Digital Library Initiatives Research Articles

Keep me PoS-ted: experimenting with Part-of-Speech prediction on Old Babylonian letters

Abstract Within this paper we will account for a cooperation between Ghent University based Assyriologists and computational linguists that has set up a pilot study to analyse the language used in Old Babylonian (OB) letters using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. OB letters make up an interesting dataset because (1) they form an invaluable source for everyday vernacular language, and (2) more than 5000 have been recovered, many of which are accessible in transliteration and translation through the series Altbabylonische Briefe and the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Based on a first batch of letters from OB Sippar, later extended by other Akkadian letters, we aim to develop machine learning approaches to perform semi-automatic text analysis and annotation of the letters. We will here present a Part-of-Speech (PoS) tag prediction model using machine learning. The input data is Akkadian in transliteration and the best performing model is a fine-tuned Multilingual BERT Transformer with Word embeddings (weighted avg F1: 90.19 %). When compared to the benchmark attempt of PoS tagging on a larger Akkadian corpus (97.67 %), it leaves room for improvement. However, analysing the results shows us that multilingual word embeddings improve the model performance and with an enlargement of the corpus targeting certain classes, we could considerably better the macro average F1 scores.

Sealed Bullae and Livestock Management at Irisaĝrig in the Early Old Babylonian Period

Abstract This article offers a detailed study of the organization of livestock management at Irisaĝrig in post-Ur III times. Three clusters of texts will be discussed, which focus on the activities of a small group of officials who oversaw the collection and disbursement of small cattle for religious and secular purposes. It is argued that the central urban organization on whose behalf these administrators operated was the local palace. The analysis of the archival records reveals a strong royal presence in the city and suggests that Irisaĝrig was an important center of the newly established kingdom of Malgûm Text abbreviations follow those of BDTNS = Database of Neo-Sumerian Texts (http://bdtns.filol.csic.es) and/or CDLI = Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (http://cdli.ucla.edu); other abbreviations after RlA. .

Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Digital Libraries

Multilingualism and multiculturalism have become major preoccupations for Library and Information Science (LIS) which has to be as fair as possible to ensure and sustain knowledge diversity as a driver for development. This paper offers a broad overview of multilingualism and multiculturalism embedding into Digital Libraries (DL). We survey studies written in English over the past two decades (from 2002 to 2022) and indexed in one or more of the following databases: Science Direct, Google Scholars, Taylor and Francis, and Emerald Insight. We summarized studies to offer insights and outline opportunities in this area and classify them into five research themes: (i) studies describing Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR) in Digital Libraires, (ii) studies describing building, enriching and using multilingual resources in digital libraries (iii) studies focusing on multilingual digital libraries initiatives, (iv) studies on collaboration, minority languages and ethics issues in digital libraries, and (v) studies on multilingual user needs. This survey aims to identify, collect and categorize the research literature on multilingualism and multiculturalism efforts in Digital Libraries.

Digital library initiatives of nehru library, CCSHAU, hisar and behavioural approaches of new generation library users: A Study

In this changing environment, the thinking, behavior, and needs of human beings keep changing according to time and technology. In this study, the surveyor discusses digital library initiatives of Choudhary Charan Singh, Haryana Agriculture University (Hisar), Nehru Library (University Library), and the behavior of new generation users through a user-based survey study. With the help of ICT, today's digital library is playing an effective role in providing useful information to the academic community. With the emergence of internet access and electronic gadgets in the field of library and information science, there is no need for a user to visit the library. Today’s library users keep their essential information at their fingertips and in their pockets with the help of technology and electronic devices.Nowadays university libraries are spending a huge amount on e-services. So, it is necessary to examine users’ needs and satisfaction levels with digital services. For this users-based survey, the surveyor has selected 50 library users (10 faculty members, 20 researchers, and 10-10 PG-UG students). On the basis of findings, the study gives valuable suggestions and recommendations to the university library. This survey also presents the actual status of Nehru Library's digital services.

