AGRICULTURAL LIBRARIES INDIGITAL ERA-THE CHANGINGTRENDSNeena Singh

ABSTRACTThe paper discusses how agricultural libraries have transformed in digital era. The

changing trends in building collection, levels of automation, visibility of libraries on universitywebsites, access to e-resources and information literacy. The agricultural libraries have gonethrough a considerable change in their operations and services, most libraries have the basic ITtools and infrastructure in terms of both hardware's systems and application softwares. Grantsfrom ICAR has encouraged libraries to take up digitization projects like KrishiPrabha andresources sharing activities for example e-Cranth, and also improved their services by bringinglibraries and users community into closer proximity virtually by removing boundaries. Librarywebsites are more in static form and need to be further developed and presented in interactiveways using Web 2.0 technologies.

Keywords: Agricultural Libraries, Library Websites, KrishiPrabha, E-granth, Digital Era,CeRA,ICAR.

Introduction

The advent of information and communication technology has shown remarkable changesin the flow, contents and formats in which the information is presented. Keeping pace withthese technological developments, the libraries are now moving towards the era ofdigitalization and collaboration to provide efficient retrieval system and access to informationround the clock. The agricultural libraries have been integral part educational process and havebeen playing a significant role in shaping the future of education, research and extensionactivities in the country. The information professionals of agricultural universities have gone along way in molding the future of the libraries and adapting it to the latest technologicaldevelopments from time to time.

Currently there are 38 agricultural universities including universities of veterinary, animalsciences and fisheries, five deemed universities and one central agricultural university in thecountry. Libraries and Learning Resource Center of these universities have been functioning asdistinct support and have been playing a crucial role in facilitating the education system of the

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universities across the country. In terms of innovative use of Information Technology andbuilding infrastructure for storage, presentation of information and retrieval techniques, theagricultural libraries are in different levels of their mission, while some have reached to thelevel of delivering services through web OPAC and institutional repositories others are still intransitional phase with automation and providing access to digital information through offlineCD based tools.

The prime objective of the article is to document the existing, new and emerging ITtechniques that have been used by the agricultural libraries in their operations and fordelivering services or products by removing physical boundaries and easing limitationspresented by physical space.

Scope, Limitations and Methods

The scope of the paper is limited to the university libraries and learning resources of 15agricultural libraries in north and south India excluding veterinary, fisheries and animalsciences universities. Details about transformation of agricultural libraries in digital era interms of services and major changes in operations for delivering knowledge, the efforts madeby the libraries from mechanization and automation to building e-resources/institutionalrepositories, digital content management, and consortiums, etc. are discussed. Terms likelibraries information centers and learning resource centers are used simultaneously. Websitesof library home pages linked to agricultural universities were studied to find examples ofservices implemented using various information and communication technologies. E-mailswere also sent to the libraries to know some of the services which were not clearly mentionedin their home pages.

Discussions

The agricultural libraries in the country have strengthened their efforts to reorganize theirresources as per the need of the digital era and to bring libraries and users in close proximityand also further develop these resources in order to deliver library services in new andinteresting ways. The launch of World Bank aided National Agricultural Technology Project(NATP) in 1998 and National Agriculture Innovative Project (NAIP) in 2006 had marked newchapter in agricultural research, these projects broadly aims to make agricultural researchknowledge based, and IT oriented so that it can cater to the market and meet the fast changingconsumer demands. ICAR which is implementing the projects is reaching out centers likeagricultural universities, science and technology institutes, private bodies, etc. for innovativeideas and research. As libraries have been playing a crucial role in supplementing research, thegrants provided by ICAR through these projects have made digital information resourcedevelopment more successful. Agricultural libraries became an inextricable part of nation wideconsortium CeRA (the Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture) and are providing access tomore than 3000 e-journal of national and international repute, besides, strengthening of digitalinfrastructure in terms of computers systems, application softwares, Local Area Network andVSAT or leased line Internet facility.

