CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Digital Library System (DLS) extends and integrate approaches adopted in traditional libraries as well as in distributed information systems, to yield high-end information systems, services and institutions. Here we will explore some of the parts or components of digital libraries and discuss several of the developments in this emerging field.
Building a comprehensive digital library system will help users to manage all phases of the information lifecycle. Of particular importance is to simplify the authoring and creation process so that wider population can participate by adding all types of multimedia content directly into digital libraries. Downstream access allows readers to benefit from this type of computer-mediated communication, across time and space. Ultimately, it is believed that knowledge will be shared and then lead to yet another cycle of discovery, authoring and utilization that is facilitated by digital libraries.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Times are fast changing; we now live in a jet age which is mainly characterized by rapid changes in technology, lifestyle and value. This is indeed an age of information explosion. One of the major inventions that have driven the world to a fast pace of technological advancement is the computer. The computer is primarily an electronic information processor that is rapidly changing the way we acquire, organize, recall, access, analyze, synthesize and apply information. The effectiveness with which the information is generated and communicated determines the rate of progress of a society and the fulfillment of its people. Modern society is information driven and information today is a universal need.
Moreover, computers have affected the ways which people use information. It has changed the rate of work done, the method for accomplishing the work alongside the relationship among the people carrying and using the information. However, computers and libraries are not left out in the utilization of computer to carry out their day-to-day activities especially as it concerns the amount of information generated. Libraries have evolved over the years which gave rise to digital libraries.