DESlDOC Bulietin of Information Technology, Vol. 21, No. 3, May 2001, pp.

17-28
8 2001, DESIDOC

Internet: Importance and Usage for Library and

lnformation Professionals
Neena Singh

Abstract
The paper focuses on the impact of lnternet on various library processes, services
and products. I t also emphasises the challenging role of librarians and information
professionals in the present lnternet era. Today the lnternet has revolutionised the
traditional library activities viz document acquisition, teclinical processing,
circubtion, reference service, resource sharing, document delivery, etc. The paper
also emphasises the crucial role of librarians and information professionals in
designing and maintaining libraries' web page/website leading to increase in library
efficiency.

1. INTRODUCTION by designing and maintaining library website.

One of the most significant achievement in Libraries can also project their collections and
the informaticin and communication sector is activities on the site and supplement their
the introduction of advanced communication services by exploiting the Internet. The scope is
network i.e., the Internet, the technology unlimited, all that is required i s selective and
connecting a computer with millioris of imaginative appiications to library activities.
computers in the network. The lnternet today Before we see the opportunities the lnternet
has become one of the most important mode and the WWW offer to the library and
of communication and its services are being information professionals, it i s better to have
exploited by people in every walk of life such as brief about what lnternet is.
business, education, defence, medicine, etc. In
the field of library and information science, the 2. WHAT IS INTERNET
Internet has become one of the most popular The term lnternet has been coined from a
and talked about subject. In fact the library concept inter-networking tridt denotes
profession is one that has been mbst intenseiy interaction between neiwolking of computers.
affected by the challenges of lnternet and the It is an umbrella under which different
World Wide Web (WWW). The shift from networks, small and big, freely exchange
collection management to information information across the globe. Internet, thus, can
management, from ownership to access, and broadly be defined as world wide network of
the change in nature, boundaries and structure computers communicating via an agreed upon
of information all call for a change in mind set protocol (rules for exchange of information). It
of library professionals. provides access to the most diversified source
The library professi0,nals need to position of information hosted by individuals and various
themselves as leaders not only in information organisation world wide on a vast network of
field but also in the field of information servers.'
technology. One can do it by information lnternet gives on to the world web, the
organisation and management on Internet and interconnections to thousands of servers
DESIDOC Bulktin of Inf Technd, 22001,21(3)
*
created by various organisations, commercial lnternet is playing an important role in
establishments, industrial units, academic transforming the library system and the way in
establishments, various groups, individuals. The which we view the library resources and the
web pages loaded on various servers provide library services. With the help of web based
variety of information in the form of text, library services in developed countries, users
graphics, animation, multimedia, etc. either free are attended round the clock. Internet provides
of cost or for a modest fee. links to various library sites, specializing in
The main characteristic of Internet and the almost every topic and they can be accessed
W W W are: directly from any part of the world. As the
libraries are going web based more and more
(a) Users across the world can connect or libraries' are becoming accessible via libraries'
access information irrespective of time and
web pages. With an lnternet connection, a
space factor.
student in any university of India can browse
(b) Point to point communication, rather than through the documents in computers of US
one to many broadcast communication.
National libraries or else where in the globe.
(c) Provides access to large number of The Net therefore, provides instant access to
databases. billions of information sources which include
(d) The facility of hyper linking from one books, reports, journals, video films, sound
server to another by clicking on a recording and wide variety of other sources.
highlighted word which enables the user
The library and information professionals have a
to directly switch to another data source,
vital role to play in organising the information
on the other side of the world.
and bridging the information gap. lnternet has
(e) Instant and interactive community creation created some of the following new and
on a global base.
different service operations:
The lnternet therefore, i s a vast electronic (a) By designing clearly organised, easily
library made up of millions of pages of accessible and well published library web
information stored in hundreds of thousands of sites librarians can extend the traditional
linked computers a the globe. The Web has librarianship to the use of information
brought to the desk top, not only metadata technology and seize a leadership role in
sources like bibliographic databases and table both fields.
of contents, but also full text of journals, (b) The libraries can initiate Bulletin Board
preprints, technical reports, patents, Service which gives complete information
courseware, etc. regarding services, products, and various
events organised by them.
3. IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET TO (c) Ready reference service can be provided
LIBRARIES with greater speed and in much shorter
time.
lnternet has become a part of library
environment today. It has added a great value (d) Books and journals can be ordered online,
to the library and information services. technical processing of the documents too
can be done without much effort.
According to Gryez, "with the expansion of
lnternet a new class of electronic document has (e) E-mail services can be used for delivering
emerged, it was at once promising and information to the users and
communicating with the fellow
attractive for its obvious advantage of speed
information professionals.
and transmissibility and profoundly elusive and
confounding to the library community because (f) E- SDI services can be used for delivering
information to the users.
of its intangibility and malleability. Within the
last ten years, the Internet has become global (g) Access to various databases and OPAC of
and ubiquitous. It reaches in hundreds of other libraries located in remote areas can
be provided.
countries o f all continents and is featured daily
in the business sections of all major news lnternet has thus integrated nearly all library
papers.a2 activities e-mail, discussion through listserves,

