منتديات اليسير للمكتبات وتقنية المعلومات » منتديات اليسير العامة » المنتدى الــعــام للمكتبات والمعلومات » المكتبه الالكترونيه الرقميه في العالم العربي لدكتور محمد مالكاوي الجامعة الأردنية

المنتدى الــعــام للمكتبات والمعلومات هذا المنتدى يهتم بالمكتبات ومراكز المعلومات والتقنيات التابعة لها وجميع ما يخص المكتبات بشكل عام.

إضافة رد
قديم Jan-09-2007, 04:49 PM   المشاركة1
المعلومات

aymanq
مكتبي فعّال

aymanq غير متواجد حالياً
البيانات
 
العضوية: 15229
تاريخ التسجيل: Jan 2006
الدولة: فلسطيـن
المشاركات: 119
بمعدل : 0.02 يومياً


افتراضي المكتبه الالكترونيه الرقميه في العالم العربي لدكتور محمد مالكاوي الجامعة الأردنية

Digital Electronic Library
In The Arab World

Dr. Mohammad Malkawi

Jordan University of Science and Technology
Irbid - Jordan

Abstract:
Advances in computer technology distributed computing, relational and object oriented database systems, multimedia technology, networking and communication have made viable the establishment of digital electronic libraries (DL). Digital libraries are bound to replace the current paper based libraries. DL are sought to provide cost effective information retrieval system, to provide library materials to the largest possible audience, and to simplify the process of library search, material lookup, and typical library functions. The cost of maintaining DL is far less than the cost of maintaining typical paper based libraries. This paper presents a description of the basic functions of DL, and the procedure for establishing such libraries.

1. Introduction:

Computer technology has witnessed many significant achievements in the past few years. Among the most significant of which is the very high-speed microprocessor technology, which utilizes clock speeds in excess of 500 MHz. The low cost of microprocessor chips made viable the establishment of very large multi-computer systems. Distributed computing systems are becoming more practical due to the low cost of the necessary hardware equipment. Networking and communication achievement, especially in the areas of ATM and fiber optics have contributed to the success of distributed multi-computer systems.

On the software side, we have witnessed the introduction of tools capable of creating, maintaining, manipulating data in different formats, different databases, and with exceptional flexibility, portability, and availability. Besides, the necessary protocols for message passing within inter network communication, and intra-network communication have become standard options, almost in any operating system and platform.

As a result, the use of computer technology has become very popular in every aspect of life, ranging from simple cooking books at home to the control of nuclear land chemical reactions. Databases, warehouses, data mining have become popular at all levels. Electronic publishing has replaced to a very large extent the old character setting techniques. One of the emerging applications of the current technology is the establishment of digital electronic libraries (DL).

This document describes fundamental aspects of an infrastructure that is open in its architecture and which supports a large and extensible class of distributed digital information services. Digital libraries are one example of such services; numerous other examples of such services may be found in emerging electronic commerce applications.

The DL system is defined as the system, which is capable of providing all the library material in electronic form. The material includes the books, journals,

----- manque la page 2 -----

The user of DL does not borrow library material. She simply uses the material. There is no notion of having to return a material within a period of time. The user simply loads the required material, and the loaded material becomes the user's current copy of the material. Later, in this paper, we will address the issue of copyright, and the notion of the user's copy of the material.

In DL, several users may share the same material at the same time. Unlike the paper-based library, DL users create an immediate electronic copy of the required material. The original material remains available for any other interested user. In DL, the user can either inspect the material on-line, or she can obtain a copy of the required material on a disk, CD-ROM, video or audio tapes, or have a printout.

Most importantly, DL provides the library information to all users without any discrimination of any kind. Whether the user is at college or not, in school or not, lives in the city or in a remote village, whether a man or a woman, he or she can have the same library access.

It can be claimed, therefore, that DL systems inaugurate the information revolution at the verge of the new century

3. The Architecture of DL

There are two main components of DL. The DL server, and the DL client. Also, the database is an integral part of DL. Peripheral systems are required at both ends the server as well as the client end.

