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RESOURCE SHARING AMONG UNIVERSITYLIBRARIES
Name of Student : A.K Madugalla
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Table of Contents
List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. 3 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... 3
Background Information .................................................................................................................. 4 Library IT Infrastructure and its current situation ........................................................................ 4 Other Countries ............................................................................................................................ 4
Importance of the Project ................................................................................................................. 6 Steps taken to Share Resources .................................................................................................... 7
Scope and Objectives of the Project ................................................................................................. 7 Requirement Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 8
Expenditure on Purchases............................................................................................................. 8 Total Expenditure ..................................................................................................................... 8 Expenditure- University wise ................................................................................................... 9
E-Resources .................................................................................................................................. 9 Coverage of required journals by fulltext databases............................................................... 12
Issues to be Resolved ..................................................................................................................... 13 Proper Funding Policy ................................................................................................................ 13 A Central Regulatory Body ........................................................................................................ 13 Altering attitudes of Library Staff .............................................................................................. 13
Alternatives to be Considered as Solutions .................................................................................... 14 Integration via Existing Library Management Systems ............................................................. 14 Open Source Library Management Systems .............................................................................. 14 ULibNet ...................................................................................................................................... 15 Developing a Unique Library Management System .................................................................. 15
Proposed Strategies and Recommendations ................................................................................... 16 Policy Endorsement .................................................................................................................... 16 Network ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Implementing as a Web 2.0 solution .......................................................................................... 16
Benefits of the Proposed Solution .................................................................................................. 17 Requirement Specific Solution ................................................................................................... 17 Easily Customizable ................................................................................................................... 17 Minimal Cost .............................................................................................................................. 17 Improved user interaction ........................................................................................................... 17 Improved Security and Ease of Access ...................................................................................... 17
Addresses all Sectors of Information Resources ........................................................................ 18 Funding and Authority will not be abused ................................................................................. 18
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Literature Survey ............................................................................................................................ 20 References ...................................................................................................................................... 21 Appendix 01 ................................................................................................................................... 22
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Libraries Using Evergreen ILS in USA and Canada ........................................................ 5
Figure 2: Total expenditure of the University Sector ....................................................................... 8
Figure 3: Actual Expenditure for items purchased (01.01.2008- 31.12.2008) ................................. 9
Figure 4: Total Expenditure on Online Databases.......................................................................... 10
Figure 5: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases ............................. 10
Figure 6: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases ............................. 11
Figure 7: Expenses in Purchasing the Emerald Database ............................................................... 11
Figure 8: University Libraries Based on the Library Management Software Type ....................... 14
List of Tables
Table 1: Coverage of Required Journals by full text databases... 12
Table 2: Library Usage on the regular ity of Usage17
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Background Information
Sri Lanka is a developing country with a population of 190 million (Department of senses and
Statistics, 2001) where within 25000 2 km there are more than 6557 libraries which can be categorized
as national libraries, academic libraries, special libraries and public libraries. The term academic
libraries indicate libraries belonging to higher educational institutes such as universities, colleges,
technical and vocational training institutions, etc Among these libraries the university libraries are
universally considered as the highest level educational institute in which students study for degrees
and academic research are being done (OED, 1998). Over the years universities have become a center
of excellence for knowledge and their libraries have become an integral part of them. Hence the
university library has been invariably named as the heart of all university fractions (Sharma, 1978)
and it is this heart that is focused in this study.
Library IT Infrastructure and its current situation
It was as early as in 1986 that the Sri Lankan university libraries started contemplating on
possibilities of automating university libraries (IUCL, 1987). Later in complying with the
technological advancements, they shifted from manual library management to automated library
management software. As at 2011 the university libraries around the island employs the service of
four major library management software (Appendix 01). These libraries have also utilized the OPAC,
a new and sophisticated catalogue format that has simplified the task of searching and accessinglibrary resources.
Rapid growth in world literature along with problems such as shrinking budgets, steady increase
in document prices has made it increasingly difficult for an individual library to become self-
sufficient. Therefore most libraries have started considering a resource sharing initiative. In
confirming with this tendency the Sri Lankan university libraries have also established a yahoo group
named as Library Friends in order to facilitate resource sharing.
