Digital Library Course Outline

Topic1. Introduction to Digital Library

 Meaning of digital Library

 Purpose of digital library
 Historical background of digital library
 Nature of digital libraries

Topic2. Digital Information resources

 Meaning of digital information resources

 Purpose of digital information resources
 Types of digital information resources

Topic 3. Acquisition of digital information

 Sources of digital information resources

 Methods of acquiring digital information materials
 Criteria for selecting digital information materials

Topic4. Electronic Data

 Meaning of electronic data

 Types of electronic data
 Storage equipment and devices of electronic data

Topic 5. Organization in digital library

 Metadata organization
 Organization in multimedia
 Interoperability between different information resources and systems

Topic 6. Search and retrieval in digital libraries

 Meaning of search and retrieval of digital data

 Purpose for searching and retrieving digital data
 Tools and equipment used in search and retrieval of digital data
 Methods used to search and retrieve digital data
 Search procedure for digital data
 Policies governing search and retrieval of digital data
 Procedure for disseminating retrieved data

Topic7. Knowledge management

 Meaning of knowledge management

 Scope of knowledge management in information science
 Goals of knowledge management in information science
 Emergence of knowledge society

Topic8. Information literacy

 Meaning of information literacy

 Methods of selecting appropriate keywords
 Techniques of searching catalogues for books and media
 Methods of searching electronic database for articles
 Process of searching for scholarly articles in the database
 Topic9. User education

 Meaning of user education

 Purpose of user education
 Types of digital library users
 Resources required in user education
 Methods applied in user education

Topic10. Conservation of digital data

 Meaning of conservation of digital data

 Purpose of conserving digital data
 Principles of conservation of digital data
 Methods used in conserving digital data
 Tools and equipment used in conserving digital data
 Policies governing conservation of digital data
 Resources required for conservation of digital data

Topic11. Safety and security of digital data

 Meaning
 Reasons for securing digital data
 Equipment used for safety and security of digital data
 Measures for ensuring safety and security of digital data
 Resources necessary for safety and security of digital data
 Policy guidelines in safety and security of digital data

Topic12. Digital library professionals

 Types of professionals in digital libraries

 Functions of digital library professionals
 Organizational structures in digital libraries

Topic13. Ethical and legal issues in digital libraries

 Meaning of terms used

 Purpose of ethical standards in digital libraries
 Types of ethical standards and legal digital libraries
 Code of ethics and legal issues in digital libraries

Topic14. Emerging issues and trends

 Emerging issues and trends

 Challenges posed by emerging issues and trends
 Ways of coping with emerging issues and trends.

Topic1. Introduction to Digital Library

Digital libraries are organized collections of information resources and associated tools for creating, archiving,
sharing, searching, and using information that can be accessed electronically.

Examples include hypertexts, archival images, computer simulations, digital video, and, most uniquely, real-
time scientific data such as temperature readings from remote meteorological instruments connected to the
Internet.
A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats (as opposed to print, microform,
or other media) and accessible by computers.The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via
computer networks.

A digital library is a type of information retrieval system.

Advantages or importance

 No physical boundary. The user of a digital library need not to go to the library physically; people
from all over the world can gain access to the same information, as long as an Internet connection is
available.
 Round the clock availability. A major advantage of digital libraries is that people can gain access to
the information at any time, night or day.
 Multiple access. The same resources can be used simultaneously by a number of institutions and
patrons
 Information retrieval. The user is able to use any search term (word, phrase, title, name,subject) to
search the entire collection. Digital libraries can provide very user-friendly interfaces, giving clickable
access to its resources.
 Preservation and conservation. Digitization is not a long-term preservation solution for physical
collections, but does succeed in providing access copies for materials that would otherwise fall to
degradation from repeated use. Digitized collections and born-digital objects pose many preservation
and conservation concerns that analog materials do not. Please see the following "Problems" section of
this page for examples.
 Space. Whereas traditional libraries are limited by storage space, digital libraries have the potential to
store much more information, simply because digital information requires very little physical space to
contain them and media storage technologies are more affordable than ever before.
 Added value. Certain characteristics of objects, primarily the quality of images, may be improved.
Digitization can enhance legibility and remove visible flaws such as stains and discoloration.

