INTRODUCTION:
Education is a fundamental human
right and access to educational tools including books and library facilities
are central to realizing this right. “Education-for-all” is the vision with
which adult literacy systems throughout the world functions.
Education and library are two
inseparable-indivisible concepts, both being fundamentally and synchronically
related to and co-existent with each other. Effective service is necessary to
get more scores in NAAC with the help of modernization of libraries.
Organisations in order to subsist in the competitive world have to adopt new
technology and new challenges. The essence can be gained through the process of
organizational development by creating a change in structure, belief, attitudes
and values of the organization. Organisation
Development is valuable and mutual management of what the system wants to
become.
Organization can effectively
meet the challenges through a systematic and planned change effort.
Organizational development has emerged to hold the planned change for
organizational effectiveness. Organizational development concentrates on people
dimensions like norms, values, attitudes, relationships and organizational
climates etc
Objectives of organizational
development
To increase commitment, self direction and self control
To encourage the people in order to make decisions regarding
their issues through collaborative effort
To enhance the personal enthusiasm and satisfaction levels.
To increase the level of trust and support among employees
To develop strategic solutions to problems with higher frequency
To increase the level of individual and group responsibility in
planning and execution
To study the impact of HR practices on organizational commitment
in the library
The role of Library is enormous
in enhancing more research activities, as it is the right place for literature
survey and faster collection of resources using the modern techniques like
Internet, Inflibnet and other Online services. In the
past decades, Library has provided only learning resources such as text book
and reference book for the corresponding curriculum based on the students need.
But today, in the competitive environment, to match it with recent trends and technology, Library
needs modernization to enhance organisation
Development[I].
Libraries are mainly entrusted
with a host of predetermined tasks like acquiring, organizing, preserving,
retrieving and disseminating information to the user. Information technology
has influenced the very nature of business and management libraries. The conventional
set up of brick and mortar libraries that store information within a
constrained physical space have given way to data centers that integrate data
sources around the globe by the means of networking.
Library depends upon the
organizational development and based on the following background. This paper
focuses on the following objectives
Modernization of Libraries
Various skills involved in enhancing the Library Professional
are
Technical Skills
Planning Skills
Organization Skills
Controlling Skills
Decision Making Skills
Conceptual Skills
Training Skills
Role of library in enhancing the status of the colleges in NAAC
Why modernization of library is
needed?:
Library management is now
concerned with modernization particularly with methods of improving the
technical efficiency of library. Every librarian must provide the following
services to achieve the better practices to the users.
Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)
Co-operation
between Librarian and Higher Authorities
Congenial
environment among the Librarian and Library staff members
Better
relationship between Library professional and library users
Knowledge sharing is very essential in present
day organizations. Increasing innovation, promoting, organizational creativity
and knowledge sharing are the main goals of the organizations and this can be
supported by proper spatial arrangements in organization.
Library user spends at least 1/3
time of a day and about 15% of their life as students, research scholars and as
teaching professionals in libraries. The spatial elements have the significant
influence on moulding their attitudes and behaviours. Proper
interaction and communication increase the cohesiveness of a group and
individuals thus form a cohesive social community through co-presence,
co-awareness and interaction which in turn helps in representation,
interpretation and transformation of collective knowledge. Spatial arrangement
motivates its members to exceptional performances.
Computerization of
work style will help to reduce the work burden of material department,
personnel and makes their activities more efficient and in an innovative
technical way, which in turn enhance the human resource management.
Hence Modernization
of library is necessary to render the effective services to the users as well
as the readers of the library. The following factors are necessary to achieve
the modernization of libraries
Organization of materials and
resources
Classification systems and
rationale for their existence;
Computerization and networking
of all library operations, resources and services
Guidance and training in the
usage of digital resources and Internet information
Cataloguing the bibliographic
record to retrieve through OPAC retrieval system
Sharing of resources through
interlibrary loan or document delivery
Preservation of rare materials,
Back volumes and Archives
Factors involved in the organization
development:
Organizational Development is an
effort planned organization wide and managed from top to increase
organizational effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the
organization process using behavioural science
knowledge[II].
