Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic
Book Title: Pandemic of Covid-19 and Its Challenges: A Multidisciplinary Approach
How to Cited this Article:
Sharma, Sheetal & Sukhwinder Singh (2021). Role of University Libraries Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case study. Pandemic of Covid-19 and Its Challenges: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 69-79.
ROLE OF UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CASE STUDY
Sheetal Sharma1
University School of Open Learning, Panjab University Chandigarh
Email: sheetalsharmaiiim@gmail.com
Sukhwinder Singh2
Librarian, Guru Nanak College Sukhchainana Sahib Phagwara
Email: ssdhulka@gmail.com
Abstract
This paper emphasizes the brief role of university libraries during the COVID-19 global pandemic. For the case study, the author selected four university libraries of Punjab, India–Bhai Gurdas Library (Guru Nanak Dev University), Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library (Punjabi University), Lovely Professional University Library and A.C. Joshi Library (Panjab University). The objective of the study is to assess the current role of university libraries during a global pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic period, lots of unauthentic and misleading information spread all over the internet, so there is a need for library professionals which provide authentic and valuable information to their users and serve them actual knowledge. During this pandemic period, only the libraries will stand as a gateway of relevant information for their users. Earlier, the roles played by library professionals are of information disseminators and organizers of knowledge but, during the COVID-19, they upgrade their skills and serve the user by enhanced library services using advanced technology. This paper focuses on recent technological advancements and services offered by libraries during the pandemic period. The paper outlines a series of significant trends that influencing the roles and responsibilities of university libraries, particularly their service and how they face challenges during the global pandemic and what are their new goals. An online questionnaire was used to collect primary data from Library Professionals working in these Institutions. Analysis of result carried out carefully, and this paper offers certain recommendations that need to adopt holistically for future developments.
Keywords: COVID-19, E-Resources, Information technology, Library initiatives, Library services, Social media platforms and University librarie
INTRODUCTION [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
COVID-19 is a global pandemic, and presently the whole world is facing a very tough situation during the pandemic period. In history, the world already witness lots of pandemic periods, but this global pandemic, COVID-19 has a long-lasting impact on society and their lifestyles. Most of the countries have implemented lockdown to prevent the world from the worst, and during this most prolonged lockdown period in history, society has changed their way of living.
The world has already witnessed various substantial digital interventions in the lives of human beings. Massive changes occur in the age of the internet, making it necessary to adopt and benefit from new technological innovations and digital interventions. There is a paradigm shift from manual procedures to digital modes of operations and communication, especially during COVID-19, whereby nations are constrained to adapt these changes rapidly. During
the lockdown period, libraries and information centres world over adopt new technological advancement to enhance library services. Everyone wants to have 24x7x365 connectivity, to get the desired piece of information the moment it is generated anywhere in the world. As a result, the Libraries have also started new and advance services so the users can access it on their electronic gadgets without physically visiting the Libraries during a global pandemic.
Libraries and information centres are considered knowledge hubs that responsible for making available the desired information in the least possible time to the end-users. To cope-up with the ever-increasing responsibility, the Libraries and Librarians have also started adapting to the new tools and technologies. Various University Libraries in India has created new services for their users. During COVID-19, the physical library systems shut down completely to overcome the spread of virus infection. During this challenging time, the role of the Library Professionals is the most important to serve the whole user community through a digital platform. Libraries will always serve as a lifeline for school & college students, researchers, professionals, and many others in our society.
RESEARCH AREA [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
Four University libraries- A.C. Joshi Library (Panjab University), Bhai Gurdas Library (Guru Nanak Dev University), Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library (Punjabi University) and Lovely Professional University Library are considered. All the three topmost universities of Punjab (India) with their objectives and vision are discussed below:
a. Panjab Univetsity, Chandigarh:
It was established in 1882, but after India-Pakistan partitioning, Panjab University was divided between two countries. East Panjab University comes under India as in continuation of an ordinance issued by the Central Government on 27 September 1947. Its main objective is to pursue excellence in teaching and research in S&T, humanities, social sciences, performing arts, and sports
The university has 189 affiliate colleges that spread over Punjab and Chandigarh besides Regional Centres at Muktsar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, and Kauni. The UGC recognizes it as the “University with Potential for Excellence in Biomedical Sciences”.
b. Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (Punjab):
It was established in 1969. The objective of the university is to make provision for imparting education and promoting research in the humanities, learned professions, sciences, especially of applied nature and technology.
