Library and Information Services in Academic Libraries Library

Library and Information Services in Academic Libraries

Library and Information Services in Academic Libraries Introduction: Modern libraries and information centers provide variety of documentation and information services to support research and development. There has been tremendous increase in the volume and variety of such services and products. Here an attempt has been made to provide brief overview of information services and the distinction between each of the information services has been clearly indicated. Information service was started first in scientific and technical libraries because scientists and technologists were the first to feel the acute problem of increasing literature.

But today, other kinds of libraries are also beginning to provide this kind of services. There are two aspects and approaches of information service. • Provision of information on demand: In this approach a user feels the need for information, consult reference or information desk and makes a request for information by means of a specific query. He would be provided an answer to his specific query on demand. Ex. SDI • Provision of information in anticipation: This aspect aims to keep the users well informed and updated in their field of specialization and also related subjects. Ex. CAS

Referral service: Library users come up with information requests that cannot be met through sources within the library. In such cases the librarian tries to meet the query by referring the reader to external sources, be it an expert research institution, library or consultant. Such services is called referral service alternatively resources. Referral service is to be distinguished from reference service, which does not provide the user with the documents or information actually needed for his query but refer him to the sources such as secondary publications, information units, professional organizations, research institutes and individual specialists, etc. and tell him where to find them. They utilize directories and files on sources, if necessary, specially created for the purpose.

Referral centers: Referral centers have been established at international, regional, national and local levels. At the international level UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programmes), National Referral Centre (USA), and in India INSDOC(NISCAIR), NASSDOC, DESIDOC, SENDOC, BARC are some of the examples of referral centers.

Functions of Referral Centers: § Collects information about information/data sources within the range or scope of either the subject or activity of the referral center. § Prepares comprehensive inventory of the types of information/data services available from those sources with a detailed subject index to facilitate access. § Guides users to appropriate sources where from the required data or information may be obtained. § Functions as an intermediary between enquirer and the organization and or individuals who possess specialized knowledge on the subject of inquiry.

Reference service: The users may want to get answers to specific queries that can be satisfied through information contained in library publications. Such answering service is popularly called reference service this service is a continuous activity through out the lifetime of the library for all the users. According to DR. S. R. Ranganathan, “reference service is a personal service to each reader in helping him to find the documents answering his interest at the moment pin pointedly, exhaustively and expeditiously” in his view, providing reference service means making contact between the right user and the right book at the right time and in the right personal way.

Margaret Huchins equated the reference service with reference work. She says” reference service includes direct personal aid, within a library, to persons in search of information whatever purpose and also various library activities especially aimed at making information as easily available as possible”. Process of Reference service: §Query analysis §Reference interview §Refining user statement into searchable statement (appropriate terms) §Formulation of search strategy §Searching §Notification to the user §Feedback analysis and evaluation

CAS (Current Awareness Service): Due to the proliferation of the number of documents being published, not only in print media but in electronic media as well, the reader is unable to keep track of what is coming up in his areas of interest. Current awareness service seeks to provide a solution to this problem. CAS is related to recent, nascent, current information available or accessible through the library to its customers.

Prof. B. Guha righty said that “A current awareness service is the device of an information system through which the users of information can be informed promptly, as soon as possible after the publication before absorption into comprehensive secondary sources, of current literature on a broad based subject field or an area in which a group of persons are interested, and presented in a manner, volume, rhythm intended to facilitate or cultivate current approach to information. In the context of the library, the time limit should be after the receipt of the publications but well before the receipt of the secondary publications containing them”.

Characteristics of CAS: §Alerts the user about recent developments. §Does not answer any specific query. §It is an announcement mechanism. §Form may be print or electronic. §No feedback correction mechanism. §Speed, currency and ease of use are important.

SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information): In this information age, we are inundated with floods of information. The amount of literature that gets published and distributed year after year is increasing in geometric proportions. It is extremely difficult for the scientists to keep himself abreast of what is happening in his current area of interest by reading all that is published. One has to be very selective in what he should read. Prior to that, one calls for some specific services from the library- one of them meeting this need is Selective Dissemination of Information or SDI for short.

It was H Peter Luhn who first defined SDI in 1961. According to him “ the SDI is that service within an organization which concerns itself with machine assisted channeling of new items of information, from whatever source, to those points within the organization where the probability of usefulness, in connection with current work of interests is high”.

