6. Functions of digital library
The rapid development of the internet in the 1990s and its embrace by the library and information community
enabled the concept of the digital libraries (DLs), whose function can be defined as the collection, storage and
processing of vast information and knowledge into a systemic project through digitalization and the internet,
while providing convenient and highly efficient retrieval and inquiry services. To this effect, at a minimum,
the core services expected of a Digital Library System include: a repository service for storing and managing
digital objects; a search service to facilitate information discovery; and a user interface through which end
users interact with the digital objects. The introduction of the DL has raised library modernization to a new
level with over time.
Digital libraries promise new societal benefits, starting with the elimination of the time and space
constraints of traditional bricks-and-mortar libraries. Unlike libraries that occupy buildings accessible only to
those who walk through their doors, digital libraries reside on inter-networked data storage and computing
systems that can be accessed by people located anywhere. At their full potential digital libraries will enable
any citizen to access a considerable proportion of all human knowledge from any location. From an access
vantage the Internet provides a preview of the possibilities.
The role of a Digital Library is essentially to collect, manage, preserve and make accessible digital objects.
The following are some of the function of digital library:
(1) To provide friendly interface to users.
(2) To avail network facilities.
(3) To support library functions.
(4) To enhance advanced search, access and retrieval of information.
(5) To improve the library operations.
(6) To enable one to perform searches that is not practical manually.
(7) To protect owners of information.
(8) To preserve unique collection through digitization.