Indian Academic Libraries in the Doldrums of Digital Era
Abstract
21st century technological breakthroughs have kept all the sectors of economy on the edge of innovative technology. Educational sector – the factory system, producing the building-blocks for constructing tomorrow’s sound future of any country – is forced to be fastened and modified to keep up the pace with the rocket-speed technology. Consequently, the Power Houses of Knowledge in the Education sector, i.e. the Academic Library and Information Centres (LICs) are forced to start a forward march aiming to supply and fulfil the necessary educational demands in the ever changing digital era. The present paper discusses the nature and scope of academic libraries and the laborious work carried out in them by the Library and Information Science (LIS) Professionals. It also delves into the advantages offered by the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and IT Enabled Services (ITES). This paper educates the LIS Professionals about the uses of ICT application in academic libraries and encourage them to overhaul all the LIS policies and procedures so as to revamp and rejuvenate the working of LICs to meet the increasing demands, challenges and needs of digital era on one side and to provide right information to the right information seeker at the right time.
Keywords: Academic Libraries, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), IT Enabled Services (ITES), Libraries in Digital Era, LIS Professionals-Training and Development, Modern Libraries, Digital Libraries. Â Â Â Â
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