Digital Library

Abstract

DIGITAL LIBRARY Libraries as traditionally defined referred to site specific structures that housed information which had been codified in books and sorted out in bulky catalogues. The major constraint of the traditional library was sorting through a long list of abstracts and citations in a bid to obtain a piece of information which needless to say, made the knowledge acquisition process tasking and laborious. With the 21st century innovation of information technology and its permeating influence in all fields of human endeavors it was only a matter of time before the conventional “brick and mortar” libraries gave way to “click and mortar” digital libraries, Thus enlarging the scope of services which libraries offer. A digital library is an organized collection of digital materials with associated services which are accessible over networks. Most digital libraries make use of a repository which in essence is a portal for collection, preservation, and dissemination of digital copies of intellectual outputs such as books, conference papers and workshop presentations. Good examples of emergent and most efficient software’s that has aided the rise of digital libraries are Greenstone and Dspace. Greenstone is comprehensive open source software suited for building, maintaining and distributing digital library collections. It provides new approach of organizing information and publishing it on the Internet or Intranet in the form of a fully-searchable, metadata-driven digital library which is distributed and accessible via the web. The greenstone software has the feature of powerful indexing, powerful search and browsing functions in addition to being meta-data based. The Greenstone software has the benefit of not being constrained within a physical boundary thus allowing users ease of access without necessarily going to the library, it is also available round the clock with multiple access for staff. n conclusion, it is recommended that the NNRA adopts this new feature and develop a link to zonal offices and obtain an original greenstone software for repository purposes and also to give librarians in-house training on the greenstone software