Other Countries
The INFLIBNET, India is the resource sharing network that is managed by the UGC of India. It is
involved in creating an infrastructure for sharing of library and information resources and services
among Academic and Research Institutions. INFLIBNET works collaboratively with Indian
university libraries to share the information resources and among the libraries.
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Open source integrated library systems such as Evergreen and Koha are the solution United
States of America has come up with. These are deployed by many libraries around USA and since by
default they have resource sharing capabilities, the information resources are shared via these systems.
Figure 1: Libraries Using Evergreen ILS in USA and Canada
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Importance of the Project
In spite of the utilization of advanced technologies, the Sri Lankan university libraries are still
struggling in respect of catering to the growing needs of their users. The access to internet and vast
amount of resources available on World Wide Web has led the university library users to expect their
library to be also competent in providing more relevant, up to date and timely information to a wide
range of users. The potential user groups of a library are not restricted only to university students. The
library information resources will be utilized even by the lecturers to enhance knowledge on current
affairs and to find assistance in compiling researches.
To satisfy these varying needs the libraries require availability and accessibility to a variety of
information resources and formats. Yet unfortunately theres a deficiency in these information
resources in the Sri Lankan university libraries.Like the other libraries in most of the developing countries, this condition has arisen in Sri Lanka
as well mainly due to the inadequate funding and stringent budget cuts that the libraries are subjected
to. This has affected the level of services offered to users both in terms of quality of collection degree
of staff support. This situation is aggravated by the large-scale reconstruction and development
projects Sri Lanka is undertaking as a result of ending the 26 years of conflict with the LTTE. As the
librarians of these libraries are stating, the Sri Lankan university libraries have received sufficient
funds while the war lasted. Yet with the end of it and the governments concentrations shifting on to
alleviating poverty and such projects the library funds have suffered immensely. If possible in the pastfew years, the funds were cut down even due to 2008-09 global financial crisis and recession.
Under these circumstances it is apparent that there are few or no university libraries in Sri Lanka
that can cater to cater to a wide range of information resources. Therefore it is cannot be
recommended to duplicate the information resources among the libraries and resource sharing is the
only feasible solution to this lack of resources or lack of access to resources.
Resource sharing among libraries is long standing and takes a number of forms including inter-
lending, co-operative acquisitions, shared storage facilities, staff education, sharing of human and
computer facilities and information networks (Edwards, 1994). As a developing country, resourcesharing holds a strong potential for the Sri Lankan university libraries.
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Steps taken to Share Resources
In realizing the importance of resource sharing the university libraries have attempted to exercise
a successful resource sharing mechanism over the years.
The E-Consortia was one such project initiated few years back focusing on conceiving a library
consortium and yet it failed due to insufficiency of funds. The e-resources were shared under the gift
subscription of three full text databases from International Network for the Availability of Scientific
Publications (INASP) in 2002. This was followed by funding and training from the Sida/SAREC
Library Support Project coordinated by Colombo university library. In 2000 JSTOR database came
with a special concessionary price and from 2009-2010 the INASP is funding the e-resources under
the PERII project.
In practice resource sharing is basically restricted to interlibrary lending and document delivery
activities. The Sri Lankan university libraries also follow a Inter- Library loan service under a loose
network wi thin the local universities and utilize the British Document Supply Center as a mechanism
to obtain foreign resources. Yet both these suffer from long response time, unfamiliarity with the
system and high cost and therefore the requests for resources tend to get prioritized.
Thus the need for an efficient and effective resource sharing mechanism that focuses on all
aspects of information sharing and maximizes the availability of resources while minimizing the
expenses has come in to consideration.
Scope and Objectives of the Project
This study is based on a literature survey of published and unpublished documents (e.g: Annual
reports, circulations, researches, project reports, etc) on all libraries within Sri Lankan university
system and a number of interviews with the librarians, staff members as well as with some past
members of the University Library Association (ULA) and National Institute of Library and
Information Sciences (NLIS). A more detailed knowledge on individual library expenses was gained
by paying special attention to the University of Colombo and University of Moratuwa libraries. The
current economic status of the country and information on resource sharing initiatives adopted by
other countries were uncovered by browsing through the web and referring to newspaper articles.