18 DESlDoC Bulktin of Inf Technd, 22M)1,21(3)

support reference service through search of documents or the web sites on the Internet,
remote databases, exploiting the catalogue of these issues will become the crucial problems
other institutions, participation in inter-library in access to information It is therefore,
loan (ILL), ordering books and journals, important to seek a definition of catalogue,
inter-library loan establishing home page, etc. indexes and thesauri and help of library
professional'which would provide homogenous
Under these circumstances resource.sharing
access to information and data.
and cooperative functioning of the libraries
through lnternet has also become vital. The lnternet has many other drawbacks like lack.
utilisation of facilities by them largely depend of comprehensiveness, coverage, the inability to
on getting lnternet connection and exploiting its distinguish between popular material and
services and resources for providing better research work, lack of controlled vocabulary
access to global information. The scope is and also a casual approach of the web page
unlimited or rather limited to the imagination of designer often makes the web databases more
library professionals. difficult to search. In addition to this, according
to a latest report, a search engine covers only
4. NEED OF LIBRARY 15% of the total database available on the
PROFESSIONALS IN THE lnternet,'
INTERNET ERA Librarians can play a greater role in
Librarians acting as custodians of identification, listing, and classifying inforrnation
information have gone through a dramatic sources and providing systematic approach to
accessing the required information. This way
change and frorn providing document to their
they can take rightful place as human agent
clienteles have switched to be information
providers. The role of librarian as information abng side the search engine in searching the
organiser and a navigator has gained Internet. In the due course of time the librarians
importance in the lnternet era. will have to develop new indexing methods and
evaluation techniques to tap inforrnation from
The library professionals need to focus and the lnternet and also establish the classification
seize new opportunities and demonstrate how modes in a open way to allow for those
the tools of lnternet can be gainfully harnessed addition of neirv categories of document that
for improving library services. may differ frorn original priorities. Hence, the
lnternet can be viewed as the biggest library uncertainties raised by some peop\e that
in the world in which information is not lnternet may be a threat to library and library
properly structured and.organised, there are no science profession is no longer true.
standardised rules of classification or access.
5. ROLE OF INTERNET IN
Recent/current literature shows that the best
search engines on the lnternet allows access to DISCHARClNG LIBRARY
only approximately 30% of the information FUNCTIONS
corresponding to sea& This underlines the lnternet is playing an important role in
inadequate methods used to access inforrnation discharging the functions of libraries. It is
despite the best avaitable search engines.' changing the ways, the librarians organise,
Moreover, there is no guarantee that same manage and disseminate information. With
query expressed in the same language using more and more documents getting puMished
various search engines will give same results. electronically and Internet resources growing at
18% a month, libraries of 2 1st century will have
The inforrnation on the lnternet is stored in an
unstructured way with innumerable databases, to shift towards electronic means of acquiring,
each having its own searching interface, also processingand disseminating inforrnation.'
the volatile nature of .sites, lack af information Today all sorts of library services from
on these sites will come in the way of accessing membership registration to document delivery
the Internet.' Taking into account the current can be offered through the Internet. The trend
and foreseeable increase in the number of is quite evident from the web sites of American
DESIDOC Bulktin dlnf Techd, 2001,21(3) 19
Business School Libraries that are quite journals and newsletters along with details
advanced in library and information services of the subscription.
arena. 4. Britannica Online offers the world's first
online encyclopaedia. The libraries can
Some of the important library services that provide access to the readers by paying
can be offered through the lnternet are as some registration fee. The Britannica
~O~OWS: Online has advantage of accessing articles
not yet in print, and Britannica Book of the
5.1 Acquisition of Documents Year
http://www.eb.com/
Internet has made simple and speedy
5. Amazon.com books web site provides
purchase of information sources/documents like
access to greater selection of books with
books, iournais and electronic publications. A
over one million title which is searchable
number of commercial databases are available by keywords, author, title or subject. The
for the librarians to exploit viz the CAB site also has provision for purchase, via
abstracts, Agricola, Medline, Agris, Biological Netscape's secure commerce server or
Abstracts, Compendex, etc. of Dialog and BRS over the phone.
Information Technology. http://www. amazon.com
Most of the publishers and booksellers have The library and information professionals
their web sites on the lnternet and place their can easily browse through the current
regular catalogue and leaflets of new publications available on various web sites in
publicatio~s.Some of the publishers of primary their area of interest, confirm the prices, etc.
