Essential Strategies and Skill Sets Towards Creating Digital Libraries Using Open Source Software

Abstract

Today’s libraries are faced with the challenges of integrating the traditional and the emerging information paradigm. The current information environment unequivocally prompts libraries to leverage on the latest digital technologies towards building practical digital libraries and in setting up dynamic electronic information systems. Digital libraries do enable the seamless integration of the scholarly electronic information, help in creating and maintaining local digital content, and strengthen the mechanisms and the capacity of the library’s information systems and services. They increase the portability, efficiency of access, flexibility, availability and preservation of digital objects. Libraries today face the unprecedented challenge of managing an array of content spread across a host of publication types and in a rapidly proliferating mix of formats. There are a host of problems the enthusiastic library fraternity face in their digital library development endeavours ...