library in Nigeria and showed that 9 (sixty four percentages) of the libraries
have related information infrastructures, twelve (eighty six percentages) are
concerned in individual capability construction programmes, 11 (seventy nine
percentages) insist that the level of support in terms of money for university libraries
is very small.
Beside this some other countries has experiencing about digital library facilitated by
greenstone. These are i) the University of Namibia (UNAM), ii) Bunda College
Library in Malawi, iii) the National University of Science and Technology (NUST)
Library in Zimbabwe, iv)and the National University of Lesotho (NUL) Library and
the Lesotho College of Education Library sharing responsibility in Lesotho.
9
Figure 3.1. Internet penetration in Africa March 2009
3.2.2. In South Asia
South Asia typically consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Most of these countries are either developing or least
developed country. Among these India and Sri Lanka are made a bit good
advancement in Library and science technology. Other countries progress is not
remarkable. In this study only present condition of the DL of India and Bangladesh
will be followed up.
10
India
With an estimated population of 1.2 billion India is the world's second most populous
country. Culturally, linguistically and genetically diversification has given India a
special geographical entity. India has made a huge progress in terms of increasing
primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds
of the population. Beside this it can be mentioned that 3 universities has ranked within
200 worlds leading university according to The Times. In spite of these it is not that
much rich in digital library progress.
Some of the major initiatives on Digital Libraries in India are furnished below:
Table-3.2 Some National University Libraries Around South Asia
Institution Books Serials DL
Jauharlal Nehru University, India 500,000 800 Yes
Bombay University, India 700,000 N/A Yes
Chepauk Library, Madras University, India 509,263 642 Yes
Calcutta University, India 800,000 795 Yes
Punjub University, Pakistan 442,300 N/A Yes
Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan 195,000 276 Yes
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 400,000 970 Yes
Tribhuvan University, Nepal N/A N/A No
University of Malaya Library, Malaysia 1,239,749 3613 Yes
Dhaka University, Bangladesh 550,000 250 No
Bangladesh Agriculture University,
Bangladesh
182,000 200 No
Source: Khan (2006)
11
3.2.3 In Asia
Table 3.3. Internet users and population statistics for Asia
Population, internet users, its growth in Asian countries and the world.
ASIA REGIONPopulation
(2009 Est.)
% Pop.
of World
Internet Users,
Latest Data
Penetration
(% Population)
User Growth
( 2000-2009 )
Users %
of World
Asia Only 3,808,070,503 56.3 % 704,213,930 18.5 % 516.1 % 42.2 %
Rest of the
World2,959,734,705 43.7 % 964,656,478 32.6 % 291,1 % 57.8 %
WORLD
TOTAL6,767,805,208 100.0 % 1,668,870,408 24.7 % 362.3 % 100.0 %
12
China
China, a unique alcove in the world's political economy with its vast populace and
large physical size is showing its powerful global presence that can be the general
lessons for other developing countries.
During the past 50 years basic education in China has gained tremendous
achievements. The government has claimed that the net enrolment rate of primary
schools had reached 98.58%.
In recent years china has come into DL network. The National Library of China is
involved in most of China’s national research programs on digital. The Chinese
National Science Digital Library (CNSDL) and National Educational Digital Library
(NEDL) have been completed and The National Digital Library of China, the Socialist
Party Digital Library and the National Defense Industry Digital Library are in
progress.
Information Collection institutions as libraries have accepted the concept of digital
library (both in theory and practice). Many institutions attempted to construct digital
libraries, especially in digital content production, for example, the National Library of
China tried to do digitization of the Library’s traditional collections. China Central
Television (CCTV) and China National Radio (CNR) created video and audio
13
standards of collecting, cataloguing, searching and service to change the multi-media
content into digital form.
Chinese introduced idea on digital library has being followed by the other nations
(according to Chinese Officials). In the United State library system simple service
model is followed, as ‘use by pay for all’ or ‘use free for all’. But China introduces a
new diversified model which provides customized service. According to this model,
customer can pay according to their necessity as for the whole or part of the content.
In recent years, Chinese universities use digital resources as references which are
support by the CALIS. Most universities refer the digital resources as the main
reference resources. China is expecting its development of digital library will
influence the world with a remarkable sign.