University has 148 affiliated colleges and 71 Associate Institutes; most are situated in rural areas.
c. Punjabi University, Patiala (Punjab):
It was established in 1962, with the primary objective of furthering Punjabi language, art, and literature. It is the largest university in Punjab state. It’s the second university in the world that is named after a language.
Its vision is to establish and incorporate Punjabi studies and develop the Punjabi language as a medium of instruction and generally for the promotion of education and research.
University has 27 Regional centers/ Neighbourhood Campuses/Constituent Colleges and 274 Colleges affiliated to it.
d. Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar (Punjab):
It was established in 2005. Its vision is to contribute to society through excellence in teaching, learning, research, internationalization, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
Its mission is to undertake impactful research addressing local, national and global challenges and to develop professionals and entrepreneurs with an innovative spirit.
National institutional ranking framework (NIRF), MHRD, Government of India: NIRF rank the institutions across the country and broadly cover the parameter- “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”. As per the 2020 ranking report of NIRF, the rank of Panjab University is 26, Guru Nanak Dev University is 51, and on the other side, therank of Punjabi University is 64. The rank of Lovely Professional University is 78.
Fig.: It shows the 2020 NIRF Ranking of universities mentioned above:
As per the 2020 ranking of NIRF, it shows that the universities mentioned above are the top-ranking universities of India. So, it’s necessary to study all the above university libraries’ roles & initiatives during COVID-19 and also discuss their future goals.
OBJECTIVES [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
1. To discuss the various challenges & how the university Library Professionals deal with new challenges of global pandemic COVID-19.
2. To identify new services which are recently started by university libraries during the COVID19 lockdown period.
3. To discuss the various initiatives of university libraries.
4. To understand the role of university libraries during the global pandemic COVID-19.
CHALLENGES FOR LIS PROFESSIONALS DURING COVID-19
1. The LIS Professionals are facing lots of challenges during the global pandemic as, how to serve the specific need of users in the lockdown period, ranging from minimal restrictions to full closure.
2. Libraries like the National Library of India (NLI) and some other libraries over the world are affected due to lockdown conditions, and it affects the whole community of researchers, students, scholars, readers, etc. During the complete lockdown, the user community of the libraries was affected badly.3. Libraries are closed during COVID-19, but most of the users prepare for competitive exams as well as other academic examinations so, there is a big challenge for the LIS professionals to serve those users of our country who need information through the digital platform.
4. It is human nature to feel sad, stressed, confused, scared, and angry, but during this pandemic and lockdown period, all these emotions are imbalanced and getting worst. For Library Professionals, the biggest challenge is how to deal with the users and how to engage the whole user community towards a healthy lifestyle.
5. Libraries will open for the users after following the complete SOP and the government guidelines. With various kinds of restrictions, libraries have to serve the large community of users as by maintaining social distancing, which seems to be a difficult task.
HOW LIS PROFESSIONALS TACKLE THESE CHALLENGES DURING COVID-19
1. By using an electronic platform, libraries start providing different services remotely.
2. Libraries start engaging the whole user Community through Social media by organizing the Reading Books challenge, Poster writing competitions, skill development programs, etc. It helps people to live the normal life during COVID-19, and it also helps to reduce the stress that was caused due to complete lockdown period during COVID-19, a global pandemic.
3. Central & state governments are making various important decisions during COVID-19 period, and all its authentic information will serve to the user’s community by the continuous efforts of LIS Professionals during Lockdown. LIS Professionals also publish all the information through Social Media Platforms.
4. LIS Professionals can provide Cloud-based Library Services, Remote Access service, Electronic Resource Management System like CORAL, Discovery Services, Library Services through Blogs and other Social Networking tools.
5. Library Professionals start informing the user community regarding various open sources, Open Course wares, and Open Learning resources during COVID-19.
6. LIS professionals will share the Links of library’s E-collection on university’s websites as well as their social media platforms. Some LIS Professionals also start creating new apps with freely available e-contents to access different resources on a single platform and also assist the people that are not familiar with digital tools.