Automation and Mechanization

Information Technology has revolutionized the storage and retrieval mechanism inlibraries. The libraries of agricultural universities are now heading towards fast automation of

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their services. Considerable emphasis is being given for development of infrastructure and IT-based services. Most libraries have the basic infrastructure like desk tops, networked worksstations, library servers and power storage devices.

Of the agricultural libraries surveyed 12 out of 15 have automated their housekeepingoperations under Local Area Network and provide access to computerized catalogue or theonline public access catalogue (OPAC). However, the presence of OPAC on web is still adeveloping process and task of the future. Only two universities-the Sher-e-KashmirUniversity of Agriculture Sciences and Technology, the CSK Krishi Vishwidhyala, Palampur,Himachal Pradesh are providing a WEBOPAC. It is also observed that SOUL and Libsys arethe most popular integrated library management application software's used by theagricultural libraries for automation. If we look at the extent of mechanization completed bythe agricultural university libraries, it is quite encouraging to note that most libraries initiateautomation with creating a database of their holdings so as to develop the OPAC forfacilitating and easing the retrieval mechanism. The study indicates that only three universitiesthe CSA University of Agriculture and Technology (CSAU&T), Kanpur, and the SVBPUniversity of Agriculture & Technology (SVBP), Meerut, and Narendra Dev University ofAgriculture & Technology (NDUAT), Faizabad, are yet to have their OPAC's ready among theStates Universities in North India (Annexure-I). While in southern part of the country all fouragricultural universities have their OPACs functional under Local Area Network. Theautomated circulation of many universities is yet to function under mechanized environment,interestingly university libraries of CSK Krishi Vishwidhyala (CSKV), Palamper, Dr YS ParmerUniversity of Horticulture & Forestry (YSPUHF), Solan and the CC Haryana AgricultureUniversity (CCHAU), Hissar, the Indian Agriculture University (IARI). New Delhi, the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture & Technology are providing barcode based automatedcirculation.

The mechanization of housekeeping operations in agricultural universities are in differentstages or levels of development, while some universities have made considerable advances,others are still in a stages of developing Online Public Access Catalogue, for example, thelibraries of SVBP University of Agriculture & Technology (SVBPUA&T), Meerut, NarendraDev University of Agriculture & Technology (NDUA&T), Faizabad, are considerably behindand have not yet initiated their automaton process. SVBPUA&T is relatively a youngeruniversity which started functioning in the year 2000 and is still in developing phase butNDUA&T has been relatively an established institution functioning from the year 1975.

Of all the library home pages linked to agricultural universities studied, it is found thatSher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture & Technology has article alert service, Stock verifier,record maintenance and attendance of staff using their own indigenous developed software. DrYS Parmer University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan is delivering their services in new andinteresting ways using Wi-Fi technology. No libraries except for Collage of Forestry and HillAgriculture of GBPU&AT have implemented the RFID system for library management.Implementing innovative services using latest technology is an expensive affair and therefore,sufficient funds are required. Grants from ICAR under NATP and NAIP World Bank assistedproject has been a great ease to the libraries in coping with the technological advances.

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Building Digital Resources

Agricultural libraries have embraced new technologies and have already startedexperimenting with digitization and collaboration. With grants from ICAR under NATP andNAIP projects agricultural libraries have been able to realize their dream projects. It isencouraging to see that many initiatives are already underway for digitization. The CCHaryana Agricultural University, Hisar made initiatives to digitize the doctoral thesissubmitted to agricultural universities from 2000 to 2007 under the project of KrishiPrabha,perhaps the first of its kind in agricultural sciences similar to Vidhyanidhi ETD/digitalrepository of doctoral thesis. Except for CSAUAT, Kanpur, SVBPUA&T, Meerut andNDUA&T, Faizabad all 12 libraries of agricultural universities situated in northern andsouthern part of the county have provided links to Krishil'rabha digital repository in theirhome pages to provide access to 7500 doctoral dissertations with full text of about 6000dissertations. The IARI Library, New Delhi with the help of C-DAC digitized all important olddocuments from 6250 published before 1950 and not covered any copyright. The library hasalso made remarkable progress in developing an Open Access Institutional Repository of IARIresearch output of faculty and research scholars which is uploaded or self archived by them.