Spain's Activity in the European Cultural Initiatives

The main purpose of this study is to highlight the way in which Spain has functioned since its accession to the European Union in 1986 in the field of culture. After completing the process of transition to democracy, and having fully recognized the importance of culture, Spain began to be active and to participate with success in most European cultural programs. The interest between Spain and the European Union has been mutual from the beginning. Spain was interested in promoting Spanish culture in Europe and the European Union in highlighting the cultural diversity that characterized Spain. New resources were arriving at the country and Spain tried to use them in the best possible way to promote the sector of culture. Spain has been actively involved in almost all cultural initiatives developed by the European Union. In this study we aim to present an analysis about Spain’s activity in the context of European cultural initiatives in order to enter a new era. More particular, we aim to identify the activity of Spain in the institution of the European Capital of Culture, the European Heritage Label, the European Days of Cultural Heritage and the Digital Libraries Initiative. We address and analyze how Spain eventually created a new image of the country both at a European and at an international level. Moreover, is presented an analysis on the cultural policy pursued by Spain after its accession to the European Union.

Digital library initiatives: An overview of national and international scenario

The emergence of digital technology and computer networking have provided means where by Information can be stored, retrieved, disseminated, and duplicated in a very fast manner. Digital libraries have made considerable advances, both in technology and its applications. The digital library initiatives at international level are many, but in developing counties like India they are still in a nascent stage. But with initiative like Google Books Projects, Million Book Project, initiated by Carnegie Mellon University, the culture of digital library has also made a beginning in India. This paper discusses the various national and international digital library initiatives projects like Million Book Project, Google Books Projects, NDL, NDLTD.WDL, ICDL, Kalasampada, Shodhganga, KhudaBaksh OrientalPublic Library,Vidyanidhi etc.

Application of Information Success Model in Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak (PTAR) UiTM

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Internet have changed the way organizations deliver services. Using ICT and Internet technology, organizations can deliver digital services to consumers quickly and effectively. In the context of libraries and digital libraries, service delivery has been greatly improved along with the extensive use of ICT and Internet in the library. This paper discusses the delivery of digital library services at UiTM’s Tun Abdul Razak Library (PTAR) with reference to the Information System Success Model introduced by Delone & Mclane. PTAR digital library initiatives such as MyKnowledge Portal, CHAT WITH LIBRARIAN, E-Class Information Skills (eKKM) are discussed by mapping them with service quality (SQ), Information Quality and System Quality elements in the IS Success Model. As a result, from the context of the use of the system as a service delivery platform, the implementation of PTAR digital initiative is found to be aligned with IS Success Model

Biblioteca Digitale, o dell’evoluzione della biblioteca: la Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana e la sua nuova Biblioteca Digitale ad accesso aperto dedicata ai manoscritti

The Digital Library – used here to connote a general category – aims to innovate the range of services offered to the public by ‘analogue libraries’ to a varied group of users. These services cross the multifaceted cases of public reading libraries (and a large and generalist pool of users), of university libraries (and an equally large pool of users made up of students, undergraduates, faculty, and researchers), and also extend to the world of conservation libraries, which attract a specialized niche audience, very often of international origin. The digitization of precious, ancient, books – both manuscript and printed – represents a great and complex challenge from many points of view (conceptual, design, implementation, logistics, economic, personnel management, etc.), but also the most intuitive way we have now to expand the services offered to users in digital form. In the (recent) past, many digital library initiatives have been carried out in this sense by individual library institutions, as well as by individual private programs or government projects, with variable results in terms of objectives actually achieved, sustainable permanence online, and their ability to effectively counteract the so-called ‘digital obsolescence’ by updating the entire technological infrastructure of the project itself, as well as the individual digital contents, to guarantee their survival. Nowadays, web- based technologies have evolved, increased, and standardized to such an extent that a new approach is possible for digital libraries in terms of usability, visualization, and multi-platform replication of digital content.