14
Figure 3.4: Different statistics about china’s internet uses. [Source: ChinaInternetWatch.com]
3.3. Limitations of Existing Systems
Development of Digital libraries are depending on some factor like Literacy rate of
the population, number of telephone connection and number co computer users and
their connectivity with internet. Beside this the countries political will, capability of
utilizing the fund allocated on infrastructure development, corruption etc. Developing
countries are basically having all the problems. Figure 3.5 shows the difference
between developed and developing countries available option to setup the digital
library. Mostly their literacy rate is not so high, and the literate persons are not very
familiar with computer knowledge.
Also china who are growing as a developed country they have the limitation of
internet facilities. They have some exemplary initiative but for the huge number
population it is not enough. In India they are also trying the same way as China.
Bangladesh and Nigeria are totally depending on the other donor agency to setup their
education related infrastructure. These processes make them dependent and dawdling
in the progress of Digital Library.
15
Figure 3.5: Relationship between literacy rate and computer use in developed and developing country
3.4. Conclusion
Existing situation of the digital library uses in the developing countries is varying in
different places according to their education level, economic growth and total
development progress. Among the selected countries China has done a very good
improvement, India is also going to the level of upper class but Nigeria is now in the
amateur level of digital world. Table ... is showing the availability of basic factors for
development of digital library in different countries of the world.
Table 3.6: Computer literacy around the world
Country Population
(in million)
Literacy
rate
(%)
No of
telephone
connection
(in 000)
No of
cellular
phone
(in 000)
No of
computer
users
(in 000)
No of
internet users
(in 000)
China 1295 86 135000 679000 40.88 85.09
India 1049 64 27700 415250 15.53 54.82
UK 59.1 99 33500 75750 600 473
USA 291 97 35000 271,000 762 629
Bangladesh 140 64 10556 46500 11.74 2.61
Nigeria 124 63.4 * 1072 68000 6.28 35.37
Source: (i) Competition Success Review Year book 2005.
(ii) Career and Competition Monthly
Chronicle: India 2005: A Handy Compendium of Statistics
(iii) Social Watch Report 2008:
http://www.socialwatch.org/en/fichasPais/fichaPaisPortada.shtml.
(iv) Wikipedia. * Primary school going rate in Nigeria.
16
CHAPTER 4
Technical Issues of developing Digital Library
4.1 Understanding Meta-data Standards and its application
Metadata provides context for data. Metadata is used to facilitate the understanding,
characteristics, and management usage of data. The metadata required for effective
data management varies with the type of data and context of use. In a library, where
the data is the content of the titles stocked, metadata about a title would typically
include a description of the content, the author, the publication date and the physical
location. Wikipedia (2009) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata#Purpose
Metadata, is meant by “data about other data,” is a critical element for searching
information through a database especially. To standardize the structure and content of
indexing or cataloguing information is the function of metadata is. With the advent of
digital libraries in western countries, efforts to create better information management
systems and improve existing ones have resulted in multiple standards.
A brief summary of existing worldwide meta-data standards is as follows. The
International Standards Organization’s (ISO) Metadata Working Group has a related
standard, ISO 11179, Specification and Standardization of Data Elements. It may also
be made available to private sectors, civil societies and citizens. The American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) has established the NCITS L8 (formerly X3L8),
the National Committee on Information Technology Standards. The committee covers
naming, identification, definitions, classification, and registration of metadata. The
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a major governing body of the Web has
developed de facto standards including RDF (Resource Description Framework) and
the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) specifications. PICS was originally
intended to aid adults in controlling children's access to the Internet. However, its
standards are usually at a very general level over which meta-standards can be
improvised. The National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) has developed an NSDI
metadata standard for spatial data. A software utility has also been developed by
17
ISRO that allows agencies to populate their own metadata in the NSDI Metadata
Standard format and then link it with the overall metadata server. Maps and satellite
images made available through this facility will be used for decisions at the local,
regional, state and central level planning, implementation of action plans,
infrastructure development, disaster management support, and business development.
Figure 2 shows the metadata and other resources preserved in Digital library.
