Building Digital Collections: A Case Study of College Libraries in Howrah District, West Bengal

1. NACLIN 2010 Building Digital Collections: A Case Study of College Libraries in Howrah District, West Bengal Ms. Sarama Das Librarian Gokhale Memorial Girl’s College;Kolkata & Mr.Srijib Kr. Patra; Asstt. Librarian, Manbhum mahavidyalaya; Purulia, W.B.

2. Contents • Introduction • Scope and Limitations • Objectives of the Study • Methodology & Findings of the Study • UGC and Higher Education & Role of West Bengal College Service Commission • E-Resources • UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium • Recent Developments • Further Suggestions • Conclusions NACLIN 2010

3. Introduction Majority of the college libraries in Howrah District have no permanent trained staff to look after the library and in some cases, library clerk is the In-Charge of the library. In spite of all these problems these colleges have started automation of the library by using local library software. Some colleges have taken initiative to subscribe to the e-resources with help of UGC and MHRD. NACLIN 2010

4. Scope and Limitations The scope of the study is limited to survey of existing LIS infrastructure in 15 college libraries in Howrah District, in order to fulfill the academic needs of users. It focuses on the present situation and services available in all college libraries in Howrah District, West Bengal.It focuses on the digital resources and services available in all 16 Degree College Libraries of Howrah Dist. NACLIN 2010

5. Howrah NACLIN 2010

6. Objectives of the Study • To assess the number of computers and other related infrastructure available at all the college libraries in Howrah District, West Bengal • To find out the status of library automation in all the college libraries in Howrah District, West Bengal • To know the adequacy of availability of library staff to manage the information resources • To find out the availability of Internet facility at all the college libraries in Howrah District, West Bengal • To suggest suitable suggestions and recommendations to improve the e-resource acquisition for the benefit of users. NACLIN 2010

7. Methodology • Questionnaire • Survey over telephone NACLIN 2010

8. Findings of the Study NACLIN 2010

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12. UGC and Higher Education The University Grant Commission (UGC) is a statutory organization established by an act of parliament in 1956 for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education NACLIN 2010

13. UGC and Higher Education (Cont.) • In the last Xth five years plan (2002-2007) the enrollment rate has gone up to 6% to 10% • In the current XIth five years plan (2007-2011) it is proposed to raise upto 15%. Already 30 new central universities, 8 new IITs, 20 new IIITs and 7 new IIMs and several high grade medical colleges would be established in each district of the country NACLIN 2010

14. Role of West Bengal College Service Commission • To prepare merit panels of candidates eligible for recruitment to the posts of Librarian /Asst. librarian and Lecturer in different subjects/disciplines in the Degree Colleges affiliated to Calcutta University, Burdwan University, North Bengal University, Kalyani University and Vidyasagar University. • To recommend candidates for appointment to fill in the vacant posts of Lecturer and Librarian/Asst. librarian NACLIN 2010

15. What is e-resource? Electronic resources refers to those material that require computer access, and that may either be locally mounted or accessed remotely via the internet. NACLIN 2010

16. Advantages of e-resources • Technical support is available electronically and via telephone • E-Resource are available 24X7 • Remote access to authorized users • Platform independent • Stable and durable URLs for electronic journals • Training/instruction alternatives for limited port resources • No limits to fair use of information (e.g. printing, emailing) • Adequate system response (speed, downtimes, etc.) • Assurance of easy and permanent access to archival electronic material NACLIN 2010

17. N-LIST Project: Access to E-resources to College Libraries • Cross subscription to e-resources subscribed by the two Consortia. INDEST-AICTE resources for universities and UGC-INFONET resources for technical institutions. • Access to selected e-resources to Colleges. NACLIN 2010

18. Electronic Journal Databases NACLIN 2010

19. Electronic Books Databases NACLIN 2010

20. Further Suggestions • National Knowledge Commission should take initiatives along with UGC to look after the college libraries for up gradation • Concern institutional authority should be positive minded for up gradation of the library. • Library staff should be positive minded to upgrade the college library. • Budgetary resources should be increased gradually for strengthening digital resources in libraries. • Authorities must allocate suitable/adequate grant for library modernization. • Authorities must establish Internet search facility in the library for the esteem users NACLIN 2010

21. Further Suggestions (Cont.) • Library staff must regularly organize user awareness and training programmes • With the increasing influx of electronic resources into libraries, the user orientation programmes should be implemented • More computer terminals should be installed in libraries for facilitating easy and quicker access of information to users • There must be a provision for proper evaluation of the users feedback • Library staffs should introduce Open Access ("Free to Read" and download) full-text books and journal sites like Pubmed Central, DOAJ, etc to users. • Finally, the library should conduct regular feedback to evaluate and assessments to determine the effectiveness of the digital resources in meeting information needs of the users. NACLIN 2010

22. Conclusions The goal of the libraries is to provide an effective combination of print, non-print and electronic resources, and the integration of the use of these-resources in support of teaching, learning and research at the University. Electronic resources, however, pose challenges not encountered with the acquisitions of traditional library materials, such as access, interface, and technical support and licensing. The libraries therefore need to formulate a separate electronic resources collection development policy to address these issues. NACLIN 2010

23. NACLIN 2010 Thank you Have a nice Day