A digital library is a collection of documents and files in organized electronic form. A digital library is also called an eLibrary or digital repository. A user will be able to access eBooks, eJournals, Research Papers, Albums, Audio Visuals in the digital library.

Why to go for a Digital Library?

• No Physical Boundary: The user needs not go to the library physically. The information can be accessed anytime from any place over the internet.
• 24×7 Access: Users can gain access 24×7 to information available in the library.
• Multiple Access: The same resource of digital libraries can be used simultaneously by a number of users.
• Information Retrieval: The user is able to use any search term to search through the entire collection including internal content of digital files. Very user-friendly interfaces are provided, giving clickable access to all resources.
• Preservation and Conservation: The digital storage of books and, above all, audios, solves the problem of deterioration of physical material over time. It builds a heritage for the next generations.
• Space: Traditional libraries are limited by storage space but digital libraries have the potential to store much more information. Today, media storage technologies are more affordable than ever before.

We all know that digital libraries are the need of the hour and very essential for today’s learning space but we must also focus on the challenges we might face during this process,

• Copyright: Digitization without author or publisher acknowledgment violates the copyright law.
• Initial cost is High: The infrastructure cost that includes cost of hardware, software, internet connections is commonly quite high. But Bill Gates once said ‘Investing in Tomorrow’s Technology Today is more critical than ever….’
• Bandwidth: Digital libraries need higher bandwidth for the transfer of multimedia resources.
• Environment: It cannot reproduce the environment of a traditional library. Many people find reading printed material to be easier than reading material on electronic devices. No doubt, kindle has come as a revolution in this area.

Digital libraries are quickly becoming the norm at schools, colleges and universities since they combine technology and information resources to allow remote access to educational content, breaking down physical barriers.

Many schools and institutions have already begun the task of converting their traditional collections of books and educational materials to electronic formats. Also, they are acquiring born-digital materials like eBooks along with physical books. It is the time now that every library in India must take a concrete step in this direction.

We at Algorhythms would love to support you in any possible way to make your library a Digital Library.