Future Library

FUTURE LIBRARY FUTURE LIBRARY By Mr. Justice Ajmal Mian, Judge, Supreme Court of Pakistan Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Vice‑Chancellor, 'dear students, ladies and gentlemen! I am grateful to the Chancellor, the Vice‑Chancellor and the Board of Governors of Ziauddin Medical University for having invited me to attend this Seminar on an important topic, namely, "The Future Library". The papers which have been read out today on the various aspects of the above subject were very instructive and informative. There cannot be two opinions that a future library should be an embodiment of modern technology. The above Seminar coincides with the opening ceremony of the University Library. One of the criteria to guage the standard of an educational institution is to find out the standard of the library maintained by it. A library is sine qua nor for an educational institution. The origin of the institution of library goes back to the pre‑Christian era when libraries used to be maintained to temples and palaces inter alia in Egypt, Iraq and Syria. The concept of a library has undergone material change with the passage of time inasmuch as according to literary meaning 'library' means "room or building containing books for reading or reference, room in large house devoted to books, collection of books for use by the public or by some class of persons". The libraries are no longer stationary as we have also mobile libraries. The printed books are being gradually replaced by discs, videos and gadgets. The latest . definition of the word 'library' given by one writer is that it is "a place for storing knowledge under a system that facilitates identification and retrieval as needed". On account of unprecedented progress in the development of science and technology, there has been an incredible growth in the publications. According to one estimate there are nearly 37,20,Q00 annual publications in various forms in the world on the subject of science and technology alone, which are expected to be 2‑1/2 crores by the end of this century. It is, therefore, physically and financially impossible for a library to have the advantage of the above explosion of publications without pressing into service electronic computers and other allied devices and without sharing resources. The automation of libraries started in 1890 when Herman Hollerith, a, Census Bureau employee, in U.S.A. invented an equipment using punch‑cards for tabulating the census figure. In 1896, he formed a Tabulating Machine company, which later on became The International Business Machines Corporation. It appears that one Ralph Parker installed a Hollerith punch‑card system for circulation control at University of Texas in 1936 and by the middle of 1940s, he also experimented with its use in serial record control. Subsequently, the other Universities in United States and United Kingdom also installed the above punch‑card machines. The evolution of library automation has been one of an ongoing interaction between technologies, purposes and applications. Technologies used in library automation have changed dramatically since the above introduction of punch‑card machines. The advent of electronic computers and other allied devices has brought about a revolution in the automation of the libraries. In my view, a future library should have inter alia the following facilities/services:‑‑ (i) That a future library cannot operate without sharing the resources of other libraries. The need and importance of resource sharing is manifold particularly in the case of under‑developed countries which have meagre resources. The sharing of resources will give a new sense of direction to the participating libraries as distinguished from the classical goals of individual libraries. The sharing of resources involves pooling of human and financial resources to achieve a system un attainable by individual libraries. The tremendous development in worldwide communication and information system has broken down the barriers of libraries and allow them to be linked together electro mechanically through satellites etc. (ii) That all the Universities within a city should have online interactive system. In 1970s in United States, North‑Western University (Evansten, Illinois), the University of Chicago and Stanford University, developed the above system. It may be pointed out that during 1980s the North‑Western Online Total Integrated System. (NOTIS) was eventually transformed into one of the most successfully marketed commercial online library system. (iii) There should be Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC). It facilitates access to a common database of cataloguing records. All the libraries connected with the above system could benefit. The above system contemplates that one library first to catalogue a book i.e. it would have to do the intellectual and basic data work required to catalogue it. We find that the Online Computer Library Centre, Ohio College, went on line in 1970 as a shared cataloguing system among 54 libraries in Ohio. (iv) The establishment of commercial online library system. In this regard, it may be pertinent to point out that before the advent of mini --‑'computers, almost all Offline and Online library systems were run on large main‑frame equipment housed in computer centres campuses in municipalities or in corporations. The invention of mini computers. enabled libraries to purchase and house their own dedicated mini computers which can be connected with the commercial online libraries. (v) The internet services should be encouraged and popularised. In 1990s, another form of communication began to capture‑interest of libraries in United States i.e. electronic network over a conglomeration of several thousand networks called the internet. It may be observed that while electronic networks may' have utility for some traditional library operations such as transmitting inter‑library loan request but internet facility will advance fundamentally different ways of seeking and sharing information both in carrying out the duties and in altering patterns of professional communication and learning. (vi) That a future library should take the benefit of the advancements in Information Technologies (IT), storage media during the past decade have paved the ground for personal computers base (PC), library science and archives applications. In this regard, reference may be made to CD‑ROM i.e. Compact Disc read Only Technology, which has many advantages over the conventional media, like very high density storage capacity, high durability and long age ranging from 10 to 25 years besides its other functional benefits which include compactness, inexpensiveness and immunity from P.C. associated drawbacks, as accidental erasures and overwriting etc. The CD‑ROM, discs are manufactured as 4.72 inches thin plastic discs on which the information is permanently written by using LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiations) beams by literally burning in the information on the shining mirror‑like disc surface (called the CD Platter) in optically ‑ readable digital codes. The work of writing is done at the manufacturing facilities in a completely irreversible fashion so the information can then be only read by the users. The normal data storage capacity of CD‑ROM disc is 550 Mega Bytes (MB) each, that roughly translates into around 2,50,000 pages of text in print which would have needed more than half a thousand floppy discs of 1.2 MB and/or 1.44 MB capacities each prior to the invention of CD‑ROM discs. Since this University has been established in memory of Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed, a renowned educationalist of international repute whose contribution towards the Pakistan Movement is a matter of history and as the Board of Governors of the University consists of persons of outstanding eminence in their respective fields, I am sure that in due course of time the University and its library will be exemplary to be envied by others. In the end I would like to thank again to the management of the University as well as to the students and other members of the audience. REFERENCES (1) World Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Services by Dennis J Reynolds. (2) Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Science by Stephen R. Salmon. (3) Computer Systems in the Library of Staneley J. Swihart and Beryl F. Hefley. (4) Automation in Libraries by R.T. Kimber, 2nd Edition. (5) The Use of Computers in Libraries by Mr. Muhammad Taj (PLA Journal No. 16). (6) The Current CD=ROM Technology ‑ A Library Implementation Perspective by Mr. Hashmi Akhtar Rind (PLA Journal No. 17). (7) Resources Sharing and University Libraries by Dr. Muhammad Fazil Khan (PLA Journal No. 17).