Archives: In general, archives consist of
records which have been selected for permanent or long-term preservation on
the ground of their enduring cultural, historical or evidentiary value.
Archival records are normally unpublished and almost always unique, unlike
books or magazines for which many identical copies exist. This means that
archives (the places) are quite distinct from libraries with regard to
their functions and organization, although archival collections can often
be found within library buildings.
a) Definition: The word “archive” is derived from the
Greek “arkhē” meaning government or order (compare an-archy, mon-archy).
The word originally developed from the Greek “arkheion” which refers to the
home or dwelling of the Archon, in which important official state documents
were filed and interpreted under the authority of the Archon. Since
“archive”, as a noun or a verb, has acquired meanings related to computer
science, Archivists tend to prefer the term “archives” (with an S) as the
correct terminology to serve as both the singular and plural.
A person who works in archives is
called an archivist. The study and practice of organizing, preserving, and
providing access to information and materials in archives is called
archival science.
b) Objectives
i) Safe storage and preservation of the
document in a climate control facility;
ii) Classification and Cataloguing of
the document;
iii) Retrieval and safe handling of the
document.
c) Collections: It contains records (primary source
documents) which have accumulated over the course of an individual or
organization's lifetime. The collection refers to all historical records
(not just documents and manuscripts but videos, disks, and other tangible
forms as well) held and preserved by an institution. Archival materials are
not published; these are always famous documents, or even necessarily old.
The archives of an organization (such
as a corporation or government) tend to contain records, such as
administrative files, business records, memos, official correspondences and
meeting minutes. The archives of an individual may include letters, papers,
photographs, computer files, scrapbooks, financial records or diaries
created or collected by the individual – regardless of media or format.
d) Services: Professor and author Bruce Dearstyne
identified the eight roles of the archivist-
- The role of an agent to the past and
the future. This means that archivists must always bear in mind its
historical significance and its importance to posterity.
- They must work in conjunction with
related information fields. For example, many archivists work closely with
librarians and records managers to determine the value of records and their
place in the repository.
- They act as organizers. This requires
the archivists to manage, coordinate, and allocate resources in a manner
that allows an easy access and use by staff and patrons.
- Archivists should act as evaluators
of program materials by continually assessing records.
- They should assert control and order.
This includes systematic filing and storing of items.
- They ensure physical survival of
records through security, storage, and disaster planning.
- Archivists foster access to valuable
records and so they must also encourage patrons and researchers to make use
of their collections. They can do this through various promotional
campaigns (articles or exhibits).
- Archivists act as public relations
coordinators for their repository. This means that they attempt to reach
out to the community via conferences and presentations that demonstrate the
importance and richness of their resources.
Array and Chain
1. Introduction: The addition of a characteristic to a
basic subject idea or an isolate idea leads to the addition of an array.
The addition of an array implies the addition of a further division of a
basic subject or an isolate idea as the case may be. Any isolate idea taken
along with its succession of sub isolates is also an isolate idea. The
succession of the isolate idea from the first to the last reached in this
process is denoted by the term “chain of isolate idea”. A chain may
similarly be formed in respect of basic subject idea.
2. Array: The series of co-ordinate subdivision
which are obtained by dividing a class or a division according to a
single characteristic. Each co-ordinate division in array should exclude
all the others and the whole array should be exhaustive of the context of
the class. The order of the division in an array should be that deemed
most helpful to users.
3. Chain: The successions of division subordinate one to
another expressing the relation. “A includes B which in turn includes C
(or conversely c is a part of B which is a part of A) constitute a chain
of or it may also be defined as a hierarchy of term each containing or
including all which follow it in the same series.
4. Examples: Asia, India, Assam, Kamrup,
Guwahati is a chain of isolate idea.
Basic Principles of Library Building Design
Basic Principles of Library Building
Design: Some of the
basic principles of library building design are mentioned below-
a)
Functional Design: A library building should have functional
design rather than a monumental one. There should be provision for
documents, users, staff, and service areas. There should be
areas for senior professional’s rooms, library staff, seminar room, binding
section, reprographic section, digital library section with additional
areas for acquisition section, technical section, reference section,
reading room, room for stack book, circulation section, etc.
b) Open
Access: The
availability of the number of library staff, the user demand and the
type of collection are the deciding factors for a library to go for
open access or closed access system. In a closed access library the
users are prohibited to enter the library, they should write their
demands in some slips. The building design for open access is also
considered useful for closed access system. However, vice versa is not
true. But, in both the closed and the open access systems, library
property counter and some such a thing are a must, because the users
are free to enter the reading room and the periodical section in both
the cases. Both the systems require that the library building should
have a single entrance and one exit point for keeping a proper control
on incoming and outgoing users. The whole building should be accessible
from the entrance to different parts of the building by means of simple
and easy to understand plan requiring only a few directions or guides.
Doors and windows should be protected by means of wire fabric to avoid
any loss of books.
c) Future
Growth: A
library building should be planned for at least next 20 years, keeping
in view the rate of collection development, number of readers,
technology enhancements, etc. The building should be extendable to
allow for future growth with minimum of disruption. There should
also be adequate provision for future expansion, both horizontally and
vertically.
d)
Flexible: There
should be the means of interchangeability of all major stack areas,
service areas, reading room, and staff areas. The whole design should
be such that if any change in library function takes place in future it
will be possible to adjust the layout without carrying out major
structural operations. There should be no interior load bearing walls
but the building should be able to bear the stack load anywhere.
e)
Air-conditioning, Lighting and Noise: Uniform standards of lighting, heating,
cooling, ventilation, noise prevention, communications, fumigation and
flooring are necessary to meet the criteria of interchangeability. The
natural light should come inside the whole building throughout the day
time. Outside or background noises generally cannot be controlled
except by double glazing which involves air conditioning. The inside
noise of human voice, equipment and mechanical device, impact of
footsteps, banging of doors should be reduced by using insulating
materials and devices, use of acoustical material for walls and
ceilings in corridors, reading rooms and work rooms. Use of proper
floor coverings is also essential.