Problems or challenges

1. Developments in technology

Technological standards change over time and forward data migration must be a constant consideration of every
library. Data migration is a means of transferring an unstable digital object to another more stable format,
operating system, or programming language.Data migration allows the ability to retrieve and display digital
objects that are in danger of becoming extinct. This is a rather successful short-term solution for the problem of
aging and obsolete digital formats, but with the ever-changing nature of computer technologies, data migration
becomes this never-ending race to transfer digital objects to new and more stable formats. Data migration is also
flawed in the sense that when the digital files are being transferred, the new platform may not be able to capture
the full integrity of the original object.There are countless artifacts sitting in libraries all over the world that are
essentially useless because the technology required to access the source is obsolete. In addition to obsolescence,
there are rising costs that result from continually replacing the older technologies. This issue can dominate
preservation policy and may put more focus on instant user access in place of physical preservation

2. Copyrights

Digital libraries are hampered by copyright law because, unlike with traditional printed works, the laws of
digital copyright are still being formed. The republication of material on the web by libraries may require
permission from rights holders, and there is a conflict of interest between libraries and the publishers who may
wish to create online versions of their acquired content for commercial purposes. In 2010, it was estimated that
twenty-three percent of books in existence were created before 1923 and thus out of copyright. Of those printed
after this date, only five percent were still in print as of 2010. Thus, approximately seventy-two percent of books
were not available to the public.

Types of digital libraries

1. Academic repositories
Many academic libraries are actively involved in building institutional repositories of the institution's books,
papers, theses, and other works which can be digitized or were "born digital." Many of these repositories are
made available to the general public with few restrictions, in accordance with the goals of open access.
Institutional, truly free, and corporate repositories are often referred to as digital libraries.

2. Digital archives

Archives differ from libraries in several ways. Traditionally, archives were defined as:

1. Containing primary sources of information (typically letters and papers directly produced by an
individual or organization) rather than the secondary sources found in a library (books, papers,
journals, and so on)
2. Having their contents organized in groups rather than individual items. Whereas books in a library are
cataloged individually, items in an archive are typically grouped by provenance (the individual or
organization who created them) and original order (the order in which the materials were kept by the
creator)
3. Having unique contents. Whereas a book may be found at many different libraries, depending on its
rarity, the records in an archive are usually one-of-a-kind, and cannot be found or consulted at any
other location except at the archive that holds them

Project Gutenberg, Google Book Search, Windows Live Search Books, Internet Archive, Cornell University, the
Library of Congress World Digital Library, the Digital Library at the University of Michigan, and CMU's
Universal library are considered leaders in the field of digital archive creation and management.

Nature of a digital library

No Physical Restrictions:

With the traditional libraries, one has to physically make arrangements and go to a library to access books or
other documents. There are no such physical restrictions in the case of digital libraries. One can access it from
anywhere, even from the comfort of their homes! All that is required is a good Internet connection. That’s it!

Multiple Access:

One main problem in traditional libraries is the restriction in using the same resource by multiple people
simultaneously. It is not a problem in the case of digital libraries. Several individuals and institutions can access
the same resource at the same time. Mintbook is one such digital library where resources are available to
universities, training centers, banking, and even schools. It has a variety of content that matches everybody’s
choice.

Easy-to-Use:

DLs are more comfortable to use as compared to physical libraries. All you have to do is search for the title or
the author, and you’ll get your book in no time. You don’t have to go from shelf to shelf looking for a book.
Moreover, their digital libraries are customizable. Such DLs can be easily customized with your business
requirements by getting integrated with your setup.

Conservation and Preservation:

Physical books get damaged after being used and reused again. Their pages get torn, and print disappears with
time. Thus, DLs have an advantageous position in this area. No matter how many times a resource is being
accessed, it will not affect its condition. It remains preserved in its original form for a more extended period.
However, it is still debatable whether DLs are the ultimate preservation solution for physical books.