The objectives of this investigation are to unearth the need of embarking on a information sharing
program among libraries, to evaluate the attitudes and opinions of the library staff towards such a
program, to discover the barriers in implementing the program and finally to propose a feasible
solution for effective utilization of resources within Sri Lankan university libraries.
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Requirement Analysis
University libraries such as Moratuwa and Colombo have mass resources waiting to be tapped by
their university students. Yet with the development in the fields of information technology and such,
none of these libraries can call themselves self-sufficient anymore and there is a grave need to have
information sharing methodologies among these universities. Upon having few discussions with these
university library staffs and referring the circulations published by the UGC following statistics were
found.
Expenditure on Purchases
Total Expenditure
Figure 2: Total expenditure of the University Sector
LKR 0.00
LKR 20.00
LKR 40.00
LKR 60.00
LKR 80.00
LKR 100.00
LKR 120.00
Books Periodicals Non Print BrailleMaterial
101.1806962
83.51646567
11.090.09
M i l l i o n s
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Expenditure- University wise
As depicted in the above graph it is evident that millions are spent annually by each university on
purchasing books, periodicals, non print materials and braille materials. Yet most of these expenses
are born due to replication of resources. The books and periodical articles purchased by the colombo
university is much the same as those purchased by the peradeniya university. The approximately 9
milliion spent by colmbo university and the 7 million spent by the peradeniya university can be
avoided and reduced if all the universities had a resource sharing mechanism.
E-Resources
The e-resources include all forms of articles in the digital format. Out of these resources the
online journal databases such as Emerald, IEEE take up the majority of library expenses. The
expenditure on e-resources is analyzed using the data gathered from the Colombo and Moratuwa
University libraries within 2009, 2010 and 2011.
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
M i l l i o n s
Books
Periodicals
Non-Print
Braille Materials
Figure 3: Actual Expenditure for items purchased (01.01.2008- 31.12.2008)
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Figure 4: Total Expenditure on Online Databases
This is the total expenditure of Moratuwa and Colombo Universities on the online databases.Each of these expenses can then again be categorized based on the databases they have purchased as
follows.
Figure 5: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases
$0.00
$2,000.00
$4,000.00
$6,000.00
$8,000.00
$10,000.00
$12,000.00
$14,000.00
$16,000.00
$18,000.00
2010 2011
2462.09117
10,309.54
17232.7444816272.057
U S
$
T h o u s a n
d s
Year
Colombo University
Moratuwa University
$0.00
$1,000.00
$2,000.00
$3,000.00
$4,000.00
$5,000.00
$6,000.00
$7,000.00
H.W Wilson JSTOREmerald
Hein Online
U S
$
Databases
2009
2010
2011
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Figure 6: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases
Above are the expenses born by Colombo and Moratuwa universities with respect to purchasing
of databases. Since Colombo university users are much more management oriented than the
Moratuwa university users, they have purchased databases such as JSTOR, HW Wilson and Hein
Online (Law). Where as Moratuwa university has focused on IEE and ACM Digital library, etc Yetboth these have purchased the emerald databases even though Moratuwa university has purchased the
175 title package while the Colombo university has selected the 200 title package due to its varying
users.
Figure 7: Expenses in Purchasing the Emerald Database
$0.00
$50.00
$100.00
$150.00
$200.00
$250.00
$300.00
$350.00
$400.00
$450.00
$500.00
ACM Digital
Library
Emerald Grove Art
Online
IEEE Xplore Science
Direct
U S
$
H u n
d r e
d s
Databases
2009
2010
2011
$0.00
$1,000.00
$2,000.00
$3,000.00
$4,000.00
$5,000.00
$6,000.00
$7,000.00
$8,000.00
2010 2011
5145
650067007035
U S
$ Colombo University
Moratuwa University
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The $5145 amount spent by Colombo University and the $6700 amount spent by Moratuwa
University adds up to the fact that both these universities have spent a total of $1, 1845 on purchasing
the same database in 2010. And in 2011 they have spent a total of $13, 535 for the same purpose. If
resources were shared, both these universities could have shared the same database and thus instead of a total of $1, 1845 they would have to have paid only $6700 in 2010 and instead of $13, 535 they
could have spent only $7035 in 2011.