f) Modular
Design: A
building on modular system is the one which is supported by columns
placed at regular interval. The basic dimensions of library building
should be in multiples or submultiples of some module/column. Even
while only the columns are load bearing inside the building, outside
walls may also bear the load. Columns, stairways, lifts, hearing
facilities, plumbing and ducts are all fixed and everything else is
movable. Thus, the modular system leads to flexibility.
g)
Economic: The
design should be such that the operation of the library can be carried
out with the minimum of staff and finance. The windows should be
covered with net.
h)
Secure: The
building should be free from dust, dirt, and cobwebs. To deal with
other vermin the best remedy would be to have a rat proof building. The
water may not enter the stack room either through ventilators and
windows or due to leakage of roof. The stacking material should be fire
proof. Sufficient number of fire extinguishers and fire buckets should
be fixed at various strategic places in the building. The library
building should also be designed to guard against some detrimental
habits of the readers, visitors and outsiders.
Bengal Library Association
Bengal Library
Association: Bengal Library Association (Bangiya Granthagar
Parishad), formerly known as All Bengal Library Association, was
established in 1925 under the presidentship of Poet Rabindranath
Tagore. Presently, the Association is housed in its four-storied
building accommodating its office, library, class rooms and computer
room at P64, CIT Scheme 52, Kolkata - 700 014.
a)
Objectives: The Objectives of the Association are:
i)
Propagating the importance of library and information services for
individuals and for the society and developing awareness for the
library and information services;
ii)
Suggesting measures for improvement and expansion of library services
for all categories of libraries in the state;
iii)
Organizing movement for the improvement of the service conditions and
proper pay and status of the library workers;
iv)
Organizing conferences and seminars to enlighten people about the
various aspects of the library movement and library services
v)
Organizing training courses, refresher courses, workshops etc. and publishing
books, periodicals, reports etc pertaining to library science and
library services.
b)
Organization: The General Body, the Council and the
Executive Committee form the organizational structure of BLA.
c)
Membership: Anybody interested in the library movement may
become a member of the Association. There are five categories of
members of the Association i.e. Patron, Honorary Member, Donor
Member, Life Member, Personal Member and Institutional Member.
d)
Functions and Activities: The Association is performing the following
functions and activities
i)
Library Service: The Association has a library of its own with a
collection of more than 5 thousand books on library and information
science and reference tools. The Library is open to all members and
students.
ii)
Publication: The first periodical on Library Science in
Bengal was published by the Bengal Library Association in 1937 as
“Bengal Library Association Bulletin – Bangiya Granthagar Parishad
Patrika”. Presently, the Association publishes a monthly journal in
Bengali with English Abstract named “Granthagar”. Besides this, the
Association also regularly publishes books on Library and Information
Science and library services in English and Bengali. The English
collection includes Research Methodology, Book Classification,
Phanibhusan Roy Commemorative Volume, Library Movement in India, etc.
iii)
Seminars, Conferences, Workshops and Training: Bengal Library Conference
is a forum of the library users and workers where any person having
interest in library services can participate.
iv)
Course in LIS: It has been conducting a Certificate Course
in Library Science since 1937, Special Course on Computer Application
in Library Services, and Refresher courses for working librarians.
Bibliographic Control
According
to UNESCO / Library of Congress Survey, bibliographic control means
“the mastery over written and published records which is provided
by and for the purpose of bibliography”. Effective bibliographic
control should be made at subject and national level.
A)
National Bibliographic Control: The
national library ensures the bibliographic control of all the books
or book-like documents published in that particular country. It has
the provision of legal deposit by a host of different programs such
as a cataloguing in publication service or similar mandatory
practices. By cataloguing in publication service, the Library of
Congress gives a complete catalogue entry of a book to any
publisher who sends a final draft or some form of galley proof of a
book currently in production.
B)
International Bibliographic Control: One
of the main goals of a national library is fulfilling their
nation's part of the common international goal of universal
bibliographic control. The International bibliographic control is
done by the exchanges and also by fostering the creation of
standard conceptual tools such as library classification systems
and cataloguing rules. The most commonly used of these tools is the
International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD). It applies
to books and periodicals, but also has variants for other book-like
material such as the ISBD (ER) for Electronic Resources or digital
documents or the ISBD (A) for Antiquarian documents.
C)
Conclusion: New ideas are generated in each and every
branch of human activity from time to time. Apart from new ideas we
give new interpretation to old ideas, at times we also borrow ideas
from other discipline and try to apply them in a new content. As a
result more and more information are produced in a variety of forms
leading to information explosion. There is a need to keep track of
this information explosion by way of bibliographic control.
Bibliography
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1. History of the Bibliography: the word “bibliography”
originated in post classical Greek times. It has been derived from the
Greek word “biblion” which means books and “graphein” is to write. So
etymologically bibliography changed practically. Since 1763 from “writing
of books” to “writing about books”.
The term “bibliography” was first used by Louis Jacob de Saint Charles in
his Bibliographia parisiana (1645-50) and Konrad Gesner regarded as the
father of bibliography, he attempted to list of all scholarly publications
in “bibliotheca universities” which appear in 1545.
Great German bibliographer Ebert define bibliography as “the science that
deals with literary production”
Copinger define bibliography as “the grammar of literary investigation”
C. W. Claps defined bibliography as “the systematic listing of the
records of human communications”.
The bibliography as defined by Louis Shores is a “list of written,
printed or otherwise produced record of civilization, which may include
books, serials, pictures, films, maps, records, manuscripts and any other
media of communication”.