No Limitation of Space:
The storage capacity of the traditional libraries is restricted due to the limited amount of physical space. On the
other hand, there is no such limitation in the case of DLs. DLs can store thousands of resources without facing
any difficulties because media storage is very affordable. Mintbook Digital Library has about 10 lakh content
stored in more than ten regional languages!

Their resources are in the form of videos, e-books, magazines, quizzes, simulation labs, media clippings, etc.
They also have annotation features such as notes, highlighter, dictionary, etc. In a nutshell, it has everything you
can wish from a library during this pandemic.

Scope of Improvement:

Digital Libraries have improved and advanced due to technological changes. In the future, too, we’ll see the
improved version of these DLs. For instance, the quality of pictures might improve, removal of visible flaws
like discoloration and stains.

More Than a Library:

Another exciting feature of digital libraries is that it’s not just a library. Its spectrum is broader than the old
school libraries. For instance, digital libraries engage with their clients via formal as well as informal mode.

Not Time-Bound:

The one thing we are all lazy at doing is returning the book to the library. Admit it that we always return the
book late, and then what? We pay the late fee. In some libraries, the time you can issue a book is as low as a
week. Who can finish a book in a week? Nobody! (unless you’re an avid reader).

Digital libraries also solve this problem. All you need is to pay a minimum subscription price, and then you’ll
have access to all of their material until the subscription expires. There is no headache of returning the book on
time!

No Boundaries of Knowledge:

Digital Libraries reduce the regional and national boundaries of knowledge. For instance, if someone from one
country wants to access books from another country. In that case, he or she can easily access the book via a
digital library. A walk-in library can’t include every book in the world, but that’s not the case with Digital
Libraries. You can access any text from any corner of the world!

No Language Bar:

Apart from having a wide variety of texts and books, a digital library also has texts in many languages.
Language isn’t a hindrance to DLs.

360-Degree Virtual Learning Experience:

Some technologically advanced Digital Libraries have a 360-degree Virtual Learning experience.

It allows customers to land up in a versatile training program. Apart from academic resources, digital libraries
also have vocational content. It indeed does have something for everyone!

Digital Libraries are a blessing to students, schools, universities, and everyone who loves learning. They are
proving helpful, especially today when the coronavirus has badly hit us. With all physical sources of knowledge
shut down, there is one thing that has not impeded expertise, and that’s Digital Libraries. If you are interested in
seeking knowledge, you should not restrict yourself to physical books or resources.
Topic2. Digital Information resources

 Meaning of digital information resources

Digital learning materials or e-learning materials are study materials published in digital format. These
include e-textbooks, e-workbooks, educational videos, e-tests, etc.

Digital learning materials are aimed at teachers and students (including home-schooled students or schools with
the Estonian language of instruction abroad), in addition to other stakeholders (lifelong learners, hobby schools,
parents).

E-tasks are digitized tasks that support formative evaluation, which corresponds to the learning outcomes and
topics of subject programs of national curricula and are located in the Examination Information System (EIS).

E-tasks are prepared under the guidance and organization of Innove, and, as a rule, they are composed by
teachers.

Innove develops e-learning materials through the creation of e-tasks and supporting the delivery of existing and
emerging e-learning materials.

The e-learning material that has been created and is being created is available on the digital study material portal
E-Schoolbag, and the creation involves a network of e-learning material experts from the subject associations.

Students with special educational needs (SEN students) are provided with a comprehensive approach to tailor-
made e-learning materials suitable for pupil studying under the simplified curricula.

Topic3. Acquisition of digital information

Sources of digital information resources

Nonprint sources include images, films, television broadcasts, radio productions and music recordings. One of
the most effective methods of dealing with nonprint sources is by asking questions, according to Frank Baker,
who is a media consultant for the South Carolina State

Common Data Acquisition methods and Considerations

 Business Needs: The first thing to always consider is the business need - why are these data required?
What will be done with them?
 Venn diagram of data acquisition methods & considerations

 Business Rules: A business rule identifies the constraints under which the business operates. For
instance, where applicable, all geospatial data must have Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
compliant metadata. These rules will affect your data acquisition decisions.

 Data Standards: Any Government, USGS, or industry standards that apply will need consideration.