This is only a single instance of financial resources that can be saved from information resource
sharing. And when this is applied to the whole university sector the total of Rs. 101180696.15 spent
on books and Rs. 83516465.67 spent on periodicals and Rs. 11088497.28 spent on non-printed
articles could be reduced in millions.
Coverage of required journals by fulltext databases
Database Percentage of available no.
out of required total no.
Percentage of available no.
out of e-available total no.
EBSCO-HOST 43.62 64.27
HW WILSON 41.51 61.16
JSTOR 15.24 22.46
WILEY-BLACKWELL 10.07 14.83
SCINCE DIRECT 9.11 13.42
SAGE 5.94 8.76
CAMBRIDGE 3.36 4.94
OXFORD 2.49 3.67
EMERALD 0.86 1.27
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 0.29 0.42
Table 1: Coverage of Required Journals by full text databases
This table depicts the percentage of available number of titles in each database as a percentage of
the required list of titles. Most of the university libraries are not able to purchase all the titles they
wish to purchase due to budgetary constraints. This situation can be avoided if the resources were
shared aong the libraries and a central agency would be funding the purchasing of resourcs.
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Issues to be Resolved
By studying the university library system and its history, certain issues were identified that have
to be solved prior to the implementation of an effective resource sharing mechanism.
Proper Funding Policy
Each university library receives a meager annual budgetary allocation for their survival
throughout a year. Therefore they cannot be expected to contribute to any resource sharing projects
financially. A major reason for the E-Consortia to fail within few months of its inception was also its
strategy to accumulate financial resources from within the university libraries themselves. Hence in
order to make a resource sharing initiative a success, proper funding policies have to be established.
Foreign agencies/programs, directly funding this project could not be encouraged because a
foreign body can withdraw their funds at any time and the funding programs might also reach its end
with time. Therefore it would be preferable if these funds are furnished by the government. And it
should also be treated as a separate allocation under the title of Resource Sharing among University
Libraries, r ather than regarding it as a mere addition to the universities annual allowance.
A Central Regulatory Body
A central regulatory body responsible for the funding and accumulating of resources has to be
established. It would be preferable to appoint UGC (University Grants Commission) or a UGCaffiliated body as the responsible figure since it would give this particular regulatory body the
authority to make decisions.
Altering attitudes of Library Staff
In a period of rapid and dynamic change in all fields of higher education, the place and function
of the library have yet to be considered dispassionately by university librarians, who seem content to
tackle the day to day problems of routine administration as they arise, without lifting their gaze to
wider a nd purposeful horizons ( Goonetilleke, 1975). The library staff tends to be satisfied as a mereprovider of books and periodicals instead of widening their services to project a more dynamic image
of itself to the undergraduates and lecturers. This conventionally comfortable view of providing the
basic minimum services has to be altered.
The library staff also tends to consider the resources under their direction as personal property.
Sharing them among other universities tend to give rise to the doubt that the resources might not be
available to their library users when they require them. Misconceptions such as these have to be
eliminated to support a effective resource sharing mechanism.
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Alternatives to be Considered as Solutions
Integration via Existing Library Management Systems
The 15 university libraries of Sri Lanka use four different propriety library management systems
to manage their information resources internally.
A
According to the graph, since 6 libraries out of a total of 15 are using LibSys, it can be recognized
as the mostly employed library management software. Yet it does not amount to even half the number
of total university libraries. Therefore if it was attempted to install and configure the same Library
Management Software in all the university libraries more than half of the existing library systems will
have to be transformed and this would also demand more than half the universities to endure new
purchasing and licensing costs.
Open Source Library Management Systems
Free and open source library systems such as Evergreen, NewGenLib and Koha also support
integrated library information management. These come with user manuals with step by step guide to
simplify installation procedure. Yet one major disadvantage they present with is that it is not easy to
configure them to suit to the different requirements in each library and in case an error occurred while
in the installation or afterwards, it requires a high level of technical knowledge to restore it to its
previous condition.