The university libraries of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), New DelhiGBPU&T, Uttrakhand, CCSHAU, Haryana and CSKKV, Himachal Pradesh in North andANGRAU, Andra Pradesh, UAS Bangalore (Karnataka) in south India are working incollaboration with ICAR Institutes on developing a Union catalogue "AgriCat" undere-Granth project supported by NAIP in partnership with OCLC (Online Computer LibraryCenter) Ohio USA. E-Granth provides access to library resources of 12 ICAR researchinstitutes and State Agricultural Universities (SAU's) which includes OPAC, Institutionalrepository, rare books and old journals and makes them publically accessible over Internet.

If we look at the types of digital resources available in the libraries in general, the mostpopular are the bibliographic/abstract information, full text database and the web informationresource links. From the figures at Annexure-I it is noted that 13 libraries with exception toSVBPUA&T, Meerut and NDUA&T, Faizabad have scientific literature tools like CD ROMsand are providing access to offline CD based databases like CAB, AGRIS, AGRICOLA, etc.under networked servers or CD towers. Only University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharward isproviding online access to bibliographical database like abstracting services like CAB abstracts.

The recent trend indicates that most libraries have created a separate e-ltbrary/digitalresources section or multimedia center for providing access to e-resources. These centers areequipped with connected computer systems under LAN and other supporting equipments withprovisions for Internet access with VSAT or broad band connectivity. Dr YS Parmer Universityof Horticulture and Forestry, Solan has created a multimedia center for providing access to e-content, e-knowledge base and multimedia contents with lease line under Wi-Fi system and themost popular offline digital content like the CD-based databases. Agricultural libraries are alsoproviding access to online portals of e-journallike J-Gates and open J-Gates, besides access tomore than three thousand e-journals through the CeRA consortium (Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture). Online database of Statistical Information is also provided byUniversity Libraries of PAU, Punjab and the GBPUA&T, Uttrakhand. Libraries like that ofHAU, Haryana have also provided links to free PDF e-books achieves, e-reference sources and

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databases. Sher-e-Kashmlr University of Agriculture Technology library has provided links tofree and full text access to Information Resources of NISCAIR and National Science DigitalLibrary (NSDL). Punjab Agriculture University links to Myilibrary and CRC net BASE onlinedatabase of e-books, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore provides links to onlinejournals of Cambridge and Reference Sources like DOA] (Directory of Open Access journals),ete.

Visibility on Web

Web sites have become important areas of communication and have revolutionized theprocess of library publishing and visibility for disseminating information to their usercommunity. Agricultural universities libraries and information centers have to go long way indesigning and improving their website to make it more user-friendly and interactive. Out of 15universities website visited only two university the CSK Krishi Vishwidhyala, HimachalPradesh, and the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture & Technology both Jammu andKashmir have a WEBOPAC. The libraries need to work on their websites to make it moreinteractive and aesthetically well designed by giving ample number of discoverable links. Mostlibraries have focused on details of rules and regulation of libraries, types of services offered,working units or section of the library, statistics of libraries holdings, etc. If we look at servicesover web in terms of digital contents, descriptions of offline CD databases subscribed by the'library has been mentioned by all libraries. This is perhaps the most popular informationstorage and retrieval tools of research material. Twelve libraries with exceptions toCSAU&AT, Kanpur, AVBPUA&T Meerut, and NDUA&T, Faizabad have given links toCeRA-online consortium based full text e-journal, KrishiPrabha-digital repository of doctoraldissertations and access to e-journal portals like J-Gates and open J-Gates.

Libraries of Punjab Agriculture University, Haryana Agriculture University, AndhraPradesh Agriculture University, University of Agriculture Sciences Bangalore have alsoexplored and provided several links to free e-books in portable document format (PDF) and e-reference sources. University of Agricultural Sciences Dharward has provided department wisefull text ETD's in searchable PDF formats. Only one university library in North India theNDUA&T, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, has no presence or visibility over web.

