Automation and networking of agricultural university libraries in Karnataka: A study

This study covers six agricultural universities libraries in Karnataka and comprise of Teaching Faculty, Research Scholars, PG and UG students and Non-Teaching Staff Members, budget sanctioned agricultural university libraries from the year 2011-12 to 2015-16 for the purchase of books, journals, e-database, e-journals, e-books, computer accessories, library software and networking, back volumes, and other items by the state, ICAR and World Bank funds is presented in this study and also library collection on print and digital form in the six agricultural universities.


Introduction
The meaning and definition of the important concepts used in the study are described in the following sections for conceptual clarity. Further, this also gives a description of a theoretical background for the study. A few national and international organizations like UNESCO, IFLA, etc., which supported the cause of library automation in their own way is delineated. The local, regional and national level initiatives of library networks like INFLIBNET, DELINET, CALIBNET, MALIBNET, BONET, etc., and specialized networks like ARISNET, HELINET, etc., are also described in this study.
The following table provides a list of a few different library software packages available for library automation with the name of their manufacturing companies. LIBSOFT Environ software (P) Ltd Bangalore

Objectives of the Study
The main objectives of the study are stated as follows: 1. To identify the areas and existing library resources and facilities for networking of agricultural university libraries in Karnataka. 2. To examine the status of Information and Communication Technology infrastructure in respect of hardware, software and networking and the extent of its use for library services. 3. To identify the software's used for automation by the agricultural university libraries in Karnataka.

To identify the constraints in implementing library automation and networking of agricultural university libraries in
Karnataka. 5. To identify the training and orientation needs of library professional staff and the opportunities open for their continued education to keep abreast with the state -ofart ICTs being evolved. 6. To assess the utilization of library resources and services by the users. 7. To propose a model integrated library and information system using the latest ICT's.

Research Methodology
A fairly comprehensive review of literature covering the period 2000-2016, pertaining to the library automation and networking and users' usage is conducted to provide an insight to design the objectives of the study with clear vision to proceed with research work.
Survey method has been employed to study the library automation and networking. A designed questionnaire was framed to collect the required data from library professional staff, faculty and postgraduate students to meet the objectives of this study.

Hypotheses of the Study
The following hypotheses have been formulated for the present study. 1. Library professional staff needs more intensive training to handle the library software, automation and networking and web-enabled library services. 2. The ICT infrastructure is not fully utilized by the agricultural university libraries selected for the study. 3. The lack of MOU among the agricultural university libraries in Karnataka is found to be a major hurdle for resource sharing activities like inters library loan, document delivery service and technical processing of documents among them. 4. The university libraries selected for the study have not made initiatives to develop institutional repositories/digital libraries.
A brief profile of each of the six agricultural universities selected for the present research work has been described in the following sections. The user's category wise analysis of the data reveals that UASLB has the maximum faculty members (616) followed by UASLD (345) and UASLR (202). Likewise, UASLD has the maximum number (1451) of UG students followed by UASLB (1159) and UASLR (602). The UASLB has the maximum number (475) of PG students followed by UASLD (459) and UASLR (261). Similarly, the UASLB has the highest number (283) of research scholars followed by UASLD (204) and UASLR (102).
The data collected by the researcher in relation to the library building and the seating capacity are presented in the following table.

Library Expenditure for the Procurement of Different Information and ICT Resources from 2011-12 to 2015-16
The details of expenditure of the selected university libraries for the procurement of conventional and non-conventional sources is presented in Table 1.7 and similarly the expenditure on the development of ICT infrastructure and networking is presented in Table 1.8. The detailed consolided total expenditure of all the libraries on collection of different information resources and the development of ICT infrastructure during 2011-12 to 2015-16 (five years) are presented in Table 1.9 in the following sections.  Table that the UASLB (24.11%) spent its major share of budget for hardware, software and networking while at UAHSLS (16.35%) the major share of library budget has been spent for procurement of hardware, software and networking. Further, at UHSLB (6.51%), KVAFSULB (3.10%), UASLD (2.65%) and UASLR (1.81%) of the library budget has been spent to procure hardware, software, and networking.  Table that the UASLB spent its major share of budget for printed journals, hardware, software and networking and e-databases while at UASLD the major share of library budget has been spent for procurement of print journals, print books and e-journals. Further, at KAVFSULB, the major share of library budget has been spent on to procure print books, e-books and hardware, software, and networking whereas in UHSLB, the major share of library budget has been allocated to procure printed books, e-books, and printed journals followed by UASLR's expenditure which shows that the major share of its library budget has been allocated to procure printed books, printed journals and e-journals and at UAHSLS, the major share of library budget has been spent on procuring print books, e-books and hardware, software and networking.