According to Ranganathan the bibliography “is a list of document listed
together for some purpose. The purpose is to bring to the attention of
the reader an exhaustive or selective lis of document relevant to his
pursuit of study or enquire”.
ALA glossary of library and information science defined bibliography as
“a list of works, documents or bibliographic items, usually with some
relationship between them. E.g by a given author on a given subject or
published in a given place and differing from a catalogue in that its
contents are not restricted to the holding of a single libraries or group
of libraries”.
2. Aims and Functions of
Bibliography: Librarianship
is a profession in which what is recorded by what so ever of
librarianship is bibliographies. Bibliography generally serves the
following functions:
a) It is a guide to the literature of
a subject: bibliography is actually an index compiled systematically on a
subject, so it serves as a guide to the literature of the subject.
b) Finding the existence: A
bibliography enables one to find out what has already been written on his
subject and allows him to keep himself well informed and up to date. This
avoids duplication in research, saving him both time and money.
c) Verification of bibliographic
detail: Whenever we are to verify a title or collect information on any
subject we are to consult a bibliography (subject bibliography). It also
helps us to as certain bibliographical data about an author thus helping
in the identification of a document.
d) Location of material: A
bibliography helps in locating the material or book in terms of place of
publication, location in the library on point of purchase.
e) Book selection: A bibliography by
adding a note to each document being listed, indicate the value of the
document to a given type of user. So it helps in books selection i. e.
which book should be consulted for a given purpose.
f) It preserves documents: bibliography
by listing of documents preserve all books, good, bad and indifferent
from oblivion.
g) It provides list of prior records
of civilization: bibliography provide information about the prior records
of communication. Thus it is a vital aid to the study of history.
3. Types of Bibliography: Bibliographies are of the
following types
a) Analytical Bibliography: According to Roy B Stokes on
analytical bibliography involves “investigation of the physical nature of
the book which can be and frequently is sufficiently exhaustive to enable
all the circumstances of the book manufacture and history to be
revealed”. Analytical or critical bibliography therefore rests to a large
extent upon imperfection in the production process and as such it has
been defined as the physical examination of books.
There would have been virtually no need of analytical bibliography if
every step in the production process was perfectly accomplished and a
perfect book produced in every care. But unfortunately such perfection has
been a rare thing in the history of book production or has at latest
happened in exceptional case.
b) Descriptive Bibliography: Descriptive bibliography is the
application of analytical bibliography to the external form of the book
i.e it concern itself with the materials forms of books and not with
their literary contexts. “its function is primarily that of recording the
bibliography details of the book which has been established during the
process of analytical bibliography.” In Descriptive bibliography the
bibliograph details are kept to minimum because the basic purpose to
listing. Descriptive bibliography aims to describe all variation from
this ideal form. But due to standardization of books production the
importance of descriptive bibliography has decreased greatly.
c) Textual Bibliography: It is an application of
analytical bibliography to the contexts of books. It is a bibliography
applied to textual studies. The main purpose of such a bibliography is to
determine the effect of writing or the printing process on the
correctness or completeness of a text. It helps ascertain the variety of
authorship edition etc. thus textual variation between a manuscript and
the printed books or between various reprints or edition. So the textual
bibliography is more interested in the author’s wards and tries to
determine the exact words that the author intended should constitute his
work. The aim is to prepare definite edition of the original author.
We can say therefore the textual bibliography is an area which seems to
be of great importance for literary critics rather than librarians or
bibliographies.
d) Historical Bibliography: The study of books “as object
of art” may be termed a historical bibliography. It is concerned with art
of writing, printing, illumination and binding. The historical
bibliography makes an attempt to achieve a broad understanding of the
milieu of the book in the context of the world of books, and social and
cultural conditions in existence at the time because the significance of
books is very great in every phase of civilization and of life.
Historical bibliography has to content itself with the evolution of
typefaces from its very early manuscripts origin. Then again the very
material of which the book is compared paper as we know it, from its handmade
stage to that of machine manufactured.
e) Systematic Bibliography: systematic bibliography is
nothing but the listing of books and other reading material according to
some useful system of reference scheme. According to Arundell Esdaile “to
assemble the resulting entries, simple or elaborate as the case may
required into logical and useful arrangement for reference and study” is
called systematic bibliography.
Esdale in his “student’s manual of bibliography” has divided bibliography
into two categories namely primary and secondary.
a) Primary Bibliography: Primary bibliographies are
those which are the original record of the whole or part of their
content.
i) General or Universal Bibliography: In general or universal
bibliography, it attempts to include books published in every country and
age and on all subject. It is a survey of all records of civilization in
all fields of knowledge for whatever the time, place, language, subject
or author. It does not matter. In fact there is no universal bibliography
as such but the publish catalogue of great libraries of the world can be
stated to be the nearest approaches to this type of bibliography. Eg.
Library of Congress Catalogue of Books., British Museum General Catalogue
of printed books.
Also Konard Gesner, the father of bibliography attempts to list all
scholarly publication in the world which appears in 1545, under the title
“Bibliotheca Universalis”
ii) Incunabula Bibliography: This type of bibliography lists
the early printed material upto 15th century. It was
considered a cradle period of printing and the systematic order in
arranging various parts of the book was not followed. Eg. Proctor Robert
An index to the early printed books in the British Museum from the
invention of printing to the year 1300 with notes of those in the
Bodleian library. Konard Burger’s index, London 1960.
iii) Bibliography of anonymous and
pseudonymous works: These types of bibliographies are arranged
alphabetically by title with notes of author, details of publication and
annotations and notes about authority for the ascription. They are also
provided with an index of initials and pseudonyms. Sometimes the titles
are arranged alphabetically with names of the authors in square brackets
and notes about the authority for the attribution at the end. Eg.
Dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous literature.
iv) Trade bibliographies: These types of bibliographies
are brought out by large publishing firms engaged in book production or
trade. The books available for sale or purchase are listed therein. Eg.
Whitakers cumulative book list, London, Whitaker British Book in print
etc.
v) National bibliography: it is a comprehensive, almost
complete record of both written and printed output in a given country,
furnishing description and supplying verification which cannot found in
the less complete bibliographies. So in short a national bibliography
list all documents published in a given country.
The national bibliography is compiled on the basis of the materials
received by the National Libraries under the copyright act as promulgated
in various countries. A national bibliography is considered a national
heritage and its purpose is intellectual not commercial (selling). It is
useful for the researcher and the posterity. Example: Indian National
Bibliography, Kolkata, Central Reference Library, British National
Bibliography, London
B) Secondary Bibliography: Secondary bibliographies are
“those in which material registered elsewhere is rearranged for the
convenience of research”. In these documents already recorded in primary
bibliographies are selected, analyzed, and rearranged either by subject,
author, period or typography.
i) Subject Bibliography: A subject bibliography is a
comprehensive list of all books, periodicals articles, pamphlets and
other analytical materials that have appeared on that subject, such a
bibliography is international in scope since it covers everything that
has been appeared on the subject in different languages and in different
countries of the world. Example: Education Abstract, 1949 to date, Paris,
UNESCO.
ii) Author Bibliography: An author bibliography is the list of
writing by an author together with the works on him by others.
Example: Mahatma Gandhi: A
descriptive bibliography, compiled by Dr. J. S. Sharma, Delhi, S. Chand,
1955.
iii) Personal Bibliography: A personal bibliography is a
list of writings by others on the different aspects of the life of a
great man together with what he himself has written, printed and
delivered in the form of oratory. Kindly note that personal bibliography
is different from that of author bibliography.
Example: Jawaharlal Nehru: A
descriptive bibliography by Jagdish Saran Sharma, Delhi, S. Chand &
Co, 1955.
iv) Bibliophilic Bibliography: A bibliography that records old and
rare books, first editions of celebrated authors is known as bibliophilic
bibliography. These bibliographies are only for those who have a craze
for old and rare books, especially for first edition of books of
celebrated author. They have fancy for such book for their magnificent
look, distinctive physical feature, colorfulness, sumptuous binding,
decorative covers, brilliant illustration and pictorial ornamentation,
grand illumination and beautiful type face, sometimes on sentimental
ground and sometimes for getting original thought of the author.
Example: Johnson, Merie de Vore,
“American first editon”, 4th ed, revised N. Y. Bowker,
1942.
v) Selective Bibliography
(Elective): This kind of bibliography is concerned with the listing
of only selected and the best books. This is useful to those who want to
record only the best. This is also serves as a valuable book selection
tool to small and medium-sized libraries.
Example: The best books: A readers’
guide, 3rd ed, by W. S. Sonnenschein, London, Routledge,
1910 – 35, 6 Vol.
vi) Unit Bibliography: It is a list of different
editions adaptations, abridged forms, translations, dramatization,
versification, criticism, etc of a single literary work conveniently
arranged in order to give a comprehensive picture of its literary
excellence and popularity. Every literary work by every author does not
deserve a unit bibliography. It is only in the case of such works which
have sound scholars curiosity by dint of their great literary merit,
universal appeal and enormous popularity that unit bibliographies are
compiled.
Example: The Arabian Hight’s
Entertainment with its numerous adaptations and translations.
vii) Bibliography of Bibliographies
(Bibliographic Index): As the bibliographies in various subject fields have
multiplied now a day the compilation of this kind of bibliography has
become imperative. It is a list of bibliographies recorded in a
systematic and logical order. It includes all type of bibliographies in
various subject fields, separately published. This kind of bibliography
is also known as bibliographic index.
Example: Besterman Theodore, “A world
bibliography of bibliographies”.
Blog
Blog: The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn
Barger on 17 December 1997. Then Peter Merholz, jokingly broke the word
weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com
in 1999, from where it becomes popular as "blog". Thus Blog
is derived from Weblog. Blog or weblog is a web-based publication
consisting primarily of periodic articles normally in reverse
chronological order with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks
provided by the writer.
1.
Definition: Blogs have different meaning to different people,
ranging from “online journal” to “easily updated personal website”. A
weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and
intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the
personality of the author or the Web site.
According to Concept Websites Ltd (http://www.conceptwebsites.com/SEO/common-terms.htm),
“a blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The
activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who
keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated
daily using software that allows people with little or no technical
background to update and maintain the blog”.
In simple, it can be said that it is a web based website
where articles posted will automatically be arranged in reverse
chronological fashion or in a chronological fashion. The owner/member
will post message which are sometimes rich with graph, audio, video and
hyperlink periodically enabling others to view and comment. Topics
often include the owner's/member’s daily life or views on a particular
subject or topic of important to the group. The original post with its
associated comments and discussion provide a very insight to the topic
at hand.
Many
blogs are frequently updated and publicly accessible i.e they allow
anybody to sign up at any time; some others are private where entry to
the group is restricted. Some advanced users have server-side software,
and often implement membership management and password protected areas.
Others have created a mix of a blog and wiki, called a bliki.
2.
History: At the initial stage of internet development, Usenet,
e-mail lists, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), chronicles, commonplaces,
diaries, and perzines were used as a form of Citizen Media. Bulletin
Board is a service whereby messages and points of interest can be
posted to be read and replied to unlike list server. The news group
provides access to thousands of topic based discussion group services
which are open to all. The news reader software allows one to post an
article to any group for others to read. A comment to the message
(original) can be added to the thread of the article. In recent times
these are effectively replaced by the “blog”.
