College Libraries P- 02. Academic Libraries

इस ब्लॉग्स को सृजन करने में आप सभी से सादर सुझाव आमंत्रित हैं , कृपया अपने सुझाव और प्रविष्टियाँ प्रेषित करे , इसका संपूर्ण कार्य क्षेत्र विश्व ज्ञान समुदाय हैं , जो सभी प्रतियोगियों के कॅरिअर निर्माण महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान देगा ,आप अपने सुझाव इस मेल पत्ते पर भेज सकते हैं - chandrashekhar.malav@yahoo.com

College Libraries

P- 02. Academic Libraries *

By :jagtar singh,Paper Coordinator

Multiple Choice Questions

0 / 1 Points

Question 1: Multiple Choice

A college library is regarded as a repository of

•   Books and Journals
•   Print and Non-print material
•   Information and Knowledge
•   None of the above

1 / 1 Points

Question 2: Multiple Choice

A college library receives grants from

•   the State government
•   the UGC
•   both from UGC and state govt.
•   none of these

1 / 1 Points

Question 3: Multiple Choice

Academic libraries consist of

•   School, College, University libraries
•   Primary, Middle, Secondary school libraries
•   College, University libraries
•   Research libraries

0 / 1 Points

Question 4: Multiple Choice

Kothari Commission was set up in

•   1948
•   1949
•   1964
•   1966

1 / 1 Points

Question 5: Multiple Choice

Library Committee of UGC was set up in

•   1957
•   1958
•   1960
•   1965

1 / 1 Points

Question 6: Multiple Choice

The optimum number of volumes for a college library is recommended as

•   30,000
•   40,000
•   50,000
•   100,000

4 / 6 PointsFinal Score:

True or False

1 / 1 Points

Question 1: True or False

All the staff members working in a college library are designated as ‘librarians’.

  True

  False

1 / 1 Points

Question 2: True or False

An academic library is a library attached to an institution of education and learning.

  True

  False

0 / 1 Points

Question 3: True or False

College library grants are meant to purchase books only.

  True

  False

1 / 1 Points

Question 4: True or False

Information resources of a college library are open for use to all citizens of society.

  True

  False

1 / 1 Points

Question 5: True or False

One of the objectives of a college library is to provide latest books to students and teachers related to courses of study.

  True

  False

4 / 5 PointsFinal Score:

1. Introduction

An academic library generally is a centre of academic activities. Academic library is attached to academic institutions to support the class room teaching and fulfilling the objectives of modern education. So why, various committees and commissions, from time to time, have emphasized the importance of libraries and their services in colleges and universities.

According to Harrods’s Librarians’ Glossary, academic libraries are “those of universities, university colleges, and all other institutions forming part of or associated with, institutions of higher education”.

Therefore, academic libraries include in their coverage school, college, and university libraries as shown below:

This Module is devoted to the study of the objectives, functions, growth and development, collection, and services of college libraries. 

2. Aims And Objectives Of College Library

A college is regarded as an important institution of higher education which offers graduate degree and/or post-graduate degree courses. A college library is established to serve the students, faculty, and the other staff of the college. 

2.1. Objectives

The major objectives of college library are as under:

1. to support the teaching programme of the college;
2. to provide reading material for independent study and research;
3. to encourage life- long learning among students to make them more enlightened and knowledgeable.
4. to support the objectives, mission and vision of the college.

The Education Commission (India, 1964-66) has also set out the objectives of a college library are as follows:

1. to provide the resources necessary for research in the fields of special  interests to the college;
2. to aid the teacher in keeping abreast of developments in his/her field;
3. to library facilities and services necessary for the success of all formal programmes of instructions; and
4. to open the door  to the wide world of books that lie beyond conditions  which encourage reading for pleasure, self discovery, personal growth and the sharpening of intellectual curiosity.   

College libraries generally restrict their activities in providing only prescribed books and other reading material. In view of the changing face of college education there is an urgent need to encourage the wider use of library through browsing, consulting journals, CDs, using Internet to access databases for their assignments, and so on.  

2.2. Functions

It is incumbent on the college library to support the objectives of its parent institution in meeting with the requirements regarding teaching, learning, and sporadic research. In order to satisfy the information needs  of its user community, the college library attempts to provide the required reading material. To meet these educational objectives, the college library, according to W. M. Randall and F.L. Goodrich, performs the following functions:

1. makes available to the students, books and allied reading material relevant to the courses offered in the college;
2. makes available the books and documents required by faculty members in preparation of their instructional courses;
3. provides supplementary books and reading material to help study and teaching at the college;
4. provides comprehensive selection of authoritative books and documents needed by the faculty members to pursue their research programmes;
5. promotes the proper use of the reading material available in the stock; and
6. trains the students in making use of the library properly and derive full advantage out of it, integrating the library with the educational courses.