Action Research:
A basic model underlying most organisation development activity is the action research
model, a data based problem solving model that replicates the step involved in
the scientific method of inquiry.
The process of action involves
The library professional who
will act as a Human resource manager must have the following skills to achieve
the modernization of library. Technical skills, Human skill, Conceptual skills,
Communication Skills, Leading skills, Time Management Skills, Human Resource
Management Skills, Planning skill, Organizing skills, Controlling skills,
Decision-making skills and Presentation Skills, etc.
Katz identified three types of
skills like technical, human and conceptual skills which are most important
among these skills.
Technical skills:
The ability to work with
resources in a particular area of expertise in synchronization with the
qualification of a person refers to the technical skills and their personal
traits or attributes are referred as non-technical skills[III].
Technical skills are the
integral part of every organization, every library and everyone’s life. Technical skills refer to specialized
knowledge and proficiency in handling method procedures and techniques for
doing specific jobs which also includes knowledge about jobs and job contents
and logical sequence of procedures needed for performing it.
According to Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, to satisfy the five laws of library science[IV]
the following skills are necessary to acquire technical knowledge.
Basic knowledge about computer
Letter Purpose
Acquisition Purpose
Journal Remainder
Each and every activities depends upon the computer
Access to Internet and networking services
To download e-materials
To Access the Union Catalogue
Electronic Journal Consortium
Computational knowledge about the effective usage of software
packages and hardware
To satisfy the library reader
To access the Online Public Access Catalogue
To shift from tradition library to hybrid library
To increase the assessment of the library reference work
Technical skills are needed by
the librarian for providing training to subordinates regarding the use of new
techniques and methods and for providing technical guidance.
Human Skills:
The basic responsibility of a
Librarian is to get things done by others. Human skills refer to their
abilities which are needed to effectively deal with subordinates. The librarian
has to understand the subordinates needs, interests, values, by interacting
with them, guides, directs and motivate them. By using behavioural
skills, he may establish good rapport, warmth relationships and conducive
interpersonal relations with his subordinates. Human relations skills are
needed for providing dynamic and effective leadership and building a team
spirit among employees.
Administrative Skills:
Administration means the
determination of goals and policies and rules for the attainment of these
goals. Administrative skills refer to the abilities used for coordinating
various activities, reading, effective utilization of allocated resources and
getting things done by subordinates. This required pragmatism in thoughts and
actions[V].
Analytical Skills:
Analytical skills refer to the
abilities which are needed for studying the problem in a systematic way,
gathering necessary information in its various aspects, establishing and
describing relationship between two or more variables. Librarian may become
analytical in his approach for judging performance of his subordinates, solving
problems and making decisions.
In spite of the necessity and
desirability of organizational development, some excellent outcome that have
been achieved by implementing carefully selected action, some problems remain
that can inhibit the success and future development. Librarian has to identify
it and take necessary remedies by taking correct decision either by him or by
group discussion.
Conceptual skills:
Conceptual skills also include
an ability to determine the overall objectives of an organization by
integrating it with sub objectives and formulating a basic strategy.
The librarian use the conceptual
skills for scanning the changing environment and discovering various
opportunities spotting problems and threats arising out of a dynamic situation
and relating them to strength and weakness of the organization.
Conceptual skill involves the
formulation of ideas. Librarian has to understand the abstract relationships,
develop ideas and solve problems that arise in the library. In order to establish good interpersonal
relationship and to achieve the overall development of the total organization
the librarian has to adopt innovative techniques like Green Stone Digital
Library, Dspace, etc and to upgrade professional
skills position in the library.
Planning
skills[VI]
According to Koontz O’Donnell
“Planning is an intellectual process the conscious determination of courses, action, the basing of decisions on
purpose acts and considered estimates”.
The main objective of planning
is to have an overall understanding of the nature of implementation. It may be
either temporal (in terms of time) or spatial interms
of various units or the location of the organization. The following scheme
outline the process of planning