RECENT INITIATIVES BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ON ONLINE DIGITAL PLATFORMS:-
Bharat Padhe Online: Government of India Launched ‘Bharat Padhe Online’. It invites the suggestions and sharing of ideas, including students and teachers, which are the primary target audience under this program to boost e-learning and online education in India.
YUKTI Portal: “YUKTI” (Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology, and Innovation). It will cover the initiatives and efforts of the academics and research institutions during Covid-19. It facilitates various institutions to share multiple other ways of working and their strategies for diverse challenges to face the Covid-19
situation.
SWAYAM: Study Webs of Active-learning for Young Aspiring Minds. It is India’s first Massive open online course platform initiated by the Indian Government and specially designed to achieve the fundamental objectives of Indian Education Policy. Its objective is to provide the best teaching-learning platform and learning resources to students from class 9 to post-graduation. During Covid19, this kind of platform is essential for skill improvement and knowledge growth for young learners.
NROER: National Repositories of Open Educational Resources (NROER). It’s developed by the MHRD, Department of School Education and Literacy as managed by the NCERT, Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET). Repository works on the MetaStudio platform. It is an initiative of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. It is accessible by a wide variety of users.
Sakshat: It is an initiative of the MHRD under its National Mission on Education through ICT (NME-ICT). For facilitating the learning needs of users and its primary objective is to provide interconnectivity between the higher educational institutions. Besides, it offers high-quality e-contents to address the specific needs of users.
Krishikosh: It is an initiative under the National Agricultural Innovation Project and eGRANTH, New Delhi. It provides digital content of various agriculture & research institutions on a single platform for accessing the additional library resources.
SCOPE AND LIMITATION [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
The scope of this study confines to Bhai Gurdas Library (Guru Nanak Dev University), Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library (Punjabi University), Lovely Professional University Library, and A.C. Joshi Library (Panjab University). The data were collected during November 2020. The samples selected for the paper are university library professionals.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research strategy revolves around collecting data from library professional of Bhai Gurdas Library, Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library, Lovely Professional University Library and A.C. Joshi Library. The survey method was adopted to conduct a research study. Online questionnaire develops for data collection, which provides valuable information
from above institutes.
DATA ANALYSIS [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
1. Utilization of E-Resources with preference level:
Fig.1 Shows the frequency of using E-Resources of the library by the users;
Fig. 2 shows the user’s preference level of using library resources.
As per the data mentioned above, users of Lovely professional university library and Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library mostly prefer both the electronic as well as printed resources. But the users of A.C. Joshi Library prefer e-resources and Bhai Gurdas Library users prefer mostly print material. Frequency of using these resources is weekly in Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library & Bhai Gurdas Library. Library e-resources accessed daily by the users of A.C Joshi Library and monthly in the lovely professional university library.
2. E-resources available in the library are used maximum by users:
Fig. 3 Shows the e-resources used maximally in the university libraries by users.
In Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library users mostly access online databases and in Bhai Gurdas Library users mainly access e-journals. On the other side in A.C. Joshi Library & the LPU library users mainly access the e-books available in the library.
3. Remote access services:
Fig.4 Shows the remote access services provided by university libraries, as mentioned above
Except for the Bhai Gurdas Library, all other three university libraries provide remote access
services to their users. A new initiative of A.C. Joshi Library during COVID-19 is to provide remote access services to the users of the library.
4. Users purpose behind accessing the library e-resources:
Fig.5 Shows the purpose behind accessing library e-resources.
5. Library activities on Social Media during COVID-19:
Fig.6- It Shows university libraries engage the whole user community during COVID19 through Social media.
Fig.7- It shows the activities promoted on social media carried out by a university library during COVID-19.
As per the data mentioned above, Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library and A.C. Joshi Library engages the whole user community during COVID19 through Social media by Organize the Reading Books challenge, Poster making competitions, and Organizing Webinars.
6. Library provides services using social media:
Fig.8- It shows the services provided by university libraries on social media.
Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library and Bhai Gurdas Library uses WhatsApp, and A.C. Joshi uses Facebook, and Lovely Professional University Library uses YouTube for providing library services on social media.
7. Challenges during COVID-19:
Fig.9- Shows the various challenges that libraries faced during COVID-19 to serve the users.
