A Model of On-Line Resource Sharing in Delhi University Colleges
INTRODUCTION
Computer networking is the scientific and engineering discipline concerned with communication between computer systems. Such networks involve at least two devices capable of being networked. Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub–discipline of telecommunication, and sometimes of computer science information technology and computer engineering. A computer network is any set of computers or devices connected to each other. Examples of networks are the internet, a wide area network that is the largest to ever exist or a small home local area network (LAN) with two computers connected with standard networking cables connecting to a network interface card in each computer.
In library land there are many ways of keeping up and keeping connected with our fellow librarians. The libraries of 21st century should facilitate the transition of today’s literate society to a knowledge – based society of tomorrow. We have to create local area network of Libraries and information systems so as to facilitate global access of knowledge sharing.
1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The present study is being done keeping all these facts in mind. The researcher has developed a Model for Online Resource Sharing among South Campus Colleges of University of Delhi. There is a strong Information and Communication Technology (ICT) network across the city set up by the university, but no initiation has been taken up to date for online resource sharing among different colleges of the university as there is no inter linking of the colleges through the network. It is an urgent need of the college teachers and students.
2. Need of the Study
Over the past few years, there has been an online revolution in user generated content. It is now quite easy to share their work on the web, whether text, photographs, audio or video. Developments in computers, microelectronics, and communication technologies have radically changed the library and information environment. Gone are the days of stand-alone libraries, in which a library was judged less by the quality of its services than by the number of documents it had available. We are surrounded by automated, digital and virtual libraries as well as by networked data, specialized networks and library networks.
Multimedia and the Internet have further made the job of library and information professionals more challenging. There is a paradigm shift from a parent-child relationship between information provider and user to an “adult-adult” relationship. The college libraries are not an exception to all these changes. They also have to cope with this situation. There is an enormous rise in digital literature like e-books, e-journals and other multi media literature etc at college level. This type of literature can easily be shared online.
The college and university libraries face enormous challenges and opportunities these days. As campuses move into the information age, the mission and role of the library is being redefined. While the amount of information libraries need to acquire continues to increase, the resources available to do so are insufficient. After opening the Indian economy to the global market, giant MNCs started coming in to operate in India. Moreover the popularity of the IT sector and its application to business organization led to the increase in the demand for graduates, who have the knowledge of ICTs techniques. The students can acquire such type of knowledge only, when they are familiar with these techniques while studying. So, keeping all these factors in mind the researcher chooses this study of Online Resource Sharing at graduate level and is presenting a model of networking for the South Campus College Libraries. There are some other needs in addition to the above mentioned. They are as follows:
To provide access to information resources irrespective of geographical location. Potential improvement of library and information operations by interconnecting individual library systems. To cope with the reducing library budgets. To improve the quality level of the students. To give them exposure to the new communication technologies
3. OBJECTIVES:
The philosophy behind the concept of resource sharing among the South Campus colleges is to provide ‘access’ to library resources and services of different college libraries, as a measure of economics and efficiency. It is based on the concept of ‘equivalence’ i.e. libraries should not only receive but also give resources. The under mentioned are the main objectives of the present study.
To provide better services in an economic way. To reduce and control the cost of existing services. To minimize the operational cost of the collection development. To remove the quality gap. To maximize the use of library resources. To acquaint the undergraduates students to the new communication technologies. To create a knowledge management system on the network that will enable students to navigate through these resources in a standard, intuitive and consistent way. To connect to the network all important information sources, specialized instruments, and computing resources worth sharing.
4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:
Online Resource Sharing in Academic institutions is a burning topic of the present era throughout the world. It is critical for effective functioning of libraries. Increased availability of information in digital format and high costs of journal subscription compels the libraries to work together. The maximum usage of library resources enables academics to improve their teaching and research, and students to learn more and achieve better results in their work.
University Grants Commission has also launched an ambitious programme to bring about a qualitative change in the academic infrastructure. UGC is modernizing the university campus with state-of-the-art campus wide networks and setting up its own nation wide communication network. So, In the present study I have covered the few of South Campus colleges keeping in view the courses covered by them and moreover the approach and location of the colleges making the Acharya Narendra Dev College as an apex college at the top.
Through this network faculty and students both will get benefited. Because both will get a platform for communicating with their counterparts online through the following services:
On-line catalogue access for shared cataloguing and location identification Inter-library loan request processing. Document delivery (Fax /Non Fax) Academic communication through electronic mail for faculty Use of infrastructure of participating colleges by their students.
5. METHODOLOGY: Research methodology has many dimensions. The present study is a type of model for online resource sharing. It is a kind of pilot study and unique in itself. No steps have been taken in this direction till today. The researcher has chosen randomly four colleges of South Campus, just keeping in mind the courses offered by them, as it will be the major factor for resource sharing.
The model has been suggested on the basis of information collected through observation and interviewing the students and faculty members of the respective colleges selected for online resource sharing of library services.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic. According to Cooper “ A literature review uses as its database, reports of primary or original scholarship and does not report new primary scholarship itself. The primary report used in the literature may be verbal, but in the vast majority of cases, reports are written documents. The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic or methodological in nature.
Secondly a literature review seeks to describe, summarize, evaluate, clarify and /or integrate the content of primary reports.” It is done to know about what literature is available or what works have already been done on the particular area of concern. It can also be defined as a survey of progress in a particular subject over a given period of time. It may be ranging from a bibliographical index or a mere list of references to a general critical review of original publications on the subject covered.
In the present study the researcher have covered following type of literature: Internet use Primary Sources Secondary Sources
Mr. Goswami and Mr. Saharia states that there is a vast difference between the expertise of technical personnel from abroad and from India, barring those few qualifying from the handful of the premier institutions. Even inside India there is a vast difference in the quality of the technical graduates and what to talk about of general or Honours graduates from other universities of India. After opening the Indian economy to the global market, giant MNCs started coming to India. The employment opportunities for IIT and IIM graduates are better off than graduates qualifying from the major chunk of the academic institutions. They have to struggle hard to get themselves absorbed by a reputed business organization. The difference lies in the quality level of the in coming students, exposure level at the various institutions and infrastructure available at the different institutions. They suggested for networking of the academic institutions to improve the overall quality level of the technical graduates.
Manjunatha K and D. Shivalingaiah describes that in the age of digital evolution and escalating price of electronic information, resource sharing is critical for effective functioning of libraries. Increased availability of information in digital format and high costs of journal subscription compels the libraries to work together. Technical advancements provide a platform for digital resource sharing and offer many opportunities for librarians to become more technical and professional. This paper attempts to identify the needs and factors influencing the electronic resource sharing and also presents requirements and strategies for effective resource sharing in academic libraries.