Figure 4.1: Resource preservation oriented digital library
Paper Collectio
n
Paper Collectio
n
Catalo
gue
Catalo
gue
ScanScan EvaluationEvaluation
IndexIndex
Digital ContentDigital Content
Abstract
Abstract
OCROCR
MetadataMetadata FullTextFullText
Image
Image
SearchSearch LinkLink
Distribution, License Management Payment Management
Distribution, License Management Payment Management
Own library
Classification
Own library
Classification
Resource preservation oriented digital library Resource preservation oriented digital library
18
4.2. Making of Digital Library
DLs can be built with very few software toolkits. A few institutions investigated the
approach to create software toolkits by a natural solution. Dienst is a DL developed at
Cornell University. It’s tasks are clearly divided and specified by a protocol based on
HTTP and eventually using XML. It can support distributed operation of the
NCSTRL project. Alternative software, Repository-in-a-Box (NHSE, 2001) has been
introduced by the University of Tennessee, as E-Prints software from the
Southampton University (OpCit, 2001).
There is no doubt is that is the single most effective information dissemination tool in
the world of current times. Undoubtly it was primarily possible because of the
simplicity of the protocols it relies on and the hierarchical manner in which protocols
such as HTTP (Fildinng et.al., 1999 ) build on more fundamental protocols such as IP
and TCP. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level protocol for
distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. Its use for retrieving
inter-linked resources led to the establishment of the World Wide Web. Basically, an
HTTP client using for a request that a transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
connection to a particular port on a host. An HTTP server listening on that port waits
for the client to send a request message.
For the Greenstone digital library software front end has been created with a beta
release of the EmeraldView being completed.( emeraldview-front-end-to-greenstone-
digital-library-software/). This front-end software were used for designing Greenstone
digital library software. This front-end was written in PHP using the framework of
codeIgniter that enables the greenstone library software protecting its files with this
every one could run the normal or standard view of greenstone front-end.
Greenstone's cryptic URLs of unusual size are a fail for user comprehensibility,
search engine crawlers, bookmarking, etc. Though extensive customization of the
display is possible, there are some stopping points where modification of the C++
source is required.
19
C++ Server Pages (CSP) allows developers to build Dynamic Web Pages and Web
Apps by using C++. Existing C++ projects can be ported to the Web by simply
including the C++ source code, or by importing the C++ libraries to CSP scripts. It is
similar to ASP and JSP, but instead of VBScript, JScript, or Java it uses C++, giving
an incredibly high processing performance to your web applications. It supports
automatic script compilation and provides the developer with a complete Web
programming framework. It works both with IIS and Apache.
Java Script:
JavaScript is used in millions of Web pages to add functionality, validate
forms, detect browsers, and much more. JavaScript is the most popular
scripting language on the internet, and works in all major browsers, such as
Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari. JavaScript gives
HTML designers a programming tool - HTML authors are normally not
programmers, but JavaScript is a scripting language with a very simple syntax!
Almost anyone can put small "snippets" of code into their HTML pages.
JavaScript's official name is ECMAScript. (W3Schools.com accessed on
2009)
JavaScript can put dynamic text into an HTML page - A JavaScript statement
like this: document.write("<h1>" + name + "</h1>") can write a variable text
into an HTML page
JavaScript can react to events - A JavaScript can be set to execute when
something happens, like when a page has finished loading or when a user
clicks on an HTML element
JavaScript can read and write HTML elements - A JavaScript can read and
change the content of an HTML element
JavaScript can be used to validate data - A JavaScript can be used to validate
form data before it is submitted to a server. This saves the server from extra
processing
20
JavaScript can be used to detect the visitor's browser - A JavaScript can be
used to detect the visitor's browser, and - depending on the browser - load
another page specifically designed for that browser
JavaScript can be used to create cookies - A JavaScript can be used to store
and retrieve information on the visitor's computer.
The customization that is supported is via a system of micro-templates referred to as
macros. This system is so heavily nested and cross-referenced that it is very difficult
to conceptualize how any given page is generated.
4.2 Software Issues in Digital Library
Software is the most important part of developing DL.“Greenstone” is digital library
software used for building and distributing digital library assortments and issuing it on
the Internet or any removable device. Created and distributed by the New Zealand
Digital Library Project, it incorporates functions like metadata, full text explores and
recovery, diversified linguistic support, support for various document formats and
management. Greenstone is open-source software, issued under the terms of the GNU
General Public License. The aim of the software is to build a digital library for
empowering users in all level of institution mainly in university libraries, government
libraries and other government and non-government public service institutions.