Internet connectivity is the central issue faced by the LIS professionals of A.C. Joshi library and Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha library. Bhai Gurdas Library faces the problem like how to serve the users without physical contact, and LPU library does not face any issue during lockdown like other libraries
FINDINGS [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
1. According to the LIS professionals of A.C. Joshi library, Bhai Gurdas Library, Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha Library, and LPU library, users visit the Library website daily, fortnightly, weekly & occasionally during COVID-19.
2. E-Journals, Online databases & eBooks are the E-Resources available in the university libraries which are maximally used by the users.
3. Except for Bhai Gurdas Library, all other three university libraries provide remote access services to their users and also provide the requisite platform for federated or discovery searches.
4. Except for Bhai Gurdas Library, all other three university libraries have maintaining Institutional Repository. A.C Joshi library and Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha library engages the users on social media during COVID-19. Both the university libraries are aware of the users regarding the activities carried out by these libraries like- Reading Books challenge, Poster making competitions, and Organizing Webinars during COVID-19 through social media.
5. A university library uses social media platforms-WhatsApp, youtube & Facebook for providing the services.
6. A.C. Joshi library and Lovely Professional University library maintain their digital libraries using DSpace and GSDL digital library software and the other two university libraries don’t maintain their digital libraries.
7. A.C. Joshi library provides the services like Current Awareness Service, Alerting Services and RSS feeds but the other three university libraries only provide Current Awareness Service to their users.
8. Users of the university libraries, as mentioned above, mostly prefer both print material and e-resources to satisfy their informational needs. And users mostly visit the libraries for studying course work, update subject knowledge, for research work, and writing research papers.
9. Internet connectivity and contactless library services are the challenges that university libraries faced during COVID-19.
RECOMMENDATIONS [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
1. As per the survey report, university libraries cope well with the present pandemic situation but the need of the hour is that the LIS professionals must upgrade their skills and should try to provide better and advance library services to the user community using ICT.
2. Libraries must strive to think out-of-box and reach the users through means like – social media platforms rather than expecting users to approach them. Libraries should focus on new measures of quality, productivity, innovation, communication, and leadership must also be taken into consideration.
3. University Libraries should subscribe more e-journals and e-databases of user’s interest as university students are showing keen interest in accessing E-Resources.
4. User study should be conducted on regular intervals to know the informational needs and requirements of the users.
CONCLUSIONS [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
The study reveals the role of LIS professionals during COVID-19, and it also discusses the various new initiatives of university libraries during a global pandemic. All the university libraries of Punjab which are covered in the case study have to focus on their advance library services, digitization efforts and collection building, which meets the functional requirement of users. Library professionals should be ready to learn new techniques to resolve this kind of stuck situation during COVID-19. Most of the Library professionals are now coming up with new solutions, creative ideas and are also ready to beat the new challenges of a global pandemic.
REFERENCES [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
1. Bala, R. 2020. Use of E-Resources by the Students of Dentistry, Manav Rachna Dental College,
Faridabad, Haryana: A Case Study. New Delhi: Vidit Publication House
2. Bhati, P., & Kumar, I. 2020. “Role of Library Professionals in a Pandemic Situation Like COVID-19”.
International Journal of Library and Information Studies. Vol X, No 2 July. Pp 33-48.
3. “Guru Nanak Dev University”. Available at: http://online.gndu.ac.in/about-university.aspx. Assessed on
15 November 2020
4. “Profile of Panjab University – Panjab University Chandigarh India”. Available at: https://puchd.ac.in/puprofile.php. Assessed on 15 November 2020
5. “Punjabi University, Patiala | Higher Education Institute”. Available at:
http://www.punjabiuniversity.ac.in/Pages/Page.aspx?dsenc=AboutUnv. Assessed on 15 November 2020
6. “Vision, Mission and Core values of LPU”. Available at: https://www.lpu.in/about_lpu/visionmission.php. Assessed on 15 November 2020
Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic
Important Links [Role of Librarians and Libraries During Covid-19 Pandemic]
| Particulars | Links |
| | |
| Home Page Gyanmala Library | Click Here |
| To view all India Librarian Jobs | Click Here |
| To view MCQ Quiz for UGC NET in Library Science Subject | Click Here |
| To view Punjab State Govt. Jobs | Click here |
| To View Koha Library Automation services | Click Here |
| To View Punjab State Private Jobs | Click Here |
| Trending Article in Library Science | Click Here |
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