Changing Role of Librarians in Digital Era and

Need of Professional skills, Efficiency & Competency

By

Goutam BiswasEmail: goutambiswas8@gmail.com

http://goutambiswasresearch.yolasite.com/

Dibyendu PaulDibyendu.kly@gmail.com

Introduction Information on the Internet poses a different

kind of conundrum librarians

Location and provision of information services has dramatically changed over the last ten years

Information is accessible electronically in a wide variety of formats

Information is electronically accessible from a wide variety of globally distributed repositories

Genesis and metamorphosis…

Traditional Library

Automated Library

Electronic Library

Digital Library

New electronic services Online ordering and delivery from local and remote Portals Regional or national catalogue databases Personalized services Online reference Collections digitized by the library Electronic publishing services Online self-paced training facilities Internet access via library’s workstations or

network

Impact of new services on the library

Quickness of delivery

Accuracy

Higher market penetration by attracting more users and new user groups

Relevance for users

Library Professional in Digital Age

Librarian

Information Manager

Information adviser/instructor

System & Networking

…required for LIS Professionals: Knowledge & Skills about

– resources (books, journals, i.e. resources, Internet) – Teleological facilities and resources (computer, online catalogues,

websites, LANs file servers etc.) – Financial (budget) and Human resources (skills for manpower training)

Competencies to– Acceptance of change– Knowledge of user interaction with knowledge resources– Provide quality service– Be adoptive, flexible and resistant– Be resourceful– Excellent communication, constantly update personal knowledge base– Create awareness among the users– Be an information management strategist etc.

…required for LIS Professionals:

Technical Knowledge required– Operating systems - Windows, UNIX, LINUX.– Word processing, Graphics, Spread sheet & Presentations– DBMS including the skills in Bibliographic DBMS– General purpose programming, Networking – Web page Development and Content Management– Information Retrieval software for online, CD-ROM and Internet.– Library software packages– Acquaintances with Digital Library Tools

Capacity to use free/open source resources

Conclusion World of information undergoing rapid change

IT playing crucial role in restructuring the libraries

Shifting from human dependent operations to machine dependency, mechanization (data processing) to knowledge processing, stand alone system to network computing, local LAN to wireless access protocol systems

Many new terms viz. Digital Librarian, Libraries without walls, virtual libraries, are emerging to describe the libraries of digital age

librarians need to be aware of the implications of these changes and develop technological and managerial skills

Thank You