Tadasad, Maheswarappa and Alur in their paper Use of Internet by Under-Graduate Students of P D A V College of Engineering, Gulbarga present the report of the survey conducted on use of Internet by one hundred and ninety-three undergraduate students of engineering. Observes that, the Internet use is confined to general or recreational purposes and its potential in supporting curricular requirements has not been realized by the students. Very few students are making the use of Internet at college and this needs to be increased. Also Internet facility should be extended to library, as it has become an important source of information, facilitating effective communication and being a major information retrieval tool. Concludes that awareness needs to be created among the students for using Internet in addition to the library facilities and training is to be provided to acquaint students with Internet and its resources.
With the aim of establishing a comprehensive link between the libraries of the universities in the country, the University Grants Commission (UGC) proposes to launch a massive a sum of Rs. 27 crore for this project. Dr. T.A.V. Murthy, Director INFLIBENT, Ahmedabad gave this information, during his key-note address. He mentioned that the head office of this network would be established in Bangalore. He also informed that under the programme every university will have V-sats and it would the faculty to share information. The work on the project is likely to start soon.
Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) is a major mission of the UGC initiated in 1991 with an objective to automate and network libraries in Academic and R and D system to facilitate resource sharing at different levels and promote scholarly communication among academicians and researchers in the country. Till now, 142 universities have been funded by the UGC under this programme for automation and networking. Creation of national union databases, development of an integrated library management software, human resource development, on-site training, providing bibliographic information services, extending technical help and guidance from time to time to academic libraries in automation and networking are some of the major activities of the INFLIBNET center
Very soon centre is going to play major role in E-learning. A number of modules are under development on different subjects, which will be mounted on centre’s web site for facilitating distance education through e-learning. UGC has signed on MOU with ERNET India for establishing UGC Network linking about 170 universities, UGC Regional Centres and IUC’s. This network will also have connectivity to Internet. INFLIBNET will play a major role in content creation for this network. It is trying to create awareness about library automation and spread IT culture among library professionals.
Resources sharing is the sharing of library resources such as document collection, staff members, technical facilities and mechanical aids among the participating libraries. The objective of resource sharing is obviously to make the greatest amount of best information available to the most users at the reasonable cost.
Library co-operation is age old and can be traced to 200BC when Alexandria Library shared its resources with Pergamon Library. According to Kraus, there existed library co-operation among monastery libraries in the 13th century. There were exchanges of agreements among the universities of Lund, Abo and Greifswald as early as 1740. The other examples of library cooperation include a projected union catalogue of the libraries of Weimar and Jean and a proposal for a co-ordinated acquisition scheme for Walfenbuttel and Gottengen. The 'Catalogue of Manuscripts in various parts of India' complied by Whitney Stokes in 1868, and in 1863 Part I of Sanskrit manuscripts in private libraries of North-west provinces covering Varanasi was published. The first major union list entitled 'A Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals' was complied by Henry C.Bolton in 1885. With the advent of the 20th century, the Library of Congress started co-operative cataloguing projects and began working on the National Union Catalogue.
The NISSAT agenda for library networks is limited to the development of metropolitan systems, the logic being that libraries and library users in close geographical proximity can effectively utilize a library network. Given this, the goal of information/library networks is to interlink information resources in a metropolitan area such that users could access information irrespective of its location, format, medium, language, etc. Further, the development of such networks requires actions in several areas such as training, rationalization of acquisition of information resources, diffusion of standards, preparation of union lists, generation of database services apart from setting up hardware, software and communication facilities.
NISSAT strives further to develop self-sustaining information systems. With this end in view, NISSAT goes to the extent of setting up general infrastructure facilities like network service centers including hardware, software, manpower, organizational requirements and communication facilities. The participating institutions in a network have to arrange for their own terminal hardware, software, and manpower to take the responsibility of database development. Of course, NISSAT extends support for training, and common facilities like development of standards, preparation of union catalogues, data conversion and so on.
Ms. Pushplata Srivastava in her article in Library Herald highlights the importance of libraries in 21st century as an effective mechanism to facilitate dissemination of knowledge, promoting information and knowledge sharing rather than as a store house of knowledge. The term Network is used in place of Resource Sharing or Cooperative system because of two important reasons, potential improvement of library and information operations by interconnecting individual library systems with the more recently developed facilities for data and information transfer, and the significant role played by the computer telecommunications and new reprographic techniques. Networking, therefore, is one of the frontal areas of focus for the libraries of 21st century.
Ms. Preeti Mahajan in her article titled Academic Libraries in India : A Present–Day Scenario emphasizes that with the advent of computers, the nature of libraries has changed dramatically. Computers are being used in libraries to process, store, retrieve and disseminate information. As a result the traditional concept of library is being redefined from a place to access books to one which houses the most advanced media including CD-ROM, Internet and remote access to a wide range of resources. Today, libraries are surrounded by networked data that is connected to a vast ocean of Internet based services.
Bernard G. Sloan in his article Resource Sharing among Academic Libraries: The LCS Experience states that the Statewide Library Computer System (LCS) has been an established operational resource-sharing system in Illinois for more than five years. Resource-sharing activities among the 27 participating academic libraries include contributions to OCLC, LCS interlibrary circulation, and access by Illinois Library and Information Network systems. Fifteen sources are given. (EJS)
Kalpana Dasgupta in her paper Libraries and librarians in India on the threshold of the 3rd millennium: challenges and risks presented at IFLA conference emphasis on the cooperation at all levels starting from the local to the global in the new millennium. Cooperation is a pre-requisite for all types of networking for resource sharing. Therefore, the following must be ensured before preparing the plan for linkages between university libraries. Institutional commitment to accept the given measures. Fund and support resource sharing solution. Attitudinal changes in library staff to undertake additional responsibility in resource sharing environment. Training of library staff to understand and appreciate the changed situation. If these pre-requisites are made available the university libraries could plan for resource sharing programmes, apprenticeship in libraries for learning new skills and IT training programmes, consultancy in retro-conversion and in developing IT infrastructure. All these put together will be the basis of preparing a perspective plan and evolve a vision for university libraries in the country.
As regards college libraries, most colleges have libraries but other than very well known colleges in each state, the ordinary colleges do not run libraries of any consequence. Therefore, India faces the challenges of actually preparing a perspective plan from scratch i.e., from collection development to networking through IT solutions, and will need a complete blueprint to develop these two types of libraries during the coming centuries. India has set up the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) under the University Grants Commission (UGC) as the inter-university agency on library modernization to take the initiative and address the issues required to implement the perspective plan for the Academic sector. Each university and its affiliated college libraries also should be part of the overall scheme of development. Fred Friend in his keynote address in a joint RLG – CURL symposium on International Resource Sharing states that librarians have always shared information about the holdings of their libraries and encouraged users to visit other libraries. The first is the arrangement for all students in the colleges of the University of London to have reference access in term time to the libraries of all the colleges. This arrangement has been in operation for many years, and although some libraries like BLPES find that they are bearing a disproportionate share of the communal load, by and large the arrangement has worked and is producing genuine benefits to teaching within the colleges through resource sharing. The second example is the bilateral arrangement between UCL and the University of Westminster for access to each other's libraries by each other's students. This is a good example, because when it was first proposed it raised all the old fears about resource sharing. At UCL they were worried about a flood of undergraduates from a former polytechnic coming to use their strong collections. There have been such tensions in particular areas but by and large the fears were unjustified. And UCL has benefited from the arrangement through use by its students of University of Westminster libraries, which are close to the students' places of residence. In our fear of being overwhelmed by Westminster students and it was observed that students use libraries not only for their collections but also for their location.