During recent days, blog has evolved into a tool that
offers some of the most insightful information on the Web. It provides
self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging and becoming much
more common in LIS, as librarians, libraries and library associations
have begun to blog as a way of communicating with their patrons and
constituents. Many librarians world wide also publish their personal
blogs that offer a wealth of information about librarianship, their
parent institution and sometimes to their personal lives as well.
The emergence of blogging provides a medium to give
readers of the library new perspectives on the realities, as well as
often offering different viewpoints from those of its official news
sources. Many bloggers began to provide nearly-instant commentary on
televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word
"blogging": to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize
speeches and events shown on television (liveblogging).
3. Anatomy of a Blog Entry: Blog uses web interfaces that allow
anyone over the Internet, to create blogs by their own. It usually does
not demand the maintenance of server software by the users themselves.
It also does not demand to go for the HTML. A blog entry typically
consists of the following:
a) Title: The main title, or headline, of the post;
b) Body: Main content of the post;
c) Permalink: The URL of the full, individual article;
d) Post Date: Date and time the post published.
A blog entry optionally also includes the comments or
feedback. Comments are a way to provide discussion on blog entries.
Readers can leave a comment on a post (a way of correcting one’s error)
or they can also leave their personal opinion on the previous post(s).
4.
Types: There are
various types of blogs, and each differs in the way content is
delivered or written. A typical blog combines text, images, and links
to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic, the
ability to quote another user's post with special formatting in ones
post is also a special feature of many blogs. Generally, blog can be
categorized as follows:
a) Linklog: A blog comprising links;
b) Moblog: A blog written by a mobile phone or Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA);
c) Photoblog: A blog comprising photos;
d) Podcasting: Blog containing audio;
e) Vlog: A blog comprising videos.
Blog can also be categorized based on a particular
subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs, legal blogs (often
referred to as a blawg), Library blogs, Academic Library blogs,
Librarian’s blogs and so on.
5. Importance: Blogging combined the site with
tools to make linking to other pages easier specifically permalinks,
blogrolls and TrackBacks. This, together with blog search engines
enabled bloggers to track the threads that connected them to others
with similar interests.
a) Blog as
a Forum: The
ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format and the
scope for adding more than one author in a blog, can be used to create
discussion forum. Wordpress comments at the bottom of a blog post allow
for a single-threaded discussion of any given blog post. Slashcode, on
the other hand, is far more complicated, allowing fully threaded
discussions and incorporating a robust moderation and meta-moderation
system as well as many of the profile features available to forum
users.
b) Blog as
a Group: The
Blog’s RSS Feed or Atom by burning with some feed burning services can
be used to provide email subscription option (some blog hosting service
even produce it by default). This feature can be used as a group to
notify the intended users or reader or subscribers about some
announcement.
Blog also have blogrolls (i.e. links to other blogs
which the owner reads or admires), and indicate the social relationship
of a particular blog to those of other bloggers. Pingback (links to
other sites that refer to the entry) and trackback (one of three types
of Linkbacks, methods for Web authors to request notification when
somebody links to one of their documents) allow one blog to notify
another blog, creating an inter-blog conversation. In summary, blogs
engage readers and build a virtual community around a particular person
or interest, which have immense implication in library and information
science.
c) A Major
Part of the Internet: Blogs are easy to create and maintain as
compared to websites. As a result, people are turning towards blog as a
publication medium. Day by day, its volume as well as quality increases
and now we are in a position where we can say that if one is unable to
locate any information over internet by searching in the traditional
general purpose search engine then it must be in blog.
d) Latest
Information: The
literature search forms the backbone of any research activities. In
recent times, a part of this business relies on internet and for a
comprehensive list of resources over internet, the search should extend
to blog also, as it contains the latest, up to the minute information
on a given topic.
e)
Substitute of Mainstream Media: Blog increasingly considered as a substitute of
the mainstream media for news services, consultants, etc. As blog
becomes a standard part of the publicity arsenal, it is used
extensively as a tool for outreach and opinion forming and as means of
applying pressure upon concern authority and like other. It can also be
used to push the messages directly to the public by avoiding the
filtering process of the mainstream media (the editorial board of which
often cut down the massage as a means to avoid the legal liabilities,
to present credible news or at times to justify their presence!).
6. Finding
a Blog / Blog Search Engine: The general purpose search engines generally avoid
displaying results from blogosphere. So, for searching the blog over
internet, reliance must be placed on the specially designed blog search
engines. Several blog search engines are used to search blog contents
(also known as the blogosphere), such as blogdigger, Feedster, and
Technorati, which helps one to find out what people are saying on any
subject of his/her interest. In the following paragraph an attempt is
made to list and discuss some of the most popular blog search engines.
a)
Blogdigger (http://www.blogdigger.com/index.html): Blogdigger is a blog and
media search engine founded in March 2003 by Greg Gershman. Blogdigger
began as an experiment with RSS and search technologies, developing
into a search engine that provides fast, up-to-the-minute search
results of the latest posts collected from blogs and syndicated content
feeds, such as RSS and Atom.
b)
Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com): Bloglines is a web-based news aggregator for
browsing weblogs and other news feeds. Mark Fletcher founded the site
in 2003 and sold it in February 2005 to Ask.com. Bloglines uses an
interface with the blogs names in one frame and their most recently
updated content in another pane.
c) Feedster
(http://www.feedster.com): Feedster was founded in March 2003 by Scott
Johnson. In June 2003, it merged with RSS-Search founded by François
Schiettecatte. Feedster began as a weblog search tool, indexing and
archiving individual blog posts based on a site's RSS feed. Feedster
gained popularity with blog enthusiasts because it indexed new
information fast, let users sort search results chronologically, and
made it possible to subscribe to search results as an RSS feed. It has
now expanded to offer a wide range of related services, including
"Feed of the Day".
