Libraries as Gateway for Academic Excellence: Students and Teachers Perceptions in Different Colleges of Imphal, Manipur

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine the present status of academic libraries in and around Imphal in bringing academic excellence thereby uplifting the relevance of libraries in academic platform. The size of the collection is used as the indicator of academic quality but it should be mentioned that effective use of library resources by students will boost the academic performance. The study was cross sectional randomized study and students, librarians, teachers across various colleges were participated with their informed consent. The study results showed that all the libraries were having required number of books along with newspapers for general knowledge. All the students agreed library is must for learning process and also use of library improved their performance and recommended others to use the library for achieving the academic excellence. Majority of students visited the library once daily and 65% visited library to understand the subjects and 71% were visited even there were no scheduled examinations. Majority agreed that teacher motivated them to visit the library (41%) but stay in the library by majority was 1-2 hours (71%). Library and information centers have become important channels for disseminating the information available in multiple formats to those who are in need of information. For any library to succeed in implementing knowledge management will require a strong leadership and vision from the top administration, which has positive impact in knowledge sharing and thereby academic excellence.