He suggested that such arrangements may not work in every city or between every institution in a city, but he felt that such steps can be taken to encourage resource sharing for undergraduates. They are the major users numerically and until we meet their need to use other libraries, resource sharing will be a minority activity. Minority activities are difficult to justify in funding applications and, apart from any philanthropic motive we may have for resource sharing, it may be in our selfish interests to engage in resource sharing on a large scale and demonstrate the value of our collections to users from other institutions. It was the perception that CURL libraries were more willing to be accessible that unlocked JISC funding of the CURL database. I do not know whether our libraries are more accessible than they were five years ago, but it was the statement of CURL libraries' willingness to be accessible that was important. My London examples also illustrate that resource sharing initiatives can, if administered sensibly, benefit individual institutions. Resource sharing is not one-way traffic. Every one can be benefited through it. M. Christina Vasanthi in his article The Changing Environment of Academic Libraries : End-User Education and Planning Strategies for Libraries in India throws light on the facts that developments in computers, microelectronics and communication technologies have radically changed the library and information environment. Due to recent economic recession, money for education and libraries in India became very tight, requiring cuts in serial subscriptions and book purchases for academic libraries. A library Planning and Action Initiative (LPAI) must be implemented. The first and foremost action of LPAI is of Resource sharing throughout the academic libraries as a strategy to maximize the resources available for print collections that meet the needs of students and faculty for information needed in teaching and research.
Cholin, Prakash and Murthy in their paper Sharing Resources in the Electronic Information Environment : Role of INFLIBNET – UGC emphasizes that exponential growth in literature, price escalation, budget restrictions etc. with which resource acquisition has been restricted leads the way towards Networking of academic libraries for Resource sharing. Electronic resources are also revolutionizing the academic libraries. It is the high time for the libraries to come together and increase their access base by sharing its resources with other libraries and get mutually benefited.
Nagarajan and Surianarayanan describes in their paper Resource Sharing and Inter-Library Loan in Academic Libraries in the Digital Era have got new dimension and these essential and scholarly services needed for the students, researchers, staff and the faculty have been carried out through internet, world wide web, e-mail, Online Data Access and Electronic Data Interchange. It explains various technological tools and networks available in the world for digital resource sharing and interlibrary loan for the benefit of academic community e.g. OCLC ILLiad, ICA2, ILLINET ONLINE, INN-REACH etc. The digital resource sharing and interlibrary loan services have created an awareness among the academic community and developed a hope that they could get any latest updated information and resources quickly and cost effectively from anywhere in the world. The OPAC systems, the technological inventions and the development of cooperative thinking among the participating libraries have made these routines, a grand success by overcoming the barriers like financial scrounge etc. If the Government frames its policies and plans to support the development of digital information technology, the Indian higher education will become a model for all.
Pandian, Jambhelkar andKarisiddappa in their paper IIM Digital Library System, Consortia based Approach feel that with the advent of internet and WWW, it is possible to provide instantaneous access to the sources available. It provides a framework for the design and development of an internet model based on a consortia approach. It will facilitate information access and use by providing a single web-enabled window to the information users of the participating institutes in the consortia programme not only to their resources, but resources in the other institutions as well. It will also bridge a gap between information resources rich and information deficient libraries.
REFERENCES: 1.Cholin, Prakash and Murthy, Sharing Resources in the Electronic Information Environment : Role of INFLIBMENT – UGC Seminar Papers 48th ILA Conference held at NIMHANS, Bangalore, Jan. 2003. Pp. 153-163.
2.Dasgupta, Kalpana, Libraries and librarians in India on the Threshold of the 3rd Millennium:Challenging and Risks in IFLA Conference
3.Friend. Fred, Resource Sharing between UK Academic Libraries in A Joint RLG- CURL Symposium on International Resource Sharing
4.Goswami, Chandan and Saharia, Sarat, Making Quality of Accessible Knowledge Equivalent Globally : Networking of Academic Institutions http://WWW.tezu.ernet.in/dba/Faculty/chandan/network.html 5.http://www.icfai.org/icde/map/BLSc/map2.htm
6.http://www.icfai.org/icde/map/BLSc/map3.htm
7.Mahajan, Preeti, Academic Libraries in India : a Present - Day Scenario in Library Philosophy and Practice Vol. 8, No.1 (Fall 2005), http://www.webpages.vidaho.edu/mbolin/mahajan.htm
8.Manjunatha K and Shivalingaiah, D. Electronic Resource Sharing in Academic Libraries
9.Nagarajan, M. and Surianarayan, S. Resource Sharing and Inter-library Loan in Academic Libraries in the Digital Era. Seminar Papers 48th ILA Conference held at NIMHANS, Bangalore, Jan. 2003. Pp. 192 –198.
10.Pandian, P. etal IIM Digital Library Systems, Consortia Based Approach, Journal/Electronic Library/2002/V.20, No.3 , Pp. 211-214.
11.Sloan, Bernard G. Resource Sharing among Academic Libraries: The LCS Experience, Journal of Academic Librarianship Vol.12, No.1, Mar.1986, Pp. 26-29.
12.Srivastava, Pushplata Network Information System, Library Herald, Vol.45, No.1, Mar. 2007, Pp. 41-50.
13.Tadasad,P.G. etal Use of Internet by Under Graduate Students of P D A V College of Engineering, Gulbarga Pp.31-42
14.Vasanthi, M. Christina, The Changing Environment of Academic Libraries : End–User Education and Planning Strategies for Libraries in India, Library Philosophy and Practice, Vol. 4, No.1, (Fall 2001) http://www.webpages.vidaho.edu/~mbolin/vasa-enduser.html UNIVERSITY WIDE ICT NETWORK There is a strong Information and Communication Technology (ICT) network across the city set up by University of Delhi with in a very short period of time. It was funded by Department of Information Technology of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology with a grant of Rs. 3.85 crore as a part of Gyan Vahini project of e-enabling Universities.
1. Infrastructure A gigabit fibre-optic backbone had been laid in the two campuses of the University. Initially there was provision for 3000 nodes, stretched across nearly 80 buildings, covering all departments, centers and administrative units of the University, 13 campus colleges and 16 on-campus hostels. The project was executed by ERNET India on a turnkey basis and the network was inaugurated in December 2003.