Figure 1 is an example of using Greenstone software based DL in India.
Figure 4.2: Digital Library of Indian institute of Management
21
4.4 Digital Rights Management
Given the vulnerability of materials accessible over the public access networks like
the Internet, issues of IPR of material over the digital domain has become a serious
concern. Digital Rights Management involves ways in which the digital library
operators manage issues of IPR, those of ownership of material made available on the
digital library, how one controls access to as well as dissemination of copyrighted
material. Several methods of managing digital rights do exist nowadays from which
one could choose to adopt the more convenient one for their purposes. Examples
include,
(i) charging a fee for the use of material as part of a copyright fee if that is
mandatory,
Figure 4.3: Fee and Password system in a digital library
(ii) Act as a middleman for other libraries so as not to get involved in these
issues and to let the source organization deal with its IPR.
(iii) Holding restricted access to resources using user authentification method for
those paid/registered users. This can be enabled using magnetic swipe cards,
biometric methods or simple online security software that pops a
username/password dialog box
(iv) Withholding original material and sending photocopies to the addresses. Of
course, this works only at a local level and also for only an automated library
22
that provides access to its catalo online and allows requests for materials to be
sent.
(v) Using logos, logotypes as watermarks to protect source ownership of the
materials.
23
CHAPTER 5
Digital Library in South Asia: a case study Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the countries who lead the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in
the world. Bangladesh, with 133 million people, is an impoverished country in South
Asia and it embodies all of the above characteristics and difficulties of a developing
country. According to USAID (2007) “The Government has placed a high priority on
it, particularly at the primary school level. Although official education statistics are
unreliable, substantial progress has been made over the last 20 years. Enrolments have
increased, the gender balance has improved, and public spending on education has
expanded.” Among those who enter primary school, only 76% complete it. It takes
them an average of 6.6 years to do so. Six percent of children do not enrol, and 25%
of those who do drop out. That means nearly 30% of Bangladeshi children do not
have a primary school education.
5.1 The Bangladesh Scenario
It is a small country with large population. At present the literacy rate of Bangladesh
in urban area is 63.36% (15+) and in rural area it is 48.93(15+) (BBS, 2001). Major
educational & Research Institution, Office, Organization Banks & Insurance
companies etc. have their own libraries. In Bangladesh, the first public library was
established through a private initiative in 1851, whereas the first public library
through a government initiative was established in 1954 (opened to public in 1958).
As of today, a total of 68 government public libraries and a total of 2,000 non -
government public libraries are accessible to the users in the country.
5.2. University libraries in Bangladesh
Almost every university (both public and private) of Bangladesh has libraries of
different types. There are 77 university in Bangladesh among them 54 are private.
24
There are 56 University level institutions in Bangladesh. All these universities or
institutions have libraries of their own. They have collaboration and relationships with
foreign universities. Beside these, there are about 2200 university colleges, institutes
and colleges and 600 organizations, ministries, directories and institutions which
conducts researches and posses libraries of different types.
University of Dhaka is the first university in the country, which is established in 1920-
1922. The first University library was also established with this establishment. The
first private university library was established with the establishment of North South
University (NSU) in 1993.
Bangladesh is a developing country with a very poor socio-economic condition. In
every sector, poverty takes the major dominant role. The government of Bangladesh
has formulated National strategy for Accelerated Poverty (PRSP) in 2005 (extended
up to June). Planning Commission is preparing another PRSP. This project is
accompanied by other les developed countries and is working with full strength to
meet the challenges of millennium development goals (MDG).
It has been revealed that education sector is the driving sector in every part of the
development. In Bangladesh it needs urgent attention according to the Millennium
Development Goals (Midterm Bangladesh Progress Report 2007). People should be
provided with huge amount of information in every sector to get inspiration,
awareness and concepts. And for the development of the education sector, digital
library can play a very critical role here. Recognizing the importance, efforts are being
given for developing digital libraries in all universities, banks, foreign organizations
and Government offices.
In connection with that, publication of journals, literatures, audiovisuals, records in
the Government offices etc. has already started to use digitization methods. Different
dialogues, seminars are taking place for popularizing the concept and methods at
national and international level.