Components of SDI: §Users profile §Document profile or Database §Computer hardware/ Network §Software §User interface

Comparison of CAS and SDI: CAS SDI Alerting service Generic Service Selective, Based on individual needs Currency of Information important Output includes mostly bibliographic Often tends to include abstracts as well data No profile matching is involved User profile (query) matching is involved No feedback mechanism Feedback and modifying query are essential Subject coverage may be broad Highly specific subject coverage Continuous omnibus type of service Service may change as individual user is concerned far as

Abstracting and Indexing: Indexing and abstracting are two important techniques which play a vital role in a communication links between the originator of information and its ultimate user. They help to organize the literature for easy and quick approach to identify documents or information.

Due to the increase in available literature an average scholar is usually unable to keep himself up to date with information in his field. In this respect, abstracting and indexing can play a very important role in keeping him well informed. Abstracts are formal summaries writers prepare of their completed work. Abstracts are important tools for readers, especially as they try to keep up with an explosion of information in print and on the Internet.

ALA glossary of library and information science defines abstract as “an abbreviated, accurate representation of a work, usually without interpretation or criticism accompanied by a bibliographic reference to the original work when appearing separately from it. ” Examples: LISA, Chemical Abstract, Biosis

Types of abstract: Inductive abstract/descriptive abstract: It is usually, a statement of the general nature and scope of a document. It tells what the article is dealing. It summarizes the contents in brief indicating the scope and content of the document. It should be used for documents like handbooks, progress reports, symposium proceedings and bibliographies. Informative abstract: it is intended to provide qualitative and quantitative information from the parent document. It informs the important features of the document. It gives relevant information to the queries, inquiries, study and research. Informative abstracts are used for documents reporting. The information should contain all the new ideas that the author has represented in his article including diagrams, illustrations and statistical information, it is generally larger than indicative abstract.

An index is a systematic guide to the text of a reading documents, comprising of entries with headings arranged in alphabetical or other chosen order and with references to show where each item indexed is located. The general arrangement of an index is alphabetical. Sometimes it may be arranged in chronological, geographical or numerical. Examples: SCI (Science Citation Index), SSCI (Social Science Citation Index) etc.

Comparison between Indexing and Abstracting: Indexing Abstracting It gives full bibliographical detail It gives similar information with of a document. salient features of the articles in a brief summary form or in abstract form. The preparation of an index entry The preparation of an abstract entry does not require subject knowledge. requires knowledge of the subject and also the technique of abstracting. The preparation of an abstract entry takes less time. takes more time. Indexing service is a time saving An abstract is a greater time saving device for reference librarians, device than indexing. researchers.

Information Products and Services: The present day library has travelled a very long distance from chained library to a virtual library. Libraries have existed since the dawn of civilization, but the concept of information service is a modern society phenomena. Libraries innovated, created and implemented varieties of services, and these services are becoming increasingly important for the progress of society. There is also notable transformation contextually, a shift from document-oriented service to information/user orient service. Every kind of information service is associated with a product and information service and products are inseparables. The trend is fast changing, and the days are not too far when each individual’s specific information needs are fulfilled.

The information so generated in packed into some tangible products and they appear in different media; print, nonprint, microform or machine readable or computer readable form. These products are in library and information science parlances are called information sources. Users Approach to Information services and products are directed keeping in view users approach to information. They are: §Current Approach – Announcement Mechanism §Exhaustive Approach – Accretion Mechanism §Everyday Approach – Ready Reference Mechanism §Catching up Approach – State-of-the art Mechanism; §Back-up Services

Information Products and Services It is already mentioned that information service and products are closely interrelated and a provision of service is through a product, which needs its planning, compilation, structuring, production and management and maintenance. The importance of services in the overall functioning of any information system can be hardly be over emphasized. In fact an information system or an information centre exists to provide services to its users or clients. Two main functions in the information services and creation of products are:

§Announcement Function: Any information system will be acquiring information sources; hence a mechanism has to be created to inform the users about the arrival of new items of information. This may be called the announcement mechanism through announcement bulletins, and such bulletins would of different kinds. Current Awareness Bulletin is an announcement mechanism. §Accretion Function: It may be desirable that the information that is announced as new will have to be absorbed and integrated into the existing information store. This is done through an accretion function. There are different accretion mechanisms, in the form of Indexes, Guides, trend report, state- of the art report and a bibliography.

Documentation Work and Documentation Service: Documentation work refers to the work of analysis of literature or information sources and provision of certain services, from such analysis, in anticipation. There are two kinds of Documentation work – Active which refers mainly to anticipatory information and the other referring to a specific searching activity in response to specific requests is passive. Both Active and Passive activities result ultimately in certain information products and services.

