Report of the Expert Committee on University Education: COVID-19 PERIOD AND AFTER UNIVERSITY OF KERALA 2020

Report of the Expert Committee on University Education: COVID-19 PERIOD AND AFTER UNIVERSITY OF KERALA Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram August 2020

VIII. Library Resources 

In most Universities, the library building is placed at the centre of the campus. This centrality of the library denotes the significance that has been attached to it in an academic ecosystem. Most often, we consider the library as a place where books are borrowed and returned. It is imagined as a place where books are kept in perfect order, a place where we can ‘smell knowledge.’ But this idea of a traditional library is slowly changing. With the digitalisation of books and journals and the emergence of e-books and online journals, library has upgraded itself in to a virtual entity. In the near future it may be viewed as a repository of digital resources that could be visited from anywhere at any time. This is a revolutionary change, more so, if it is opened up to the public with limited restrictions. All libraries irrespective of their affiliation to Universities or institutes must be open for students, researchers and teachers and even to the public at large. If it happens it will be hailed as a revolution in the dissemination of information and to a great extent knowledge itself. Thus, the democratic distribution of knowledge could be materialised with the support of technology.

Recommendations for the COVID-19 period 

Access to digital Resources: At present Kerala University has many electronic resources subscribed through IP which can be accessed at the campus only. Many libraries have the most common method of off-campus access through the VPN and proxy server options. In addition to this, off-campus access can be provided through Shibboleth Access mechanism available through the INFED initiative of INFLIBNET. Kerala University Library can use any of the above methods preferably through Shibboleth for providing remote access to its electronic resources. The Shibboleth System is a standard based, open source software package that facilitates authentication of authorised users using organization’s internal identity and access management system.

Recommendations for the PostCOVID-19 Period 

Library Networking: We have a central library at Palayam, a reference library at Kariavattom and various department libraries at Palayam campus and Kariavattom campus. Networking of the catalogues of all these libraries will be of great importance for researchers, students and teachers, as they could identify and locate the book of their choice without visiting these libraries. This has been achieved through a multi lingual, integrated, web enabled database with complete automation of in-house services which comply with all the international standards using KOHA, an integrated open source software. Currently, more than 85% of the work related to this is complete. The libraries of the Colleges affiliated to the University, the regional centres of the University, and self-financing institutions of the University will also be integrated. The possibility of including all University Libraries in Kerala under one network may be explored. 

Starting Forecasting and Marketing of Information Division: A forecasting and marketing of Information Division must be formed under an Honorary Director, a working LIS professional with sufficient professional qualification and skill in using various tools in Library and Information Science.

Activities involved 

Research Support Service- E.g. Information regarding grants/funding, strategic advice, applications, services to each and every phase of the research process, including the formation of new research ideas, research plans etc. 

Academic writing and Research Ethics- Administer Plagiarism checking- management and maintenance of tools and techniques. 

E-Resources information – Resources / Web pages (both Open Access and Commercial) with exclusive information for researchers. E.g. on dedicated resources/ services Courses/ Training programmes- E.g. on Research methodology or Research oriented tools- Citation styles, Reference management, Information Literacy, Technical writing, Research Productivity (Impact Factor, H-Index), Research Data management, Research Ethics, Writing tools, E-Learning platforms

Analyses and Bibliometric Services- Making use of Web of Science and Scopus databases. E.g. bibliometric services, research output metrics, author metrics, journal metrics and Altmetrics., data analytics, Expert database, Citation Network Analysis. 

Publication Services- E.g. hosting of journals, procedure for getting ISSN for Journals, UGC-CARE List, of Journals in different subjects, research evaluation/registration and copyright. 

Research Outreach - E.g. expert databases, publication repository, Research implementation, the publication of research findings and project evaluation. 

Consultancy Services- Research topics consultation, RDM consultation, patent application consultation and intellectual property consultation on scholarly publishing and copyright. 

Documentation and Marketing - Prepare bibliographies, indexes and other information products based on demand and in anticipation. Promote and market those products through print, electronic or social media. 

Researcher’s Digital Interface (RDI): Libraries are the centres of research. But the role of libraries and librarians are undergoing transformation in a hurried pace. From a manager of books, the role of librarians has changed to that of information manager. In the present context a librarian should be able to guide the researchers towards sources of relevant information for making research easy. Moreover, there should be provision for constant interaction between researchers and teachers and among researchers. For this, a digital alternative must be provided. It can be done by providing an Interactive Digital Interface for Researchers. 

Subscriptions of Online Journals: The subscription rate of online journals has mounted up. Since MHRD has withdrawn their financial aid for subscription, University will request KSHEC to function as a common agency for subscribing the journal and for sharing the same with Universities within Kerala. 

Appointment of University Librarian: The post of University Librarian remains vacant for the past 30 years. The absence of a full-fledged University Librarian has affected the growth and development of the University Library. Steps must be taken to appoint a University librarian. 

Appointment of System Administrator at University Library: University Library has a good collection of digital resources. It is being added to every year. A system administrator is extremely essential to manage the digital resources in the University Library.