In their book on college library administration, D. L. Smith and E. O. Baxter have enumerated the functions of college libraries as follows:

1. to acquire and provide text and standard reference books to the students, necessary to prepare for their examinations;
2. to train college students in the use of the library material and to encourage them to enrich their knowledge and outlook in a wider perspective through general and wider readings;
3. to help and assist faculty members of the college in preparation of their instructional courses and in keeping them abreast of the current knowledge and concepts in different areas of study; and
4. to assist the teaching staff in the pursuit of higher studies and research and support them with relevant literature and information on the subject.

Considering the above mentioned functions of the college library, S. N. Sahai observed that the college library “lays emphasis on the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels” only. The functions of a college library can therefore be restated as follows:

1. to assist the parent institution in fulfilling its educational objectives;
2. to provide latest collection of text books, course related materials and journals;
3. to maintain good collection or reference books, magazines, newspapers, and Internet facilities to provide wider access to information;
4. to train the students in the use of library catalogue, reference sources, and Internet access;
5. to provide career guidance to students and make them useful citizens of society;
6. to offer variety of services such as newspaper clippings, bibliographies, access to databases, etc.;
7. to create helping reading environment for students and faculty with a good ambience; and
8. to preserve documents for future use. 

3. Information Resources

To fulfill the educational needs of the students and the faculty, as described above, the college library should develop a comprehensive and well rounded collection of textbooks, reference books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and other reading material which may include some electronic information sources. It may further add more documents to its collection which may be helpful to the student community for career oriented competitive examinations, books for recreation, personality development, biographies, fiction, history, travelogues, and so on.

Further, the emerging information society and the developments in information technology in recent times, have also contributed to the development of new formats of information sources. These include multimedia information sources, CD-ROMs, and electronic books, which now a days have become important sources of current and other global information of significance for study and learning purpose. 

Therefore, the object of library planning, according to Kothari Commission “is not to build a collection of books unrelated to class-work, laboratory research and conference room”, it should rather be related to “the daily needs and activities of the academic community, both professors and students. The book selection should be oriented toward supporting instruction and research”. 

It is suggested that a newly established library may start with a nucleus document collection of around 5,000 volumes and may ultimately go up to an optimum or desirable ceiling of, say, about 50,000 volumes, in addition to current journals, magazines, CD-ROMs, e-books, etc.  

3.1. Collection Maintenance

Library has a well selected collection of various types of documents meant for teaching, study and research. It ought to be well maintained so as to keep it usable for the present and future use by a large number of users. The maintenance activities begin with the acquisition of documents and continue with the handling of materials, their storage and their use by users. The following activities form part of maintenance work in libraries:

1. Stock verification
2. Weeding of material
3. Stock rectification
4. Binding
5. Preservation and conservation, etc.

4. Human Resources

No matter how good is the document collection of a college library, its usefulness will increase only if it is well organized and made available to the user community.  Therefore, the college library must have well-trained, competent and sufficient professional staff for its proper functioning. A well qualified staff, both academically and professionally, will be able to exploit its resources to the maximum in order to provide the requisite documents and/or information to the students and teachers.

4.1. Qualifications

 At present, as per the UGC norms, for appointment of a college librarian,

1. the candidate must possess Master’s degree in Library and Information Science or an equivalent degree with at least 55% marks or its equivalent grade plus a consistently good academic record;
2. he/she must qualify in the national level test conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for this purpose, or by any other agency approved by the UGC;
3. may also have working knowledge of computerization of college library.

Library personnel in a college library generally should consist of a librarian, an assistant librarian, and other supporting staff such as library assistant, library attendant, peon, etc. The librarians have been graded into categories on the basis of the size of document collection.

4.2. Staffing Pattern

1.1.1.      Regarding staffing pattern in college libraries, some formulae and norms have been suggested from time to time. S.R. Ranganathan suggested a staff formula for calculating staff strength. He worked out the requirement for each section in the library on the basis of some assumptions. For example, he assumed that in a reference section 50 readers will be visiting daily, and accordingly suggested staff strength.

1.1.2.      To work out the staff strength, the UGC also recommended norms in this regard. It appointed a Library Committee (Chairman, S.R. Ranganathan) in 1957 which laid down the staff strength for different sections.

1.1.3.      A UGC Workshop was held at Khandala in 1979 to work out standards for staff in college libraries. The recommendations were based on the strength of students and document collection.