Digital library of required classical literature for elementary and secondary school curricula in domestic languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to present, in the introductory part, the main project phases and the translation of classical literature masterpieces in the public domain from English or French languages to Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian; digital formatting to make the contents as usable and attractive for students and teachers as possible; Web presentation and digital library application; and marketing of the project and the materials published. Additionally, extensive descriptions of all project activities and elaboration on the financial constraints are given together with the observations related to the proposed self-sustainability by using the cross-platform free cloud software. Another challenge originating in a unique political context was presented with an explanation of the necessity to create digital content in three domestic languages. The central part provides a wider context by discussing the potentials of similar digital practices to be applied elsewhere based on the lessons learned. Finally, in conclusion, the short recapitulation and the final assessment of the project are given.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the project Digital Library of Required Classic World Literature for Elementary and Secondary School Curricula in Domestic Languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina (in Bosnian: Digitalna biblioteka lektira). The descriptive methodology has been used to present the project to the scientific community and get constructive feedback.FindingsThis study aims to be the first significant school digital library initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, because of zero funding and plans directed to self-sustainability through the use of free cloud software solutions, its viability will be tested over time.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations are concerned with paper length and formal limitations. A longer study should be written to present all features of this project. However, it implies possible positive developments in digital content creation and usage in schools of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Practical implicationsThis study was initiated to support the physical school libraries, but in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, its importance increased exponentially since the classes went online.Originality/valueThis paper is based on the original project and is written by the person who is the project leader and digital librarian. This paper aims to be the first significant school digital library initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Conceptions of digital libraries: an African perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper was to explore African conceptions of digital libraries from the perspective of the historical literature. This paper argues that the concept of digital libraries is a western creation and that there was a need for developing societies to develop their own conceptions to guide their own digital library development agenda.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a literature review. The paper makes use of publicly-available literature on the theme of digital libraries from both the Western and African perspectives. The search terms used were “digital libraries”, “Africa digital libraries”, “electronic libraries”, “information communication technologies/libraries” and “institutional repositories”. A total of 89 publications were examined for this purpose.FindingsThe analysis revealed that most of the initial digital library initiatives in Africa emanated from the west with African countries benefiting from international initiatives to expand access to information resources to bridge the global digital divide. However, due to a number of contextual challenges such as lack of sustainable funding and inadequate capacity and strategy, the development of digital libraries was hampered. Thus, even though digital libraries enjoy considerable goodwill, there remain negative conceptions of digital libraries in Africa.Practical implicationsInformation institutions in African countries must evolve a unified conception of digital libraries as this would largely drive the direction of digital library development towards achieving the developmental goals of the continent.Originality/valueThe study applies the attributes of innovation to explain contextual factors shaping African conceptions of digital libraries.

Open Source Digital Library Software: A Literature Review

Digital Library initiatives are gaining momentum and many open source digital library software emerged. These developments necessitate universal standard for digital library software. Conforming the software to universal standard means compromising local requirements. No matter how general the software may be, suitability of the digital library software to specific requirements of digital library project will differ from software to software. These variations in digital library software allow ample room for librarians to assess the digital library softwares with the local requirement criterion. To ease assessment/selection process, this paper attempts to evaluate four most popular open source digital library software. Various features of the softwares are comparatively tabled for ready reference.

Going the full distance: Strategic support for digital libraries in distance education at the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana

Many African universities have employed distance education to expand access to education and digital libraries can ensure seamless access to information for distance learners. The purpose of this study was to investigate the availability of policies and strategic initiatives for developing digital library services in distance education at the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana. The study relies on the results of semi-structured interviews with selected librarians of the University, and institutional document analysis. The study found that digital library use in distance education at the University is seriously hampered due to the absence of strategic support, consistent policies and dedicated funding for digital library initiatives.

Indigenous Knowledge Management for Disaster Mitigation and Sustainable Development in the Eco Community Villages of India

Traditional knowledge incorporates knowledge of ecosystem relationships and a code of ethics governing appropriate use of the environment. This code includes rules and conventions promoting desirable ecosystem relations, human-animal interactions and even social relationships, since the latter continue to be established and reaffirmed through hunting and other activities on the land. Traditional knowledge articulates with non-traditional knowledge to form a rich and distinctive understanding of life and the world environment. In this context, systematic and in-depth studies on eco community’s indigenous knowledge capacity building for disaster risk reduction and management are rare in India. Indigenous knowledge, as such, is not well documented, let alone digitized, and is in eminent danger of being lost as its custodians pass away. It is crucial to preserve this valuable body of knowledge and integrate it into modern disaster risk reduction efforts. The inclusion of indigenous people into discussions of climate change and risk reduction cannot be ignored. Lack of organized study in this area has led to vulnerability of communities and the nation as a whole in coping with natural disasters. Several studies are available on the value of indigenous knowledge for natural resource management in Africa and Asia-Pacific countries. However, literature on indigenous knowledge for disaster mitigation and preparedness is scattered and very scarce. Systematic and in-depth studies on disaster mitigation in general and indigenous knowledge in particular would be very useful in this regard. In order to bridge this gap, the present project eventually aimed to designing and development of a web-portal with the name A.A.D.I.GYAN- Augmenting Action for Disaster Management through Indigenous Knowledge; meant to promote a global scale and commonly shared digital platform for dissemination and enrichment of Indigenous knowledge and practices across eco-communities of India and abroad based on a fully developed and functional web-site. This portal is a part of digital library initiatives for documenting, preserving and promoting the role of Indigenous knowledge in mitigating natural and man-made disasters, particularly among Eco-communities. It carries an extensive research database covering various states of India and possibly some other countries and their respective hub-locations (Eco-community/ tribal regions), with a scope to expand at global scale, containing data and information about indigenous activities related to Agriculture, Medicinal plants, Green technology, Healthcare, Education, Environment Management, Socio-Cultural and Spiritual Practices, Employment, Housing etc. It entails a shared web-platform facilitating real-time interactions and exchange of ideas, knowledge and information among all stakeholders -Community, Government, Experts, Researchers, Environmentalists and Academicians. It promises to be a very rich database with an innovative structured classification system for the purpose of systematic arrangement, dissemination and retrieval in order to facilitate further research and distribution of information at global scale. It would have a project team constituted of Environmental Scientist, Consultant, Experts and Academicians. As a project with limited coverage, the work done so far on the above lines has revealed several significant and interesting aspects and applications of traditional knowledge for building long term social, economic and environmental capacities in the eco-communities of India.

