BLII - 014

ICT in Libraries
Indira Gandhi
National Open University
School of Social Sciences

COURSE INTRODUCTION
BLOCK 1 : DIGITAL LITERACY
Unit 1 : Computer Basics 7
Unit 2 : Office Tools 36

BLOCK 2 : LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Unit 3 : Housekeeping Operations 79
Unit 4 : Library Automation Packages 97

BLOCK 3 : INTERNET TOOLS AND SERVICES

Unit 5 : Internet Basics 125
Unit 6 : Web Tools 140
Unit 7 : Web-based Services 152
Programme Design Committee
Prof. Uma Kanjilal (Chairperson)
Faculty of LIS, SOSS, IGNOU
Prof. B.K.Sen, Retired Scientist
NISCAIR, New Delhi
Dr. Jaideep Sharma
Faculty of LIS, SOSS, IGNOU
Dr. Manorma Tripathi
(Former Documentation Officer), IGNOU
Prof. Neena Talwar Kanungo
Faculty of LIS, SOSS, IGNOU
Dr. R.Sevukan (Former Faculty Member)
Faculty of LIS, SOSS, IGNOU
Professor S.B. Ghosh, Retired Professor
Faculty of LIS, SOSS, IGNOU
Prof. S.C Biswas, Deptt. of LIS, Burdan
University, Burdwan, West Bengal
Dr. S.R. Zonunthara, Regional Director
Regional Centre, Aizwal and Mizoram, IGNOU
Special Invitee:
Mr. Ashok Nishes, Producer EMPC, IGNOU
Conveners:
Dr. Zuchamo Yanthan
Faculty of LIS, SOSS, IGNOU
Dr. Archana Shukla
Faculty of LIS, SOSS, IGNOU

Programme Coordinators Course Coordinators

Dr. Zuchamo Yanthan, Dr. Archana Shukla and Dr. Archana Shukla and
Dr. S.R. Zonunthara Dr. Zuchamo Yanthan
Programme Editor
Prof. Uma Kanjilal
Course Preparation Team
Unit No(s). Contributor(s)
1-2 Dr. Anup Kumar Das
(Unit 2 rewritten by Dr. S.M. Dhawan)
3 Adapted from CICTAL (BLII-001, Unit 11) revised by Dr. S.M. Dhawan
4 Adapted from CICTAL (BLII-003, Unit 11) revised by Dr. S.M. Dhawan
5-7 Dr. V.K. Jagjeevan
Internal Faculty: Course Editor
Dr. Archana Shukla Prof. B.K. Sen
Dr. S.M. Dhawan, Senior Consultant, SOSS, IGNOU