1.1.4.      The UGC Review Committee (1965) recommended the staff for a college library as follows:   

1. In a large college with an annual book fund of not less than Rs. 20,000 the librarian should be in grade 2 with qualifications appropriate to it.
2. In a small college with an annual book fund of less than Rs. 20,000 the librarian should be in grade 3 with the qualifications appropriate to it.
3. The other staff in the library should be in grade 3, 4 and 5 or grades 4 and 5 as the case may be with qualifications appropriate to them.

1.1.5.      UGC Pay Revision Committee has now made recommendations regarding qualifications of library staff, suitable pay structure and for their parity with teaching faculty.

It is generally desired that the college library should remain open for longer hours to enable the students to make better use of library resources. However, for this purpose more staff is required which usually is denied.

5. Financial Resources

Finance plays a vital role in the organization and administration of a college library. Therefore, it should be assured of sufficient funds, else it would be difficult to provide the requisite services for long. But the finance of the college libraries varies considerably from college to college leading to their irregular development.

5.1. Sources of Finance

The main sources of finance for college libraries are:

1. Grants from the State Government,
2. Grants from the UGC from time to time,
3. Library fee collected per student,
4. Library fines,
5. Library service charges, etc.

5.2 Recommended Standards

The Kothari Commission (1964-66) made specific recommendation for 6.5% to 10% of education budget as library finances for their development.

However, it has been experienced on the basis of various studies made in this regard that the grants from the state governments are not sufficient even for the purchase of basic text books. This state of affairs hinders the growth of college libraries in terms of document collection, recruitment of staff, purchase of library furniture, and so on.

6. Physical Resources

Physical resources such as the library building and its design help to protect the information resources against loss and increase the service life of document collection. Therefore, having independent library building with a working design is essential requirement for collection preservation and efficient and effective reference and information services.

 From the time of its establishment, the UGC has been interested in the all round development, including the physical resources, of college libraries. It gave liberal grants to all institutions of higher education to construct their library buildings which should be functional in design, inner lay-out, utilization of inner space, etc. As a result of the grants under earlier Five Year Plans, many college libraries got constructed their independent and modular buildings, though many libraries still are functioning from other multipurpose halls/spaces.

In case the libraries have independent buildings they can have provision for adequate natural light, ventilation for fresh air, and other necessary accessories. Despite natural light filtering through windows, artificial light, through fluorescent tubes, is yet required in certain areas, such as study carrels, working area, reading areas, and so on.

On the suggestion of the Library Committee of the UGC, the Bureau of Indian Standards (then, the Indian Standards Institution) prepared a code of practice for the design of new library buildings to provide the architectural guidance in the basic elements. It was to increase, among other things, the usefulness of libraries. The title of code is as under:

IS : 1553-1960 Code of practice relating to primary elements in the design of library building.

Other related standards include:

IS : 1172-1957 Code of basic requirements for water supply, drainage, and sanitation.

IS : 2-1949 Rules for rounding off numerical values.

It lays down the standards in respect of the basic elements only. For example, the number of rooms to be provided and their sizes, depending upon the size (i.e., document collection, readers, staff, etc) of the library, floor area, circulation area, relative position of the reading rooms, stack rooms, and so on.  

6.1 Library Furniture and Equipments

The various items of furniture required in a college library comprise the following:

1. Book racks
2. Catalogue cabinets
3. Reading room tables and chairs
4. Circulation counter and other counters
5. Display racks
6. Office tables and chairs
7. Tables and chairs for technical staff
8. Computer tables and chairs
9. Newspaper stands
10. Racks for display and storage of periodicals
11. Book trolley, and so on.

6.2. Equipments

Some of the items of equipments required in a college library include the following:

1. Computers and printers 
2. Fax machine
3. Telephones
4. Telex
5. Photocopying machine
6. Microform reader
7. Multimedia equipments
8. CD-ROM reader
9. Fumigation chamber
10. Fire extinguishers

 More items of furniture and equipments can be added to this list as and when required.

Bureau of Indian Standards has come up with the standards and specifications for various items of library furniture built of wood and steel which need to be followed by the librarian. It was published as

IS : 1829 (Part I) – 1961.

The standards as mentioned above are unquestionably outdated, they need to be updated to keep with the changing time of education system and information scenario.

It has been recommended that any proposal for new library buildings, fittings and furniture, or for adaptation of existing building, or for its extension for library purposes, should be examined and approved by a Library Expert Committee.

7. Library And Information Services

A college library is set up to provide various services to the academic community, viz., students and faculty members. The image of a college library and status of college librarian depend to a large extent upon, not only the variety of services offered, but also the efficient manner in which these are provided to the users. The strength of college library lies in the strength of its services.

