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Role of Digital library in research improvment

Introduction
An electronic library (colloquially referred to as a digital library) is a library in which collections
are stored in electronic media formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media) and
accessible via computers. The electronic content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via
computer networks. An electronic library is a type of information retrieval system.
In the context of the DELOS, a Network of Excellence on Digital Libraries, and DL.org, a
Coordination Action on Digital Library Interoperability, Best Practices and Modelling
Foundations, Digital Library researchers and practitioners and software developer produced a
Digital Library Reference Model which defines a digital library as: "A potentially virtual
organisation, that comprehensively collects, manages and preserves for the long depth of time
rich digital content, and offers to its targeted user communities specialised functionality on that
content, of defined quality and according to comprehensive codified policies."
The first use of the term digital library in print may have been in a 1988 report to the Corporation
for National Research Initiatives. The term digital libraries was first popularized by the
NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Libraries Initiative in 1994. These draw heavily on As We May
Think by Vannevar Bush in 1945, which set out a vision not in terms of technology, but user
experience. The term virtual library was initially used interchangeably with digital library, but is
now primarily used for libraries that are virtual in other senses (such as libraries which aggregate
distributed content).
A distinction is often made between content that was created in a digital format, known as born-
digital, and information that has been converted from a physical medium, e.g. paper, by
digitizing. It should also be noted that not all electronic content is in digital data format. The
term hybrid library is sometimes used for libraries that have both physical collections and
electronic collections. For example, American Memory is a digital library within the Library of
Congress.

Role
Libraries once seemed like the best answer to the question "Where do I find. . . ?" the search
engine now rules. Researchersbe they senior scholars or freshmenno longer make the library
the first stop in their search for knowledge. The shift from producing and consuming information
in hard copy to multimedia digital form has moved the center of information gravity from
research libraries to the Internet, and done so in a dramatically brief period. The preconditions
for this sudden shift were laid in the 19th century by the development of audio and visual
formatsstill and moving images, recorded sound, and, ultimately, formats combining sound
and image. A bifurcation eventually emerged between campus-based "general collection"
libraries, which focused on secondary literature and a highly selective group of primary sources
(both print and nonprint), and libraries not serving first and foremost a faculty and student body,
and which focused on "special collections."
Digital libraries provide access to information, ideas and works of imagination in any medium
and regardless of frontiers. They serve as gateways to knowledge, thought and culture, offering
essential support for independent decision-making, cultural development, research and lifelong
learning by both individuals and groups. Digital libraries and information services contribute to
the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom and help to safeguard democratic
values and universal civil rights. Consequently, they are committed to offering their clients
access to relevant resources and services without restriction and to opposing any form of
censorship.For strengthening the educational capacity and building research capacity in less
advanced countries, access to relevant information is of great importance. Levels of access to
information and communication technologies vary from individual to individual, community to
community, and country to country; this is referred to as the "digital divide". As the pace of the
technological revolution increases, so does the digital divide. The majority of the more than 6
billion people who inhabit our planet have been completely shut out of the digital revolution and
the promise it holds.
Problem
The rapid developments of technology have a negative impact: technology becomes outdated too
fast. This will continue to happen, probably faster, in future. Therefore, we have to be very
careful in preserving digital information resources; and this looks to be a continuous problem.

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