The network has subsequently been upgraded with the help of an additional grant of Rs. 2 crore from the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The reach of the network has been extended, the North and south campuses have been connected directly by a dedicated wireless link. Sixty four off-campus colleges have been brought on the University network through wireless. At present there is more than 6000 network access points. The users can access Internet through 20 Mbps bandwidth in both the campuses. Almost, every faculty member, official and research scholar has an individual electronic mailbox that can be accessed remotely from anywhere on the Internet.
2. Features The features of the ICT network of University of Delhi is as follows: It is always on Multiple connectivity modes High throughput Intelligent bandwidth management Simple end-user configuration Delhi University’s private network 3. Services Provided Through the ICT Network The services available at University network are as follows: 1.University Portal 2.E-mail 3.Learning Management System 4.Listing 5.Forums 6.E-prints Archive 7.E-books Archive 8.Institutional Web Hosting 9.Individual Web Hosting 10.Training 11.Application Software 12.Help Desk
Every faculty member and research scholar has the e-mail facility. The Learning management system is the entry point for various online courses and other support material for regular courses of the University. Both students and teachers can use this site. Courses can be initiated by faculty members of Delhi University and its constituent colleges.
Delhi University Eprint Archive is running on GNU Eprints repository-creating software, which generates eprints repositories that are compliant with the Open Archives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting OAI 1.1 and 2.0.
There are at present 700 web books relating to Literature, Philosophy, Science and History. Each work has been carefully formatted for maximum readability either on screen or when printed. Works can be read online, or downloaded for offline reading. They are listed alphabetically by author and by title. All of the works in the collection may also be found by searching the Library Catalogue. The University subscribes to a number of electronic journals, with the help of the UGC-Infonet-Inflibnet consortium. Electronic subscriptions to a collection of the world’s most prestigious journals had become accessible to users throughout the University and its affiliated colleges. Here I am attaching some diagrams of ICT network of University of Delhi downloaded from the University’s web site. Now by observing these diagrams and information got through them, shows that there is a well-established ICT network in University of Delhi covering its different departments at North campus, its constituent colleges all over Delhi and wireless link up of North and South campus. But presently no endeavors can be seen to connect online the different college libraries.
But all the colleges have developed their web sites. Inter linking through them can be done for online resource sharing. As all the colleges have required infrastructure.
A SUGGESTED MODEL
Delhi University colleges are upgrading their computer facilities. Teachers who are computer savvy can make learning more interesting for students though not all who teach in Delhi University are computer literate, but it is a first step towards acquaintance of new technology. It can be especially useful to differently abled students. There is special software available in the market for blind students, which help them scan books and have them read aloud. Students and teachers also have access to online journals.
The faculty of Delhi University, however, still follows old teaching practices. Tutorials are given in hand written and e-mailing assignments to Professors is an exception rather than the norm. Besides going online adds the risk of plagiarism and copy-pasting assignments off the Internet, often from unreliable sources. But it is a matter of taking the good with the bad. For conscientious student it is a boon.
To improve the quality level of teaching, acquainting and familiarizing the students with the new and advanced emerging communication technologies, a model to connect the different colleges through a network is suggested in the present study. It is necessary that College Libraries need to focus on the creation of professional services to meet the potential information needs.
1. Impact of Information Technology However, modern information technology has made the task of resource sharing very simple and convenient. The new technology brings forward to the information field many products and services which have changed the nature of fundamental library objectives and operations. There are two technologies that have contributed to these revolutionary changes. These are Computer technology and Telecommunication technology. As indicated earlier, the past few decades have witnessed knowledge and information explosion the world over and inadequate financial resources to do the best in terms of dissemination of knowledge and information. Under these circumstances, resource sharing and cooperative functioning of libraries and information centers through networking becomes vital. Efficient resource sharing can be achieved by using recent advances in Information Technology, i.e. networking of libraries and information centers through Local Area Networks, Metropolitan Area Networks, Wide Area Network and so on. Network of information/Resource sharing is to use the computer and telecom link for transmission of information or data from one library to another. Keeping this concept in view, various library networks have been established for cooperation and resource sharing among libraries. They have grown mostly during the last thirty years in different geographical environments in order to cater to the specific needs of users. In the United States, there has been a proliferation of them. Library networks in other countries are also growing. Several models have emerged that provide specific services. Not all networks conform to the essential functions of library networks. However, it is noted that the essential functions should include: Promotion of resource sharing, Creation of resource sharing tools like bibliographic databases such as union lists of serials, union catalogue of books, periodicals, bibliographic databases of articles and other types of materials such as CDs, Video recording, sound recording, theses, dissertations etc., Rationalization of acquisition, Adoption of international standards for creation of records uniformly, Delivery of documents, etc. 2. Information and Communication Technology, Resource Sharing and the Networking Models Over the last two decades the libraries have witnessed impact of information technology that has been affecting the structure of the services to a great extent. The introduction and application of these modern means have elevated the modern day library to a very high pedestal improving and alluring its image, function and services to a revolutionary extent.
Moreover, the problems of space, standardization, professional development of the staff, challenges posed by new technologies, drastic cuts in the library budgets have aggravated problem of the present day librarianship. However, the solution to the problems of information explosion, ever changing needs of users, increasing amount required for subscription to same number of periodicals, shrinking library budget, and devaluation of rupee and its impact on the library acquisitions can best overcome upon certain level by the following means:
Use of computer and communication networks for resource sharing; Use of national and international databases through communications networks; Introduction to full text CD based systems. Various Resource Sharing networks have been observed at local, regional, national and international levels. Normally, three levels of resource sharing networks exist: Local Regional National
3. Organizational Pattern of the Network Model We can divide the existing networks according to their functionality characteristics as under:
3.1 Centralized Collection Development at Organizational Level
This model aims at developing a shared collection of documentary resources by limiting the scope of cooperation to libraries belonging to a single bigger organization such as the Defence Research Documentation Orgaization(DRDO), Department of Electronics(DoE), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The shared collection is acquired centrally at a single site. The participating libraries contribute towards the central funds for building the shared collections as well as for providing services.
3.2 Coordinated Collection Development at Institutional Level In this model a group of participating libraries take the initiative to co-ordinate their acquisitions. Their objective is to eliminate duplication in acquisitions to the extent it is possible. Further, the member libraries undertake to give services such as information access and document delivery. This model leads to the concept of decentralized development of collection at the level of participating libraries and also to decentralized system of giving services.
