Cloud Libraries

On-demand computing power at modest cost, tied with faster Internet accessibility in the Cloud has offered the future of Cloud libraries. This chapter presents a snapshot of what is happening in the arena of Cloud libraries. It presents the features, its promises, components that drive a Cloud library, users and the services, infrastructure, information sources, and retrieval strategies in the Cloud. Further, it presents a Cloud strategic planning model for its realization in libraries. Whereas a lot of work has been done on the technical aspects and implications in health and medical services, there is lack of focus on the implication of Cloud computing in a library setting. This chapter is a self-conscious attempt in filling some of the gaps.

Open Source in the Cloud

Whereas “Open Source” in software is still gaining momentum in many fields of applications, it is even more present in the “behind the curtains” scene of the Cloud. It is behind the scenes because Cloud tools are only operated by Cloud providers creating their infrastructure, not by end users. But as that infrastructure is going to be a crucial part of the IT environment of the future, like water and power supply have become for the wider living environments, it is good to note that this infrastructure is not limited to (commercial) proprietary technology and standards, but rather is subject to input from the major Open Source players. This chapter reviews the main technologies of this moment in Cloud software: CloudStack of Citrix and Apache, OpenStack of Suse and Openshift from RedHat. Also the CEPH-technology for distributed storage is added in this overview due to its obvious relevance for the Cloud. The brief review of these products confirms that FOSS indeed plays a major role in the Cloud, opening up that technology for open standards and “public” ownership of this soon-to-be an essential part of our IT environment.

Libraries and Cloud Computing Models

Cloud computing is a new breed of service offered over the Internet, which has completely changed the way one can use the power of computers irrespective of geographic location. It has brought in new avenues for organizations and businesses to offer services using hardware or software or platform of third party sources, thus saving on cost and maintenance. It can transform the way systems are built and services delivered, providing libraries with an opportunity to extend their impact. Cloud computing has become a major topic of discussion and debate for any business or organization which relies on technology. Anyone connected to the Internet is probably using some type of cloud computing on a regular basis. Whether they are using Google’s Gmail, organizing photos on Flickr, or searching the Web with Bing, they are engaged in cloud computing. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to give an overview of this technology, its connection with libraries, the models in which libraries can deploy this technology for providing services and augment the productivity of library staff and case studies.

Green Economic and Secure Libraries on Cloud

Libraries are considered storehouses of knowledge in the form of books and other resources. Introduction of computers and information and communication technology paved the way for resources in electronic format. Hence, storage of library resources is categorized in two ways namely physical storage and electronic storage. The advantages of e-format are multiple users, increasing availability of free resource, sharing, storing, accessibility, retrieval, flexibility, compatibility, and so forth. As an evolutionary change in adapting to the electronic dissemination, electronic data can be stored virtually, externally, and retrieved in cloud computing. For cloud storage users, service providers and tools are considered as major components of the service architecture. Tool connects cloud storage server and thin client platform through the Internet. Green computing and green production technology are utilizing minimum resources and maximum production in an eco-friendly way. Data warehousing is collection of data, categorizing, filtering, eliminating replica data, format compatibility; security of data retrieval gives economic storage of files. Warehoused data with extract, transform, and load (ETL) tools are retrieved by data mining. This chapter discusses various architecture, service providers, models of service, certifications, billing models, security issues, solutions to security issues and eco-friendly economic storage.

A Randomized Cloud Library Security Environment

Cloud computing is leading the technology development of today’s communication scenario. This is because of its cost-efficiency and flexibility. In Cloud computing vast amounts of data are stored in varied and distributed environments, and security to data is of prime concern. RSA or Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides a secure means of message transmission among communicating hosts using Diffie Hellman Key Exchange algorithm or ElGamal algorithm. By having key lengths of 160 bits, the ECC algorithm provides sufficient strength against crypto analysis and its performance can be compared with standard algorithms like RSA with a bit length of 1024 bits. In the present work, the plain text is converted to cipher text using RSA or ECC algorithms. As the proposed model is intended to be used in Cloud environment, a probabilistic mathematical model is also used. While the data is being retrieved from the servers, a query is being used which uses the mathematical model to search for the data which is still in encryption form. Final decryption takes place only at user’s site by using the private keys. Thus the security model provides the fundamental security services like Authentication, Security, and Confidentiality to the transmitted message and also provides sufficient strength against crypto analysis in Cloud environment.

