Chapter 4

DIGITIZATION AND AUTOMATION

Instructor:
IMD252
Abu Bakar Suleiman
abuba551@johor.uitm.edu.my
abs8700@yahoo.com 
 What is Digitization?

• Digitization is the conversion of an analog signal or code into a digital

signal or code. (Lee, 2001)
• Although a large proportion of a digital library’s collection comprises
materials that are born digital, such as eJournals, eBooks, Internet
resources, databases, and so on, there are many resources that are not
originally created in digital form, but are digitized in order to include
them in a digital library’s collection.
Digital Library
A digital library is an assemblage of digital computers, storage and communication
machinery together with the context and software needed to produce, emulate, and extend
those services provided by conventional libraries based on paper and other material means
of collecting, cataloging, finding and disseminating information… A full-service digital
library must accomplish all essential services of traditional libraries and also exploit the
well known advantages of digital storage, searching and communication. (Edward Fox, 1993)

eJournal
eBook
A magazine or scholarly journal that
The content of a book that may is available online. The online
be downloaded for viewing version may stand alone or it may be
and/or printed locally. published in conjunction with a print
version.
 Purpose of Digitization

• The digitization of resources opens up new modes of use, enables a much

wider potential audience and gives a renewed means of viewing our
cultural heritage.
• The advantages of digitizing includes:
• Immediate access to high-demand and frequently used items;
• Easier access to individual components within items (eg. Articles within journals);
• Rapid access to materials held remotely;
• The ability to reinstate out-of-print materials;
• The potential to display materials that are in inaccessible format (eg. Large
volumes or maps);
• Virtual reunification – allowing dispersed collections to be brought together;
• The ability to enhance digital images in terms of size, sharpness, color contrast,
noise reduction, etc.;
• The potential to conserve fragile/precious originals while presenting surrogates in
more accessible forms;
• The potential for integration into teaching materials;
• Enhanced search ability including full text;
• Integration of different media (images, sound, videos, etc.);
• The ability to satisfy requests for surrogates (photocopies, photo-graphics print,
slides, etc.) and
• The potential for presenting a critical mass of materials.
 The Integrity of Digitized Information

• The central goal of any project should be to preserved the integrity of the
information being digitized by defining and preserving those features of
the objects that distinguish it as whole and singular work – including:
– CONTENT
– FIXITY
– REFERENCE
– PROVENANCE
– CONTEXT
 Digitization Plan

• A digitization project may start in response to an external request and/or

availability of funding, or as part for digitizing one or more specific
collections.
• the first kinds is called reactive digitization and the second proactive
digitization.
• The decision to embark on a digitization project may be taken at a
number of different levels in a library, and for a whole range of reasons.
While many of the major considerations may appear to be practical ones,
if a project is to be successful then the financial, political and strategic
implications needs to be carefully thought out before the project even
starts, in order to ensure that the overall benefits and costs to the
institution are clearly understood.
 Digitization Phases

• There are basically three major phases of a digitization project:

– Phase One: Preparation for digitization
– Phase Two: Processing digitized materials
– Phase Three: Preservation and maintenance

• The main activities involved in the first phase relate to the preparation
for digitization, and the actual process of digitizing materials.
• Once a source material has been digitized the second phase begins, which
is concerned with the processing required to make the digitized materials
easily accessible to users. This involve a number of editorial and
processing activities such as cataloging, indexing and compression.
• End-users can use the digitized materials only when the digitized
materials are properly processed. There are other issues too, which come
in the third phase, they relate to the preservation and maintenance of the
digitized collections and services.

Preservation Maintenance
- the action of preserving/to keep something . - the process of keeping something in good
condition
 What is Automation?

• Automation means ‘the use or introduction of automatic equipment in a

manufacturing or other process or facility. (The New Oxford Dictionary)
• In the 1970s most libraries used the computer of the parent body, or a
mainframe system over which they had no direct control. The 1970s saw
the growth of cooperative services and resource sharing among libraries.
• In the early 1980s turnkey systems (where one supplier offers complete
hardware, software, installation, training and maintenance) became
prevalent.
• The significant drop in prices and impressive increase in power for
microcomputers made microcomputer-based systems became feasible
by the mid-1980s.

