Indian Libraries Research Articles

Avenues for Repositioning the Academic Libraries in India

Academic scene in India is set to change considerably on three accounts namely, large-scale promotion of distance education mode, increasing privatisation of higher education and advances in information and communication technology (ICT). It is imperative that the traditional supporting system like the academic library will be required to reshape itself due to such makeover in learning, teaching and scholarly communication processes. Designing new services and their customised delivery by library to the remote users, for example, will play a major role in this context. Adopting and harnessing the ICT for this purpose is critical. To that end a review of select projections regarding academics and library is first made here. A few noteworthy initiatives for introducing new library practices are next described. Future operating environment for the Indian academic libraries is assessed and preparatory actions are outlined for repositioning these libraries to round off the paper.

Privacy in libraries: the perspective from India

PurposeEthics is an inherent concept for any profession. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ethical perspective of librarianship. The focus of the discussion is to identify whether it is ethics or law which should supercede in changing the legal and social environment, with special reference to India.Design/methodology/approachThe state of a right to privacy in India is elaborated. The discussion is focused around library ethics and user privacy, which is a much less talked about matter in Indian librarianship than in the developed world.FindingsProfessional ethics should be given equal consideration while framing law and policies for non‐profit organizations like libraries. The issue of privacy has been given very little credence in terms of library rules and regulations in India. There is a need to create awareness among the masses on the issue of privacy and it should be considered as an important component while formulating guidelines for library policies.Practical implicationsThe role of library associations is considered to be vital in creating awareness among the libraries and information centers. Library associations in India are urged to make similar efforts like American Library Association. Impact of information technology on privacy is explored as one of the emerging research areas.Originality/valueThis paper is the first of its kind to study how the libraries in India are dealing with the issue of privacy and highlight the need for the information professionals to protect their professional ethics.

Short-term Library and Information Science Training Courses in India

Short-term courses have been the pre-cursor to the LIS education programmes. However, after the educational programmes came into being, the short-term LIS programmes stopped and not many of these were conducted during the 1960s and 1970s. With the advent of information technologies in Indian libraries in the late 1980s, the short-term courses have made a slow but steady comeback. The recent years have seen the strong resurgence of short-term LIS training courses in India with new players joining the LIS training bandwagon. However, these courses in India have not been a subject of exclusive study. The study traces the history, growth, and current status of short-term LIS courses in India.

History of an Indian Library and Challenges for Today

Tommaney Library at Haskell Indian Nations University has existed for more than 100 years as reflection of the struggle to assimilate Indians in America. Its history is one that mirrors that of the struggle of our indigenous people to this day. This article is about that history and how today the library manifests the dichotomy between Indians and the dominant culture in America even today and how vital it is that this is recognized in Library and Information Science for the future.

Networked Services of NIT libraries in India: A study

The main purpose of the paper is to find out the provision of providing Networked Services (NSs) among National Institute of Technology (NIT) libraries in India. Methodology used for collecting data was questionnaire. The survey findings indicate that the majority of libraries prefer to provide communication network services (telephone, Internet, e-mail, facsimile etc), online journals (90%), automated catalog system (85%), multimedia databases (85%) and support (70%) services rather than the other services. Concerning the zone wise performance, south zone (80%) libraries are more potential than the other zone libraries in providing NSs.

Impact of exchange rates on periodicals subscription in Indian libraries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the effects of exchange rates of foreign currencies on the material budget in the libraries in India.Design/methodology/approachA sample of journals costing in foreign currency was selected for the purpose of study. A comparison of inflation rate pertaining to serial price is done with the general rate of inflation in India.FindingsThe paper finds that exchange rates of foreign currencies have extensive impact on the acquisitions budget of the libraries in India.Practical implicationsAcademic institutions may protect the buying powers of the libraries while allocating funds, keeping in mind the strengthening or weakening of Indian Rupee in comparison to foreign currencies.Originality/valueThis is one of the comprehensive studies on the impact of foreign exchange on subscription in Indian libraries system.

Copy cataloguing in India: a point‐of‐view

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to provide an Indian perspective on copy cataloguing and its current position in libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on the experiences of visiting various colleges and universities across the country. The paper explains copy cataloguing and its sources available to the Indian libraries for retrospective conversion.FindingsCopy cataloguing in India is not widespread. The supply of a “ready cataloguing” in MARC format by Indian publishers and supply agents is also not widely available.Practical implicationsCopy cataloguing features have been implemented into the SOUL software and the IndCat, an online union catalogue of Indian universities for the Indian libraries.Originality/valueIt is observed that copy cataloguing features have never been explained in one place for Indian libraries. The information provided in the paper will help the community at large.