21%
43%
29%
7%
Libraries by Library Management Software
ALICE
LibSys
ISURU
WINISIS
Figure 8: University Libraries Based on the Library Management Software Type
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ULibNet
University Library Network (ULibNet) is a proposal that has been put forward bearing the
resource sharing concept in mind and is still being considered by the UGC committee. Yet this
proposal focuses only upon the sharing of books and other printed articles among the libraries. The
sharing of e-resources such as databases and printed journals are completely disregarded in this
proposal.
Developing a Unique Library Management System
In order to facilitate the resource sharing initiative a library management system can be developed
specifically to cater to the Sri Lankan university libraries. A system that manages internal resources,
that supports OPAC searching and indexing within and among the libraries and which would be
having a central database with all the e-resources would be another alternative to be considered.
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Proposed Strategies and Recommendations
The most feasible solution out of the alternatives stated above would be the development of a
library management system designed specifically to cater to the function of resource sharing among
Sri Lankan university libraries. Gathering requirements from each individual university, identifying
the generic and specific requirements of each university and designing the database and a web based
system that enables effective and efficient resource sharing are the steps to be followed in
implementing this solution.
In order to accomplish the goal of effective resource sharing following strategies can be followed
while implementing the recommended solution.
Policy Endorsement
It is crucial for the success of the project to endorse a policy at the governmental or ministerial
level. The proposal to share informational resources need to be agreed upon by both the ministry of
higher education and ministry of finance and it needs to be included as a revision to the countrys
development plan. It also needs to be accepted by all the university librarians and library staff.
The UGC or one of its affiliated bodies has to consent to act as the regulatory authority
coordinating all university libraries and the terms of the funding policy, the role of each university and
Network
The proposed web based system needs to be accessible within the universities with a minimum
delay and has to be inaccessible to outsiders. To facilitate these ease of access and security features its
recommendable to host the developed system in LEARN . LEARN is the NREN (National Research
and Education Network) of Sri Lanka, which interconnects Educational and Research institutions
across the country, and provide network related services to them (Lanka Education and Research
Network | Lanka Education and Research Network. 2011). Currently it interconnects all of the UGC
funded state universities, the University Grants Commission, the Ministry of Higher Education and
many other educational institutes affiliated to the state.
Implementing as a Web 2.0 solution
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information
sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web (What Is
Web 2.0 - O'Reilly Media. 2011). Implementing the proposed web based system as a web 2.0 would
enable sharing personal archives of information. Lecturers and likewise personal can share articles,
papers in their possession with the other users of the system. Forums and commentary on shared
resources would improve the knowledge of the users by helping them to critically review the scholarlyarticles.
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Benefits of the Proposed Solution
Requirement Specific Solution
The development of a web based system to endorse resource sharing is recommendable to the Sri
Lankan library system mainly because it would be developed specifically to facilitate to meet the
requirements of the of university library system. Since this would involve a requirement gathering and
requirement analysis phase it would identify each university libraries requirements precisely.
Easily Customizable
Unlike open source library systems, this system would be unproblematically customizable.
Maintenance would not require high technical expertise and therefore libraries will not need to recruit
new technical staff members.
Minimal Cost
Unlike in using the already installed library systems, the proposed solution would not give rise to
licensing and maintenance cost. Since it can be developed another library user, there would be zero
development cost.
Improved user interaction
Minimal user involvement is yet another problem the Sri Lankan university libraries are facing.
Implementation of the system as a web 2.0 would ensure active participation of all users within
the library users network via forums and comments.
Improved Security and Ease of Access
Since LEARN interconnects all the state funded universities, the deployment of the system in
LEARN would improve speed of access. And since LEARN is IP restricted it would be impossible for
outsiders to access the system thus the shared information resources would not be abused or
mismanaged.
Table 2: Library Usage on the regularity of Usage
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Addresses all Sectors of Information Resources
Since in contrast to the ULibNet, the proposed solution focuses on all aspects of resource sharing,
ranging from printed articles to e-resources, it is expected to enable sharing of each and every
resource within the university libraries.
Funding and Authority will not be abused
By establishing a central regulatory body presumably UGC, would ensure the success of this
project since UGC is the best authority to influence the state funded universities.