 Accuracy Requirements: Among the most familiar accuracy requirements is the locational accuracy for
spatial data; but there are other accuracy requirements that you may need to consider as well.

 Cost: Cost is always a consideration. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy than to collect.

 Currency of Data: For many types of work, the data need to be fairly current. For others, data may need
to cover a specified time period. For others, data need to be in a specific season. If you are trying to
determine vegetation coverage, for example, you may want photographs from the summer, when
vegetation is at the highest. If you are trying to look for land forms, you may want winter photos.

 Time Constraints: You should determine how soon you need the data.

 Format: Do you need the data as spatial data, photos, flat files, Excel files, XML files? This may not
apply, but you need to determine that for each project.

Topic5. Organization of digital library

The term knowledge organization systems is intended to encompass all types of schemes for organizing
information and promoting knowledge management.

Knowledge organization systems include classification schemes that organize materials at a general level (such
as books on a shelf), subject headings that provide more detailed access, and authority files that control variant
versions of key information (such as geographic names and personal names). They also include less-traditional
schemes, such as semantic networks and ontologies. Because knowledge organization systems are mechanisms
for organizing information, they are at the heart of every library, museum, and archive.

Knowledge organization systems are used to organize materials for the purpose of retrieval and to manage a
collection. A KOS serves as a bridge between the user's information need and the material in the collection.
With it, the user should be able to identify an object of interest without prior knowledge of its existence.
Whether through browsing or direct searching, whether through themes on a Web page or a site search engine,
the KOS guides the user through a discovery process. In addition, KOSs allow the organizers to answer
questions regarding the scope of a collection and what is needed to round it out.

All digital libraries use one or more KOS. Just as in a physical library, the KOS in a digital library provides an
overview of the content of the collection and supports retrieval. The scheme may be a traditional KOS relevant
to the scope of the material and the expected audience for the digital library (such as the Dewey Decimal System
or the INSPEC Thesaurus), a commercially developed scheme such as the Yahoo or Excite categories, or a
locally developed scheme for a corporate intranet.

The decision of what knowledge organization system to use is central to the development of any digital library.
The KOS must be applicable, either automatically or by human catalogers, to the resources included in the
digital library. Once the material is included in the collection, the KOS must be meaningful to its users.

This section outlines the characteristics of KOSs, describes the common types, and discusses their origins and
traditional uses.

Common Characteristics of Knowledge Organization Systems

 The KOS imposes a particular view of the world on a collection and the items in it.
 The same entity can be characterized in different ways, depending on the KOS that is used.
 There must be sufficient commonality between the concept expressed in a KOS and the real-world
object to which that concept refers that a knowledgeable person could apply the system with reasonable
reliability. Likewise, a person seeking relevant material by using a KOS must be able to connect his or
her concept with its representation in the system.

Types of Knowledge Organization Systems

They are grouped into three general categories:

1. term lists, which emphasize lists of terms often with definitions;

2. classifications and categories, which emphasize the creation of subject sets;
3. and relationship lists, which emphasize the connections between terms and concepts.

Term Lists

Authority Files. Authority files are lists of terms that are used to control the variant names for an entity or the
domain value for a particular field. Examples include names for countries, individuals, and organizations.
Nonpreferred terms may be linked to the preferred versions. This type of KOS generally does not include a deep
organization or complex structure. The presentation may be alphabetical or organized by a shallow classification
scheme. A limited hierarchy may be applied to allow for simple navigation, particularly when the authority file
is being accessed manually or is extremely large. Examples of authority files include the Library of Congress
Name Authority File and the Getty Geographic Authority File.

Glossaries. A glossary is a list of terms, usually with definitions. The terms may be from a specific subject field
or from a particular work. The terms are defined within a specific environment and rarely include variant
meanings. Examples include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Terms of the Environment.

Dictionaries. Dictionaries are alphabetical lists of words and their definitions. Variant senses are provided
where applicable. Dictionaries are more general in scope than are glossaries. They may also provide information
about the origin of a word, variants (by spelling and morphology), and multiple meanings across disciplines.
While a dictionary may also provide synonyms and through the definitions, related words, there is no explicit
hierarchical structure or attempt to group them by concept.