The individual libraries, participating in the programme, determine their level of support to the programme for building the shared resources. The higher their budget, the higher is their support. User libraries are required to pay for the services they avail of. The geographical area of co-operation could confine to a city, region, or country. This model is in operation in most of the resource sharing programmes started by various library networks such as Delhi Library Network (DELNET), Bombay Library Networking(BONET), Madras Library Network (MALIBNET) and Information Library Networking (INFLIBNET)
4. Resource Sharing in Developed and the Developing Countries Library networks have grown mostly during the last thirty years in different geographical environment in order to cater to the specific needs of the users. In the United States there has been a proliferation of them. Library networks in other countries are also growing. Several models have emerged that provided specific services. Not all networks conform to the essential functions of library networks.
However, the essential functions should include the promotion of Resource Sharing, creation of resource sharing tools like Union Catalogues, rationalisation of acquisition and maintenance of International standards for creation of records uniformly. Libraries should be able to join different types of networks depending upon the need and select a model, which conforms to its requirements.
In the developed countries resource-sharing networking was started long back. For instance the growth of networks in the United States can be traced from the mid of 1960. USA is the birthplace of library networking and by now libraries in each state is networked to local, regional and national network.
5. Criteria For Selecting The South Campus Colleges For Online Resource Sharing
As described in the earlier chapter, presently there is no inter college network. All the colleges of South Campus are connected to the central hub on the star topology pattern. Which means they are unable to communicate with each other for online resource sharing. There are twenty two (22) colleges under the purview of South Campus (List is appended with). So. It is not an easy job to connect all the colleges at once in the pioneering stage.
It is being a pilot study the researcher has selected only four colleges in the near by vicinity to share their resources. They are the following;
1.Acharya Narendra Dev College 2.Atma Ram Sanatan Dharam College 3.P G D A V College 4.Sri Venkateswara College
5.1 Acharya Narendra Dev College Acharya Narendra Dev College is a constituent college of University of Delhi operating under the aegis and fully funded by Government of NCT, Delhi. Established in 1991, the college has a unique distinction of being the only college in the University of Delhi that is primarily for science. It is named after the great educationist and reformist of modern India, Acharya Narendra Dev. Over the years, it has acquired repute for the meritorious profile of its student population, their sense of discipline and social responsibility.
5.11 Courses Offered: Courses on offer are several Bachelor of Science programmes for pure and applied science streams such as: B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry B.Sc. (Hons.) Electronics B.Sc. (Hons.) Computer Science B.Sc. (Hons.) Mathematics B.Sc. (Hons.) Botany B.Sc. (Hons.) Zoology B.Sc. (Hons.) Biomedical Sc. B.Sc. Physical sciences B.Sc. Life Sciences B.Sc. Applied Physical Sciences B.Sc. Applied Life Science (Sericulture)
5.12 Library The college has a very well equipped and furnished library housed in a spacious hall. The library is fully computerised and all the house keeping jobs are automated. It is the pioneer college library of University of Delhi to have computerised circulation of books. It has Internet facility also for students, teachers and the staff. The college library has a healthy collection of books numbering to 17,000 (Seventeen Thousand) and subscribe to near about Thirty journals of repute in different subject areas of courses offered by the college. 5.13 E Learning Projects The Principal Dr. Savithri Singh is coordinating a collaborative an e-learning project on development of Open and distance Learning Certificate courses on Bamboo and Rattan through the wikieducator.
5.2 Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College Atma Ram Sanatan Dharam (ARSD College), formerly Sanatan Dharma College, is a co-educational constituent college of the University of Delhi. The college was founded on August 3, 1959 by the Sanatan Dharma Sabha, Delhi. Late Shri Atma Ram Chadha, who was a well-known philanthropist, a visionary who was keenly interested in the propagation of education, took over as chairman of the college governing body in the year 1967. The college is now functioning under the leadership of the chairman, Mr. Chander Mohan Chadha. The college moved to the present picturesque site at Dhaula Kuan in July 1965. The campus covers an area of 11.3 acres. The college has highly qualified and experienced teaching faculty with scholars of international repute, and efficient non-teaching staff. 5.21 Courses Offered: The college offered courses in Arts, Commerce, Computer, Pure and applied sciences like: B.A (Pass Course) B.A.(Hons) Eng. B.A.(Hons) Hindi B.A.(Hons) Eco B.A.(Hons) History B.A.(Hons) Pol. Sc. B.A.(Hons) Mathematics B. Com.(Pass) B. Com (Hons) B.Sc.(Hons)Phy B.Sc.(Hons)Elec B.Sc.(Hons)Chem B.Sc.(Hons) Math B.Sc.(Hons) Comp. B.Sc. Physical Sc. B.Sc. Applied Physical Science(Elec.) B.Sc. Applied Physical Science (Ind. Chem.)
5.22 Library: The college has a well-stocked excellent library having collection of nearly One Lakh Books and also suscribe to a number of scholarly journals. It is also in a way of computerisation. The administrative day today functions of the library are computerised. They are having presently five computers for house keeping jobs of library. They are in a process of data entry for computerising their circulation work also.
5.3 P.G.D.A.V. College P.G.D.A.V. College is one of the prominent and old colleges of Delhi established in 1957, it is one of the premier colleges of the University of Delhi and is a part of its South Campus. It is known for its high standards in teaching. It offers courses at the Undergraduate and Post Graduate levels in various subjects. Situated on a prime location in Nehru Nagar (near VIMHANS Hospital) on the Ring Road, it ensures easy connectivity from all parts of Delhi, Noida and Faridabad. The expansion of P.G.D.A.V. is Pannalal Girdharlal Dayanand Anglo Vaidic.
5.31 Courses Offered The college offers the following courses: B.Sc. Statistics B.Sc. Comp.Sc. B.Com.(Hons) B.Sc. (Gen) Mathematical Sciences B.Com. (Pass) B.A. (Hons) Mathematics B.A. (Hons) History B.A. (Hons) Economics B.A. (Hons) Political Science B.A. (Hons) English B.A. (Hons) Hindi B.A. (Hons) Sanskrit.
5.32 Library It has well equipped computerized library, with more than 70,000 books, wide range of research journals and magazines along with Internet facilities are available to all the students of the college.
5.4 Sri Venkateswara College Sri Venkateswara College is one of the premier colleges of University of Delhi. The College is considered to be one of the leading educational institutions in the country founded under the auspices of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust, the primary objective of the College was to cater to the educational needs of students from South India. The foundation stone of the College building was laid on 20th August 1961, by Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India. The College began functioning modestly in 1961 in a school building of the Andhra Education Society at Rouse Avenue, New Delhi, with 271 students and 13 Faculty members. It moved into its own spacious buildings located at Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi on 25th August, 1969. The College commenced with B.A. courses in Telugu and Tamil, besides Hindi and Sanskrit as the subjects in Modern Indian Languages. The institution soon outgrew its regional character and has now become one of the most sought after co-educational colleges of India.