journals fike American Chemical Society, IEEE and place orders online. Any discrepancy in the
(USA), Elsevier Science publishers are providing invoices or bills, edition of books, printing, etc.,
their journals online. The IDRC, Canada is can be clarified within minutes through e-mail
providing books on research and development and much of the paper work is reduced. It is
that can be ordered online through the URL estimated that within the next 5-6 years the
http://www.idrc.ca/bookhque. IDRC also lnternet will become the mechanism for
publishes its best reports online which are distribution of three fourth of the specialised
available at web site http://www.idrc.ca. CAB journals and also the major medium for transfer
Publishing has recently launched a series of of research information.'
subject specific online communities catering to The librarians will thus need to change their
the needs of librarians and researchers, each attitude towards collection development, as the
community will feature a comprehensive technology advances in future, it will encourage
abstract databases with 25 years archive. access to document rather than ownership. In
Examples of some of the useful set of links future, virtual libraries may replace traditional
available through the lnternet for acquisition libraries which means there would be purchase
are: of access to information rather than the source.
This trend will generate many questions about
1. Association of learned and professional values of libraries.
society publishers
http://www.alsp.org. uk/member.html 5.2 Technical Processing/
2. lngentia journals, provides access to Classification & Cataloguing
bibliographical information from more
than 550 journals from Academic Press, Preparing standard catalogue without much
Royal Geographical Society, White House effort has become possible due to lnternet and
Press and Harwood Academic, etc. and the (WWW). Librarians can check the
can be searched without restriction catalogues of other libraries like that of Library
http://www.ingentia.com of Congress and confirm the information
3. ARL Directory of Electronics Journals required for a record which can be easily
produced by Association of Research ascertained from the original document. The
Libraries gives Information on electronic library professionals can also access lnternet
20 LHSIDOC B W n of Inf Techno/,22001,21(3)
resources for verification and downloading offices or at home, within seconds after arrival
bibliographical information from other of the book in the library.
institutions. OPACs via lnternet have become a Further libraries subscribing to electronic
popular source of bibliographic information.
journals need not necessarily provide access to
Libraries can use of other institutions by
it in the library. Since each subscription is
OPACs to get information they need to
provided with a user ID. The reader by
organise knowledge. Databases of bibliographic
enquiring the user 10 from the circulation
utilities will become more comprehensive
section can access the journals from their
source of information than has been so far departments or offices without taking pain of
possible by their present catalogues. With
visiting the library.
advance information retrieval facilities, the
libraries in future will have added value by using Through Internet, the libraries can also
catalogue of journal articles. provide bibliographical databases via OPACs
from libraries of other institutions world wide.
The librarians can provide the The OPACs may be searched from a terminal
bibliographicai data through lnternet access via within the originating library or from a terminal
OPACs of other libraries in the world. The located at a remote place. Some of the
electronic documents can be supplied to the examples of online catalogues are:
users on demand through the network. 1. Library of Congress.
According to Schmidt, "access to OPACs will be locis.loc.gov
increasing from outsid; the library. The
2. Catalogues-Catalogue Guide to several
boundaries'between the cataloguing of libraries OPACs
holding and cataloguing of information will be ftp:funet.fi path:/pus/doc/library
more difficult than today, in my opinion they
3. Library, University of Southanipton.
will vanish completely when networks have http://www.soton.ac.uk/library
reached a certain technical capacity." '
4. University Library, University of Newcastle.
lnternet has also affected the traditional http://www.ncl.ac.uk/library
classification system of our libraries. Several The electronic documents required by the
libraries are opting the Cyber Dewey Decimal readers can also be supplied on demand
Classification Summaries as a way to organize through the network.
and navigate resources on the WWW. The
Cyber Dewey website includes alphabetical 5.4 Reference and Information
index to Dewey. The Dewey home page Service
(http://www.oclc.org/pp) division contains links
lnternet for reference work in the library is
to some of these systems. According to the
gaining popularity. Reference librarians use a
editor of DDC, Joan Mitchell, "it is exciting time
multitude of information sources to answer the
to be Dewey user because we have a
question they are asked, these are called ready
commitment to keep pace with knowledge to
reference collection. The lnternet can be
help our users classify efficiently and help our
successfully utilised for providing short-range
users extend from the shelves of their libraries
and long-range reference service because
into the electronic en~ironrnent."~
various primary and secondary sources of
information are available online from many
5.3 Circulation sites. Several sites like
The lnternet has made the circulation of in http://kiz.at.ymas.edu.irre.html provides
