Digital technology and internet connectivity lead the evolution of the traditional library to digital library. Ultimately, Digital technology, Internet connectivity and physical content can be dovetailed resulting in Digital Library. In India a number of digital library initiatives and digitization programmes have been initiated across the country. Most of the digital library initiatives are government funded.

Evolution of Digital Library:

 Digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital format and accessible by computers. The content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely.

The concept of digital libraries in India began in the mid 1990s with the spread of information technology, the internet and the support of the Central Government.  The Digital Library initiative in India is still at a budding stage. Digital Libraries have the ability to enhance access to information and knowledge. They also bridge barriers of time and space.

Digitization of Libraries – Few Initiatives:

Digital Library of India (DLI):

• Digital Library of India (DLI) is a digital collection of freely accessible rare books collected from various libraries in India.
• DLI project started in early 2000 with the vision to archive all the significant literary, artistic and scientific works of mankind and to preserve digitally and make them available freely for every one over Internet for education, study, appreciation and for future generations.
• The Project was initiated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India and subsequently taken over by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Government of India of India.

Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET):

• Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre is autonomous Inter-University Centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India.
• It is a major National Programme initiated by the UGC in March 1991 with its Head Quarters at Gujarat University Campus, Ahmedabad.
• Initially started as a project under the IUCAA, it became an independent Inter – University Centre in June 1996.
• INFLIBNET is involved in modernizing university libraries in India and connecting them well as information centres in the country through a nation-wide high speed data network using the state-of-art technologies for the optimum utilisation of information.

Shodhganga: A Reservoir of Indian Theses:

• “Shodhganga” is the name coined to denote digital repository of Indian Electronic Theses and Dissertations set-up by the INFLIBNET Centre.

Shodh Gangotri: Indian Research in Progress:

• Shodhgangotri is a new initiative that compliments “ShodhGanga”.
• While “ShodhGanga” is a repository of full-text theses submitted to universities in India, Shodhgangotri hosts synopsis of research topics submitted to the universities in India by research scholars for registering themselves for the Ph.D programme.
• Under the initiative called ShodhGangotri, research scholars/research supervisors in universities are requested to deposit electronic version of approved synopsis submitted by research scholars to the universities for registering themselves for the Ph.D programme.

National Library and Information Services Infrastructures for Scholarly Content (N-LIST):

• The Project entitled “National Library and Information Services Infrastructure for Scholarly Content (N-LIST)”, being jointly executed by the UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium, INFLIBNET Centre and the INDEST-AICTE Consortium, IIT Delhi provides for

(i) Cross-subscription to e-resources

(ii) Access to selected e-resources to colleges.

e-ShodhSindhu:

• Based on the recommendation of an Expert Committee, the MHRD has formed e-ShodhSindhu merging three consortia initiatives, namely UGC – INFONET Digital Library Consortium, NLIST and INDEST-AICTE Consortium.
• The e-ShodhSindhu will continue to provide current as well as archival access to more than 15,000 core and peer-reviewed journals and a number of bibliographic, citation and factual databases in different disciplines from a large number of publishers and aggregators to its member institutions including centrally – funded technical institutions, universities and colleges.

National Digital Library (NDL):

• Ministry of Human Resource Development, under its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), has entrusted IIT Kharagpur to host, coordinate and set-up the National Digital Library (NDL) towards building a national asset.
• The objective of the project is to integrate all the existing digitized and digital contents available with different institutions.
• More specifically, it is to provide a single window access with e-learning facility to different groups of users ranging from primary to higher education.
• The project’s main aim was to create a knowledge base for students of all ages, especially for those interested in research.

Concluding Remarks:

Digital libraries provide an effective means to distribute learning resources to students and other users. Rapid advances in information technologies have revolutionized the role of libraries. Libraries are redesigning services and information products to add value to their services and to satisfy the changing information needs of the user community. Digital libraries will start gaining ground in India in the present century. India is heading towards an environment in which digital information may substitute for much print-based information.