25
5.3. Public Libraries
Public libraries are the library for general people and setup by either Government or
Non Government Organization (NGO) and also run by the Government Officials or
the NGO officials or representatives. According to the administrative and
management point of view, two types of public libraries can be found in Bangladesh.
1. Government and
2. Non-government public libraries.
Problems of Public Libraries in Bangladesh: In Bangladesh there is most common
problems we have found that are as follows
1. The main problem is lack of educated stuff or librarian and their training
facilities are also very negligible
2. Also there is poor in of gratitude of the stipulation of libraries. These are
also affect on library services in a social environment.
3. The librarians status are very poor
4. In Bangladesh it is believed that it has technical backwardness
5. Most of the librarians are unskilled and shy.
6. Government does not allocate that much fund to improve its quality
7. There is a deficient in of proper planning
8. The country is so small according to its population that’s why it has scarcity
of space and equipments to build a good quality library.
9. There be short of co-operation among the libraries and lack of cooperative
strength of mind among the librarians and other stuff
10. Officials do not know the standards for public libraries
11. Lack of consistency in the pay scales of similar stuff, Poor gradation and
irrational structure
12. Either international cooperation has denied in this sector or government
could not manage it.
26
Primary data analysis:
A survey has been conducted with the library user in Bangladesh to find a relation
ship with some analysis. To find a relationship with above analysis the researcher has
done a survey conducting with the library user in Bangladesh. Following are the
results of the survey:
i) Age group:
Mostly young people who goes to college or university they use library
frequently. Their ages are in between 19-25. Following figure shows the
age group of the respondent.
Age group %
7-18 13
19-25 47
26-50 24
50+ 16
ii) Education level:
Mainly in Bangladesh library users are student among them most of the
respondent are reading in undergraduate level. They usually come to
library for preparing their studies. Post graduate holders are mainly using
27
their office library for preparing official works or own academic works.
Following figure shows the percentages of level of education.
Educational Level %
Below secondary level 10
Higher secondary Level 23
Under Graduate 52
Post Graduate 25
iii) Library using duration:
Most of the respondent usually spends below 1 hour in the library in a day. That is
for mainly reading newspaper and magazine. Other people who usually spend
more than one hour they come to prepare their lessons.
Time to spend in library (per day) %
Below 1 hour 41
1-2 28
2-3 23
3-4 8
28
iv) Which library are they using:
Nearly half of the respondents are using their own institutional library. Also a
good number of people are using the public library. The users not only come to
read in public library but they came to visit the library and its adjacent area which
is also a famous tourist spot and also known as a leisure place.
Which library you usually go %
Own Institute library 46
Public library 32
Organization library 12
Other institution library 10
v) Reasons for going to library:
All the student respondents come to prepare their lesson in the library and they
feel comfort to read in library because it is a quite place and all the readers are in
reading mode that makes a perfect condition for reading room. So many readers
come to read and collect novel and story book, so many of them come to reading
newspaper. Few of the respondents who are doing research they come to collect
their research material.
Reasons for going to library %
For preparing lesson 67
For collecting novel or story book 59
For news paper reading 61
For research 12
For other cultural activity 44
vi) Problems of the libraries:
The main problems identified by the users denoted as they have to wait for the
return copy because most of the time popular books does not have enough copy.
Second problem is the books and other products are not well arranged, so it takes
long time to get a specific book or other products. The third problem that they
identified that the stuffs are not qualified to help and also they do not know which
29
books or journals goes where. Following figure shows the problems of the
ordinary libraries denoted by the respondents.
Problems of the libraries %
Not sufficient books 29
Books and journal are not well arranged 38
Copy missed 22
I have to wait until other borrower’s return 68
Stuffs are not educated enough to help 46
It is far from my resident 26
It takes too long to search a copy 57
vii) Problems of getting digital library in Bangladesh:
Bangladesh is a country of struggling people, where every body is doing hard
work but some of the natural disadvantages and huge amount of population of this
country makes it country of fighter (against natural calamity) but country of
happiness. In spite of lack of money the people of this country shows their height
level of hospitality. But to build the entire infrastructure need money. In this case
respondents are indicating the problem of fund to build the infrastructure. That
30
also leads the problem of getting high speed internet facilities. Figure ... shows the
peoples comments about the problem insisting to get the digital libraries.