house document much easier. After the alphabetical listing of a full text resources data
technical processing, the new books documents suitable for ready reference.
can be placed in the OPAC on the day of The URL http://www,refdesk.com/exposes
acquisition itself and readers with lnternet the librarian to an excellent virtual library for
connection at home or at university can browse reference source known as 'My Virtual
and reserve the books sitting right at their Reference Desk'. Similarly India World
DESIDOC Bulletin of Inf Technol,2001,21(3) 21
http://wvw.india.corn, is a comprehensive 5.5 Communication
reference service on the net. The IFLA World
Directory of National Union Catalogue is now lnternet has become the primary mode of
available on IFLANET, at communication which carries more than the
http://www.ifla.org/v1/2/due, this is a complete combined total of the postal services of all
listing of all known current national union countries in the world put together by the turn
catalogues, including monographs, serials and of the century. It is an important means of
general union catalogue and a hot link is also communication which provides a cheap and
included for direct access for catalogue which efficient means of mail transfer. Libraries can
are available on the Internet.'' use this facility extensively to communicate
with the publishers, book sellers and vendors of
Some of the general reference sources the other library products and services with
available for the reference librarians are given i n scholars librarians and users across the globe.
the Annexure. Though lnternet i s useful in The most popular means of communication on
providing relerence service it may not provide the lnternet is e-mail. Like the regular mail, there
answer to every reference enquiry. Sometimes it are also mailing lists to address groups of
may also take a long time to locate the people.. These mailing lists often called listservs,
iniormation, in such cases the librarians have to can serve a valuable resource for the librarians.
keep useful supplementary sources of A more public electronic forum for discussion
information in the library. on the lnternet i s called the Usenet News.
Usenet provides large numbers of news groups
However, the lnternet can be useful in or conference that have open participation
Finding certain types o f information such as which can be used by the library users and
social, economic, statistical data, censes library professionals.
information, daily exchange rates, government
budget and reports, etc. including current news, 5.6 Resource Sharing and the
calender events, employers' profile and other lnternet
career information.
With the advent of Internet, major libraries
are now available online through lnternet and
According to Sara Ryan, certain type of
hence directly accessible from any part of the
information most likeiy to be found on the
world. Librarians can have access to the
lnternet are: the computers and the people who
catalogue of various libraries attached to the
use them; scientific and technical information,
universities and colleges in the world and
popular culture and entertainment, PR type of
accordingly place a request for their users. The
company information, historical and humanities
increase in the cost of documents for many
information." The librarians have to keep guide
disciplines in recent years has meant thar the
to the lnternet resources or guide to various
libraries have been able to provide less and less
web sites available to the users interest for
access to research literature through their
example ftp:unahh.lib.urlich.edu. (Path: inetdirs)
in-house collection. Also with the financial
i s an important resource guide. The University
constraints, the librarians and information
of Michigan also has a number of subject
professionals are seeking aiternative means of
guides to h e r n e t resources. Although lnternet
providing access to journals. The problem of
is a won&rfu\ resource, the authoritativeness of
print journab and the concomitant
the information is quite concerning. Most of the
development of computers and communication
information available online is being supplied by
technologies have lead to the deve10pment of
the volunteers.
electronic alternatives to print journals, i.e., in
various forms of electronic journals.
Though we can often trust them, they can
also occasionally contain inaccurate and Recently a number of publishers have
misieading information. Hence the reference agreed to offer their journals electronically to
librarians have to double check the facts before libraries through First Search Electronic
giving it to the users. Collection Online. This enables the libraries to
22 DESDOC8uIkin of Inf Technoi, 2(X)1,21[3\
 subscribe a large collection of academic developed at the University of Waterloo and
journals from many publishers from a single refined with the cooperation of interlibrary loan
WWW interface that support cross journal practitioners in libraries across Canada and
searching and extensive browsing. According to USA. Avis is PC based software designed to
Rick ~oble," Vice President of OCLC reference manage all aspect of inter-library loan process.
service, "First Search Electronic Collection The inter-library loan office can network
Online is one of the first online system to multiple Avis workstation on local area
address the key issues necessary to make the network. It offers the following benefits:
transaction from paper to electronic journals. (a) Single comprehensive solution for the
The system can accommodate thousands of management of all ILL activities
journals and libraries can choose the journals
