LIBRARY IS GETTING BETTER IN DOON UNIVERSITY

The library is the most important place in the entire university. It shapes the character of a university and also of the students. Doon University has a small library with high ambitions. There is an immense pressure on the library to expand itself as departments and students are increasing in the university. The library has to provide innovative and creative solutions to ensure that students and faculty members get most out of it. Mr Ashish Kumar, In-Charge, Doon University Library talked to Mukesh Devrari, Assistant Professor, School of Media and Communication Studies for Campus Bytes and shared several of his initiatives for the proper functioning and efficiency of the library.

Are you getting enough resources to fulfil requirements of ever increasing students and departments?

We are lucky enough that the University Administration understand the importance of a good library and resources it requires, but sometimes they also have their limitations. It is a fact that we do require additional attention to build a good library and both the Library as well as the University is working in this direction. It is the efforts of the University and the Library that under the RUSA plan one crore thirty-five lakh rupees is approved for the library for purchasing books, journals and other learning resources. An additional 55 lakhs have been allocated for strengthening and Up-gradation of library Facilities and Automation.

How do you allocate resources among the departments for purchasing books and journals?

It depends on the area, or the subject requires attention. The Library prefers to allocate the fund equally among the departments. But, there are departments which need attention; for example, in the recent year, we were more focusing on the School of Physical Science and School of Design since they are new and there were not enough resources for the students and faculty of these schools. As far as the Journals are concerned, we have signed a MoU with the INFLIBNET, and through INFLIBNET we are receiving the access of more than 6000 e-journals covering almost every area of the subject studied in the University. The Library is also subscribing many print journals covering different areas of the study. 

What is the situation of the usage of library resources? Are you satisfied with the footfall in the Reading Section?

The answer is No; the library is not at all satisfied with the usage of library resources. And there are reasons for it. We have data which indicates a particular pattern of study by the students. There are few books on each subject which every student wishes to study, and they always look up these books. Studying one book or a couple of books is not a healthy sign, one must study as many different books as he/she can on a topic to get different views of the same topic, this is how the independent thinking developed. The students are not aware of the resources available in the Library; they do not search the OPAC, they do not surf the Library webpage of the university website where the information of every resource is available even they have a very set pattern to searching the books on a shelf. Many are not aware that we have access to the more than 6000 e-journals, access to Anti-Plagiarism Software, and through Delnet access to thousands of documents of different libraries. For us every book is important, and it must be utilised, the Library is making every effort to educate the student about the search strategy, and Library Orientation programme is one of the efforts through which the Library initiate the users about the Library and its resources and how they can be accessed. We have developed video tutorials and FAQ about the Library; we always encourage the students to ask us instead of their friends about the library resources. The average footfall of 100-120 student every day in the Reference Section is also not enough, and extreme hot and extreme cold weather condition is some time the reason, why student not able to sit in Library. The Library has already taken note of this and submitted a proposal to install AC in the Reference Section.

What is the situation of availability of books of general interests in the library?

As a University Library, our mandate is to help the student in the courses they are studying, but we do understand that some general and light reading material is also required for a student. The Library also know that many students are preparing different competitive exams like CDS, Civil Services, Banking Exam, SSC, NET/SLET and after their formal and informal request the Library started to procure general and competitive exam books as well. At present there are 350 books in the library, which dealing general and competitive exam related topics, however, there is a scope to add many more titles in the section.  

Is there any possibility for library to generate to funds for itself without relying on government for funding?

There are two aspects of this question; one is that we should develop a certain procedure, adopt specific technology which saves the precious money of the University and second if possible we should work towards generating some fund. The Library is working on both of these aspects. The library always prefers to use the Open Source Technology rather than any commercial software, recently developed Institutional Repository, Implementation of QR code, use of Google form, use of Thunderbird for free automatic email is some of the examples of this. The Library is also planning to shift from commercial Library Management Software to Open Source Software. The Library has also work in generating self-resources and started the Book Bank with the help of Hans Foundation and generated more than 10 thousand rupees in less than one year. Started providing Library work training to the fresh Library Science Graduate by taking minimum charges. The Library continuously searches the organizations which donate books to libraries. It is the efforts of the Library that the Nippon Foundation and JICA have donated 274 Japanese books to the Library. Recently we are able to convince Prof. Balasubramanian of IIT Mandi to donate his personal collection of books to our library, this collection worth more than 10 Lakh Rupees.

All over the world libraries are reducing human intervention to the minimum level and relying more on Information and Communication Technology. What initiatives you have taken in this direction?

The Implementation of ICT based technology has been our priority form last few years. And we are able to implement some of the ICT based applications in our library as well; Library Management Software, Barcode Technology, Automatic SMS, and Email alert, Institutional Repository, Video Tutorials, Library Web pages are some of the examples. We are now focusing on RFID implementation and biometric security in the library, by implementing this we will be able to develop a library which requires minimum human intervention. After implementing the RFID technology, the users do not require any human assistance for issuing the books and nor for returning the books, neither he/she able to take away the book without getting the book issued. You may have noticed the use of RFID in different Malls and big showrooms.  As I already told the RFID proposal is already approved in the RUSA plan and we will implement it once we receive the grant.

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