3.1 The Server

The server is responsible for maintaining the library information and material, and responding to the request of the users (clients). The DL server can be a powerful centralized system, or it can be a set of systems distributed over different geographical locations. The centralized system is easier to establish and less expensive to maintain. However, centralized solutions suffer from communication overflow, and from single points of failure. Advances in distributed computing suggest that DL servers be implemented in a distributed manner. [Figure 1]Thus many systems will co-operate to sustain full operation of DL. The failure of one or more of the systems should not affect the normal operation of the library. A typical server architecture is shown in the figure below.


Figure 1 : Typical server architecture

DL servers are connected using a distributed computing internetworking system. The distributed system facilitates the transfer of data from one server to another; it allows transaction on one server to be executed remotely on another server; it allows the data available on one server to be accessed by another one. All distributed operations should be carried out in a transparent manner.

3.2 Library Database System

The database system of DL is relational, and an object oriented relational database system. The elements of the database are objects. All the library materials are a collection of objects with relations between them.

In this section, we first present an informal overview of the elements of the System, sketching its elements and how they are supposed to function together. These elements include the notions of digital objects, handles, metadata and key metadata, repositories, handle generators, originators, users, global naming authorities and local naming authorities, and a repository access protocol.

Informal Overview

Conceptually, the System works as follows: An originator, i. e. , a user with digital material to be made available in the System, makes the material into a digital object. A digital object is a data structure whose principal components are digital material, or data, plus a unique identifier for this material, called a handle (and, perhaps, other material). To get a handle, the user requests one from an authorized handle generator. A user may then deposit the digital object in one or more repositories, from which it may be made available to others (subject, of course, to the particular item's terms and conditions, etc.). Upon depositing a digital object in a repository, its handle and the repository name or IP address is registered with a globally available system of handle servers. Users may subsequently present a handle to a handle server to learn the network names or addresses of repositories in which the corresponding digital object is stored.

Interactions such as depositing digital objects or accessing digital objects in repositories is accomplished using a repository access protocol (RAP), which all repositories must support.

A digital object stored in a repository, and whose handle has been registered with the handle server system, is called a registered digital object. Registered digital objects are of primary concern to us here, as they are explicitly constructed to be known about by others, presumably for widespread availability. However, we do not constrain repositories to contain only registered digital objects. Nor are repositories constrained to operate only via the repository access protocol, although they must all support it.

Handles are the primary global identifiers for digital objects. However, we do not anticipate that users will necessarily manipulate handles directly; nor is the system of handle servers intended as the only means by which users will locate objects. More likely, various value-added providers not defined as part of the infrastructure will accomplish location services. Rather, the handle server system provides a kind of public safety net, which facilitates the location of a digital object given only its handle.

We use the term digital object here in a technical sense. Files, databases and so forth that one may ordinarily think of as objects with a digital existence are not digital objects in the sense used here, at least not until they are made into an appropriate data structure.

Only the most basic elements of the infrastructure need to be described. These elements are intended to constitute a minimal set of requirements and services that must be in place to effect the infrastructure of a universal, open, wide-area digital information infrastructure system. We anticipate that many other services and elaboration will come into existence as the System is further developed either building upon or otherwise added to these elements. For further definition of objects, handles, threads, and more, see "A Framework for Distributed Digital Object Services" by Robert Kahn, Corporation for National Research Initiatives, and Robert Wilensky, University of California at Berkeley May l 3, 1995

3.3 The Client

The client is a system, which allows the user to access the library system. The client could be attached to the distributed system either locally, or remotely. Local connection may use typical local area networking (LAN) technology such as hub connection; Novell bus oriented connection, switched network or direct connection . Remote connection can be established using WAN technology with routers, bridges, and switches; or it can be done directly using modem connection.

Each client station is equipped with search and browsing engines. Search engines like the ones used by AltaVista, Yahoo, and other search systems are typical commercially available powerful search engines. The search engine should be capable of browsing through various databases, and multiple platforms. Although, it is possible to create and use homogenous database components and platforms. However, powerful search engine and browsers currently have the capability of browsing through multiple database formats, and multiple platforms.