(b) Effective management of the paper work
they want to include in their electronic and record keeping acquired in borrowing
collection and journals will be loaded in their and lending an item
entirety on or before their publication date."
(c) Status tracking of request at all stages af
Libraries using Electronic Collection Online will the ILL process
be able to access them remotely through
WWW. The users will be able to search and (d) Integration of bibliographic and location
information from CD-ROM catalogue and
browse citation from journals, abstracts and online union catalogue
complete articles from journals subscribed by
their libraries. Further this service combines the (e) Transparent electronic transmission of
requests and messages through the
cost benefit associated with remote access to
Internet.
data with the advantage of local collection
management. It will reduce information cost for Thus with the help of these software
libraries by centralising storage access. In inter-library loan over the lnternet has become
addition, the electronic collection online offers of great help in the inter-library lending and
libraries a number of value added features, borrowing. Retrieval has become easier and
including print quality article representation, transaction much quicker as the request can be
usage statistics, technology migration, technical sent through e-mails.
and product support, etc. To make use of such
collection, the lnternet plays a crucial role and 6. DESIGNING AND MAINTAINING
its impact on library services and process is LIBRARY WEB SITE
quite obvious." Libraries can play an important role in
disseminating information by creating their web
5.6 Inter-Library Loan (ILL) site. Through their sites they can inform about
To facilitate resource sharing, many libraries various services, products, events, and courses
have been using ILL. The traditional inter-library offered by them.
loan operations are quite time consuming and
For academic librarians the most important
labour intensive. With the advent of new
users includes the faculty, students and other
technology, the electronic documents and
librarians. However, depending on the type of
various inter-library management tools such as
library the primary audience may vary. The
software like Ariel and Avis have facilitated the
most important point for libraries in designing a
libraries to share their resources effectively and
web site is to consider primary audience and
efficiently."
provide information relevant to their needs not
Ariel software opens the window on lnternet readily available elsewhere. Since most
document transmission. The Ariel workstation information is generally available in other sites,
has been developed by Research Libraries the librarians role get emphasised in organising
Group. In US, several university libraries were the information in their web pages by providing
heavily involved in testing it. Ariel lets users links utility as they save time over the print
send and receive crisp clear copies of volume and money over the online databases.
document over the lnternet with speed and In essence, combining information or links to
ease of fax. Avis is another Canadian product other information in ways not previously done
DESlDoC Bulletin of Inf T k h d , 2001,21(3) 23
can add value to the information and information as possible. Original material refers
consequently to the library web site. to the text file containing hypertext documents
To provide easy access to the libraries' located on their own server. More the material
websites the librarians need to heed on some of the librarians own, the less they will have to
the following basic rules." depend on other servers. To house material on
the libraries server, it has to be either typed,
6.1 Subject-Specific URL scanned or copied, then converted into
hypertext format. Having too many full text
The Uniform Resource Locator {URL) of the
documents the server could also creates traffic
website should be related to the subject
congestion because the individuals will access
content, easy to remember.
the server for longer period of time. This will
make it difficult for other members to access
the library site and in essence create the access
The files should be short to ensure fast
problems the library is trying to avoid.
loading. The web pages often load slowly
because the file is too large or contain too The librarians should strive to provide a
many pages in this case the file may be split mixture of hypertext links to documents owned
into multiple files to give easy access to the file. by others and full text documents located on
one's server. This mixture gives the web pages
6.3 Clarity of Information more credibility and adds value to the
The information in the web pages should be information while decreasing the frustration
categorised for clarity using headings, breaks, resulting from too much reliance on other
paragraphs, etc. which can be done by using websites.
HTML codes. To ensure the audience to quickly
6.5 Interactive Sites
ascertain what specific information the library
web pages provide, the pages must be provided Librarians should also provide mechanisms
with the explanatory notes. for communicating with their users and moving
them between their web pages, generally when
6.4 Information About Content individuals read books they often have question
The librarians also need to provide brief, such as when it was written how to contact the
clear and informative statement regarding the authors, whether new editions are forthcoming
content of their web pages in the web site so or where other similar books are located. This
that effective hyperlink can be provided. can be done by providing the hypertext links.

