Digital libraries activities in Bangladesh Dr Dilara Begum

Digital libraries activities in Bangladesh Dr. Dilara Begum Associate Professor & Chairperson Department of Information Studies and Library Management & Librarian (Acting) East West University Dhaka, Bangladesh

THE MOTTO OF “DIGITAL BANGLADESH” v The motto of “Digital Bangladesh” of the Government of Bangladesh has very ineluctable for national development. Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021 enhances the usage of digital technologies in the country. Several projects for digitalization have been accomplished and a vast number of projects are under progress.

PICTURE OF DIGITIZATION v The nation has reached 164. 170 million mobile subscribers and 99. 569 million internet subscribers at the end of October 2019 (BTRC, 2019) enjoys the fruits of digitization in numerous areas of activities. The ultimate objective is to make more and more services available at the doorsteps of the people with increased digitalization where possible.

LIBRARIES ARE ACTING AS PRECURSOR… v Libraries in Bangladesh are heading toward the fulfillment of country’s motto. With the help of digital technologies, libraries in Bangladesh are upgrading their services by digitalizing their resources for accessible to anyone without time and geographic constraints.

CURRENT SCENARIO OF BANGLADESH ON DIGITIZATION PROJECTS v The current government of Bangladesh has a vision to build “Digital Bangladesh” by 2021 and make sure the democracy of information dissemination to become participatory citizen. Government of Bangladesh and Access to Information (a 2 i) has been taking a lot of projects reach the vision. The accomplished projects are National web portal, (http: //www. bangladesh. gov. bd/), Teacher’s content blog (https: //www. teachers. gov. bd/), E-book project (http: //www. ebook. gov. bd/), District web portals, E-porcha and so on.

CURRENT SCENARIO OF BANGLADESH ON DIGITIZATION PROJECTS (CONT’D) v As consortia is essential to sustain digital libraries. That’s why, in 2007, Bangladesh INASP-PERii Consortium (BIPC) was formed by Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS) who is offering a huge number of e-resources for its involved libraries with affordable subscription rate. v The University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh has hosted UGC Digital Library (UDL) in June 2012. UDL is funded by along with World Bank’s Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) for accessing to electronic information resources by the academic community through lower subscription rate. UDL has now ninety-five members.

DIGITAL LIBRARY INITIATIVES USING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IN BANGLADESH v Libraries in Bangladesh are using open source software to access their resources available to their patrons. Digital Library (DL) and Institutional Repository (IR) both are familiarized with Library and Information Science (LIS) professional in Bangladesh.

DIGITAL LIBRARY INITIATIVES USING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IN BANGLADESH (CONT’D) v Bangladesh mainly three OSS are widely used: Koha for integrated library management system Greenstone for digital library DSpcae for institution repositories However, some small libraries are using Senayan Library Management System (SLi. MS)

DIGITAL LIBRARY INITIATIVES USING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IN BANGLADESH (CONT’D) In 2005, The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) library is the first library who started to use DSpace, Open Source software in Bangladesh for building its Knowledge Repository. v Moreover, there are some leading private universities, special libraries as well as research institutions in Bangladesh who have developed their own digital libraries/institutional repositories using open source software which includes East West University Library, Islamic University of Technology Digital Library, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), BRAC University Ayesha Abed Library, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU), BUET Central Library , Dhaka University Central Library, Independent University, Bangladesh Library, Military Institute of Science and Technology Library , Daffodil International University Library, Northern University Library, United International University Library, World University of Bangladesh and many more.

EAST WEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY A model of E-Library in Bangladesh

DIGITAL LIBRARY/INTEGRATED LIBRARY SYSTEM IMPLEMENTED BY EWU LIBRARY • • • • Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) Bangladesh National Museum National Library of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Museum Library Eastern University Islamic Foundation Bangladesh Dept. of ISLM, Rajshahi University Ministry of Education Library Dhaka College, National Academy for Educational Management (NAEM) Library Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO (BNCU) Library, Rajshahi University Central Library Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC) Library Bank and Financial Institution Division (BFID) Library, Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy Library The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) Library 4 international organizations of Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives to develop Integrated Library System

SOME ISSUES ARE FACED Must choose such type of digital library software which provides functionalities for systematic selection, acquisition, deposition, processing, search and discovery of digital document. v Selection of resources to convert digital content may difficult for organizations. v To create digital document, there are insufficient hardware and software which are prerequisite to carry on this task. v Before beginning the digitization process, librarians have to consider whether or not the digitized material will violate copyright and intellectual property laws. There is an equivocal law on whether it is allowable to digitize rights-protected materials for preservation purposes or the intention to publish the content. v

SOME ISSUES ARE FACED v Metadata standards and guidelines are generally required when planning digitization projects. So, the uniformity of metadata must be required. v High bandwidth internet connectivity and licensed databases are vital constraint to sustain any digital libraries. v If digital libraries are consisting of electronic journals, then gradual elimination of print subscriptions are necessary. v Update and maintenance of OSS technologies are not always easy. v The personnel who is responsible for handling and providing services through the digital library, she/he has adequate knowledge regarding the overall digitization tasks. v Financial limitations after completing the project is another barrier to be effective digital library

RECOMMENDATIONS • Improved advocacy for OSS and Open Access Information to parent organizations and governments should be continued. • Government should allocate more funds related to conduct research about the impact of digital libraries to ensure the accessibility of information to all. • Like DLnet. SA, Library leaders need to build active national network for the sustainability of digital libraries for ensuring collaboration, knowledge sharing among libraries as well as arranging short professional training throughout country in a regular basis. • Ensure collaboration among libraries in adopting OSS with cloud computing technologies.

RECOMMENDATIONS (CONT’D) • Confirm the proper standards and features especially in metadata level. • As, digital libraries are the group-interlinked workstations connected to the high-speed networks. librarians should have the related skills to handle. • LIS schools need to develop curriculum. • University Grant Commission (UGC), Bangladesh should have a policy to build digital libraries of its listed universities.

REFERENCE v Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). (2019, October). Internet Subscribers in Bangladesh. Retrieve December 02, 2019, from http: //www. btrc. gov. bd/content/mobile-phone-subscribers-bangladesh -october-2019

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