d)
IceRocket (http://www.icerocket.com): IceRocket is an Internet search engine
specialized in searching blogs. IceRocket is backed by Mark Cuban and
headquartered in Dallas, Texas. In 2005, CNet reported that it may be
re launched as Blogscour.
e) PubSub: PubSub is an Internet search
engine for searching blogs which was founded in 2002 by Bob Wyman and
Salim Ismail. The site operates by storing a user's search term, making
it a subscription, and checking it against posts on blogs which ping
the search engine. When a new match is found, the user is notified,
even if it occurs months after the initial search. This feature has led
PubSub to call itself a matching engine. Results can be read on the
service's website or on an optional sidebar, available for both
Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. PubSub is currently having
problem as noted in by Bob Wyman.
f) Sphere
(http://www.sphere.com): The Sphere search engine delivers blog posts
based on algorithms that combine semantic matching with authority
factors to deliver results relevant to the search query. Sphere also
organizes bloggers by topic. The company produces an application called
Sphere It! allowing users to seek blog posts related to news articles
based on the contents of a particular web page they're viewing. The
function is accessed from a browser navigation bar plug-in. Upon
clicking the plug-in button, a semantic analysis is performed on the
text within the page and blog posts related to the text of the article
are returned.
g)
Technorati (http://www.technorati.com): Technorati is an Internet
search engine for searching blogs, competing with Google, Yahoo, PubSub
and IceRocket. As of November 2006, Technorati indexes over
60 million weblogs. The site won the SXSW 2006 awards for Best
Technical Achievement and also Best of Show. It has also been nominated
for a 2006 Webby award for Best Practices. Technorati provides current
information on both popular searches and tags used to categorize blog
postings. Blogs are also given rankings by Technorati based on the
amount of incoming links and Alexa Internet based on the web hits of
Alexa Toolbar users.
h) Google Blog Search
(http://www.google.co.in/blogsearch?hl=en): Google Blog Search is a
search engine focused on blogs, with a continuously updated search
index. Results include all blogs, not just those published through
Blogger. Results can be viewed and filtered by date. Google provides
following option to search for blog
i)
Google-style interface (blogsearch.google.com)
ii)
Blogger-style interface) (search.blogger.com)
iii) The
Blogger Dashboard
iv) The
Navbar on any Blog
All of the above provide same search, no matter where
one searches. The Navbar, however, provides two buttons: one to search
the blog that one currently viewing, and one to search all blogs. It
also provides “Advanced Search” features where one can specify titles,
authors, languages and more. After getting the search results, it also
provides an additional link that allows to switch between displaying
the results with either the most relevant or recent results at the top.
7. Blog
Hosting Services: Blogs are generally hosted by dedicated blog
hosting services or on regular web hosting services. Most of the free
blog hosting services are ad-supported but generally have unlimited
posting bandwidth and storage space. Generally, a small
advertisement square banner is placed on the user blog, which does not
affect the overall make up the said blog. Many blog hosting services
also notified the blogger when someone adds some comments on his/her
blog. Examples include the following
i) Blogger
(https://www.blogger.com/start): Blogger was started by Evan Williams and Meg
Hourihan (Pyra Labs of San Francisco) in August 1999 and was purchased
by Google in February 2003.
ii)
coComment (http://www.cocomment.com/): coComment is a Swiss startup
company funded by Swisscom Innovations and focused on providing high
quality services to internet users worldwide. The company is based in
Geneva, Switzerland.
iii)
LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com/): Brad Fitzpatrick started
LiveJournal in March 1999. The LiveJournal can be used as a private
journal, a blog, a discussion forum, a social network, and like other.
iv) Open
Diary (http://www.opendiary.com/): Launched in October 1998, soon growing to
thousands of online diaries. Open Diary becomes the first blog
community where readers could add comments to other writers' blog
entries.
v)
Pitas.com (http://www.pitas.com/): Andrew Smales created Pitas.com in July 1999 as
an easier alternative to maintaining a "news page" on a
website, followed by Diaryland in September 1999, focusing more on a personal
diary community.
vi) Xanga
(http://www.xanga.com/): Launched in 1996, had only 100 diaries by 1997,
but over 20 million as of December 2005.
Other
blog hosting service includes Blog (http://www.blog.com/), DreamHost
(http://www.dreamhost.com/), Salon.com (http://www.salon.com), Tripod
(http://www.tripod.lycos.com/), Vox (http://www.vox.com/), WordPress
(http://www.worldpress.org/), etc.
Book Order
Book Order: Once a book has been selected for
purchase, then an order has to be placed to acquire it by typing from
the book selection slip in a sheet or two. In case the book being
ordered is an additional copy or a new edition of an available book,
the staff would put down the call number in the book order slip. The
ordering procedure relates to three stages-
i)
Pre-ordering Work: Pre-order work includes the various jobs
connected with the invitation of tenders or quotations, tabulating
the quotations, fixing the suppliers, signing the contracts, and so
on.
ii) Order
Placing Work: Order placing work consists of tallying,
scrutiny and elimination.
iii)
Intimation to the Indenters: The library should inform the
indenter(s)/user(s) about the action taken by the library for their
demanded books.
The library generally tries to
possess every type of information sources based upon the demand of
the user which includes books, journals, books on tape,
videocassettes, CDs, CD-ROMs, DVDs, electronic journals, online
databases, etc.
The book selection section is
responsible for the identification of potentially useful materials by
consulting publishers' catalogues and flyers for the final selection
to be made by the appropriate decision maker. Sometimes the
acquisition unit is the primary collection development unit for the
library. Activities centring acquisition also focus on securing items
wanted by the library's end-users and handling financial transactions
that are associated with the purchase or leasing of the item(s). It
is a process that involves which materials the library should acquire
by purchase or otherwise and getting the materials.