Librarians while designing their web pages The librarians can also monitor the usage of
should try to provide as much original material their server and particular files by placing a
as possible. Although web pages provide list of Counter software in the home page. Counter
hypertext link to remote or documents located software monitors traffic on the server, and
on other servers can be dangerous as servers provides periodic statistical reports summarising
may crash or there may be a change of address. which file are being accessed most and
Under this situation the users may receive 'file redefine their web page to meet the readers
not found'. If there are too many concurrent needs and strategically place administrative
users on the distant server the audience will links on highly used pages. Similarly the
have to wait longer to access the file. audience response and statistical feedback
Unfortunately placing a hypertext link in a page enable the librarians to create new titles and
implies to the audience that they will access include statements like date of modifications
particular document by following that link. If and like 'What's New' and date of last modified
they follow the hypertext link but experience hypertext links. Date last modified gives
problems accessing the document they may credibility to the web files. To keep the
perceive the web site as problematic. To avoid audience aware of new material, librarians may
these frustrations and misunderstanding the include links to those materials at the top of the
librarian should try to provide as much original home page and other heavily used pages. This

24
provides greater access to new materials and Nair, Raman. lnternet for library and
allow promotion of continued growth of web information services. Ess Ess publication,
sites. New Delhi, 1999.
Once the links are placed, the library Tadasad, P.G., et a/. lnternet and university
professionals should also consider the aesthetic libraries in India: Some issues. in Library
appearante of the web pages since the colour, Vision 2010: Indian Libraries and
text, hypertext links and background, etc. Libiarianship in Retrospect and Prospect,
generally influence the use of the web site. edited by JL Sardana. Paper presented at
the 45th All lndia Library Conference,
Finally the library professionals need to
23-26 December 1999, t!isar. pp. 242-43.
effectively publicize their web site through
forums to which the users pay particular Sharma, D.K. Threats and challenges to the
attention. Newsletter and electronic discussion libraries and the profession from
groups may be used for this purpose. development in information technology. In
Library vision 2010: lndian Libraries ancl
For publicising the web site to diverse Librarianship in Retrospect and Prospect,
audiencejusers, librarians can register their web edited by -JL Sardana. Paper presented at
sites URL with major search engines like Yahoo, the 45th All lndia Library Conference,
Lycos, etc. and providing brief descriptions of 23-26 December 1999, Hisar. pp. 168.
their contents.
Sharma, jitendra. Coping up with the
7. CONCLUSION challenges of information technology to
the library profession. In Library vision
The lnternet has thus integrated nearly all
2010: lndian Libraries and Librarianship in
aspects of the library activities, the librarians
Retrospect and Prospect, edited by
can now use the Internet for exploiting the 1L.Sardana. Paper presented at the 45th All
catalogue of the other institutions, ordering lndia Library Conference, 23-26 December
books and journals online, participate in ILL, use 1999, Hisar. pp.171.
e-mail, and discuss through listserves, support
reference service through remote databases Nair, Raman. lnternet for library and
and most important of all establish library/home information services. Ess Ess .publication,
pages to project their collection and services on New Delhi, 1999.
the site. Schmidt, Ronald M. Libraries bibliographic
The scope is only limited to the imagination utilities and library networking: Looking
ahead. In Towards A World Wide Library:
of library professionals. All that is required by
A Ten Year Forecast, edited by Ahmed H.
the today's professionals is a through
Helal & Joachim W. Weiss. Paper
understanding of change in concept of
presented at the 19th International Essen
librarianship and psychological willingness to
Symposium, 23-26 September 1996.
look upon the lnternet and the WWW as an
Universitatsbibliothek Essen, Essen, 1997.
opportunity and respond to the challenges of
197p.
information resource management and
information infrastructure development for Mitchell Joan. Dewey and the Internet.
harnessing the benefit of the much talked about OCLC Newsletter, JulyjAugust 1996,222.
lnternet technology in context of the libraries. lASLlC Newsletter, January2000,4.
REFERENCES Rayan, Sara. Using the lnternet for
reference. In The lnternet Searchers
1 . Satyanarayana, Pattnaik & Saravanan A.
Handbook: Locating Information People
lnternet in India: An overview. Yojna, April
and Software, edited by Peter Morville et
1999,4445.
a/. Neal Schuman, New York. 1996, pp.
2. Gryez, Jan Czeslaw. Resource sharing in 16-18.
the systematic of schdarly communic~tion.
Noble, Rick. First group of publishing
Library Trends, 11997,45,500.
partners announced for new OCLC First
 search electronic collections online. OCLC Services in India, edited by PB Mangla et
News letter, (Nov/Dec) 1996,224,23. a/. Shipra, New Delhi. pp. 241-48.
13. Jain, Nirmal. Internet and library services. In 14. Cooper, A Eric. Applying the fundamental
50 years of Library and Information of librarianship to technology: Designing
and maintaining your libraries website.
lllionois libraries, 1997, 79(1), 5-10.

