Librarians in higher education system: Role, responsibilities and status.

Santhosh Kumar Introduction: University and College libraries perform a unique and indispensable function in the educational process and play a vital role for the development and promotion of higher education in the country. In Modern India, the importance of library in higher education many education commissions and e"pert committees. #arious committees have recogni!ed the valuable contribution by the Library to the quality. $fficiency and conduct of research and the advancement of intellectual and scholarly pursuits in higher education and recommended that the academic qualifications, status and salary scale of the library staff should be the same as that of the teaching staff. %he Calcutta University Commission appointed in &'&( by the )overnment of India under chairmanship of *ir Michal *addler, University $ducation Commission+&','- chaired by .r.*.Radha/rishnan, U)C Committee for University and College Libraries+&'01- Chaired by .r.*.R.Ranganathan, $ducation Commission+&'22- chaired by ..*.3othari and $"pert Committee on College Libraries in &''4 chaired by #.5.6oy. 7ccording to U)C Committee for University and College Libraries+&'01- chaired by .r.*.R.Ranganathan the academic qualifications, the status and the salary scale of the library staff should be at par ith those of the 5rofessors, Readers and the Lectures. %he U)C 5ay Revie Committees namely. the *en Committee+&'(2- the Mehrotra as emphasi!ed by

Committee+&'1(- and the Rastogi Committee+&''1- had a prospective vision on the role of libraries and librarians in the academic environment. %hey e"amined the matter in detail and gave recommendations for the same qualifications, status and the scales of pay of teachers to the library professionals in order to attract and retain and College libraries. It is orth mentioning the recommendations of the R.C.Mehrotra Committee+&'1(- on the importance of libraries and librarians. 8 %he Committee accepted the academic status to Librarians and recommended that the emoluments of the duly qualified librarians should match those of the teachers and they should have the same promotional opportunities as have been recommended for teachers9

Role of Librarians at Par with Teachers University and College Librarians provide academic services to support teachers and students so that the teachers may freely teach and the students may freely learn. %o achieve the goal of e"cellence in teaching and learning process of higher education, teachers and librarians play the roles of equal importance. %he domain of :/no ledge; remains the common factor for both teachers and librarians. %eachers and librarians are t o faces of the same coin, i.e. learning. <oth have to actively engage students in using library as a /ind of laboratory for learning and getting good quality of education. Librarian although not a formal member of the teaching faculty performs academic functions and sustains and enriches the quality of academic e"cellence. College and university librarians share the professional concerns of faculty members. Indeed, all members of the academic community are li/ely to become increasingly dependent on s/illed professional guidance in the acquisition and use of library resources as the forms and numbers of these resource multiply, scholarly materials appear in more languages, bibliographical systems become more complicated and library technology gro s increasingly sophisticated. %he librarian ho provides such guidance plays a ma=or role in the learning process of faculty and students. %he University )rants Commission has recogni!ed this and has al ays insisted the attainment of qualifications at par the parity bet een those in higher education. #arious academic professional bodies have opined that Librarians perform a teaching and research role in as much they educate student formally and informally, advise and assist faculty in their scholarly pursuits. Librarians are also themselves involved in the research function> many conduct research in their o n professional interests and in the discharge of their duties. %his role of the college and university librarians required them to function essentially as part of the faculty and this function of the librarian as participant in the process of teaching and research is the essential criterion of the faculty status9. ith teachers and e"tended the same pay scales. %herefore, recogni!ing ho assist in gaining the relevant useful /no ledge, i.e. teachers, and ill be the most essential for achieving e"cellence

the librarians and granting them equal status

Academic responsibilities of Librarians Librarian;s academic responsibilities can be considered in four broad areas: ? ? ? ? 5rofessional performance Research, scholarly and other creative activities *ervice to the Institution@College and *ociety Continuing professional gro th Compared to faculty> the last three functions are of the same nature> the first attribute is that as Aaculty teach and do research the library professionals not only perform their professional and administrative responsibilities, but also actively participate in academic process by sourcing, procuring, organi!ing and disseminating the /no ledge resources so vital to achieve e"cellence. & %he responsibility to ards professional performance in the conte"t of academic ithin the

librarianship is in all areas relevant to the librarian;s assigned responsibilities those librarians holding administrative appointments