The following services are generally provided by a college library:

1. Book lending is the main service offered to students and teachers;
2. Readers’ advisory services;
3. Reference services;
4. Library orientation and user education;
5. Information literacy;
6. Career guidance;
7. Bibliographic services;
8. Circulation of list of new additions;
9. Display of new books as a regular feature and/or on special occasions;
10. Net-worked based services
11. Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

It is only through these and other services that the college library can ensure the effective use of its information resources. When the library satisfies the curiosity of the undergraduates and the inquisitiveness of the graduates, it becomes, as M.A. Gelfand believes, a method of teaching.

It may, however, be pointed out that library services available in a large majority of college libraries in India, with the exception of a couple of them, are regarded as insufficient and even ineffective.  

7.1 Library Services in Changing Information Environment

In the present times, when as a result of the impact of information technology, computerization is the buzz word, and when the large college libraries are computerizing their own databases to enable them to participate in regional and national networks, college libraries must improve their library and information service scenario in order to meet with the mission and objectives of their parent institutions.

As India is evolving into an Information Society, where information and knowledge have been recognized as capital, the nature of college libraries is also changing gradually. Application of computers in library activities to process, store, retrieve, and disseminate information is changing the traditional concept of library and library services.  

To seize the opportunity of transforming India into a vibrant knowledge-based society, necessary for all round development, the National Knowledge Commission was constituted by the Prime Minister of India in 2005. The prevailing library services were reviewed by the Commission and therefore set up a Working Group on Libraries to raise the standards of library services. Among many recommendations put forward, it also wanted to promote information communication technology (ICT) applications in libraries.

In recent years, the assessment and evaluation of college education and college libraries in India by the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC) has helped significantly to highlight the role of college libraries in higher education in the changing information environment. It has provided a good opportunity to college libraries to improve their services to support educational objectives.  

Academic libraries, including college libraries, today are in far better position in terms of resource sharing and networking, and these are also using Internet and other networks. At the national level, already INFLIBNET, and UGC-infonet are working which are connecting the entire academic and research libraries. Besides, there are many metropolitan library networks like DELNET, CALIBNET, etc. They are helping in providing document delivery services and resource sharing to the participant libraries. 

These and other developments in recent times have helped to modernize and improve their reference and information services thereby benefiting the users. The modernization process has also helped in reducing repetitive works, improving control, increasing range and depth of services, improving cooperation, improving retrieval of information, and above all improving the quality of services by improving the performance.

The college librarians are being provided continuing education in-service training programmes by DRTC, NISCAIR by conducting courses, workshops, etc. Further, the Academic Staff Colleges set up by the UGC in some select universities are providing three to four weeks Refresher courses so that the college librarians could keep pace with the recent development in ICT and in library and information science.

It is obvious from the above that the college libraries, among others, are undergoing significant changes, and there is a change in the attitude of the library profession which is extending positive response to the increasing information needs of the academic community and making the library a gateway to information and knowledge.     

8. Summary

College library is regarded as the backbone of college education. It plays an important role in the lives of young students who could have access to a large collection of reading material which it develops keeping in view their information needs. In this Module the objectives and functions of college library in support of higher education have been discussed. It describes the various sources of finance coming as grants for a college library for purchase of books and other documents, recruitment of library personnel, constructing the library building, purchase of various items of furniture and equipments, and so on. It further states that with this infrastructure made available, the librarian and other supporting staff will be able to provide efficient and effective information services to support educational objectives of the college.

References

Bavakutty, M. Libraries in Higher Education. New Delhi: Ess Ess Publications, 1988.

Gupta, O. P. Library Services in University and College Libraries in India. New Delhi: Reliance, 1998.

India. National Knowledge Commission. Report. New Delhi: National Knowledge Commission, 2007. 

Randall, W. M. and Goodrich, Francis L. D. Principles of College Library Administration. Chicago: American Library Association, 1936, quoted in Sahai, S. N., op. cit.

Sahai, S. N. Academic Library System. New Delhi: Allied, 1990.

Sewa Singh and Madhuri Arora, eds. Handbook of College Libraries. New Delhi: Beacon Books,1995.

Smith, D. L. and E. O. Baxter. College Library Administration. London: Oxford University Press, 1965.

University Grants Commission (India). Library Committee: Report: University and College Libraries. New Delhi: UGC, 1965.

Varalakshmi, R. S. R. “Measurement of College Library Performance :An Evaluative Study with Standards.” International Information and Library Review 35, (2003): 19-37.