8th Convention PLANNER 2012
Cloud Computing for Libraries: A SWOT Analysis
Miteshkumar Pandya
Abstract This paper provides brief information on cloud computing and its application for libraries. Adoption of cloud computing is not an easy task for Indian libraries. This paper provides some basic idea to choose evaluate Cloud service for the library. The advantages, disadvantages and features needs to be seriously considered before putting data on the cloud. The paper also describes its merits and demerits on the principle of SWOT analysis. Keywords: Cloud Computing, Library-Cloud, Computer Applications, Library Software, SWOT Analysis 2. What is Cloud Computing?
1.
Introduction
Cloud computing is a technology that uses the web (Internet) and central remote servers to maintain data, software and application. Cloud computing allows users to use applications without installation in their local machine to access their personal and official files on any computer with internet access. This technology allows users to access much more efficient computing by centralizing storage, memory and processing. This is not a new technology; it’s associated since inception of the web. In the libraries cloud computing is used to build a digital library and to automate housekeeping operations using third party services, software and hardware. Cloud computing refers to both applications delivered as a service over the internet and the systems software in the data centers that provide services. In simple words the datacenters, hardware and systems software is what we can call a cloud. A simple example of cloud computing is Yahoo mail, Gmail etc. One does not need any software or server to store them. These services are free to all users till some limit, any extra storage capacity and advanced services are available at cost.
8th Convention PLANNER-2012 Sikkim University, Gangtok, March 01-03, 2012 © INFLIBNET Centre,