University@College Library system. %his includes administrative@managerial performance for ithin the University Library system. $ffectiveness of professional performance can be demonstrated through professional /no ledge, management capability, and /no ledge of the librarian;s sub=ect and by understanding the ob=ectives of the institution. B %he responsibilities to ards research, academic and other creative activities is equally or/ conducted

important for performance. 7s such due consideration is given to research by the library professionals in matter of career advancements. 4

%he responsibilities to ards the effectiveness of service to the College@University as

evidenced by successfully e"tending service on several university committees, participation in University governance and administration, part of the Aaculty 7ssociation, counseling of students and student groups, and service to society at large. , Continuing professional gro th as evidenced by active participation in appropriate or/shops, symposia,

professional scholarly organi!ations and@or by pursuit of advanced study and upgrading of qualifications. %his includes participation in professional conferences, etc, as ell as formal professional training and continuing education programmes.

Impact of Information & Communication technology on Libraries %he teaching and learning process has been shifting from conventional method students through remote control and method of teaching and learning has a profound impact on ho the literature reaches to the students. $qually ith the introduction of IC% the role of librarians in teaching and learning process and in effective research has ta/en a different and important dimension. %oday, the researchers in all disciplines elcome the deliveryCthrough the library and other sourcesC mainly of digital content direct to the des/top> both researchers and librarians see this as the /ey driving force requiring libraries to change the ay they deliver services. %he rise of eCresearch, interdisciplinary or/, crossCinstitutions, and the e"pectation of challenges

massive increases in the quantity of research output in digital form all pose ne

for librarians. %hese challenges bring the role of libraries in a sharper focus and redefine ho libraries should serve the needs of researchers as users of information sources of many different /ind. %hese call for constant honing of technical and professional s/ills to deal the information outputs that researchers are creating. Increased Role of Librarians in Digital en ironment Information and Communication %echnology +IC%- has brought enormous changes and radical transformation in the functioning and management of modern libraries. IC% has tremendous impact on library operations, information resources, services, staff s/ills requirements and users e"pectations. %he success of a modern library is increasingly dependent on the most effective utili!ation and strategic management of ne libraries %oday, Libraries are undergoing great transformation from single medium static conventional Libraries to multimedia dynamic hybrid libraries facing variety of critical challenges. %he role of librarians in the B& st century is changing very fast. *ome of the important changes are: & & Librarians are becoming more and more custodian of printCbased and digiti!ed archives and special collections. technologies in ith

Librarians are becoming the manager of institutional repositories of digital information.

Librarians are li/ely to be the administrator dealing of information services.

ith the purchasing and delivery

, 0

Librarians more and more are becoming sub=ectCbased information e"perts. %he information %echnology has given an opportunity to the librarians to become a teacher of information literacy and related s/ills to the students and faculty.

2. %hey are the manager of the vast data generated by eCresearch and pro=ects at different levels. (. Librarians are becoming more and more of technology specialists facilitating access to electronic information resources.

!tandard Criteria for Academic !tatus some of the important conditions that constitute the academic status of librarians are &. B. 4. ,. 0. 2. (. 1. '. Librarians are assigned professional responsibilities Librarians have a governance structure similar to other faculties on campus Librarians are eligible for membership in the faculty governing body Librarians have salary scales that are equivalent to academic faculty Librarians are covered by the same tenure policies as other faculty Librarians are promoted through the ran/s via a peer revie system Librarians are eligible for leaves of absence Librarians have access to funding for research pro=ects Librarians have the same protections of academic freedom as other faculty

<ased on these conditions, most of academic libraries recogni!e the library professionals in the University system at par ith teachers in all respects. If e compare the above conditions in Indian conte"t the library professionals are at equal footings ith their academic counterparts. %he future activities of library professionals ill have a role in teaching and developing researchers in various aspects of academic and professional practice. %he global trend is that the librarians are involved in effective dissemination of research output, )enerating and managing research output, Involved in providing inputs on research s/ills and techniques. Delp the users in getting research funding involved in information searching and information literacy $"ploitation of research Eet or/ing and team or/ing, Career management, Communication and presentations , Managing research pro=ects F assisting ith the publication process .eveloping lifelong learners is central to the mission of higher education institutions. %his can be achieved by ensuring that individuals have the intellectual abilities of reasoning and critical thin/ing, and by helping them construct a frame or/ for learning. Librarian, SDM Law College & Centre for Postgrduate Studies & Research in Law, Mangalore. Email: rathisuma!rediffmail.com