This work covers, from the historical point of view, the possibilities offered by information services in the electronic environment. It is part of the first scripting materials that man used to communicate and that constituted different ways to record information.
Mention is made of the traditional aspects of written expression to later establish the characteristics of information and communication technologies (ICT) and their impact on information services.
The advances of current technology and its intervention in the information society are denoted as a fact that has come to change methods, consumption systems and documentary production and an explanation is given to these paradigmatic changes.
The presence of the INTERNET arises through reflections on its reliability and its potentialities in the globalization of information.
Clarifications are established on the influence of ICT on the information services provided by public libraries and how these can be extended through access to virtual collections, digital books, websites, portals and the online reference service.
The need for the skills of the information professional in the electronic environment is pointed out as an essential element, as well as the training of the user in the management of traditional catalogs.
From the most remote times when human beings began to communicate with their peers by means of written expression, from that moment and in the most different ways information began to be collected.- At first it was simple, clay, the tablet, the papyri, with the passing of the years and the advancement of science and technology, culture, the study of today's professionals has tried to make it faster and more efficient every day so that it arrives with higher quality and efficiency to those who request it.
When in the past, illustrious men of letters did their work of gathering information, they did not know what they were doing nor did they give this technique a name, in addition, the date on which the first scientific document was made is unknown, thus information has reached us valuable items that are treasured with care.
The information comes to us in written form in traditional media, that is, in books, brochures, periodicals, etc.
In the environment of new technologies, it cannot be said whether information is a product or a service, but it can be said that it is a component of all products.
An informational product can be a newspaper, a radio show, a database, etc.
Information is something that can be expanded because more information can be entered into the system.- It can be condensed and when compacted it is easier to handle and use, it is replaceable, transportable at light speed, it is diffusive because it can diffuse, spread in different ways ways.
The advances in current technology and the knowledge revolution have intervened in such a way in the world of information that it has changed methods, consumption systems and documentary production.
Computers and telecommunications have eliminated the distances and the search time for information, and have contributed to the tasks of its control and organization.
They have also lowered prices.
Technology has brought with it new types of documents, as well as changes in their production, and also new access possibilities, an example of this is databases.
Among these novelties also appear the digital files that enable the existing information in an exhaustive, pertinent and fast way.
All the technological contribution derived from computers is making the objectives of the documentary organization feasible, such as: giving access to existing documents, with minimal distance, in an organized way, with speed of use for the estimated massiveness.
Of the consequences derived from the intervention of technologies for information systems, the following can be highlighted: the commercialization of online databases: Dialogo and Biographical Retrival Service (BRS), made large databases available to universities, research centers and individual users access data online, from any terminal (from one network to another) it was possible to link thousands of files. This technological development made possible the old aspiration of Paul Otlet, to make available all the information stocks.
The possibility of linking computers has been thanks to telecommunications. From a terminal, distant computers can be accessed directly through intermediate nodes, in this way the information is universalized.
So far, the advantages that all these current advances bring us have been described, but what about their disadvantages?
Since through the computer it is possible to edit, store, copy, digitally transfer, delete, add new information, etc., it is no less true that this work does not represent an absolute guarantee, among other things, the equipment may break, the document may be erased by mishandling of the equipment, and in a country like ours where so many storms with electrical discharges occur that can destroy the network facilities and erase everything that has been stored in them, for this reason it is necessary to save the information by copying it on CD, flash memory and any digital medium that can store the information.
How can ICT influence Public Library Services?
When a program can store, organize and manipulate a large amount of integrated data, handling all access requests made by users, we say it is a Database Management System (DBMS).
Files (computing) A set of related information that is identified by a name that enables the computer to distinguish between various sets of information.
All documents that we use or create and the programs that we run are files.
For the Reference Services in recent years, the emergence of the INTERNET and the WWW has been a transformation in this field of informational work, since with the necessary resources available, the search for what is requested can be carried out with greater speed and efficiency..
In libraries it is necessary to unite experience and resources in the development of hypertext, in WWW (World Wide Web) and other supports.
The current librarian is called to be a hyper-literate, who is able to access, apply ideas and hypertext tools in an experimental online medium.
Today there are a number of databases available, with search capabilities with keywords, Boléan operators and natural language. Online catalogs include tables of contents and online magazines. A WEB search engine allows you to find information that is difficult to find elsewhere and the answer can be obtained or sent by e-mail (electronic mail).
It can be said that information workers or professionals in general, whatever the job position they occupy, today urgently need to be “electronically literate”, since in practice it is found that the majority lack this knowledge, for even less can they access a database.
Library services can be further extended over time as virtual libraries, digital books, websites, portal (where Web pages on different topics appear) will be accessible, an easy way to provide online reference services It is using links to reference works, encyclopedias, dictionaries, databases, such as direct access to catalogs, documents about countries, official publications, etc. With all the above, the new advances that arise every day in the field of Science and technology raise concerns, which cannot be imagined what communications and obtaining, use and delivery of information will be like in the mid-21st century.- Scientists and all those men of good will who want a better and more developed world for the good of all humanity have the floor.