5.41 Courses Offered Sri Venkateswara College is essentially a liberal arts and Science college. The courses offered by the College are as under: B. Sc. (General) Group B B.Sc. (Hons) Botany B.Sc. (Hons) Chemistry B.Sc. (Hons) Mathematics B.Sc. (Hons) Bio-chemistry B.Sc. (Hons) Statistics B.Sc. (Hons) Electronics B.Sc. (Hons) Zoology B.Sc. (Hons) Physics B. Com. (Hons) B.Com. (Pass) B. A. Programme B. A. (Hons) in Economics, English, Hindi, Sociology, Sanskrit, Political Science, History and Mathematics
5.42Library The college has a well established fully computerized library. Library has the collection of around 70,000 books & 125 journals in various subjects like Scinence, Commerce, Social science & Humanities. The circulation is computerized. All the books are barcoded. Bar coded Identity cards have been issued to the students and faculty members for getting the books & journals issued.
For providing computerized library services to the students & faculty members it has purchased commercially developed Library management software LIBSYS with two Linux based servers connected to 10 computers. Library has separate section for providing Internet. Eight PCs are provided for the staff & fourteen for the students for browsing which are attached through Local Area Network.
The above colleges are selected on the basis of Non-Probability Sampling technique. Acharya Narendra Dev College will be at the Apex of the inter college network for online resource sharing among the libraries of these colleges. These colleges are selected after studying, analyzing and considering many factors in mind. They are as follows. Courses offered by the colleges. Availability of infrastructure for online resource sharing. Adequate manpower to maintain the above facilities. Willingness of the library staff to provide services.
6. MODEL All the participating colleges will share resources through efficient inter library loan system on coordinated collection development basis at college level. The Acharya Narendra Dev College library will act as a nodal library and shall take initiative for installing an integrated CD-ROM network system. The model will be setup through internet facility in the initial stage, as it will be economical and feasible also.
6.1 Topology Used All the colleges of University of Delhi have the facility of internet and have also developed their Websites. So, the inter college network for online resource sharing of library facility will be based on internet topology, as to start with it will be convenient and economical. Colleges are fully equipped with computers and other related equipment for giving online document delivery services. According to the model there will be a central hub linking the websites of the above mentioned colleges. The central hub will manage the information flow among the colleges. The websites of the individual colleges will have detail information regarding all aspects of the colleges like Faculty information Library information Publications by the faculty members. The faculty members of all the colleges should have a home page of their own covering the courses they teach so that, faculty members from other colleges can take help from if necessity arises. In this way they can provide equal level of coaching to the students, which in turn is the must for online resource sharing of library facilites as they are whole sole dependent on the teaching methodology of any college .
6.2 Functioning of the Network The colleges have to register to have access to the central hub. Each college will be provided with an account that will be necessary to log into the central web site. The colleges will in turn assign accounts to its users. Passwords are mandatory for these accounts. A user from a college can log in to the central web site through the college web site after logging in to it by using the account assigned to him/her by the college. The two-tier access provision is suggested due to following reasons: To minimize the chance of the college account being misused To reduce the burden on the central web site of providing and managing accounts to each student and faculty members of all the colleges.
6.3 Administrative Aspects: It is suggested that a body comprising of representatives from the participating colleges to look after the working of the inter college network. A periodic review of the web sites will be done on the basis of download count. If the deviation of the download count of any college is to the negative side form the average high, the central body will advise to improve the quality of the content of website. Before the network is established, a set of protocols has to be formulated for the college libraries to adhere to. These are as follows:
6.4 Protocols for Resource Sharing There is no concept of membership fee. Participating colleges will share the existing resources only. Each college is independent. To make this networking efficient, the staff will be given proper training. The attitude of such people is of critical importance. Use of electronic form of publication for sharing resources. At a later stage, duplication of costly and highly used Journals may be avoided. Some mutual agreement and the same can be shared through the network. This network is decentralized form of acquisition and storage in building the shared resources. This would be technically valuable and economical also. Each participating library will function as a provider library for each and every item e.g. books, CD-ROMs and a set of periodicals and thus be committed to maintain the subscription of these titles. Each library will prepare a union catalogue of books and periodicals holding available in their library and make it available to the participating libraries. All participating libraries will maintain the collection of photocopies of articles received under the resource sharing agreement to meet repeated/multiple requirements and to avoid the duplicate requests. All participating libraries will open an e-mail account to deliver on-line document delivery service on priority. It will provide web based library and information services also. It will translate the concept of resource sharing into reality for the library. Create awareness among users about resources and services. Integrated and comprehensive website for the libraries. Formulation of working group.
6.5 Infrastructure Required: Many colleges may argue that becoming a member to this network will call for an investment in physical infrastructure and they lack funds. But this type of problem will not arise in colleges of University of Delhi as U G C is funding in abundance to the colleges for infrastructure development for such type of networks. The required infrastructure is as follows: Website Adequate computer hour to access the internet for readers. Scanner Fax Machine E-mail/POP 3 A/C Adequate manpower to maintain the above facilities.
Although there is a range of library activities suitable in the networked environment, college libraries should also be responsible for carrying out their traditional services. It is rightly forecasted that libraries of the next decades or longer will continue to utilise many information formats, especially print, CD-ROM and on-line. Each format will be most appropriate for a certain type of information and a certain type of users.
For instance, Internet as an international supplement to traditional library reference works, which has the potential to provide up-to-date information when the more conventional publishing types might be lacking. However, while most of the traditional reference resources, for example, led to journal articles or books, the WWW-based resources led not only to journal articles but also to various information sources such as, un-published documents, project proposals, web-pages, etc.
Keeping all the above factors in mind a model for On-line Resource Sharing has been suggested. The researcher hope that it will work efficiently and will be accepted and recognized by all the college authorities selected for pioneering this project.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION It is known fact that before implementing new schemes or projects, it is always desirable to know and learn from the past for improving the existing as well as to face potential problems successfully. In this connection, it is necessary that under graduate Colleges of University of Delhi take a note of the developments and trends in the area of online resource sharing and networking which have already been implemented by respective organisations in India or out of India.
In this direction, there are hardly any effort has been made at under graduate level in India, of course out of India Library networks have grown mostly during the last thirty years in different geographical environment in order to cater to the specific needs of the users. In the United States there has been a proliferation of them. Library networks in other countries are also growing. Several models have emerged that provided specific services. Not all networks conform to the essential functions of library networks. However, the essential functions should include the promotion of Resource Sharing, creation of resource sharing tools like Union Catalogues, rationalisation of acquisition and maintenance of International standards for creation of records uniformly. Libraries should be able to join different types of networks depending upon the need and select a model, which conforms to its requirements.
In the developed countries resource-sharing networking was started long back. For instance the growth of networks in the United States can be traced from the mid of 1960. USA is the birthplace of library networking and by now libraries in each state is networked to local, regional and national network.
