[LIS-Forum] UGC Scheme 2016 - Academic Inclusion of Librarians among Students and Teachers

---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: UGC Scheme 2016 - Academic Inclusion of Librarians among Students and Teachers From: "Dr. A.T. Francis" <francisaloor@yahoo.com> Date: Thu, July 21, 2016 5:01 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear library professionals, UGC has invited suggestions on the PAY Revision for teachers an librarians.  The draft representation on the matter prepared by the Academic Library Association is given below for your kind comments and uniform and collective action:The Academic Library Association is an importantassociation of qualified library professionals in India.  We would like to submit our remarks and somesuggestions for the kind consideration of the Govt. of India and UGC whilefinalizing the UGC Scheme 2016. The UGC Schemes 1986, 1996 and 2006 have brought lotof merits to the academic system in India. But, it has few demerits which affect the Library management, Libraryservices to the students, teachers and researchers and the Career AdvancementScheme to the librarians.  Few examplesare noted below: About 80% of the University Librarians in India (100% inKerala) is vacant. Not even a single Assistant Librarian or Deputy Librarian orUniversity Librarian is directly appointed in any university or college inKerala.  In Kerala, there are about 600Govt. colleges (arts and science, poly technique, medical, nursing, dental,etc.). On implementation of UGC Scheme, Govt. has upgraded only 12 posts oflibrarians to the UGC Cadre.  To these 12posts itself, promotion from junior posts of Librarians is continuing.  As there is no benefit to Junior Librariansin receiving this promotion on the verge of retirement, out of these 12 posts, 04posts are vacant. In universities also, the Junior Librarians arepromoted as Asst. Librarians at the age of about 50 years.  While teachers in universities will retire at60, the librarians will retire at 56 years as they are categorized asNon-teaching, along with clerks, typists and peons.  Modern library profession is based on ICTs, webbased tools and techniques, digital libraries, strategic management, etc.  The librarians entering the UGC Cadre atabout the age of 50 years or on the verge of retirement, they loose technicalcompetency, enthusiasm and motivation. This is adversely affecting not only libraries, but the entire system ofeducation and research in the country. The library profession became a non-attractive or non-dignifiedjob in India especially in Kerala and talented students do not prefer to enter theprofession.  This is reflected in the libraryservices and utilization of high value information resources. Several court cases piled up in High Courts and SupremeCourts in India regarding the implementation of UGC Scheme for Librarians, lackof clarity on several rules, retirement age, parity issues etc. though the UGClibrarians are equally qualified as teachers. Similar to teachers, librarians in universities andcolleges are engaged with three duties; (i). teaching, (ii). research or (iii).extension.  They are engaged with theduties like; imparting knowledge through library and information service(indirect teaching), direct teaching and extension. They are also entrustedwith academic administration, that is, management of library and informationsystems and services. The qualification for a teacher or librarian in UGC isPG in concerned subject (here Library Science) with 55% mark and NET conductedfor teachers/librarians. Though the mode appointment, pay scale and CareerAdvancement Promotion for teachers and librarians are same in UGC Scheme, alluniversities in Kerala and many universities in India are classified thelibrarians under non-teaching category of clerks, typists and peons.  This is highly unscientific and affects the motivationand morale of librarians and also the quality of education, teaching, learningand research. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),the controlling agency of agricultural universities in India has included a paper “ResearchMethodology” (1+1 Credit Course) for all PG and PhD students.  About 33% of the content of this paper wasLibrary Education, Library Science, Library Service, Information Retrieval,etc.  During 2009 onwards, this coursehas been re-structured into two papers: i.Library and Information Service (0+1 Credit); and ii.Technical Writing (1+0 Credit) Because of the importance of the librarians inteaching, research and extension, all University Librarians of AgriculturalUniversities in India are Ex-Officio Member of the University Academic Council. The designation of qualified librarians in researchagencies like DRDO, ISRO, CSIR, KSCSTE, etc. is “Scientist”.  Librarians in CBSE, ICSE and similar schoolsare in the Teaching Category.  Manyuniversities and states have brought the librarians under the teaching categoryby re-designation.  But, it is better to havea uniform pattern. Though the librarians are custodians and providers ofhigh value knowledge resources, their categorization under Non-Teaching,resulting in the automatic exclusion of them from the academic and researchcommunity.  This is a great loss to ourstudents, teachers and researchers because there is a natural gap between them.  As large quantity of digital as well asconventional information resources are available in the college and universitylibraries, proper library education to students and teachers is extremelyessential to effectively utilize these resources. In many states there is a general notion thatlibrarians are unqualified and incapable. In Kerala, there are about 60,000 “Librarians” and former librarians inPublic Libraries. There is no need for any formal qualifications to them.  Their “salary” is Rs. 1,200/- per month.  The public image and status of UGC Asst.Librarians, Deputy Librarians and Librarians in Universities and colleges aresame as that of these non-qualified librarians, because the number qualified librariansis negligibly small as compared to the non-qualified librarians. Moreover, there is a Govt. Rule in Kerala topromote “Librarians” with few years of experience as “Part-Time Sweepers”and again as “Peons” after further few years of experience.  So, we can imagine the status of librariansin Kerala, whether they are in UGC Cadre or State Govt. Cadre.  Similar situation prevails in many otherstates.  Based on several brain stormingsessions, workshops and seminars conducted on the matter, we suggest thefollowing for inclusion in the 2016 UGC Package in order to get maximumpotential of what invested in higher education sector: i.  Re-designate UGC Librarians in universities andcolleges same as that of other teachers (Asst. Professor / Associate Professor/ Professor – Library Education). The “University Librarian” may beRe-designated as “Director of Libraries” similar to “Director of Research”, “Directorof Extension”, “Director of Academic & PG Studies”, “Director of PhysicalPlant”, etc. in Agricultural Universities. ii. The librarians in universities and colleges shouldbe non-vacation teachers as in the case of all teachers in agricultural universitiesand colleges. iii. Include one Compulsory Non-Credit Paper in thesyllabus of all PG and PhD Courses, with Title, “AdvancedLibrary Education and Informatics” (0+1 Credit, Practical course); 2 hours/week(1 semester). The total workload for the above course can be limitedto 04-06 hours per week by combining different batches of students to offer thecourse either in 1st Semester or 2nd Semester and theexisting staff can manage the class without additional staff. With regads, Dr. A.T. FRANCIS, MCom, MLISc, NET, PhD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN Kerala Agricultural University Thrissur - 680 656, India, 91-9496839409 (m) francisaloor@yahoo.com