New Choices for Bibliographic Services in a Wired Planet: Reflections on the National Lib. of India

Library Herald Year : 2006, Volume : 44, Issue : 2 First page : ( 160) Last page : ( 173) Print ISSN : 0024-2292. Online ISSN : 0976-2469. New Choices for Bibliographic Services in a Wired Planet: Reflections on the National Library of India

Sharma R K, Librarian United Nations Information Centre, 55 Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110 003, Email: sharma@unicindia.org

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to present the state of public and national libraries and an overview of the bibliographic information services available with them. Mentions several of the challenges facing libraries in determining their present and future roles in their nation's information infrastructure and in a global information infrastructure. Web based bibliographic services provided in the British Library and Library of Congress have been discussed. Libraries are major providers of information. They have a crucial role to play particularly in the era of information technology and wired world. The undergoing shift caused by changing user needs not only affects the technical services of libraries but also streamline the library services that are being offered to the public. Need for availability of national bibliographic databases in machine-readable form on the Web would provide better bibliographic organization and control of material. Some suggestions for improving the computerized bibliographic services at national library and strategies for implementation have been put forth.