During the recent period quite a large number of libraries and information centers are forming networks. The advent of computer networking as an accepted part of the library and information infrastructure has had a very significant impact on the way in which library and information systems are perceived. India is thus on the threshold to a new era of computer communication networks both for general purposes and for library and information purposes.
In India the major steps have been taken in this direction only by very few. They are IITs, IIMs, UGC and some research organization like CSIR, NISSAT, IMAR etc. There experiences are discussed below.
1. Major Initiatives at IITs
The factors listed as above and the goals of respective institutes altogether motivated IITs for sharing their resources. Consequently, IIT Delhi took a lead in organising a group discussion of the librarians of all IITs on 23rd March, 1986 to discuss resource sharing so as to make use of each others resources effectively and efficiently. Next to this, during 1988, IIT Kanpur organised resource sharing meeting of all librarians as well as the concerned faculty involved in the library automation projects at respective institutes with the objective to discuss the various practical problems and issues to implement resource sharing among IITs.
Similarly, IIT Bombay took lead to organise resource sharing meetings of all librarians of IITs, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and Bhaba Atomic Research Centre during 1995 and 1998. Consequently, all librarians agreed to finalise an agreement of co-operation.
2. MHRD are involved to discuss and debate about resource sharing implementation since 80’s. . Recently, to give the practical shape of resource sharing discussions, Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted a MHRD Consortia with Expert Group comprising the representatives from IITs /IISc / RECs. In this direction, the first meeting of Experts Group was held on 19th July, 2002 in New Delhi followed by another meeting on 10th September, 2002 in Bangalore. Various presentations were invited from publishers to present their electronic databases as well as e-journals products. It is brought to the kind notice that consortia with collective bargaining has successfully brought down the cost of e-Journals and e-databases. The following e-databases are proposed to be available for access to IITs / IISc with effect from January 1, 2003. 1. EIL Online 2. Science Direct and Ideal 3. Springer Verlag 4. ABI /INFORM 5. ACM Digital Library 6. COMPENDEX+ and INSPEC 7. Web of Science 8. SciFinder Scholar 9. MathSciNet 10. JCCC 11. JGATE
3. MALIBNET Consultation Cards
IIT Madras is actively involved in the Madras Library Network
activities. Being founder member of MALIBNET, It has the consultation card facility, which is successfully utilised by our users who use these cards to consult the facilities and resources available in local and nearby libraries. There are 12 consultation cards which are rotated on priority among users. This facility has generated satisfaction among users and removed administrative barriers between users and staff. Presently, 25 member institutions are using the MALIBNET Card service
4. Document Delivery A DDS email account, which is exclusively used by IITs to satisfy the document delivery requirements pertaining to the journal articles which are not availbale in the respective IITs. For this purpose, IIT Madras has created special web enabled DDS form on the library website.
5. Borrowing Facilities Arrangement They have made arrangements for borrowing facilities to their students from local institutions like Anna University, IGCAR, British Council, USIS libraries.
6. Union Catalogue of Periodicals IITs have decided to prepare the union catalogue of current journals along with holdings. In this direction IIT Madras has prepared the holdings pertaining to the Central Library and the data structure for the bibliographic details has been sent to all IIT libraries. The work is in progress.
7. Major Core Areas for Resource Sharing Keeping in view the need and emerging thrust areas for Engineering Colleges, the following core areas for resource sharing are identified; Union Catalogue Collection Building Strategy Exchange of Publications Training of Staff Exchange of Experience and Expertise Document Delivery Service Consultation Cards Facilities Consortium Approach Compilation of Staff Directory Digital Reference Services Data base Creation
In India more than 300 universities and over 8000 colleges are using the library services for their academics and research activities depend on the resources available in their libraries. Currently many of the technical, scientific and management institute libraries are functioning in isolation and no mechanism for the dissemination of valuable information in these institutes is functioning. Library network system will enable the universities and the higher learning institutes to share and electronically transmit the information resources among them. The information sharing through computer networks and document delivery in the form of electronic media are helpful to the research scholars and teaching faculties. India’s INFLIBNET is working in this direction.
University of Delhi also developed a strong Information and Communication Technology (ICT) network across the city in a very short period of time. It was set up with the help of Department of Information Technology of the Ministry of communications and Information technology, as apart of the Gyan Vahini project. It is always on, have 6000 network access points, multiple connectivity modes, Intelligent bandwidth management and simple end-user configuration. The North and South campuses are directly connected by a wireless link. Colleges of South Campus also have been brought on the University network through wireless. The University on its own subscribes a number of electronic journals, which can be accessed by the faculty and students at their respective colleges.
But there is no inter linking among the different colleges. As the research discussed with the teachers and students of different colleges for online resource sharing of library services, the later found it very innovative and helpful suggestion. The improvement in copying techniques, especially the use of electrostatic processes, particularly xerography is helpful in raising the level of library services. Improvements in communication methods, the use of Fax, e-mail, Telex, Telefascimile have made it possible for the faster dissemination of information and the lending of materials to be speed up. Telefascimile in libraries is an ideal technology for any library. It is a device that instantly sends a replica of a printed page complete with text and graphics to any other facsimile machine that can be used for document delivery, library correspondence and also for reference service. The technological transformation facilities, the provision of innovative library services to the patrons outside the physical limits of a library, the online networking system makes reality of long aspired resource sharing schemes, cooperative cataloguing to be operative.
These days information has become more complex and expensive. The traditional services, such as reference service, current awareness services, and selective dissemination of information need be supplemented by "Selective Elimination of Information," the evaluation of information to separate quality information from junk. In this context, the basic challenge is to convince and convert traditional users into users of Internet-based resources and services. Information literacy can contribute to developing information technology (IT) related competencies among end-users as it includes basic computer and network literacy. The aim of information literacy is to make information users capable of locating, retrieving, and using information. Keeping all the above factors and situations in mind, we can make out a result that networking of different colleges will give the students an opportunity to handle these ICT technologies at their graduate level, which will be helpful in future for them and they will feel comfortable if they go for research in future.
Traditionally, students are using the print publications only, but a balance between print and digital documents will be a basic norm in the near future. In this context, training and retraining the students in the use of IT-based resources and services, such as e-mail, ftp, telnet, www, browsers, search engines, opacs, databases, system software, application software, electronic journals, computer conferences, scholarly discussion lists, mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups, websites, CDs, and DVDs should become an integral part of a library.
Resource sharing should extend throughout academic libraries (and other important libraries) as a strategy to maximize the resources available for print collections that meet the needs of students and faculty for information needed in teaching and research.