Service-Oriented Reference Architecture for Digital Library Systems

Developing and maintaining Digital Libraries requires substantial investments that are not simply a matter of technological decisions but also organizational issues. While digital libraries hold plenty of promise both now and for the future, they have been slow in taking off. Some digital libraries have either been completely abandoned or they have been put on hold indefinitely. One of the reasons for this predicament is that developers of digital libraries have approached their implementation the same traditional way of building applications, which is also akin to how structures of physical information organizations are built. Digital Libraries with their universal functionality may be even more flexible and reusable, if designed in a service-oriented manner. Such design should allow decreasing the effort of the creation of new digital libraries and the maintenance and scaling of currently existing large installations. Service-oriented architecture offers a better approach to building digital libraries, including streamlining business components, employing reusable services and connecting existing applications to communicate efficiently. The SOA is still a fairly new concept in DL systems. This chapter investigates the applicability of SOA as a fundamental architecture within the system. Its objective is to design a Service-Oriented Architecture for Digital Library System (DLS) using Web Service technology. SORADLS includes different layers which provide primitive services to the library applications built on top of the DLS. DLS techniques of personalization, alert, and caching build SORADLS as services. This architecture provides a fast, safe, convenient, and efficient service to users connected through the Internet.

A Cloud-Oriented Reference Architecture to Digital Library Systems

Cloud computing is an emerging computing model which has evolved as a result of the maturity of underlying prerequisite technologies. There are differences in perspective as to when a set of underlying technologies becomes a “cloud” model. In order to categorize cloud computing services, and to expect some level of consistent characteristics to be associated with the services, cloud adopters need a consistent frame of reference. The Cloud Computing Reference Architecture (CCRA) defines a standard reference architecture and consistent frame of reference for comparing cloud services from different service providers when selecting and deploying cloud services to support their mission requirements. Cloud computing offers information retrieval systems, particularly digital libraries and search engines, a wide variety of options for growth and reduction of maintenance needs and encourages efficient resource use. These features are particularly attractive for digital libraries, repositories, and search engines. The dynamic and elastic provisioning features of a cloud infrastructure allow rapid growth in collection size and support a larger user base, while reducing management issues. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to investigate and design reference architecture to Digital Library Systems using cloud computing with scalability in mind. The proposed reference architecture is called as CORADLS. This architecture accelerates the rate at which library users can get easy, efficient, faster and reliable services in the digital environment. Here, the end user does not have to worry about the resource or disk space in cloud computing.

Digital Library and Its Requirements in the Global World

This chapter introduces the basics of the digital library, including needs, benefits, and requirements, and briefly describes the digitization process. The role of library and information science professionals has now become a debatable one due to the advent of digital libraries and the Internet. The cloud computing and virtualization in digital culture is also discussed here. In this regard, the chapter covers cloud computing, including the characteristics, types, and how it works. The application of cloud computing in libraries is described with an example of the cloud in the academic library in Orissa. The advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing in libraries or in organizations are also covered here. The future prospects of the digital library using cloud computing technology is like an innovative application in libraries.

Comparative Study of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Online Computer Library Services (OCLC) Web Players

Cloud computing is a model to provide on-demand access of configurable computing services and resources to the network users without direct service provider interaction. Cloud computing is one of the new buzzwords in the business world. It is a generic term for computing solution where software and services are provided over the Internet. Also the cloud computing delivered and managed IT services in several different forms such as Platform, Infrastructure, and to publish Web services for the patrons. In this chapter we discuss technology, benefits, and initiatives and mainly compare about the Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC) cloud service players.

Testbed Platform

Libraries invest millions of dollars in developing and maintaining library applications that are core to their libraries and help them to improve their competitive advantage through operational excellence of libraries. Continuous changes in the library environment forces the library to innovate and optimize their library process, resulting in continuous changes in the software applications that support the library processes. As a consequence, delivering applications rapidly that are defect free, scalable, and reliable becomes challenging. Testing becomes a critical and vital step in the process – not only in terms of coverage but also in terms of performance, security, and usability. Setting up test environments that closely mirror the production environment can be expensive – in terms of hardware, licenses, people to manage library infrastructure and its application. “Testing as a Service” – a new paradigm of Cloud-based “On Demand” testing service can help libraries to address this challenge. This chapter focuses on how libraries can optimize their IT budget through a strategic initiative in the form of “On Demand” testing. This chapter describes Requirements of Testbed Platform, Cloud Testing, and Benefits of testing using cloud environment for library Amazon Web Services – Public Cloud Services.