Products of Passive Documentation Products of Active Documentation • Abstracting Service (Bulletin) • Indexing Service (Bulletin) • Subject Bibliographies • Digests, State-of the Art Report • Trend Report • Current Awareness Services • SDI Service • • Literature Search Location of Documents Document Delivery Location of Translations Referral Service Reprographic Services Preparation of Reading Lists

Grouping According to Information Need: Exhaustive §Abstracting §Indexing §Subject §Bibliography Everyday Currrent Catching-up • Handbook • Data Service • Referral • Ready Reference • Title • Announcement • Research in Progress SDI • State of the Art • Trend Report • Others • Digest Service

Need for Information Service and Products The reasons for the need to provide information services are: i) Rapid growth in volume of published/unpublished literature or Information Explosion (Growth of Information Sources): The context of scientific literature is said to follow an exponential growth, which is characteristic of the growth, is the rapid increase in different types of primary sources of information. This growth also causes, scatter, seepage and obsolescence of information. ii) Increasing fragmentation of subjects and emergence of specializations in all branches of knowledge and multidisciplinary nature of subjects. The growth of new areas, multidisciplinary and Trans disciplinary in nature is the phenomena observed in the last century and that continues today.

iii) Need (demand) for quick access to information: The information services are designed to provide needed information not only on demand, but also in anticipation of its use. The advent of microcomputer in libraries has further cut down the access time to information services. In the present context, information services have assumed a new approach and a new paradigm.

Information Analysis and Consolidation: Every information service is normally associated with a product. For eg. Abstracting service with an abstracting periodical. The creation of information products and services involves information analysis and consolidation and its organization and management. The content analysis is one of the important tools of information analysis which has found applications in such activities and services in libraries and information centres like Classification, Cataloguing Indexing and Abstracting and so on.

Information analysis results into information condensation, consolidation and repackaging. Information consolidation, as per UNESCO symposium on information analysis and consolidation is the responsibility exercised by individuals or organisations for evaluating and compressing relevant documents in order to provide definite user groups with reliable and concise new bodies of knowledge. The term “Information Analysis” in the context of various activities in the field of information does not connote and denote one the same idea operationally.

While in the context of indexing it is subject analysis, it is considered to mean critical evaluation when one refers to an information analysis centre. In the context of information consolidation however, it is used primarily to denote a non-evaluative information analysis for the purpose of consolidating the results of analysis into a textual presentation in which the isolated units of input undergo substantial structural changes. The product, thus, always is factual, non-critical or non-evaluative, but informative in nature. It is a firm, coherent, and unified body of information.

• Packaging: Packaging of information is a physical recording, arrangement and presentation of information on a given medium and in a given form. It can be emphasized here that while packaging cannot improve information content, it can enhance its use, assimilation and recall. • Repackaging: Repackaging of information refers to the presentation of information in more understandable, readable, acceptable and usable forms. The aim of the aim of repackaging is to enhance the acceptance and use of information products and the assimilation and recall of their contents.

The functions served by repackaging of information are: • As a selective and systematic sorter of useful information. • As a means for more extensive information transmission and delivery. • As a translation tool. • As an opportunity for the practical application of research results. • As a means for the prompt delivery of relevant information.

Document Delivery Service (DDS): Document Delivery means providing the document(s) required by the user(s). In this process speed of supply is important. If a document required by the user is readily available in the library, the job becomes simple. But, often, it procured from external sources and provided to the user. Why document delivery service? : No library is self sufficient, and everything cannot be stored within the four walls of the library because of the following reasons and it makes services like document delivery necessary: • Information explosion • Shrinking library budget • Diverse information requirements • Specialization • Information communication technology

Modes of Document delivery: • Supply from the library collection itself. • By obtaining the required documents from other libraries on interlibrary loan. • By joining library consortia for subscription to journals and databases. • By procuring copies of documents from other libraries, documentation centers and commercial document supply agencies. • By accessing and downloading web based documents.

Conclusion: The adequacy and successful performance of library and information services of academic libraries are often measured on the basis of the fulfillment of its user’s needful requirements. However rich a library may be, it is impossible to acquire and store all documents within its four walls. In order to satisfy the needs of its users, it may have to depend on other libraries.

In this way the library and information services like Referral service, Reference service, Current Awareness service, Selective Dissemination of Information service, Abstracting and Indexing service, Information products and services, Documentation work and Documentation service, Information Analysis and Consolidation service, Packaging and Repackaging service, and Documentary Delivery services can help the academic library users to get their required information easily.