Collection of Information Resources
The following table gives the details of the different forms of print and digital collection in the six agricultural university libraries. The total library collection, both in print and digital formats as can be seen in the Table, the UASLB leads in the total print collection followed by UASLD and UASLR, which occupies the second and third position respectively. However, in case of digital collection UASLB is in first position followed by KVAFSULB, UHSLB and UAHSLS respectively. It is very surprising UASLD occupies the last position with only 52 digital collections.

Hardware Infrastructure Available in the Libraries
The below Table 1.11 shows the IT related infrastructure (Hardware available) in all the six agricultural university libraries under study. In order to give effective Information Technology related services to users all the six university libraries are making every effort to add all the required hardware gadgets and equipments in a phased manner to achieve the goal of becoming fully automated and networked library system. 1. About 21% out of the teaching Faculty population from each university was selected randomly (296 teaching faculty members) to whom the questionnaires were distributed and 268 have responded i.e. 90.54%, which is a very good feedback for the purpose of this research survey; and 2. About 24% out of the Research Scholars' population from each university was selected randomly (168 Research Scholars) to whom the questionnaires were distributed and 148 responded i.e. 88%; which is a good feedback for the purpose of this survey; and also 3. About 23% out of the Post-graduate students population from each university were selected randomly (342 Post-graduate students) to whom the questionnaires were distributed and 294 responded i.e. 85.96%. This is a very good response for the purpose of this research survey. Thus the data collected through questionnaires from the 20% (710) of the total users' population of 3528 which includes Faculty Members, Research Scholars and Post Graduate Students of six agricultural universities of Karnataka to seek the users' opinion regarding the automation, networking and e-library facilities in their respective university libraries are analyzed and interpretation of the data is presented in the subsequent sections.

Skills to Use Computers and Internet
The respondents were asked to indicate whether they possess the required skills to use the computers and internet. The responses received are presented in Table- Internet 710 (100%) --- The Table 1.13 depicts that the Cent Percent of the respondents from all the categories of university library users considered for this study are found to have the required skills to use computers and internet.

Usage of Search Engines by the Users of Agricultural University Libraries in Karnataka
Search engines are now an integral part of digital information environment, which facilitate information discovery form the Web. It is important to know the use patterns of search engines among the respondents. A question was raised in this context and the responses received are tabulated and presented in Table 1.14 for analysis. About 150 (21.13%) users claim that they access e-resources 2 to 3 times a week. May be they are happy with the print documents or they have access to e-resources at their residences itself. Further, 78 users' (10.98%), 56 users (07.89%) and 47 users (6.62%) have expressed they visit e-resources section, 2-3 times a month, once in a month or occasionally. This may be due to these users are not comfortable with e-resources usage or the faculty members may be busy with other administrative assignments of the university in addition to teaching and research work. The Table 1.17 shows that the AGRIS (Agricultural Information System) is the most heavily accessed database by 414 users (58.31%) out of 710 users interviewed as AGRIS provides access to agricultural research data exploiting open data on the Web. It is an international system for Agricultural Science and Technology. It is supported by a large community of data providers, partners and users. It is a global public domain database with more than 8-10 million structured bibliographical records on Agricultural Sciences and Technology. It meets most of the information needs of the agricultural university library users for their academic activities. The second highest used database with 341(48.03%) users out of 710 users interviewed is CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International), a non-profit inter-governmental organization based in the United Kingdom (UK). It focuses primarily on agricultural and environmental issues in the developing world.
The third highest accessed e-bibliographical database is Biological Abstracts, with 223 (31.41%) users out of 710 interviewed which is a collection of bibliographic references for life science and biomedical research literature covering peerreviewed article abstracts from US and international journals. Compared to AGRIS and CABI databases BA does not meet much of the information needs of the users' of the agricultural university libraries.
Since these abstracts (HA, FSTA and VSD) are dedicated to special subjects like Horticultural Sciences, Food Science Technology and Veterinary Science, the users from the university where these subjects are taught are only interested in these databases i.e. University of Horticultural Sciences Bagalakote, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences Shivamogga, Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar.