Gazetteers. A gazetteer is a list of place names. Traditional gazetteers have been published as books or have
appeared as indexes to atlases. Each entry may also be identified by feature type, such as river, city, or school.
An example is the U.S. Code of Geographic Names. Geospatially referenced gazetteers provide coordinates for
locating the place on the earth's surface. The term gazetteer has several other meanings, including an
announcement publication such as a patent or legal gazetteer. These gazetteers are often organized using
classification schemes or subject categories.

Classifications and Categories

Subject Headings. This scheme type provides a set of controlled terms to represent the subjects of items in a
collection. Subject heading lists can be extensive and cover a broad range of subjects; however, the subject
heading list's structure is generally very shallow, with a limited hierarchical structure. In use, subject headings
tend to be coordinated, with rules for how they can be joined to provide concepts that are more specific.
Examples include the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the Library of Congress Subject Headings
(LCSH).

Classification Schemes, Taxonomies, and Categorization Schemes. These terms are often used interchangeably.
Although there may be subtle differences from example to example, these types of KOSs all provide ways to
separate entities into "buckets" or broad topic levels. Some examples provide a hierarchical arrangement of
numeric or alphabetic notation to represent broad topics. These types of KOSs may not follow the rules for
hierarchy required in the ANSI NISO Thesaurus Standard (Z39.19) (NISO 1998), and they lack the explicit
relationships presented in a thesaurus. Examples of classification schemes include the Library of Congress
Classification Schedules (an open, expandable system), the Dewey Decimal Classification (a closed system of
10 numeric sections with decimal extensions), and the Universal Decimal Classification (based on Dewey but
extended to include facets, or particular aspects of a topic). Subject categories are often used to group thesaurus
terms in broad topic sets that lie outside the hierarchical scheme of the thesaurus. Taxonomies are increasingly
being used in object-oriented design and knowledge management systems to indicate any grouping of objects
based on a particular characteristic.

Relationship Lists

Thesauri. Thesauri are based on concepts and they show relationships among terms. Relationships commonly
expressed in a thesaurus include hierarchy, equivalence (synonymy), and association or relatedness. These
relationships are generally represented by the notation BT (broader term), NT (narrower term), SY (synonym),
and RT (associative or related term). Associative relationships may be more detailed in some schemes. For
example, the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) from the National Library of Medicine has defined
more than 40 relationships, many of which are associative. Preferred terms for indexing and retrieval are
identified. Entry terms (or nonpreferred terms) point to the preferred terms to be used for each concept.

There are standards for the development of monolingual thesauri (NISO 1998; ISO 1986) and multilingual
thesauri (ISO 1985). In these standards, the definition of a thesaurus is fairly narrow. Standard relationships are
assumed, as is the identification of preferred terms, and there are rules for creating relationships among terms.
The definition of a thesaurus in these standards is often at variance with schemes that are traditionally called
thesauri. Many thesauri do not follow all the rules of the standard but are still generally thought of as thesauri.
Another type of thesaurus, such as the Roget's Thesaurus (with the addition of classification categories),
represents only equivalence.

Many thesauri are large; they may include more than 50,000 terms. Most were developed for a specific
discipline or a specific product or family of products. Examples include the Food and Agricultural
Organization's Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Thesaurus and the National Aeronautic and Space
Administration (NASA) Thesaurus for aeronautics and aerospace-related topics.

Semantic Networks. With the advent of natural language processing, there have been significant developments
in semantic networks. These KOSs structure concepts and terms not as hierarchies but as a network or a web.
Concepts are thought of as nodes, and relationships branch out from them. The relationships generally go
beyond the standard BT, NT, and RT. They may include specific whole-part, cause-effect, or parent-child
relationships. The most noted semantic network is Princeton University's WordNet, which is now used in a
variety of search engines.

Ontologies. Ontology is the newest label to be attached to some knowledge organization systems. The
knowledge-management community is developing ontologies as specific concept models. They can represent
complex relationships among objects, and include the rules and axioms missing from semantic networks.
Ontologies that describe knowledge in a specific area are often connected with systems for data mining and
knowledge management.