The agricultural libraries have good visibility over web although more in static form. Withthe launch of Web 2.0 technologies, delivering services, collaborating and connecting andinteracting with user community has become much simpler. Web 2.0 technologies encompass avariety of social and communication technologies like blogs, Facebook, MySpace, etc. that canbe used by the agricultural libraries. Chat services are among the most widely accepted andused technologies in western countries like Europe and US. Libraries need to post-chat serviceslike Ask-a-Librarian or Interact-With-Librarian, etc. in their home page for wider interactionwith user community. Tools like Flickr can be used for online display of books; viewer ofcollections can leave reviews of books or comments on each book that they find interesting onexhibit thereby facilitating the readers' interest. Out of the 15 libraries web pages studied, nonehave placed FAQ's or Frequently Asked Questions and Announcements in their home pagesfor user community.

Agricultural libraries have now to move from static information dissemination techniqueto the much higher interactive ways for delivering their services. There is need for more

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discussions, experimentation and collaborations between libraries and the user community,platforms like various library associations, academic meeting, conferences, etc. can be used forfurthering these causes. The only specialized Agricultural Library Association (AALDI) in thecountry which got revived in the year 2008 after lying in dormancy for a long time since 1993,there is a clear indication that agricultural information professionals are realizing their greaterresponsibilities and challenges in the digital era and cannot remain silent to the technologicaladvances but move on for the cause and extend best practices for digitization of resources forproviding seamless access to information to its user community.

Information Literacy

Dtgitization of information resources creates the need to know the methods and techniquesfor accessing information. The conditions for use of technologically advanced libraries areknowledge of handling IT tools and equipments one hand and the information literacy skillson the other hand. Lack of information literacy skills may lead to digital divide betweeninformation literate and non-literates' user community. Agricultural libraries have beenproviding credit based courses on use of library resources and for empowering user. Aslibraries are advancing in digital resources they are also having not only greater responsibilitieson making the digital information easily accessible to their patrons but also creating confidencein patrons on handling and manipulating computer tools for using the digital content. Twelvelibraries provide curriculum based courses on user education or information literacy except forthree universities the CSAUA&T, Kanpur, SVPUAS&T, Meerut and NDUA&T, Faizabad instate of UP.

With technological developments in Web 2.0 technology, there is a need to develop thesecourses and deliver in interactive mode and hosting in the library website. CSK KrishiVishwidhyala, Himachal Pradesh, is the only university that has provided their coursedescriptions and tutorials/guidance on how to access online portals, digital repository andWebOPAC, etc. in library home page in static form. There is a need to make informationliteracy more interactive for the user community by providing links to the reading materialsand contacts e-rnails of instructors or faculty librarians teaching information literacy and forspecific support or advice. Libraries can also use e-learning tools for example Moodle and Eliasto support their information literacy programmes. Most of these technologies are available asdownloadable plugins and software's in open sources environments. GBPU&AT, Pantnagarhas made initiatives in providing user support and instruction through e-learning tool, MoodIe.Agricultural libraries need to collaborate and to develop e-Iearning portals to provide access tolearning materials which can be used by students of all agricultural universities and offcampuses. Specifically, there is need to move on from traditional mode of teaching andlearning to blended learning for supporting students throughout their studies.

Conclusion

Agricultural libraries have embraced technology and are using a number of practical waysto disseminate information to their users' community. Most libraries have mechanized theirservices to the extent of developing an OPAC and have automated loans or circulation,although at different levels. Digitization and resources sharing of information sources is fastcatching up with consortium based projects like KrishiPrabha and e-GRANTH, however, theagricultural libraries still have to go a long way in developing institutional repositories and

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improving upon their static library websites. Government financial support and good policymaking from time to time are required for sustainable development of digital informationresources management in agricultural libraries and information centers. A beginning hasalready been made with the launch of World Bank Aided projects like NATP and NAIPimplemented by Indian Council of Agricultural Research but how sustainable shall be thegrants through these projects is important and has to be explored.

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