Problems of getting digital library in
Bangladesh
%
It will need enough money that we do not
have
76
It will need well equipped infrastructure 81
It will need high speed internet facilities 91
It may charge that we may not afford 58
We do not know about this properly 62
5.4 Conclusion
The most neglected field in Bangladesh is the library from the very beginning of
library movement in Bangladesh. The librarian are not getting good support from the
government for this reason, they are not active in their field. These problems hold
back the regular development of libraries in Bangladesh. And also it should be
mentioned that, these problems are not so serious that they cannot be resolved.
31
CHAPTER 6
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
6.1 Digital library development issues in developing countries:
There are umpteen numbers of problems for the Digital Library development in the
developing countries. Some of the prominent and predominant among them include
the following:
i. Lack of proper Information & Communication Technology (ICT)
Infrastructure Digital Libraries demand cutting edge IT and Communication
infrastructure such as:
a. High end and powerful Servers; Structured LAN with Broadband
Intranet facilities, ideally optical fibre based Gigabit networks;
b. Required number of Workstations capable of providing online
information services, computing and multimedia applications;
c. Internet connectivity with sufficient bandwidth, capable of meeting the
informational and computational requirement of the user community.
There are many more related facilities / services which are highly
essential in an ideal digital library environment. It is observed that the
ICT infrastructure in most of the Institutions / Organizations, barring
exceptions, is not up to the desired level so as to run advanced digital
library services to the optimum level.
ii. Lack of ICT Strategies and Policies: A vast majority of the libraries and the
governing body do not have laid down policies on ICT panning and strategies
to meet the challenges posed by the technology push, the information
overload, as well as the demand pull from the users.
iii. Lack of Technical Skills: The Human Resources available in the libraries need
time-to-time professional enrichment inputs and rigorous training on the latest
technologies which are playing around in the new information environment.
The kind of training programmes being imparted in developing countries at the
moment is not able to meet the demand in terms of quantity as well as quality.
32
iv. Management Support for the provision of world class information systems,
resources and services the libraries need the wholehearted support from the
respective management. Institutional support in terms of proper funding,
human resources and IT skills enrichment are prerequisites for the
development and maintenance of state-of-art digital library systems and
services.
v. Copyright / IPR Issues of copyright, intellectual property, and fair use
concerns are posing unprecedented array of problems to the libraries and
librarians are struggling to cope with all these related issues in the new digital
information environment.
vi. Lack of sufficient funding Building and managing digital libraries involves
huge financial resources. The budget allocation of most of the university
libraries is not sufficient for the digital library research and development.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been spent on digital library
research and development activities throughout the world. Digitizing the
existing library materials also involves a huge expenditure.
vii. Software Development Large academic libraries may be able to develop their
own software, perhaps in collaboration with university researchers and IT
departments. But many libraries do not have the resources to build a complete
solution, and a comprehensive commercial solution is often too expensive.
Moreover, due to the various and expanding content and services, no single
product can meet all the requirements of even a basic function of a digital
library (Lund, 2001)
viii. Organization of collection Digital libraries is organized collections of
information. Downloading information from the web and organizing them into
focused collections and making the material more useful to others is a prime
application area for digital libraries.
ix. Illegal and harmful materials Web information is a big portion of any digital
library and some material in the web is illegal and harmful and clearly
inappropriate for public presentation. Violence and pornography are two major
issues in this aspect. It is difficult for our academic libraries to prevent the
usages of those materials.
33
x. Cultural sensitivity Most digital information are produced by people from
European and North American backgrounds, yet the majority of people in the
world live in countries that have a different culture than them (Witten and
Bainbridge, 2003).
6.2. SWOT analysis for prospect of digital library in developing country.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Historic Walled nation of achieving need
Huge number of worker;
United with the same socio economic
group;
Proximity to Giant’s Causeway and
Donegal;
Recent and current investment on
telecommunication;
Good number of engineer and library
science graduate.
Corruption in government sector;
Lack of fund;
Mixed marketing message;
Low income people ;
Lack of identification and welcome
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
The ability of the area to do any job with
proper guidance by providing appropriate
services in order to compete effectively
with established country;
The overall level of popularity and
demand from people ;
the level of political stability and
perceived level of utilizing the fund;
34
6.3 Limitations of the study
The study will be restricted by a number of factors. Firstly, the research shall be
limited only in a small area and with few libraries. Secondly, sample size is very
small. There can be some reservations such as:
The interview system can be dropped by person at any time.