All of these examples of knowledge organization systems, which vary in complexity, structure, and function,
can provide organization and increased access to digital libraries.

Topic6. Search and retrieval in digital libraries

Techniques of information retrieval

The various methods of information retrieval build on some simple concepts to search large bodies of
information. A query is a string of text, describing the information that the user is seeking. Each word of the
query is called a search term. A query can be a single search term, a string of terms, a phrase in natural
language, or a stylized expression using special symbols.

Some methods of information retrieval compare the query with every word in the entire text, without
distinguishing the function of the various words. This is called full text searching.

Other methods identify bibliographic or structural fields, such as author or heading, and allow searching on
specified field, such as "author = Gibbon". This is called fielded searching.

Full text and fielded searching are both powerful tools, and modern methods of information retrieval often use
the techniques in combination. Fielded searching requires some method of identifying the fields. Full text
searching does not require such support.

By taking advantage of the power of modern computers, full text searching can be effective even on
unprocessed text, but heterogeneous texts of varying length, style, and content are difficult to search effectively
and the results can be inconsistent.

Some words occur so frequently that they are of little value for retrieval. Examples include common pronouns,
conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs, such as "he", "and", "be", and so on. Most systems have a list of common
words which are ignored both in building inverted files and in queries. This is called a stop list.

The selection of stop words is difficult. The choice clearly depends upon the language of the text and may also
be related to the subject matter. For this reason, instead of have a predetermined stop list, some systems use
statistical methods to identify the most commonly used words and reject them. Even then, no system is perfect.
There is always the danger that some perfectly sensible queries might be rejected because every word is in the
stop list, as with the quotation, "To be or not to be?"

Search Engines

1) Google

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 1.6 billion.

2) Bing

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 400 million

Bing’s video search is significantly better than Google’s.

Bing often gives twice as many autocomplete suggestions than Google does.

Bing has a great link from domain:[site name] feature that highlights the best ranked outgoing links from that
site, helping you figure out which other sites your chosen site links to the most.

3) Yahoo

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 300 million

Yahoo will continue to operate independently pending regulatory approval of the deal..

4) Ask

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 245 million

Despite Google’s determination to be the ultimate font of all knowledge on its own SERP, Ask is still good for
specific question related searches, with results centring on Q&A related matches.

5) Aol Search

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 125 million

6) Wow

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 100 million

Because it works more like a news site then a search engine, which is handy if you want everything in one place.
There is a strong lean towards news and celebrity based articles rather than pure Wikipedia-style information,
but the handy links to related social channels and wiki pages are useful.

7) WebCrawler

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 65 million

WebCrawler has a far clearer delineation between paid search ads and organic results. It also seems to feature
far more natural ’blue links’ than Google.

8) MyWebSearch

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 60 million

According to the Malware Wikia, MyWebSearch is a spyware and search toolbar program that allows the user
to query various popular search engines and comes bundled with an exhausting suite of ‘goodies’ such as such
as Smiley Central, Webfetti, Cursor Mania, My Mail Stationary, My Mail Signature, My Mail Stamps,
FunBuddyIcon

Most damningly of all though, Malware Wikia reports that despite it not carrying any malware attributes, an
independent repair lab has classified the toolbar as a nuisance because of “slowdowns in return for features that
are already built into many modern web browsers.”

9) Infospace

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 24 million

InfoSpace is a “provider of white label search and monetization solutions” and it also operates its own branded
search sites, including the meta search engine Dogpile, as well as Zoo.com and WebCrawler (as mentioned
above.)

10) Info.com

Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors: 13.5 million

Info.com aggregates results from the indexed web AND social media channels. It monitors real-time social
conversations and according to them, it delivers “newsworthy, trending, and popular results before they hit the
indexed web.” These streams are classified into structured topics which provides additional context and insight.