3.4 Input/Output Peripheral Devices

Of utmost importance to the implementation of DL is the availability of suitable VO devices for both the server and the client. The server peripheral devices are needed to convert the library material into appropriate electronic forms for the purpose of creating the library database systems. Among the most important devices are:

Scanners: High resolution colored scanners are required
Digitizers
Digital (photo) camera
Digital video camera
Video reorders (VCR)
Audio recorder, analyzer, and synthesizer
Printers, plotters...
On the client side, peripherals are required to receive the requested library information. Such equipment include:

Disk copying system
Compact Disk, optical disk recorder
Audio recorder
Video recorder
Printer, plotter, digitizer...
Tape unit
3-D viewing facility
Each client may choose one or more of the required equipment.

4. Creating DL Systems

The Arab global DL choices of technology must reflect the central feature of the on-line environment: digital and multimedia diversity. In order to reproduce collections of books, pamphlets, motion pictures, manuscripts and sound recordings, the project would create a wide array of digital entities: bi-tonal document images, grayscale and color pictorial images, digital video and audio, and searchable texts. To provide access to the reproductions, the project needs to develop a range of descriptive elements: bibliographic records, finding aids, introductory texts and programs and searchable full texts.

The reproductions require a variety of tools: scanners, digital cameras, audio and video digitizers and human labor for re-keying and encoding texts. An international as well as industry-standard format needs to be adopted for many digital reproductions. For example, texts could be encoded with Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and images could be stored in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) files or compressed with the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) algorithm. In other cases -notably for moving images and recorded sound-the use of ATM standards is preferred.

Of particular note is the deployment of an SGML markup scheme for historical texts and documents, which was initially developed for the American National Digital Library Project. The scheme conforms to the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative; an international-standards effort promulgated by humanities scholars in a number of universities and other institutions.

The greatest challenge in the digitization of historical collections is finding appropriate ways to handle rare manuscripts, glass plate negatives, bound books and other fragile originals. Solutions to these problems may be found at similar projects such as the American National Library Project.

Library staff will create the cataloging and other descriptive data for access. Efficient means to produce these data, often using new PC-based cataloging software. can be introduced to the Library.

The process of digitization will provide an interesting mix of rights issues, including what most people perceive as the "copyright archetype," an item for which the identity of the copyright owner is known. Many records may turn to have no specific rights of ownership, for logistic reasons such as "copyright not renewed". In other occasions, publishers may grant the right for electronic reproduction for some of their publications. Other cases have to be solved on an item by item basis.

Issues other than known-owner copyright, however, are more frequent and challenging in archival collections. In the case of a group of folk music recordings, for example, we will face not only the question of identifying composers, but also accommodating the rights of the song collector and the folk performers. Meanwhile, privacy and publicity rights will emerge in the case of photographs. These and many other cases need to be dealt with.

The selection of collections to digitize is strongly influenced by the elements described above. Considerations of audience, including a desire to serve the schools, for example, guide to collections that illuminate Arab and Islamic culture and history. Initial thoughts indicate that content that relates to school curricula has high value. In addition, emphasis may be given to Library's unique special-collections holdings.

Another important consideration in selection is the "fit" of certain formats to technology, meaning both the technology to digitize and the technology for distribution. Photographs and other pictorial materials, manuscripts and printed matter are favored, because their methods for capture and digital forrnats are well established. In contrast, the sheer size of the digital file required to contain a legible image weighs against the selection of complicated image scripts such as maps at the initial stages.

Selection will also be influenced by a collection's copyright status, readiness of cataloging and the degree to which selection will support other Library activities, ranging from backlog reduction to exhibitions and publications.