Book Selection Theories
Book
Selection Theories: There are some principles of selection of
documents which guide the librarian in making a judicious choice of
a document and thus help to develop a meaningful collection of
documents in the libraries.
i) L.
R. McColvin: Theory of Book Selection (1925): According
to L. R. McColvin books in themselves are nothing. They
have no meaning until they are made serviceable by demand. So he
gives much stress on demand and gives stress on the selection of
only those documents which are demanded by the users for their
information needs.
ii)
Drury: Book Selection (1930): It states that the right
book will be provided to the right reader at the right time. In
this principle the reader is the central theme. A document is right
or otherwise is to be provided when the user needs it for use. The
selector should know the users and their requirements. He should
select only that material which caters to the informational
educational and recreational needs of the users.
iii)
Haines: Living with book (2nd ed, 1950): The
first edition of Living with Books appeared
in 1935. It was one of the first true textbooks aimed at training
librarians in the art of book selection. Although Haines died in
1961, her legacy continues to be felt. Through the 1970s, Living
with Books remained the standard text on book selection,
and it is still referenced on many collection development course
syllabi.
iv)
Ranganathan: Library book selection (1952, reprint 1990): The
first three laws of library science enunciated by Ranganathan are
also helpful in formulating the principles of selection of the
documents for libraries.
v)
Dewey’s Principle: According to Dewey, the library should
select the best documents within the finance available, which may
satisfy the information need of the maximum number of users.
Besides
the above, we may mention Rovert Broadus’ Selecting
Materials for Libraries, 2nd ed. New York: H.W. Wilson Co, 1981
and Building Library Collections: 6th Ed. By:
Arthur Curley, Dorothy M. Broderick, and Published: January 1985 as
important books on book selection.
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British Library’s Automated
Information SErvice (BLAISE)
British
Library’s Automated Information SErvice (BLAISE): Blaise
is an online information retrieval service that includes access via
a new graphical interface on the World Wide Web. It is a library
network which was introduced in April 1977 and now it is the world
largest commercial service. It is an online interactive
computerized information retrieval and cataloguing system and the
individual databases are stored on an IBM-370 computer located at
Harlow. Teletype compatible terminals are used together with the
ordinary public telecommunication system to access BLAISE. Thus
BLAISE can be called up from anywhere in the UK and Europe. The
system is available from 9-5 on Monday to Thursday and 9-4.30 on
Friday. To access BLAISE, subscribers are given individual identity
numbers and passwords.
The
following services are available through BLAISE-
a)
BLAISE Line: It is operated from the existing computer
installation at Harlow, Essex. It host British library
bibliographic database. Telnet access is also available. The Web
version of BLAISE-LINE is called BLAISE Web.
b)
BLAISE Link: It is the official host providing full
access to all US National Library of Medicine MEDLARS databases, in
the UK and Ireland, via the British Library. It is also involved in
processing UK / Irish contributions to the MEDLINE database. The
BALISE Link provide access to the following
i)
MEDLINE: The
MEDLARs databases are available through online in the form of
Medline.
ii)
SDI-Line: It
contains the latest month’s reference to be used primarily for
current awareness.
iii)
Chem-Line: It is an online dictionary files which
enables the user of Toxline to describe chemical substances before
beginning the search.
iv)
Mesh: It
is a controlled indexing structure of MEDical Subject Heading.
c)
Catalogue: The catalogue production is made through Local
Catalogue Service (LOCAS) which is an integral part of BLAISE.
d)
Database: BLAISE provide access to 21 databases
containing 18.5 million bibliographic records.
e)
Editors Software: It was developed by British Library. The
editor system of BLAISE allows records to be transferred from MARC
files and edited. The new records can also be created and added to
the main database.
Blaise
gives access to a wide range of bibliographic information that
includes not only British Library catalogues but also complementary
bibliographic databases, some of which are produced outside the
British Library. Blaise has other value-added features, such as its
link to the British Library Document Supply Centre for ordering
loans and photocopies and its ability to supply fully formatted
catalogue records for use in local automated catalogues. Blaise has
traditionally been used by trained librarians in other libraries.
Recently, Blaise has added a World Wide Web option that makes it
much easier to use by untrained and inexperienced searchers.
According
to Allen Kent "the success and survival of libraries will much
depend on how much and to what extent the libraries cooperate with
each other in future". Further, tremendous explosion of
information, financial constraints, information in different forms,
etc., compelling the libraries to form network and consortia is an
essential facet of modern library practices.
In
library network the particular focus is forming online networks by
using computers and linking members to the computer resources by
means of telecommunication connections. When a group of libraries
using computers decide to exchange information, a network is
developed.
The
library network deals with the development of software for library
automation, automation of the member libraries, retro-conversion of
records, cooperative acquisition, creating union catalogue,
development of database of the holdings in member libraries,
conducting training, workshops and seminar, providing DDS, Email,
CD-ROM, internet access facilities. It also provides reference
service, referral service, and provides technical support to member
institutions in the selection of hardware, software, and technical
problem faced by the member libraries. But till now except DELNET
and INFLIBNET, most of the other library networks have yet to
develop databases of library holdings in a significant way. Even
these two networks have to go a long way to cover in their
databases the entire holdings of all the participating libraries.
Unless this is achieved, the networks would not be able to achieve
significant resource sharing as well as rationalization in library
acquisitions.
Budgeting
Budgeting: Budget
is defined as “an estimated often itemized or expected income and
expense or operating results for a given period in the future”.
Thus, a library budget is an estimate of the expected income and
expenditure of the library for the coming year. As a budget is an
estimate, it can be altered if and when the circumstances change.