11) DuckDuckGo

Honourable mention to DuckDuckGo, the new kid on the block that doesn’t store your personal information,
which has managed to accrue 13 million unique monthly visitors and is currently the 11th most popular search
engine in the US

Topic7. Knowledge management

Meaning of knowledge management

Knowledge management is the process of capturing, storing and sharing the knowledge and experience of
employees to increase the workforce’s overall knowledge, improve productivity and retain critical information.
You can maximize efficiency and improve your teams’ decision-making abilities by harnessing your most
valuable asset — employee expertise and knowledge.

The Main Areas of Knowledge Management

Before you can effectively manage knowledge, it’s helpful to understand knowledge as falling into two camps:

Tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Understanding how to access, manage and strategically distribute
these types of knowledge within your organization is a key driver of business success.

Organizations are the sum of their collective knowledge, and they succeed or fail based on how they capture,
store, share and effectively manage that information in pursuit of business goals. When employees can access
knowledge easily, they’re more productive. When they can’t, they are inefficient and become frustrated.

Many problem-solving approaches involve communicating and knowledge transfer in a natural, informal way.
This downside is that teams miss out on undocumented, tacit knowledge. They spend extra time searching for
inaccessible information or “reinventing the wheel” by repeatedly solving commonly asked questions.

By contrast, intentional and effective knowledge management helps teams quickly access all available
information and follow up with internal experts for additional questions. Modern knowledge management
processes enable employees to ask questions anonymously or contribute their expertise, breaking down silos and
creating a living knowledge base. The result is that teams across functions, including R&D, sales and help
desks, can deliver more value with greater efficiency.

The Main Areas of Knowledge Management or Scope of knowledge management in information science

Key Benefits of Effective Knowledge Management

Effective knowledge management can improve almost any process because valuable information is easier to
access.

Improved knowledge sharing and collaboration can deliver higher productivity, as well as financial and cultural
benefits.

One benefit of knowledge management that cuts across teams and functions is less time spent re-creating or
documenting existing knowledge. When everyone within the enterprise can access common knowledge, your
help desk and subject matter experts spend less time answering repetitive questions, and your employees can
redirect their efforts to more meaningful work.

With more time and greater access to knowledge and expertise, teams can easily share information that drives
better results. These teams commit fewer mistakes and share important ideas and information across the
enterprise. These positive actions lead to new opportunities and accelerated cycles of innovation.
An effective knowledge management strategy can also improve the highest levels of your organization. For
example, executive-level decision-making improves when your top leaders aren’t wasting so much time seeking
readily available information.

Topic8. Information literacy

• Meaning of information literacy

Information literacy is the set of skills required to locate, evaluate, use, and properly cite information. Learn
more in: Information Literacy Support for Online Students in Higher Education is a component of electronic
literacies. This refers to the knowledge and skills to search for, analyze, and evaluate information on the
Internet.

A set of skills and abilities that enables recognizing information need, finding the needed information, critically
evaluating and using it for different purposes

• Methods of selecting appropriate keywords

• Techniques of searching catalogues for books and media

• Methods of searching electronic database for articles

• Process of searching for scholarly articles in the database

Topic9. User education

• Meaning of user education

• Purpose of user education

• Types of digital library users

• Resources required in user education

• Methods applied in user education

Topic10. Conservation of digital data

• Meaning of conservation of digital data

• Purpose of conserving digital data

• Principles of conservation of digital data

• Methods used in conserving digital data

• Tools and equipment used in conserving digital data

• Policies governing conservation of digital data

• Resources required for conservation of digital data

Topic11. Safety and security of digital data

• Meaning

• Reasons for securing digital data

• Equipment used for safety and security of digital data

• Measures for ensuring safety and security of digital data

• Resources necessary for safety and security of digital data

• Policy guidelines in safety and security of digital data

Topic12. Digital library professionals

• Types of professionals in digital libraries

• Functions of digital library professionals

• Organizational structures in digital libraries

Topic13. Ethical and legal issues in digital libraries

• Meaning of terms used

• Purpose of ethical standards in digital libraries

• Types of ethical standards and legal digital libraries

• Code of ethics and legal issues in digital libraries

Topic14. Emerging issues and trends

• Emerging issues and trends

• Challenges posed by emerging issues and trends

• Ways of coping with emerging issues and trends.