Mainframe computer Microcomputer

A very large and expensive computer
capable of supporting hundreds or even
thousands of user simultaneously. IBM is
the dominant manufacturer of mainframe
computers.
Any computer with its arithmetic-
logic unit (ALU) and control unit on
one integrated circuit, called a
microprocessor and it’s a stand-
alone computer.
 Automation and Libraries

• According to Webster’s Dictionary, automation is “the technique of

making an apparatus, a process or a system operate automatically”. In
other words, it is the machinery that mathematically manipulates
information storing, selects, presents and record input data or internally
generated data.
• Mechanisation of library house-keeping operations predominantly by
computers is known as LIBRARY AUTOMATION. The term is used
extremely to refer to the use of computers to perform some of the
traditional activities such as:
– Acquisition
– Serial control
– Cataloging
– Circulation and some related field such as:
• Information retrieval
• Automatic indexing
• Abstracting
• Automate textual analysis, and
• Resource sharing through networks.
 Purpose of Library Automation

• Purposes and some advantages of libraries automation are enumerated

below:
– Increase in speed and saving of time;
– Updating record files much more quickly and easily;
– Greater library cooperation;
– Better library management
– Staffing
– New services
– Protection of records
– Report production.
 Possible Benefits of Library Automation

• Improved productivity.
• Reduce staff.
• Reduce unit cost of operation.
• Improve control.
• Reduce errors.
• Improve speed.
• Improved access.
• Increase range and depth of service.
• Facilitate communication, and
• By-products.
 Improved Productivity

• Existing staff members are able to cope with increased workloads or take
on additional responsibilities, or both, as the result of the library having
installed an ILS. Based on an initial survey by Dorothy E. Jones, 1999,
library staff members generally feel that automation has increased their
workload and responsibilities.

In Chapter 2 we studied the skills required for

DRC Personnel:
• Web page design, HTML, XML;
• Use of electronic networks;
• Use of metadata;
• Evaluation of Web-based information sources;
• Setting up and maintaining subject-based
information gateways;
• Management of electronic documents and
collections and
• Digitalization of documents.
 Reduce Staff

• In a few cases, libraries were able to reduce staff that was involved with
labor-intensive, manual processes with high volumes of activity once the
ILS had been installed.
• However, for a majority of libraries, there has been little or no reduction
in the number of overall staff as the result of automation.
 Reduce Unit Cost of Operation

• The efficiencies that can be achieved with an ILS allow a library to

reduce the costs associated with a particular activity.
• For example, sharing cataloging data through a bibliographic utility such
as OCLC allowed libraries to avoid duplicating the effort associated with
creating original cataloging records.
• This reduced the number of professional staff and resulted in delegating
work to lower-skilled and lower-paid staff.
 Improve Control

• An ILS will accurately record the status and location of all items that are
maintained in its database.
• Thus, rather than having silos of paper records found only in one
department, the online system allows every staff member to learn about
and update information associated with a particular item or record.
 Reduce Errors

• Using an ILS means that the number of errors that would have occurred
in a manual system are significantly reduced, because the majority of
systems use barcode scanners to uniquely identify an items.
 Improve Speed

• Using an automated system means that a variety of activities are

completed in a timelier manner.
• For example, materials are getting on the shelves faster, circulation-
related transactions happen quicker, and so forth.
 Improved Access

• Because the majority of library staff members have desktop workstations

that are connected to the ILS, they each have access to the latest
information about an item or record.
• In addition, the LIS will typically provide several indexes to the library’s
database (e.g., keyword indexes or free-text search) that are not available
with manual systems.
 Increase Range and Depth of Service

• An ILS, especially a system that is accessible via the Internet, allows the
library’s customers to access the library’s collection and other
information resources 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• In addition, most library systems will allow library patrons to view
portions of their record, place holds, or be alerted when an item is
available.
• Means, library patron is no longer constrained to visiting the physical
library in order to receive services.
 Facilitate Communication

• The ability of an ILS to export standard MARC records allows libraries

to participate in various cooperative projects (building local, regional and
state databases; e.g. lists of serials owned by participating libraries; and
so forth).

MARC
Machine Readable Cataloging is a standard
method for encoding surrogate records so that
they can be read and processed by a computer.
MARC Record – Dublin Core
 By­products

• An ILS allows a library to examine, by using a variety of historical

statistical data gathered by the automated system, the range and quality of
services it provides to its customers.
• For example, some libraries have examined the actual usage of its
collection in an effort to understand the needs of its customers better.

Automation
The use or introduction of automatic
equipment in a manufacturing or other
process or facility.