Usage Pattern of Print Resources v/s e-Resources
The IT revolution led to the emergence of internet and World Wide Web as information super highways for exchange of knowledge generated in the form of e-documents. There is a common belief that the e-publishing almost replaced the print versions of documents and so the present generation of academics engaged in higher studies and research has totally abandoned the use of print documents. The researcher in this study tried to explore whether print resources are still popular or not among the selected users of agricultural university libraries, a query was raised in a questionnaire to them. The responses received are tabulated and presented in Table 1.18 for further analysis. The arrival of electronic resources and digital libraries has a number of significant impacts on the use of print resources and traditional libraries. Reading preferences and use of print and electronic resources vary among different category of users namely Faculty Members, Research Scholars and Postgraduate Students. The above Table 1.18 shows that the users of agricultural university libraries desire to meet their information needs through a mix of print and e-resources. Electronic resources are invaluable resource tools that complement the print-based resources in a traditional library setting.
Out of 710 users; 404 (56.90%) users prefer to consult both print and e-resources; 201 users (28.31%) prefer eresources and 105 (14.79%) users prefer print resources; maybe they are not comfortable with e-resources and are senior faculty members. The dramatic changes in providing information through e-resources at the agricultural university libraries have made a significant impact on the use of print resources and traditional libraries.

Findings
An overview of the present study, observations of the researcher and findings are presented in this study. for all the professional library staff in a library, which will help them in utilizing all the modules in the software, functioning of the library efficiently and effectively and provide good services to their user community. Hence, it is very much essential that training and up-gradation of human resource has become vital for creating digital environment. In this direction, ICAR is taking the steps to train the manpower and reengineering the library services in agriculture sector in India.

Conclusion
Agriculture is an umbrella term that consists of crop sciences, horticulture, forestry, animal science, fisheries, etc., each of these disciplines has its own importance in the welfare of mankind and in contributing to the economic progress of the country. The phrase 'Library automation' in the post was used to refer to the mechanization of the library's routine tasks like acquisition, cataloguing, circulation, serials management, etc., but today, it also include information organization, information storage, web harvesting, retrieval, use etc., These developments have led to the evolution of digital libraries, and the various factors like electronic sources of information; e-books, e-journals, e-databases, e-theses, ereports, etc., Internet and World Wide Web, library automation and networking etc., have brought in several complexities to face at times of financial crunch in the agricultural university libraries. However, within the funds made available by the ICAR and the state government the agricultural university libraries in Karnataka have made considerable progress in developing basic ICT infrastructure like computers, printers, scanners, LAN networks in their respective university campuses.
As per the directions of the ICAR all, the six agricultural university libraries in Karnataka are following KOHA library software, which has all the required facilities/modules to fully automate the university library's housekeeping operations and web based services. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has sanctioned many project like e-Granth, CeRA, Krishikosh, AgriCat, etc., under NATP and NAIP programmes. This in fact brought a new wave in agricultural university libraries not only in Karnataka but in the whole of India. All the agricultural university libraries in Karnataka are well placed in terms of ICT infrastructure and have also established links to the ICAR's initiatives.
Finally, it can be concluded that the agricultural university libraries in Karnataka have to integrate as a system to address the challenges of volatile digital information environment and convert the challenges as opportunities by making use of the emerging digital technologies including cloud-computing technology for their networking and resources sharing activities. Each one of them has to serve both as server and client in the system with a purpose to fulfill the Vision, Mission and Goals of the parent organization. So that in the coming years each of the agricultural library grows as a 'Gateway' to the world of knowledge in the real sense.

Source of Funding
None.