School Libraries in India: Present-day Scenario

School Libraries in India: Present-day Scenario

A Plan for the Establishment of Networking in Technical Libraries

In the digital age, it becomes both a challenging issue and an opportunity for libraries to provide electronic resources in networked environment. With networking technology of Internet it is possible to form any number of logical networks using the Net as the backbone. Library and information system networking in India have come into existence more than two decades ago. By utilizing the support of the regional and national level networking, libraries in India should corporately establish library consortia for offering and shared electronic resources. Many libraries like technical libraries have their own network existing within their own locations. These networks can be expanded to enhance the access to the information resources through collaborative partnerships, in the form consortia. This paper also discusses about the library networking and INDEST–AICTE consortium.

Indian Library Association International Conference 2008: a report

Indian Library Association International Conference 2008: a report

Application of Radio Frequency Identification Technology in Libraries

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems were developed about 30 years ago. It is the latest technology to be used in libraries for book identification, for self checkout, and for sorting and conveying of library books and also for theft detection. These applications can lead to significant savings in labour costs and increase in efficiency. They can also reduce data entry errors, enhance customer service, and lower book theft and can provide a constant record update of media collections. The paper covers the components and technical features of a modern RFID library system to provide a guideline for the evaluation of this system. There are still many issues that must be addressed before RFID hits the big time. These include new technology for efficiency in operations, electromagnetic security systems, IT infrastructure to handle large amount of data, etc. Finally, the paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of RFID system in libraries, and the extent to which this technology has been introduced in a few Indian Libraries. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.29.254

Indian Library Association (ILA) annual conference report

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Indian Library Association (ILA) held during December 13‐16, 2008 in Hyderabad.Design/methodology/approachThis is a descriptive report.FindingsThe meeting discussed “Developing library and information resources and services in the internet era”, comprising “Public library as a community information centre/knowledge centre”, “Legislation for libraries in the internet era”, “Library 2.0 and Web 2.0”, “Collection/resource development policies”, “Management and evaluation of collection”, “Print and digital publications issues”, “Knowledge management and knowledge society” and “Open sources”.Originality/valueWill be of interest to library and information professionals.

Disaster planning in university libraries in India: a neglected area

Purpose – India is prone to natural disasters and disaster planning at the government level has gained momentum as new initiatives have been taken which are discussed briefly. But disaster planning in the university libraries in India remains a neglected area. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a case study of two university libraries in Punjab state of India that faced the fury of floods during July 1993. Their experience with disaster, losses incurred and action taken in libraries is discussed. The paper concludes with a few suggestions. For collecting information, annual reports of universities were consulted and face to face interviews were carried out for data collection from the librarian and the deputy librarian of the two university libraries who had experienced the floods.Findings – Among the two, one university library lost just over 70 per cent of its collection in flood. The other was fortunate and only minor loss was reported. Both the universi...

Impact and use of e‐resources by social scientists in National Social Science Documentation Centre (NASSDOC), India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the fact that electronic resources are a significant part of library collections. A large amount is invested in the development and management of e‐resources in the libraries. The study aims to identify the acceptance of e‐resources in the National Social Science Documentation Centre (NASSDOC) library in New Delhi, India and determine their usage, performance, degree of user satisfaction, and barriers faced in the access of e‐resources. It also attempts to find out the users' views about computer literacy among the social scientists.Design/methodology/approachThe study focuses on the impact and use of e‐resources by social scientists pursuing research in the NASSDOC library. The data were collected from the entire population of social scientists at NASSDOC through a questionnaire accompanied by personal interview. This was further analysed using statistical techniques and percentages to arrive at qualitative and quantitative results.FindingsThe major findings of the study indicate that respondents are aware of the e‐resources (such as e‐books, e‐journals, e‐encyclopedias, e‐theses, CD‐ROM databases, e‐mail, internet and the OPAC). Large numbers of research scholars and faculty members are using these e‐resources for their research work. Many faculty members strongly agreed with the necessity for computer and internet literacy to access information. A majority of users were satisfied with the e‐resources available at the NASSDOC library.Originality/valueThis is one of the first surveys conducted to identify the need and importance of e‐resources in a specific Indian library (NASSDOC) as well as the requirement for information literacy to enhance the use of available resources in the social sciences. It should pave the way to showing the value of such e‐resources for scholarly research in India.

