Information Access: TRADITIONAL WAYS AND MODERN SUPER HIGHWAYS It is impossible to survive without information in the current Information Age by Prof. Wajih A. Alvi

Information Society  Society in which creation, distribution and manipulation of information has become a significant economic and cultural activity  Central position of ICT for production and economy

Revolution Agricultural revolution  Social implications:  Family, villages and other settlements  Law and order, Governments and other social institutions  Implements

Industrial revolution  Social implications:  Mobility & Urbanization  Nuclear family; social evils  Production: quick and cheap

 Consumption of information as economic resource to  Increase efficiency  Stimulate innovation  Increase effectiveness and competitive position  Greater use of information by public for  Education  Information: curiosity  Recreation  Civil rights and responsibilities INFORMATION REVOLUTION

 Development of an information sector within the economy  Wide use  Increasing capacity  Falling prices  Social implications:  Social networking  Globalization  Transparency  Communication  Data collection, manipulation  Database society

Human vs Animals Unique human traits:  Curiosity to o Question o Wonder o Go adventuring into the unknown  Communication o Verbal o Recording

 Current  Casual  Comprehensive  Catching up Academic’s use of information

Information Access Traditional ways Libraries:  Diaries of the human race  Memory of a nation  Information access mechanisms How do they do it!

Operations  Collection management  Organization  Interface  Maintenance/preservation Services  Circulation  Reference/instruction  Proactive packages Physical facilities  Housing  Seating

Maladies facing the libraries:  Information explosion  Expensive  Space shortage

Information Access Modern Super Highways Information Communication Technology (ICT)  Enabling technology  User friendly  Fast  Cheap

Impact on libraries:  Change in basic philosophy: possession to access  Paper to digital format  Networking  Automation of operations and services  Physical to virtual access  Patrons empowerment

Grid system  Subject gateways  E-books Google Books Microsoft Project Gutenberg o Founder Michael S Hart o Collection of public domain books. o books that out of copyright and available for anyone to use for any purpose o CDs of best books:Free downloading/delivery

These sites are mainly for tech books, covering everything from computer science, engineering and mathematics to programming and web development Free Tech Ebooks

Gigapedia  The largest website for downloading e-books  Most exhaustive site on the Net hosting download links to some books, magazines, comics, videos etc. DailyLit DailyLit can deliver a small excerpt from the book of your choice to your on a daily basis. One excerpt per day, and so until the book is finished. The reason it works so well is that it only takes around 3-5 minutes to read each excerpt. If you feel like reading more you can request a next excerpt with a click of a button

Journals Gateways JSTOR US based online 'Journal Storage' that archives academic journals Corporate membership individual subscriptions to JSTOR archives not allowed Join GDN( A leading International Organization of developing and transition country researchers, HQ New Delhi), create an account for free JSTOR access in a developing nation ( Muse Full-text access to a comprehensive selection of SS & H journals. Commercial: Ideal: Academic PressUncover: Blackwell

 Inflibnet  Indcat  INDEST Indian scene

Digital divide  Need for technology  Connectivity/electricity Information overload  Society held hostage by flooding information  More information produced within last 3 decades Information anxiety  Flood of information  Single search reveals lacs of sites  Information filtering Challenges of information society

Information pollution  Junk information  Information smog  Unethical Information literacy  ITlligence  Proliferation /changing ICT Competencies to exploit ICT

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION & WISH U ALL THE BEST

Advantages of E Journals o 24/7 accessibility o Easy & fast access o Remote access o Hypertext links between articles o Easy dissemination o Economical

Disadvantages of E Journals o Retention o Archiving o Need for technology o Lack of standards