The New Trends for Librarians in Management of Geographic Information

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the tools (e.g. CSDGM – FGDC, Gazetteers) used for the subject description and organization, of materials (maps, aerial photos, geospatial data, remote sense images etc) related to the geographic information in today's hybrid library environment. Furthermore we aim to identify changes (e.g. RDA) and determine the new forms (e.g. Linked Data) that have arisen in the management and use of geographic information in order to further enrich access to digital map collections and geographic databases. The intention of this work is to provide professionals in library world with an overview of information regarding terms and tools, issues that are essential in developing geographical collections.

This paper is structured in three parts. Initially, concepts related to geographic information and geographic collections in libraries are presented while the literature review in the specific field reveals the continuously interest of diverse scientific communities such as librarians, technicians, geographers etc on one hand and the continuous evolution of these tools as a result of technological development on the other. In the second part we attempt to provide examples of how librarians are handling geographical information as our research so far discerns while in the third part certain tools, that are most in use, are being described. Finally, the several aspects of these issues will be discussed.