Influence of Information Technology in Growth and Publication of Indian LIS Literature

Information technology has brought a tremendous change in the nature, boundaries and structure of information. The ongoing movement towards an electronic information society is pushing libraries towards automation and digitization. The revolution has brought impressive changes in the role of LIS professionals who are now being viewed as information managers/facilitators. These developments have also influenced LIS writings and publishing. This study shows that while the application of IT has gained considerable importance in Indian libraries, IT-based papers have surprisingly found less space in Indian LIS periodicals as compared to the LIS literature in general. The findings of this study also indicate that there is an uneven distribution of various topics within the Indian LIS IT-published literature; while some topics/areas of IT have received considerable attention others have been barely touched. Topics like IT in general, bibliographic databases, library networking, library automation and electronic resources have been found to predominate in the growth of Indian LIS literature as compared to the coverage of other areas of IT. Most papers (60%) have single authors, indicating a low amount of teamwork/collaborative writing. The paper's analysis also reveals that working professionals/librarians have made more contributions (48%) in comparison to teaching professionals (22%).

ENGLISH

Modern tool like computer has replaced traditional methods of storing and retrieving knowledge. Retrospective conversion of manual bibliographical records on online mode is considered to be the first step in the direction of computerisation process in the library. This paper attempts to analyse the retrospective conversion process undertaken by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), New Delhi, a premier social science research library in India. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.28.3.178

Creation of Digital Library of Manuscripts at Shivaji University, India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the digitization of rare materials in one Indian university.Design/methodology/approachThis paper highlights the digitization activities undertaken by Shivaji University Library to preserve rare materials. It attempts to calculate the costs incurred in the digitization process.FindingsThe paper finds that digitization is the solution for the preservation of, and access to, rare manuscripts.Practical implicationsThe paper provides the complete budget required for the digitization of manuscripts and also suggest best possible preservation and access strategy according to the local needs of the users.Originality/valueThe paper provides valuable insight into the development of digital libraries in India. It is useful for setting the infrastructure required for digitization and a guideline for preservation and access to the rare materials.

Digital Libraries in India: A Review

Recent years have seen several digital library development initiatives in India. To gain insight, assess and understand the growth, development and current status of digital library initiatives in India as reflected through scholarly journals, 63 published studies on digital libraries in India have been reviewed. The study reveals that most articles focus on developing digital libraries and digital collections except for a few studies on copyright issues and management of digital libraries. No studies have touched upon issues such as digital rights management, security and digital library policies.

The union catalogue of academic libraries in India: an initiative by INFLIBNET

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to describe the union databases maintained by the INFLIBNET for university libraries in India. INFLIBNET maintains union databases of serials, books, theses and an “experts” database. Efforts to collect the raw data, maintain it and make it available to the end user via the internet are also discussed.Design/methodology/approachThe article describes the workflow of maintaining union databases and the steps involved are discussed. Various software are being used to provide a systematic approach to these databases and to ensure that the searching for needed documents is user friendly; the user should be able to go automatically to the document supply system with a single click of the mouse button.FindingsIf the library system is large, it becomes most important to know the location of documents. The Indian educational system is one of the largest in the world. INFLIBNET maintains union databases of various types of documents for more than 150 university libraries and membership is growing rapidly to accommodate all university and college libraries. Many best procedures on bibliographic standards and guidelines have been adopted and are updated regularly. UniCat, an in house software package has been used to process bibliographic raw data which is then hosted on the website for access by users.Originality/valueThis article is significant to researchers and librarians in India and also more widely.

Web‐based OPACs in Indian academic libraries: a functional comparison

PurposeThe paper seeks to provide a comparative analysis of the functionality of five web‐based OPACs available in Indian academic libraries.Design/methodology/approachSame‐topic searches were carried out by three researchers on the web‐based OPACs of Libsys, VTLS's iPortal, NewGenLib, Troodon, and Alice for Windows, implemented in five academic libraries in India. Their functionality was compared using criteria selected from the literature on OPAC searching.FindingsThe web‐based OPACs investigated offered a range of facilities for searching by author, title, control number and by keywords. Federated searching across several e‐collections was limited.Originality/valueThis paper should be a useful source of information to librarians who are planning to introduce web‐based OPACs and also for software vendors who wish to improve the functionality of their products.