Material Production Secretarial Assistance Cover Design

Mr. Manjit Singh Ms. Sunita Soni Ms. Ruchi Sethi
Section Officer (Pub.) SOSS Web Designer
SOSS, IGNOU IGNOU E Gyankosh
IGNOU
September, 2013
© Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2013
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COURSE INTRODUCTION
The course BLII-014 entitled “ICT in Libraries” comprises seven units organised
into three blocks. Block 1 covers “Digital Literacy” in two units — Unit 1: ‘Computer
Basics’ and Unit 2: ‘Office Tools’. Block 2 covers “Library Automation” in two units
— Unit 3: “House Keeping Functions” and Unit 4: “Library Automation Packages”.
Block 3 covers “Internet Tools and Services” in three units — Unit 5: “Internet Basics,
Unit 6: “Web Tools” and Unit 7: “Web based Services”.
Block 1: Digital Literacy
Unit 1: Computer Basics: This Unit provides basic knowledge and understanding of
computer hardware and software, the major parts of a personal computer including
processing unit, motherboard and mass storage devices. It provides an introduction to
devices used to input data, to process data and to output processed data. It provides
conceptual foundation for you to understand how hardware devices – from motherboard,
microprocessor, RAM, hard disk drives, input devices, to output devices – work together
to make your personal computer work. This Unit also provides conceptual understanding
of systems software and applications software and describes why do we need both
kinds of software to use the Internet, send e-mail, to create a résumé, or run your
computer hardware. The last section of this unit is on basics of Ubuntu operating system
and its features; it describes why do we need operating system to organise data and
information into computer files.
Unit 2: Office Tools: Office tools are a collection of applications mainly consisting of
word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, database management and desktop
publishing all bundled together and quite often these tools share a common user interface.
Microsoft Office is known to offer industry standard office tools but these are proprietary
packages. Free and open source office tools have become viable alternatives to Microsoft
Office. LibreOffice is free and open source available on multiple platforms including
windows, Linux and Mac OS X. This Unit provides an introduction to three LibreOffice
applications such as Writer (Word processing application), Calc (Electronic spreadsheet)
and Impress (Presentation application). The LibreOffice office application suite has
become very popular worldwide for easy availability and convenience in use. Writer is
frequently used as a word processor and text editor, where you can type and save any
textual document. Calc is frequently used as a spreadsheet application for easy
calculations, bookkeeping and preparing charts. Impress is popularly used as a
presentation application for preparing and presenting facts and figures in a presentation.
Block 2: Library Automation
Unit 3: Housekeeping Functions: Computerising housekeeping operations is one of
several activities that fall under the umbrella term library automation. This unit provides
introduction to the information and communications technologies (ICT) applications in
replacing manual library operations such as acquisitions, serials, cataloguing, circulation
and maintenance. The Unit provides an introduction to workflows used for computerising
housekeeping functions and generating related services. It further illustrates how
automated housekeeping functions ultimately impact library performance and how such
applications benefit users in seeking access to library resources. The application of ICT
in library automation requires judicious selection of software, hardware and analysis of
existing library methods and practices for the best possible use of the automation
software.
Unit 4: Library Automation Packages: This Unit provides an overview of library
automation packages, their functions, requirements and features. It traces initiatives
that India has undertaken in developing library automation packages, their path of
progress and future directions in the development of packages. Modern library
automation packages are integrated in nature and offer all the facilities essential for day-
to-day library management. Automation packages available in India are basically of
three types – packages of foreign origin, packages developed over foreign LMSs and
packages developed in India. These packages are modular in structure and most of
them supports all the housekeeping operations, OPAC, Web-OPAC, digital media
archiving, Z39.50 copy cataloguing and modern data capture devices like RFID, smart
card, etc. The process of selection of LMS should be based on some well-defined
criteria because implementation of LMS is a big investment in terms of money, time and
manpower. This Unit also evaluates some of the proprietary and open source library
automation packages in the market. Library automation packages have now established
as an essential tool in the support of effective customer service, stock management and
management of services offered by libraries.
Block 3: Internet Tools and Services
Unit 5: Internet Basics: This Unit provides an introduction to the fundamentals of
computer networking and how it relates to the internet. It introduces common concepts,
terms and technologies of the Internet, the origins of the Internet, basic tools of the
Internet such as E-mail, World Wide Web, web browser and search engines. In addition,
it explains what is Internet, how Internet works as a global network and how to set up
Internet connection. This Unit also explains the virtues of Post Office Protocol and
VoIP, assesses the various options for keeping Internet more secure and provides
guidelines how to better search Internet/web resources. This Unit builds your fundamental
understanding of the Internet and how you can use internet to access resources.
Unit 6: Web Tools: This Unit provides an introduction to the basic web tools that you
need to search resources on the Web. These include HTTP, Telnet, E-mail, FTP, mailing
list, web directory and search engines. The Unit explains how these tools make World
Wide Web work, create and view online content. We are now seeing use of Internet for
interpersonal content sharing and online service delivery. This sort of change in services
allowing people to find and manipulate content is labelled as Web 2.0 emergence. This
Unit introduces you to Web 2.0 and its tools such as social-networking, blogs, RSS,
You Tube, wikis, video-sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and
folksonomies. The Unit further introduces you to key market players in the emerging
Web 2.0 marketplace such as Google, YouTube, Twitter and Wikipedia.
Unit 7: Web-based Services: This Unit provides an introduction to web-based
services that library and information centres can offer to user communities online. Such
services include online library catalogues, subject gateways, electronic journals, online
bibliographic and indexing databases, full text and interactive reference tools, Web 2.0
services, etc. The Unit also introduces you to institutional repositories and real time
services, etc. The Unit also highlights the importance of Web to engage libraries in user
education. This Unit illustrates how such Web services can make difference to users in
bringing them closer to the learning resources, improving their accessibility to information,
improving their learning experience and increasing their participation in several of these
services. Besides, the Web is a huge body of information resources and has the potential
to provide information far beyond what is available in the local library collection. This
Unit thus explains how Web supplements the library’s collections and services.