Conversation as a model to build the relationship among libraries, digital humanities, and campus leadership

ABSTRACTBy committing to two conversation-based concepts, David Lankes's Mission for New Librarians and the “Scholarship as Conversation” Information Literacy Frame, Bethel University's Library has established a leadership role in advocating and implementing digital humanities at a midsized liberal arts institution. Aligning the services and strategy of the Bethel University Digital Library (BUDL), Bethel's institutional repository, with the lessons learned and relationships built through these conversations with administration, faculty, and staff has resulted in successful outcomes for the communication and implementation of innovative digital library and digital humanities initiatives.

Performance Management in Academic Libraries: A Balanced Scorecard Approach for Digital Services

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the Balanced Scorecard could be used as a performance management tool in academic library digital services at a large multi-campus University in Ghana, the University of Education, and Winneba. Despite the fact that it was initially designed for private sector commercial organisations, the Balanced Scorecard has been found useful by non-profits such as libraries. The study demonstrates the contribution of digital library services to the strategic goals of universities by aligning strategic digital library initiatives to the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives which are: customer; finance; internal processes; and learning and organisation. The study is expected to contribute to efforts at finding strategic measures to sustain digital library services in academic libraries.

Digital Library Initiatives: A Boon for Preservation of Information Resources in India

Digital Library Initiatives: A Boon for Preservation of Information Resources in India

Developing a digital library model for virtual universities in Korea

This study examines the current status of 21 virtual university libraries in Korea and explores the possibilities of establishing a national-level central digital library through which these libraries could share resources. Interviews were conducted with 16 virtual university administrators to investigate their opinions and requirements of a central digital library. It was found that many virtual university libraries do not provide sufficient library resources and services due to a lack of qualified librarians and necessary funds. The interviewed administrators were willing to participate in a central digital library initiative to benefit from joint acquisition of databases and resource sharing, but they wanted to ensure local autonomy and control in managing their digital library sites. Therefore, the present study proposes a hosting model in which shared applications and resources reside on a central server and users from different universities access them remotely through the interfaces of individual library sites.

Archiving cultural and community memories in a networked information society : a Japanese perspective