Contributor: Ms Neena Singh, Assistant Librarian; G.B Pant University of Agriculture &
Technology, Hill Campus, Tehri Garhwal (UP).
 ANNEXURE

List of Important Uniform Resource Locators

(URLs)
A list of URLs-which are useful in reference personalised news online books, and
work for librarians are enumerated below: manuals, computer resource centres,
T. Martindale's The Reference Desk: It is a newspapers and magazines. The site is
trove of more than 4600 reference works being updated regularly and also has :I
including online calculators to dictionaries search helper.
and science tables and databases. http://www.windweaver.com
http://wwwai.libaci.edu/martindde/ 7. Career Magazine: This online magazine
Ref.html features searchable listing of current job
My Virtual Reference Desk: For a quick opening, resumes on file, employers
2.
access to the basics including current profile, other career information and US
news, calendar of events and .links to immigration information.
reference and search aids which provide http://ww~.car~rmag.comjcareennag
access to over 11000 other sites, online
encyclopaedias search engine information, 8. Indian Census Data: This site gives annual
and weather links are also provided. crop and production data.
http://www.refdes&.com ftp://cwmills.umd.edu/pub/lndia
3. The 2000 World factbook: It is a wry 9. Statistical Abstracts: The 2000 Statistical
detailed reference resource for countries, and graph on social, economic and
oceans, economics, geographic, international subjects.
population of the world, etc. http://~vw.census.gov/prod/www/
http://www.odci.g;w/cia/pubIkations/ statistical-abstractws.html
pubs.himl 10. Hypertext Dictionary-The hypertext
4. The Periodic Table Site at Sheffield: In this Webster interface: It is an online dictionary.
site, one can click on an element in the The dictionary is linked to thesaurus and
taMe to access essential information the entries are also hyperlinked to more
{symbol, atomic number and weight group definitions. This is an excellent reference
nirmber and CAS registry ID). tool.
http://~r~~shef.~cuk/uni/acadernk/AC/ http://c.gp.cs.cmu.edu:51 O3/prog/
&em/ webster.
5. Weighs and Measures Tables: This is static 11. World Health Organisation Home page.
site which lists scientific notations metric http://umw.who.int
conversions, their interrelationships and US
equivalents. 12. University of Virginia Internet Library
http://alahanza.com/kabacofff/inter- Reference shelf, It provides an index of
links/m.c//weights.htm( Internet resources arranged by subject.
6. Windweaver Search Pages: Maintained by http://w.lib.virginia~du /
Tracy Marks, this site has links to about reference.html
250 of the Net search directories and 13. ~h~ internetR~~~~~~~ Guide
search engines. This includes qukk search [email protected]
short cuts to companies on the web,
1 4. The whale 4rttemet catalogue. 18. Information Pleases Almanac
hW/-a-y-~~/fP-t/ wuvw.~e.com
matrix/whde.htm 19. Book Review.
15. Big Web India: A directory of Indian ttp=mrgl
corporate and business related sites on the path pub/Abdc.reviews
Internet 20. Directory of electronic journals,
http://www.bip&Jndiil. corn Newsktbers and Academic Oiscussion List:
16. Booklist: It contains reference book bulletin Association of Research libraries, USA
http://wwwJh.or&ddQt http://~.org/scommm/edir
1 7. Index of Online Directwies.
http://www.buck~/di~