Another problem that needs to be addressed is the problem of selecting the appropriate formats and standards for text, image, and other material encoding. Of particular interest are three projects which were aimed at formulating such standards; in particular:

The Text Encoding Initiative:
The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is an international, cooperative project to develop guidelines for the preparation and interchange of electronic texts for scholarly research. TEI are prepared to develop "a common encoding scheme for complex textual structures in order to reduce the diversity of existing encoding practices, simplify processing by machine, and encourage the sharing of electronic texts." (Sperberg- McQueen).
FINDING AIDS FOR ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
The Finding Aids for Archival Collections is a collaborative project to develop an encoding standard for archive, museum, and library finding aids. The goals of the project are two-fold. First, to create a prototype encoding standard for finding aids in the form of an SGML. Second, to build a prototype database of finding aids. The database is to serve two purposes.
First, it provides the encoding standard developers with computer application experience with which to refine and inform the development process
Second, it provides a means for end users to evaluate the utility and desirability of encoded finding aids, which, in turn, enables them to provide new ideas and suggestions to the encoding standard developers. (Finding Aids for Archival Collections)
Columbia University Digital Image Access Project (DIAP)
The cooperative Research Libraries Group initiative on access to digital images has prompted the Columbia University Libraries to suggest a new model for housing and access to bibliographic and analytical data on digital images. Columbia's DLAP team suggests that data could readily be "housed" in an SGML-encoded bibliographic (metadata) record that encapsulates both summary bibliographic information along with detailed hierarchical and version-related data, when such data is appropriate and considered useful to record. The record would also include links to the actual digital items, to other related bibliographic records or, in fact, to diverse, related digital objects (such as external electronic publications, databases, numeric files, etc.)
5. Staffing Requirements

The Digital Library Program requires staff to support digitizing and making available a substantial body of material from the traditional Library's incomparable collections.

Curatorial Staff:
Staff required for preparing and processing materials to be digitized. Curatorial staff also performs on-site digitization of materials that include rare and fragile items such as historical scripts and documents of historical value.

Core Staff:
DL Program core staff work with the Library's divisions to prepare and describe the collections, verify the status of copyright and seek permission for use of the materials when appropriate, digitize the materials and verify that they adhere to the international standards of quality. Digital conversion specialists in the central office provide project coordination and technical oversight. The more experienced specialists oversee collection development and production, serving as team leaders and as brokers among the division and automation staff and contractors.

Infrastructure Staff:
Infrastructure staff is primarily information systems experts who build and maintain the automated systems that store and provide access to the digital collections. These are the staff who must unscramble and make useful the world of the Internet. They utilize the current advances in networking, communication, multimedia technology, distributed systems, and algorithms.

Educational Services Staff:
The educational service staff focuses on educational outreach for the use of the historical collections by the Arab user community. They research user needs, talk to the education communities, evaluate technologies for delivery of digitized materials, coordinate collection selection and develop and supervise contracts.

6. High Performance Computing Requirement

The DL system is characterized by a high demand for computing power. In particular, the main requirements of DL are:

Very large volume of storage requirements; measured in Trillions of Bytes
The natural distribution of library access requests and transactions over a very large geographic area
Very large number of computer based transactions that require very large number of transaction processing per second. A performance in excess of many thousands TPS (transaction per second) is required.
The need to transfer a very large amount of data across the network and to the final destinations, where the users may be located.
These requirements may not be readily available in the local markets. The cost of purchasing such systems may also be prohibitive. A viable solution to the problem of providing high performance computing at reasonable cost is the deployment of distributed computing systems (DCS). The use of DCS and the development of DCS in the Arab world are a viable task

In order to facilitate fast data transfer between thousands of locations across the Arab world, a powerful networking and communication infrastructure is required. An ATM based-switched network is necessary for building a wide area network. ATM technology is the most suitable for fast communication and for multimedia communication and networking. Besides, a fiber optic super highway between the Arab states is a definite requirement.

7. Conclusions

The establishment of Arab Digital Library has become an urgent requirement. The coming few years will witness a transfer of the culture of peoples and nations to electronic formats. The people will tend to prefer accessing the literature and culture, which is available on electronic multimedia. Ordinary people will give less attention to paper-based material. As such, the establishment of the Arab National Digital Library will contribute greatly to the Arab population and to the Arab culture itself. The Arabic-speaking people will be provided with material in the most advanced and up-to date media. The Arab culture will be made accessible to the largest possible population.