INTRODUCTIONMany projects to develop digital collections of cultural heritage have been carried out worldwide since the explosive growth of the Internet and the Web in the mid-1990s. The author has discussed digital archives and metadata in the context of community memory and cultural resources in previous articles (Sugimoto, 2014; Sugimoto, Mitsuharu, Tetsuya, &Tsunagu, 2015). This paper looks back at specifically Japanese projects involving cultural heritage and community memories and discusses some issues from the author's perspectivewith the intention to provide an overview of Japanese digital library activities more comprehensively.Large digital library projects were carried out in the 1990s. For example, American Memory and Making of America by large research libraries, and the Digital Library Initiatives by the U.S. National Science Foundation and other funding bodies are the most famous projects. American Memory and Making of America developed large collections of historical resources. The Digital Library Initiatives have funded many research projects of different types-information and communication technology (ICT) centric projects, collection-centric projects, and user-centric projects. In Japan, several major digitization projects were started by the National Diet Library (NDL) and major memory institutions. IPA/JIPDEC conducted a comprehensive digital library project in collaboration with the National Diet Library (Mukaiyama, 2000). The National Diet Library started the Kindai Digital Library, a huge digital collection of books published in Japan after the revolution in the 19th century. The Japan Center for Asian Historical Records at the National Archives of Japan started building a digital collection of Japanese governmental records from the revolution in the 19th century to the end of World War II. The museum community has also had major works for building digital collections. Cultural Heritage Online is a collaborative project by the nation-wide museum community under the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Japanese government.In Japan, digital archive is commonly used as a term meaning a large collection of digital resources, primarily in the cultural domain. Various types of digital collections have been built as a digital archive-digitized books, digital images of museum resources, 3D images of heritage sites, etc. Libraries, museums, archives and related institutions, referred to as memory institutions, are the key players in building digital archives.There are also digital archives for non-cultural resources. Building digital archives of disaster records is a crucial activity as it not only keeps records of disasters, but also keeps community memories for the future. Many digital archives were created after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on March 11, 2011. Many digital photographs and videos were taken at the disaster by people who witnessed the disaster, and many photographs and other data were created after the disaster to record the disaster itself and recovery from it. There are many non-digital materials which should be archived in addition to born digital resources. Thus, these archives collect both born digital materials as well as digitized materials. The National Diet Library is providing a portal for the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami archives, which is named Hinagiku.Digital archives refer to a collection of digital objects of cultural content which may be born digital or converted into digital, for example photographs, videos, audio records and documents. On the other hand, many databases of cultural resources that have been or are being built provide only metadata of the cultural resources with no primary digital objects. These are not strictly digital archives from the viewpoint of primary digital objects, but this paper also mentions them as the border between digital archives and databases is not crisp, and metadata about cultural resources are a key component of digital archives. …

Role of libraries in Pharmacy Education and Perceptions of library Professional’s about their job

Introduction: In pharmacy education, library use do appear independent contributions to desirable outcomes of the institution. Librarians’ role is also important to make students information literate. Objective: This objective of this study to know about the role of libraries and library professional’s experience in pharmacy colleges. Materials and Methods: The data represent responses from 44 library professionals’ during the period 2013-2014 to the questionnaire. To explore role of libraries in pharmacy colleges, current status on collections and digital library facilities are discussed and to know the perceptions of library professionals’, their job satisfaction level is analyzed. Results: Pharmacy colleges have numerous seminar materials, sufficient journals, articles and conference papers. Almost all the pharmacy college libraries perform the data entry, circulation services. Some colleges maintain reports and database services (73.5%). Digital library initiative started in many colleges (75.2%). Very few colleges do have connecting networks like UGC Inflibnet (1.7%), Delnet (2.2%). No pharmacy college has got Current Awareness Services (CAS)/Selective Designated Information (SDI) services and computerized bibliographic service. The library professionals’ of all designations do have high level of job satisfaction. Conclusion: Pharmacy colleges of this study have enough conventional collections, but latest modern technology like connecting network, security measures are to be developed. Since pharmacy graduates get involved in clinical aspects, drug information resources, learning tools and materials and databases for clinical aspects are also required in library. All library professionals’ in this study are satisfied with their collection and resources available in the library and nature of their work.

Comparison of Greenstone Digital Library and DSpace: Experiences from Digital Library Initiatives at Eastern University, Sri Lanka

On the decline of budgetary allocation for libraries, information is being made available to wider audience through alternative means, such as digital libraries and online repositories. Increasing demand for certain print materials urge libraries to exploit open-source alternatives, which are highly advantageous for libraries with scarce financial resources and voracious demand from their users. An interview survey results justified the establishment of digital library service as both students and academics, amongst other issues, recorded their inability to spare time for accessing certain print collections. In this regard, like other libraries in the country, the Library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka has initiated digital library initiatives using freely available software. Amongst a number of open-source software (OSS) available to create and manage digital library collections, Greenstone and DSpace are being experimented for developing two different types of repositories. However, these two software have slight merits and demerits over one another. This paper scrutinizes those features corresponding to the needs of and challenges faced by the Library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL), which is in its initial stage of launching digitized collections representing both its academic works and local publications. The demand for unpublished works of students and past examinations papers is always high, hence, the Library is has started digitizing materials in demand and rare to find. This comparative analysis is solely based on experiences gained by the Library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka.Journal of the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka, Vol. 18, Issue 2, June 2014, Page 76-90