New age librarianship

Is it posssible to revamp the image of libraries. Yes....very much so. The onus lies on all working library professionals. Personal interactions with users of libraries reveal these simple expectations:

1. attend to users needs with personal interest and put in the best possible efforts to serve the users needs. these needs can be as simple as searching for a mis-shelved book. a users needs to be convinced that the library professional is putting in sincere efforts to serve her / his needs. in most of the cases this first step in servicing the needs of the users is lost and is invisible in most of the libraries. users feel that we are not doing enough.

2. second important issue is the understanding of the need of the user. this is critical in the user satisfaction index. for a library professional to develop an appropriate understanding of the need has to become familiar with the subject domain of the user. without efforts to research, read and understand the subject domain of the user it is becomes difficult to serve the need. the more specific and focussed the need, the more important it is to spend time in understanding the background of the user. the other reason that this is important is that many a time, users may not be able to formulate a query explicitly.

3. the third issue in this regard is that such needs have to be documented and followed up even after the user has been served with specific information. updating the user with latest information on previous needs creates a very good image of service orientation of the library professional.

4. documenting these services will over period of time provide valuable inputs in improving existing services and also creates a simple KM system that can be used for other similar needs by other users.

all these issues were eloquently taught ib library schools based on dr. ranganathan's philosophy and body of knowledge. it is high time that we revisit our roles and infuse professionalism that is expected from library professionals. these are are the only ways to face challenges of web based resources and services that may put an end to present day mundane librarianship that we are pracitising.