[LIS-Forum] Increase the value of library services...

[DP Tripathi]

Increase the value of library services:

Use of technology is spread just like mushroom in every walk of our life
now-a-days and everyone almost feels really helpless whenever there is gap
of these technologies in our day to day life's routine work. Technology has
also widened the scope of our working areas as well as level of thinking
but, if we just have the glimpses of the days two decades ago in our mind,
we hardly used to hear the terms like automation, digitization, content
management system etc. Without the much use of technology also, library
professionals were able to provide services to their library patrons
effectively and the system used to be very strong those days from user
satisfaction's point of view. Those days it was really a tough task for any
library to market their products & services as the medium of communication
was not that much strong in comparison to what it is today. Even then, the
libraries were able to disseminate information and assist in research and
academic work by providing personalized services, customized services,
evaluating different services etc.

I am trying to draw your attention towards value of library services in
digital era......

We have been using technology to speed up our efficiency but have we ever
thought about value of library services being provided? Does it reach to
the society & its users successfully? and so on....If answer is
'Yes'......then great and if 'Not'.....we must think it over about how can
it reach?

In my opinion, social media or networking has been playing a very effective
role in maintaining public relations......it is working just like bridge
between two ends.

In order to stay up-to-date in the socially networked environment and meet
the growing needs of their users, libraries therefore need to adopt the new
technologies and face the challenges for delivery of better services.

We all must actively respond to the popularity of social networking sites
e.g. most popular facebook, twitter etc. and their expanding role in the
creation, use, and sharing of information by engaging us as a central
medium for interacting with library patrons and providing services to meet
their information needs.

We all must follow the public conversations, posts, updates, and events of
these key individuals, and offer advice, resources, and help. We all must
act as an active participant of the social space and be able to identify
the needs of the members of the library communities and must provide
solutions by offering information, links to the websites that are relevant
to their information needs; and even direct offers of help. There is an
urgent need for libraries to adopt the new social networking tools in their
services as a strategy for major change while promoting a role for library
users in knowledge creation.

Libraries can connect their social networking sites with their library
websites to links to their on-line public access catalog, chat reference
pages, research guides, calendar of events, e-newsletter etc.

In order to increase the value of our library services, we must play the
roles of the social networking librarian by:
understanding the nature of social networking sites, creating web page and
content, establishing friendly user interface over the network, evaluating
and applying information, assisting users by providing quality on-line
library services.

Thanks,

*********************
D. P. Tripathi
Assistant Librarian
Biju Patnaik Central Library
NIT Rourkela
Odisha - 769008
http://library.nitrkl.ac.in
<http://www.librarianguide.in>
**********************

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