Establishing a proper funding policy would guarantee long term success of the project and would
ensure that the monetary resources would not run out untimely.
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Conclusion
Sri Lankan libraries have been in the forefront of technology since 1986 which was the year when
they started focusing on the automation of university libraries. In complying with the technological
advances of the world the university libraries implemented propriety library management software.
Yet they had to face difficulties with this implementation due to the high cost in licensing the library
management software, and as the libraries of a developing country, Sri Lankan universities were not
able to afford it. Therefore the need for a novel mechanism to manage library information has arisen.
Along with this, the need of resource sharing has also arisen in the libraries due to budgetary
constraints, libraries inability to store all resources in one place and their inability to cater to the
varying needs of the users (both undergraduates as well as lecturers. Over the years university
libraries have attempted many resource sharing mechanisms and some of them have failed drastically
while the others are still functioning unknown to many of its users. E-Consortia was one such project
that failed due to lack of funds and interlibrary loans and British Document supply Centre systems are
used with a loose network of no established procedure.
In this study, the need for resource sharing is identified by gathering data about all the university
libraries. A special attention is paid to Moratuwa and Colombo University libraries by interviewing
their staff members and accessing their documents. The study depicted that by having a resourcesharing mechanism to share all printed, electronic documents as well as non printed materials (Audio,
Video) annual expenditure of each university library can be reduced drastically and it would also help
to improve user satisfaction.
The solution suggested to share resources is the development of a web based system specifically
targeting the Sri Lankan university libraries. Yet in order to make it a success a central regulatory
body such as UGC has to be established for this network and proper funding policies have to be
endorsed. The library staff members attitudes also have to be altered to help implement a resource
sharing initiative. And finally it is recommended to host the proposed web based system in theLEARN and to integrate the characteristics of a web 2.0 in to the system to improve its success.
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Literature Survey
Resource Sharing
Resource sharing is a concept that is discussed and focused upon in many of the libraries around
the world today. It is considered to be the pillar of library modernization and is accepted to be an
essential step that has to be followed if the libraries intend to stay in tune with the modern world and
its expectations. Swift growth of modern literature along with rapidly diminishing budgets as well as
growing information requirements has made resource sharing a must in todays context.
Situation of Sri Lankas Libraries
Sri Lankan libraries have attempted to stay in the forefront of the technological advances since the
1980s.Currently the university libraries are using propriety software such as ALICE for Windows,
ISURU and LibSys.
The Sri Lankan university libraries had survived in the past few years mainly due to the foreign aid
projects such as Sida/SAREC. Yet since these projects were mainly focused on funding the purchases
of e-resources, it has resulted in the library users getting used to the e-resources and therefore the
users are expecting the libraries to facilitate this requirement as well.
Over the years library staff has got used to play the role as a mere provider of books and periodicals
and are content with tackling their day to day problems instead of attempting to focus on wider vistas
of knowledge.
Sri Lankas Economical Situation
With the end of the war Sri Lankan government has started focusing on reconstruction and
development projects to improve the living condition of the country. Therefore the higher education
and educational institutes are given a secondary importance where the budget only addresses the
traditional costs of education and are not attempting to launch any educational reforms that would
increase the annual allocation on education.
Status in Other Countries
USA has moved over to resource sharing with the implementation of open source library management
systems and has succeeded in achieving this goal due to their high availability technical expertise.
Malaysia and Kuwait are considering resource sharing initiatives and yet are facing problems due to
similar conditions such as lack of financial resources as in Sri Lanka. Yet they are attempting to
overcome this problem and implement a resource sharing mechanism with the use of foreign aids and
so on.
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References
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Resource Sharing among University Libraries
Appendix 01
ALICE for Windows University of Colombo
University of Peradeniya
University of Sri Jayewardenepura
LibSys University of Moratuwa
University of Kelaniya
University of Jaffna
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Open University, Sri LankaEastern University of Sri Lanka
ISURU University of Ruhuna
Wayamba University of Sri Lanka
South Eastern University of Sri Lanka
Rajarata University
WINISIS University of Visual and Performing Arts