It needs to be flexible enough to meet the changing needs. In a
budget, the diversion of funds should not be done for some
unnecessary events or causes and it is actually not permitted.
a)
Need and Purpose of Library Budget: Since
a library is a non-profit organization, the financial
responsibility on its part is much more important. The need and
purpose of library budget can be looked at from the following
points
i)
Through budgeting a library is able to limit its expenditure to
its income;
ii) A
budget helps to spend the finance in a systematic way;
iii)
Budgeting is the primary means by which formulated plans can be
carried out;
iv)
It serves as an effective management tool.
v) It
gives overall direction to the library services;
vi)
It coordinates all administrative functions by guaranteeing
exchange of information on policies, program and finance;
vii)
It is a most important control device to measure the programmes
of a library and their effectiveness;
viii)
It reflects the goals and objectives of the library.
b)
Budgeting Method: The following methods are generally used in
budgeting-
i)
Line Item: Here the expenditure is divided into broad
categories such as salary and wages, books and periodicals,
equipment, binding, stationary, miscellaneous, etc. However, this
brings inflexibility, whereby money from one item cannot be
shifted to another one easily.
ii)
Lump Sum: In this approach a certain amount of money is
allocated to the library, the libraries decide as to how that
amount is going to be allocated to different categories.
iii)
Formula Budget: Here predetermined standards are applied
for the allocation of money. The formula is mechanical and easy
to prepare.
iv)
Performance Budget: It is
based on the expenditure for the performance of activities of a
library. It gives justification for and description of services
to be achieved by the proposed programme.
v)
Programme Budgeting: It is
concerned with activities of organization but individual items or
expenditures are ignored.
vi)
Per Capita Method: In this case a minimum amount per head of
the population is fixed and financial estimates are prepared
accordingly.
In
case of university and college libraries, the UGC Library
Committee way back in 1957 suggested for a provision of Rs. 16
per student and Rs. 200 per teacher. Kothari Commission in 1966
suggested for allocation of Rs. 25 per student and Rs. 300 per
teacher.
vii)
Proportion Method: In this method a certain
proportion of the general budget of a parent organization / state
is recommended for providing library services.
Dr.
S. R. Ranganathan suggested that 6% of the education budget of a
local /state / federal government, as the case may be, should be
earmarked for public library purposes. UGC Parry Committee (UK)
suggested that 6% of the total budget of a university may be
provided to university library. Education Commission recommended
that 6.5-10 percent of the total university budget should be
spent for the university library.
viii)
Method of Details: In this method all the items
of expenditure of a library under various heads and subheads in
detail are calculated. The expenditure should be estimated under
non recurring expenditure and recurring expenditure. It is
generally done by projecting current expenditure to the next year
adding the increase of cost.
The
UGC Library Committee (1957) staff formula can be used to
determine the number of staff and their pay scale. The cost of
books and other reading materials can be based on the number of
students and teachers. 5% of the total cost of books is allocated
to stacking, storing, and serving of books.
ix)
Planning Programming Budgeting System (PPBS): PPBS
is a technique which combines the best of programme budgeting and
performance budgeting. In this method the emphasis is given on
the planning of the total system, the different parts of the
system and their expected level of performance. All these are
considered for assigning the cost of the whole system.
x)
Zero Based Budget: It was developed by Peter
Phyor to achieve greater effective planning and fiscal control.
The term “zero based” is derived from the first step in the
process- the development of a hierarchy of functions based on the
assumption that the unit or agency is starting operation for the
first time (i.e point zero). Thus, the focus of budgeting is on
the purpose(s) of the unit and on the function which it should
perform so that it meets the reason for its existence. Basically,
it is not concerned with what happened previously but rather with
what is required to be done in future.
c)
Expenditure: While estimated expenditure is planned
three factors are kept in mind-
i)
Comparison with past expenditure;
ii)
Budgeting in accordance with the work programme and
iii)
Using arbitrary stands and norms.
Depending
upon the size of the library, the types of library expenditure
headings vary. The general forms of expenditure which can be
applied to all types of libraries are given below.
In
the above table, expenditure with regards to gift and exchange
are excluded as they cannot be foreseen with any possible
precision.
In
case of a new library, the initial costs as well as the operating
budget require some special consideration. But in case of an
existing library only the operating budget items need to be
considered. As the library does not usually have all its
functions at the start, the total staff is not required at the
initial state; consequently, the recurring expenditure on salary
will be about three times of that obtaining at the beginning.
The
cost of the library building and its maintenance usually form
part of the budget of the organization as a whole and, therefore,
this has been excluded from the library budget. If, however, the
library has its separate existence, a sizable initial cost and a
proportionate cost of maintaining will have to be provided in the
budget. Any good architect will be able to give these estimates.
The
expenditure in a special library is higher than that in a general
library as it involves more amenities and the use of many costly
machineries and gadgets.
d)
Accounting and Reporting: Accurate records regarding the amount
paid out, encumbered and unspent are maintained by the accounts
section. To ensure proper utilization of grants, an Account
Register should be maintained to watch the expenditure. A Ledger
should be maintained with double entry system. Receipts and
expenditure items should be entered regularly in the said ledger.
In addition to this ledger, a Cash Book in which daily
transactions are to be entered and a Budget Allotment Register,
department wise and objective wise, should be maintained so as to
know easily and with accuracy as to how much amount has been
spent and how much remains in balance. Monthly reports should be
prepared regarding this. The reporting should be done to the
users, library staff and higher authorities. This may appear an
annual report of newspaper article or radio talk or in some other
form.
Let
Us Sum Up: Budget statement or record is a definite
financial record which speaks of the back history, present
position and future development of the library. It is also a
statement for comparing the position and the trend of development
between the past, present and future. Budgetary statement
generally depends on the sources of income and expenditure of the
library. Library budget may be divided into two parts- Income and
expenditure.
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Great Post.
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