The Arab states, nations, scientists, and organizations are to consider the task of establishing a National Arab Digital Library as a strategic one. Towards this end, a task force must be formed to carry the initiative of the Digital Library.

References and Bibliography:

Adler, Sharon. 1992. The birth of a standard. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 43, 8: 556-558.
Finding Aids for Archival Collections
Bradley, Neal. 1992. SGML concepts ASLIB proceedings 44, no. 7/8 (July/August): 271-274.
Bryan, Marhn. 1988. SGML: authors' guide to the standard generalized markup language. Wokingham, Eng.: Addison-Wesley.
Buckland, Michael. 1994. From Catalog to Selecting Aid. From Catalog to Gateway, Briefings from the CFCC, no. 2, 1994 in ALCTS Newsletter 5, 1994
Cover, Robin. 1991. Bibliography on SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) and related issues. Kingston, Ontario: Dept of Computing and Information Science, Queen's University at Kingston. 1994. SGML Web Page
Davis, Stephen Paul. 1995. Digital Image Collections: Cataloging Data Model & NetworkAccess. Hypertext Markup Language - 2.0
Panorama-SGML on the Web
Piti, Daniel Z [1994?] The Berkeley Finding Aid Project, Standards in Navigation.
Sperberg-McQueen, C.M. and Burnard, Lou. 1994. Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange. Chicago, Ill. and Oxford, England: Text Encoding Initiative., 1994.
TEI Home Page, 1994- USMARC DTD
Van Herwijnen, Eric. 1990. Practical SGML. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publiskers.
The World Wide Web Consortium
Edward Gaynor, Associate Director of Special Collections. University of Virginia Library
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903.
Robert Kahn, and Robert Wilensky "A Framework for Distributed Digital Object Services" Corporation for National Research Initiatives
"The National Digital Library Program: The Library of Congress.
November/December 1995 (No 4) ISSN 1083-3978

Source: http://www.library.cornell.edu/colld...st/digtarb.htm












التوقيع
aymanqudaih
إن استطعت كن عالما وان لم تستطع فكن متعلماً وان لم تستطع فجالس أهل العلم وان لم تستطع فحبهم وان لم تستطع فلا تكرههم
  رد مع اقتباس
إضافة رد

مواقع النشر (المفضلة)


الذين يشاهدون محتوى الموضوع الآن : 1 ( الأعضاء 0 والزوار 1)
 
أدوات الموضوع
انواع عرض الموضوع تقييم هذا الموضوع
تقييم هذا الموضوع:

تعليمات المشاركة
لا تستطيع إضافة مواضيع جديدة
لا تستطيع الرد على المواضيع
لا تستطيع إرفاق ملفات
لا تستطيع تعديل مشاركاتك

BB code is متاحة
كود [IMG] متاحة
كود HTML معطلة

الانتقال السريع

المواضيع المتشابهه
الموضوع كاتب الموضوع المنتدى مشاركات آخر مشاركة
قائمة كتب حديثه التكنولوجي النشط عروض الكتب والإصدارات المتخصصة في مجال المكتبات والمعلومات 37 Dec-31-2016 06:00 PM
الفهرس الموحد لكتب المكتبات د. صلاح حجازي المنتدى الــعــام للمكتبات والمعلومات 22 Oct-19-2011 06:24 PM
كشـــاف مجلــة مكتبـة الملك فهـد الـوطنيـة الاء المهلهل المنتدى الــعــام للمكتبات والمعلومات 17 Apr-23-2011 02:11 PM
موقع العرب ومكانتهم في عصر ثقافة المعلومات amelsayed المنتدى الــعــام للمكتبات والمعلومات 0 Jun-18-2006 12:17 PM


الساعة الآن 06:04 PM.
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. جميع الحقوق محفوظة لـ : منتديات اليسير للمكتبات وتقنية المعلومات
المشاركات والردود تُعبر فقط عن رأي كتّابها
توثيق المعلومة ونسبتها إلى مصدرها أمر ضروري لحفظ حقوق الآخرين