The collecting data might not be reliable.
There are some costs to take interviews which can affect in collecting data.
The methodology might not be perfect in this research.
6.4. Conclusions
Digital libraries are widen up the uses of modern days technology in a direction of
social reformation by which it can be minimize a possible threat towards the
commercialization of information that is practiced by the entertainment industries.
These all are because of letting all the nation of the world is creating and broadcasting
large information collections. When we concern about the developing world digital
libraries may demonstrate to be an “exterminator app” for computer technology which
is an appliance that makes an unremitting market for a showing potential but under-
utilized technology. But dejectedly stated that the Internet does not really expand to
developing countries, and the corresponding developing world is misplaced out on the
atypical amount of basic, day after day all the information that the Web makes
available and its giant persuade on promoting and internationalizing business
opportunities. Very few inducements to create copies of the complete Web available
locally for the reason that of its enormous size, fast change, and uncertain information
value per gigabyte. Nevertheless, in exactly the same form, it is simple to deliver
information collections on both the Web and, on removable media such as DVD or
CD-ROM, indeed, the Greenstone software and other library software illustrated
above allows one to create a complete, run able, self-installing can be done by only
few mouse clicks.
35
REFERENCES
Any (2005) Evolution of virtual libraries in Nigeria: myth or reality? Journal of
Information Science Volume 31, Issue 1 (February 2005) table of contents Pages: 67 -
70 2005 ISSN: 0165-5515
Arms. W (2000): Digital Libraries. MIT Press. 2000.
Ashcroft, L. and Watts (2004) ICT Skills for Information Professionals in Developing
Countries: Perspective from a Study of the Electronic Information Environment in
Nigeria. Retrieved on 11/30/2006 from http://www/ifla.org/V/iflaji/IFLA-Journal-1-
2005.pdf
Bernie Hurley, 2002) the Director for Library Technologies at U.C.Berkeley. Quoted
in Digital library technology trends. Sun Microsystems. August 2002)
Fabunmi B.A. (2009) Challenges and Prospects of Virtual Libraries in Universities in
Nigeria Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria European
Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X Vol.33 No.1 (2009), pp.202-208
Fielding, R., J. Gettys, J. Mogul, H. Frystyk, L. Masinter, P. Leach, and T. Berners-
Lee. (1999). RFC2616: Hypertext Transfer Protocol - HTTP 1.1, Network Working
Group, June 1999. Available <ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2616.txt>.
Greenstone library (accessed on 2009) http://digital
scholarship.org/digitalkoans/2009/06/07/emeraldview-front-end-to-greenstone-digital
library-software
Harter. S.P. (1997): Scholarly communication and the digital library: Problems and
issues. Stephen P. Harter. (Journal of Digital Information. 1, 1; 1997)
Ian H. Witten, et al (accessed on 2009): The Promise of Digital Libraries in
Developing Countries www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~ihw/.../01IHW-ML-MF-DB-
PromiseDL.pdf
36
ISO. (1994). ISO/IEC 7498-1:1994, Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference
Model: The Basic Model, International Organization for Standardization.
Jeevan V. K. J. (2004) Digital library development: identifying sources of content for
developing countries with special reference to India. Science direct. Elsevier Ltd.
2004.
Khan.J.I. (2006) Technical Report 2006-02-02 Internetworking and Media
Communications Research Laboratories Department of Computer Science, Kent State
University http://medianet.kent.edu/technicalreports.html
Lagos, C. and J. R. Davis. (1995). "Dienst - An Architecture for Distributed
Document Libraries", in Communications of the ACM, Vol 38, No 4, p. 47.
Lesk. M. (1997): Practical Digital Libraries. Morgan Kaufmann. 1997.
NHSE. (2001). Repository-in-a-Box. Website <http://www.nhse.org/RIB/>.
Optic. (2001). E-Prints. Website <http://www.eprints.org/>.
Sheffrin. S.M. (2003). Economics: Principles in Action. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey 07458: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 471. ISBN 0-13-063085-3.
http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?.
Sun Microsystems. ( 2002) : The Director for Library Technologies at U.C.Berkeley.