The academic library should provide new services and extend existing ones and ahead towards the successful integration of traditional and digital formats. Organize an environment of continuous planning and innovation. The environment for scholarly information is expected to be highly fluid for at least the next decade, as universities attempt to meet the challenges of scholarly and scientific communication in the 21st century. The academic library should develop a planning process that will support our libraries as they continue to engage in innovation and the development of organizational, technical, policy, and financial structures needed to make the transition to integrated print and digital collections. Planning structures should also encourage and support strategies to enhance the transmission of scholarly and scientific communication in a digital environment, which can be possible through networking of libraries only.
Conclusion
Our journey towards networking and online resource sharing is a long and widening road and we have only just begun. It is fair to say that we are in a strong position than we had expected. The opportunities are immense, professionals must work together to address the problems stemming from the fact that there are no set standards for resource sharing what still needs to be considered are the needs of the end – users.
Librarians must know how to manage and interact with complex information systems consisting of computer networks. In profession like ours which has to constantly interact with teaching faculty, students and technological environment, it is essential to review periodically its performance and status.
Digital resources will not replace analogue collections, but can complement and augment analogue originals. It will add value to library collections for the benefit of the entire faculty and student community.
The above discussions make it clear that resource sharing philosophy is very much useful to all the colleges of University of Delhi. The implementation of resource sharing will eliminate the feeling among the users that our institute is not having the required resource. Resource sharing arrangement will help the librarians to provide the document and information, which is not available at the college library. We can visualize the following impact of resource sharing on the Colleges.
Users Satisfaction Coverage of Collections Time Saving Space Saving Library Image Efficiency
It can be concluded that Online resource sharing is a great boon, which needs to be implemented progressively and professionally in all the Colleges of University of Delhi. This initiative will generate optimum satisfaction among users and also save considerable national resources. It is necessary that College Libraries need to focus on the creation of professional services to meet the potential information needs keeping in view the following major objectives: Providing Web based Library and Information Services. Bridging the knowledge gap. Achieving excellences in services. Providing Dynamic links to Information Resources to the students and faculty. Globalize reach.
It is observed that networking of all the colleges of University of Delhi will also translate the concept of Online Resource Sharing into reality for libraries. Before going for networking some factors must be taken into consideration like identification of priority areas, funds for infrastructure development, support of higher authority and willingness of the staff to work unhesitatingly.
Major Problems It is a fact that the concept of resource sharing undoubtedly is very useful in recent environment in the area of science, commerce electronics etc. and can also be extended to other courses offered by the colleges of University of Delhi. The coverage of network can also be expanded to other colleges of South Campus and to North Campus also. The implementation of this concept needs careful, constant and concerted efforts on the part of colleges of University of Delhi. As observed and experienced, the potential problems pertaining to the implementation of On-line Resource sharing in Colleges are listed below:
Physical Isolation Ego of Librarians Rigid Procedures Closed Policy Disinterest Low Priority Lack of Infrastructure
There are also certain limitations like attitude of librarians, economic and lack of trained staff. As during discussion with the higher authorities, the researcher observed that in some colleges, Librarians and in some, Principals reacted negatively to the new system, which altered the existing order of library. Librarian’s attitude about new technology use requires re-examination and reformation for the successful application of technologies.
Financial and administrative constraints, which prevent libraries from application of the new emerging demands of users, particularly in developing countries is one of the major restraints in networking of college libraries. The interest of modern technology online bibliographic information retrieval systems and their associated out of pocket cost has raised the issue of user fee. Because of low bandwidth, reliability of data transmission is low and transferring multimedia data (such as audio, video, and images) is very difficult.
Lack of trained staff definitely hampers the utilization of modern means and moreover available resources to a great extent. A network may fail in the early stages if there is not proper planning or if adequate funds are not available. Moreover, a common memorandum of agreement signed by the participating libraries at the college level is essential for the success of a network venture. On a more practical level, catalog data must be in a standard, machine readable form for it to be shared and exchanged. And, finally, a continuous flow of external assistance is crucial for the network's survival.
IT and networks will add a whole new dimension to library and information services and will provide tremendous opportunities for Delhi University Colleges to create and provide better information services. Some of the opportunities that modern IT and Network based library provide.
It is also predicted that in the future, the distinction between developed and non-developed countries will be joined by distinction between countries with extensive IT infrastructure and countries with low level of IT penetration, networked nations and isolated ones etc. Many countries in the world are investing heavily in the infrastructure development, necessary to pave and widen these routes of networking.
With these trends in mind, potential of the Information technology and networking for resource sharing as the current library services will eventually be inadequate to keep pace with the demands and expectations of the University of Delhi Academic community.
With the advent of the new ICTs college and university libraries face enormous challenges and opportunities. As campuses move into the information age, the mission and role of the library is being redefined. While the amount of information libraries need to acquire continues to increase, the resources available to do so are insufficient. Moreover, administrators need to assess the relationship between the library and the computer center, as both have to fight for limited resources.
The growing universe of print-based publications and digital documents on the one hand, and the declining universe of library budgets on the other, can be handled confidently by adopting certain strategies, such as by developing critical thinking skills, as well as promoting networking of libraries from the college level. In the near future, students and faculty members will expect timely access to quality information. This information must be accurate, relevant, comprehensive, and engaging. This can be done successfully only if we have easy access to all the resources available in other colleges too in time. In this way we will be able to save the time of readers and supply them with their desired document and information at the right time. This is also in connivance with the fourth law of library science / Save the Time of the Reader.
The concept of promoting the library services through website is not yet being accepted by the library professionals especially from academic libraries. However, if they have to sustain their identity in the highly competitive market, they must have to assimilate this concept in near future. Surviving and securing a future is need of the hour.
Suggestions / Recommendations The present study is confined to the four colleges having courses of Sciences, Computers and Commerce only. Being a pioneer study, it is not feasible and advisable to cover all the courses and the colleges of University of Delhi at the initial stage. That is why researcher has chosen only four colleges as to start with the new project. But afterwards the network can be widened and in this regard researcher has put forward certain suggestions as under: It may be extended to other disciplines in future. It may cover other colleges of South & North campus. The same model can be applied to other colleges of Metropolitan cities through LAN, MAN or WAN as required. Colleges must have the same disciplines only then it is useful. If possible, it may cover other library services like technical processing (Classification & Cataloguing) List of South Campus Colleges
1.Acharya Narendra Dev 2.Atma Ram Sanatam Dharam 3.Delhi College of Arts & commerce 4.Deshbandhu 5.Deshbandhu (Evening) 6.Dyal Singh 7.Dyal Singh (Evenimg) 8.Gargi(W) 9.Jesus & Mary (W) 10.Kamla Nehru(W) 11.Maitreyi (W) 12.Moti Lal Nehru 13.Moti Lal Nehru (Evening) 14.PGDAV 15.Ram Lal Anand 16.Ram Lal Anand (Evening) 17.Bhagat Singh 18.Bhagat Singh (Evening) 19.Shri Aurobindo 20.Shri Aurobindo (Evening) 21.Shri Venkateswara
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