A Study on the Impact of Technology on Quality of Services In University Libraries

Exploring the Evolution of Libraries in the Digital Age

Abstract

Traditionally, the library is a physicalplace where collection of information resources in various formats (books,journals, videos, CD-ROMs etc.) is organized in a specific manner to meet theneeds of a specific user or group of users. It is a service organization withboth tangible and intangible assets. The tangible assets constitute physicaldocuments and the human resources. The intangible assets comprise theinvaluable services rendered by the library staff. The library plays animportant role in the academic world by providing access to world classinformation resources and services, and stimulates academic research in thecountry. Access to information is not a new phenomenonbut it exists through ages. Libraries being the centre for information storageand retrieval did exist from ancient times in one form or the other. Thelibraries have transformed from museums to digital libraries over the time dueto intervention of various technologies. The invention of ink, paper, printingtechnology and information and information communication technologies (ICT) arethe major technological milestones in the history of library transformation.The printing technology helped the mass production of books and other printedmaterials and brought them to the portal of library as primary storage media.As science and technology advanced, the print media was augmented by non printmedia such as microforms, audio-visual aids, magnetic tapes and CD-ROMs as themedium of information storage and retrieval. Since 1950s the developments inICT induced traditional libraries to transform to digital librariesincorporating documents available in electronic formats. The librarytransformation can be represented as MUSEUMS: Media-Clay, Brick etc:Access-Physical visit; to TRDITIONAL LIBRARIES: Media- Print: Access-Physicalvisit; to DIGITAL LIBRARY: Media: Digital: Access-Online, Remote.