Quoted in Digital library technology trends. Sun Microsystems. August 2002)
USAID (2007) Country report :Bangladesh, United States Agency for International
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Wikipedia 2009, Greenstein, Daniel I., Thorin, Suzanne Elizabeth. The Digital
Library: A Biography. Digital Library Federation (2002) ISBN 1933645180.
Accessed June 25, 2007.
Witten Ian H. and Bainbridge. D (2003):. How to build a digital library. Morgan
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www.aoac.org/.../2009_list_of_developing_countrie s%5b1%5d.pdf
37
APPENDIX
Survey Questionnaire
Questioner:
1. Name:.........................................................................................................
2. Age :...........................................................................................................
3. Education:..................................................................................................
4. Occupation:...............................................................................................
5. Time to spend in lesson or education per week...............Min/..............Hour
6. Time to spend in library per week:...................................Min/..............Hour
7. Which library you usually go.
i) Own Institute library
ii) Public library
iii) Organization library
iv) Other institution library
8. Highest distance you travel to go to library...............................................km
9. Reasons to go to library
i) For preparing lesson
ii) For collecting novel or story book
iii) For news paper reading
iv) For research
v) For other cultural activity
vi) For just to visit because its a quite place
10. Are you happy with the service provided by the library......Yes/No/Do not know
11. What are the problems of the library
i) Not sufficient books
ii) Books and journal are not well arranged
iii) Copy missed
iv) I have to wait until other borrower’s return
v) Stuffs are not educated enough to help
38
vi) It is far from my resident
vii) It takes too long to search a copy
12. Do you know anything about digital library?
........................................................................................................................
13. If yes did you use it before?.....Yes/No
14. It yes what is the name of the digital library?.................................................
15. How did you fell to use it?..............................................................................
16. Do you think we need digital library consortium?...........................................
17. What do you think about the constrains of getting digital library?
i) It will need enough money that we do not have
ii) It will need well equipped infrastructure
iii) It will need high speed internet facilities
iv) It may charge that we may not afford
v) We do not know about this properly
18. How do you think we can solve the problem?
i) Collecting money form the users
ii) Take loan from the donor agency
iii) Improving the ability of the technical people
iv) Taking initiative and commitment to finish the work
v) People awareness about the facilities of digital library
vi) Government budget allocation on this aspect
19. Do you think is it possible to establish digital library in Bangladesh?....yes/no
20. If yes how long it will take ?..............................................................................
39
Important Websites
Indian libray who have DL
• ‘Archives of Indian Labour’ at the V.V. Giri Institute of Labour
(http://www.indialabourarchives.org/sources/ jnu.htm)
• Indian Institute of Science NCSI
(http://vidya-mapak.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/cgi-bin/library)
• Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (http://intranet.iimk.ac.in/cgi-bin/library)
• Search Digital Library SDL at DRTC Bangalore (https://drtc.isibang.ac.in/index.jsp)
• Nalanda Digital library, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut
(http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in)
• Vidyanidhi Project (http://www.vidyanidhi.org.in)
• Million Book Universal Digital library Project - Carnegie Mellon - IISc - ERNET
(http://www.dli.ernet.in)
• India Gandhi Centre for the ARTS (IGNCA Digital Library) -(http://ignca.nic.in)
• INDEST, Ministry of HRD, GOI (http://paniit.iitd.ac.in/indest)
• National Tuberculoses Institute (NTI), Bangalore (http://ntiindia.kar.nic.in/)
• Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka (RGUHS)
http://www.rguhs.ac.in/dl/index.html)
• Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) –
(http://203.200.90.6/tkdl/langdefault/common/home.asp)
• Indian School of Business (http://www.isb.edu/lrc/index.html)
• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
(http://www.library.iitkgp.ernet.in/usr/elib/digital.htm)
• Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (http://www.library.iitb.ac.in/
~mnj/gsdl/cgi-bin/library)
• IITMK Trivandrum (http://www.iiitmk.ac.in/iiitmk/digitallibrary.htm)
• National Chemical Laboratory (NCL, CSIR) – Digital Repository –
(http://dspace.ncl.res.in)
• University of Hyderabad (http://202.41.85.234:8000/cgi-bin/gw_42_
6/chameleon
40