Digitization Progress and Challenges at Gandhi Smriti Library

Digitization Progress and Challenges at Gandhi Smriti Library of LBSNAA Rajender Singh Bist Senior Library & Information Assistant Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie (Uttrakhand) E-mail: rsbisht@lbsnaa. ernet. in

Introduction n n The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie is a premier training institution for the higher civil services in India. Digitization at Gandhi Smriti Library of LBSNAA aims at preservation and cost-effective technical solution for efficient development and delivery of digital services. Digitization of non-copyright documents is underway by CDAC, Noida for the Digital Library of India Project. The paper describes the digitization process and progress, highlights the technical challenges experienced.

Digitization: Tools & Technological Issues n n n Digitization requires a scalable technology solution and techniques. Technological issues like accessibility; search engines; fiber optic connectivity; manpower; training; DL management skills; ICT skills; information skills; management skills; research and project management skills needs to be considered. The basic hardware and software requirements.

The Project Proposal n n n DL team- PLIO, ALIO, Two SLIAs and one Machine operator. February 2005 - assigned the task of preparing a comprehensive project proposal. Digitization needs-investigating our resources i. e. manpower, equipment, Hardware software infrastructure, money, time, free use, and deciding the target users etc. Study of the workflow of operations for the entire process including its functional design. The document categories segregated as institutionally produced and the non-copyright rare publications.

Services Planned Under DL Project n n n n Electronic Current Content service- capturing the contents of journals in digitized form attaching them to e-resources. E-Books & E-journals databases (Presently Ebrary & EBSCO). Institutional Publication including Academy Journal 'Administrator'. Sharing resources through networking with Administrative Training Institutions (In process). Reference Databases. Gandhi Smriti Library Archives Online. (To be hosted in live environment after procurement of NAS/SAN). DELNET and other library resources.

Digital Library of India (DLI) Project and GSL n n The Digital Library Project was envisaged by Carnegie Mellon University USA as “Million book Universal Digital Library (UDL) Programme”. DLI is a non-commercial project for digitizing non-copyrighted books. CDAC is one of the agencies for scanning documents for this project. This project is coordinated by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and is supported by Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, GOI. GSL was recognized as one of the sources of multi lingual data for DLI project-MOU between LBSNAA and CDAC, for rights to digitize books, journals was signed on 8 th November 2005. Since November 2005 about 6, 500 documents covering more than 28. 5 lakh pages have been scanned.

Digitization Methodology A digitization station requires an efficient and highly integrated digitization system consisting of hardware; software and a set of workflow management processes are followed. The CDAC set up a digitization station at the GSL with their gadgets, accessories and the rest of infrastructure is provided by the Academy. Figure. 1 explains digitization process details.

Figure 1. Digitization Process

Image Processing and Batch Processing

Bach Processing Using Scan fix 4. 21

Sample Metadata Encoding

Digital Library Application Software n n n Selection of the software for creating as well as delivering the digitized contents. Software choosing is probably the most important aspect of technology infrastructure for a DL. Retrieval be interlinked with the bibliographic database, therefore it was decided to procure the LS Digital software-DRMS (Digital Resource Management System), which would provide a unique feature of integration of digital resources with the bibliographic records.

Linking Mechanism n n n LS digital procured. Digital contents linked in the initial testing phase, to our online catalogue, where the e-resources option can directly take a user to the full text of the digitized document. On searching the catalog the results will be displayed. The bibliographic record to which the full text is attached will show an e-resource icon. In order to view and access the full text of the document the users will simply have to click the e-resource button. The links to the digitized data to the bibliographic data is depicted in figure.

Linking…

Technical Hurdles Experienced n n Technical support is an advantage with commercial packages, but there is a little possibility to able to extend their functionality as these packages are proprietary and one cannot have access to source code. After testing LS Digital's functionality and limitations, we had to get the digitized documents converted to PDF. Problem encountered - storage area. Due the lack of technological know-how we were not able to estimate the storage requirements earlier, therefore the linking is awaiting enhancement of the server capacity. Many of the technical challenges have necessitated the review process of the infrastructure and several new requirements are to be dealt with in the wake of the DL implementation.

Technical Infrastructure to Integrate DL with LBSNAA Resources and Applications n n IT applications running are, the Internal Workflow software for finance, payroll, leaves, stores etc, E-learning solutions based on Intranet, LSPremia for library Automation, Website of LBSNAA. GSL is developing viable solution in terms of storage requirements along with data integrity, backup and availability. Hardware need to be consolidated and controlled at one location. Therefore a unified data centre is proposed to be configured with the components such as servers, server farm area etc, network services, database and applications server, SAN, computations and network infrastructure.

Enhancing Storage & Access Consideration n n The current available storage capacity is 0. 2 terabytes (200 GB). The books already scanned need this space i. e. 0. 2 terabytes for hosting. For storing the entire digital collection the storage capacity is required to be enhanced to about two terabytes. NAS (Network Attached Storage) / SAN (Storage Area Network), would provide a complete solution for integrated, access of the LBSNAA resources. As the library will create, license access to more and more digital content, the need for an easy to use interface becomes increasingly important. GSL's intention is to redesign a website that is reliable and up to date with the DL interface that is intuitive to accommodate the needs of users.

Lessons Learnt and Suggestions n n n n n A clear-cut digitization plan required. Select and compile material prior to the scanning. For very brittle documents Photoing with a digital camera is a better option. Work needs to be divided into functional areas with assigned duties. Necessary to ensure IT expertise. understand the technical know how before starting the project. Selection of the appropriate software solution should be planned according to DL objectives. A study and review of the existing technical infrastructure of the institution is essential, as new requirements can be planned accordingly in advance. Devising a preservation strategy, specifying the security requirements, investigating how users will search and access the contents, exploring how the digital archive integrates with the operational systems, free access, imposing restrictions etc. are the areas which need to be researched.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT n n I owe my sincere thanks to Prof. A. S. Khullar (IAS), Library In charge, for his efforts and contribution made towards realizing the digitization project at the Gandhi Smriti Library. I am grateful to Dr. V. N. Shukla, Director (Spl. Application), C-DAC, Noida for his continued support and guidance and also acknowledge the efforts of the team that works in for the project at the Academy.

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