The Use of Cloud Computing in Public Libraries Assignment

The Use of Cloud Computing in Public Libraries - Assignment Example However with the introduction of cloud computing in public libraries a lot changed in terms of management of systems and resources. The introduction of this technology in public libraries meant that there would be increased operational efficiency, effectiveness in the use of resources and cost savings that went a long way in developing other sectors of the library. Cloud computing: Background Cloud computing refers to a computing model and net necessarily technology in which clients plug into the â€Å"cloud† in order to access information technology resources that are priced and provided on demand. Simply stated the term cloud is synonymous to the internet. The term cloud computing thus is based on cloud drawings that were used in the past to represent telephone network and in much later times to represent the internet (Buyya, Broberg, & Goscinski, 2011, p. 10). Thus cloud computing is internet based computing where there exist virtual shared servers which provide software, i nfrastructure, platform, devices and other resources as well as hosting to clients on what is known as pay as you use basis. Information is digitized such that it is provided in the cloud to customers. Users or clients can access these services that are available on the internet cloud without having the ability to operate or manage the resources that are involved (Velte, Velte, & Elsenpeter, 2010, p. 25). Scholars thus argue that the advantage of this computing model is the flexibility that it offers organizations in terms of concentrating on the core business processes of the organization without having to invest their time in training or gaining knowledge in the use of these resources that are needed to manage their business resources (Buyya, Broberg, & Goscinski, 2011: Velte, Velte, & Elsenpeter, 2010). In cloud computing customers do not the physical infrastructure upon which information technology services are provided; rather the clients rent the usage from providers. This is seen as very important for organizations because of the reduction in the costs involved in setting up information technology infrastructure. Companies thus consume resources as a service and pay only for those resources for which they use. Most of the cloud computing infrastructures consist of services which are delivered through the common centres built on servers (Rittinghouse & Ransome, 2010, p. 15). Characteristics of cloud computing There are six distinct characteristics of cloud computing technology. First is on demand self-services and this means that computer services such as applications and emails can be provided without the need of human interaction with each of the service provider (W, 2009, p. 27). Secondly is broad network access such that cloud capabilities are availed through the network and can be accessed through the standard mechanisms through any end user terminal such as computers, phones or PDAs. Third is resource pooling such that the providers resources are p ooled together to serve a number of clients using the multiple-tenant model with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned in line with the consumer demand. These resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth and email services among others (Gong, 2010, p. 275). Fourth is rapid elasticity such that the cloud