Innovation in academic libraries an Indian perspective

H Anil Kumar Librarian, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

• Innovation

• Academic

• Library

Innovation

• New ways of doing the same things

• Offering new services

• Need not be only technology based

• Need not be digital

• Revisit the five laws Dr. S.R. Ranganathan’s five laws

Books are for use

Every reader his/her book Every book its reader

Save the time of the reader The library is a growing organism

What is the Indian context?

• GER – Higher education 24%

• Vacant seats – Engineering, MBA, etc

• Graduates – Unemployable graduates – Aspiring Minds 2016

– 80% unemployable

– Little curiosity, Lack of questioning skills

– Lack of GK, Poor fundamental knowledge – concepts

• No application of K

Status of academic libraries NIRF Top 50 overall

• 60% above 50 years. 92% above 10 years old

• 66% - No inf on Space

• No inf on staff 36%, 46% no librarian or inf NA

• 32% no inf on collection

• 44% no OPAC, No inf on services 42%

• More than 40% have not website of their own

• 20% report discovery service, Remote access 22%

• Ask a librarian – 28%, 80% have no IR,

What is the outcome of education?

• Jobs?

• Skills?

• Information?

• Knowledge?

• Exams?

• Learning!

We evaluate / rank / accredit institutions on all parameters: placements, diversity, student / alumni / businesses perception / faculty profile, publications / …student satisfaction …. But not student LEARNING.

Learning

• We need a learning Society…. For that

you need learning citizens.

• READING AND WRITING

• READING means reading, understanding, evaluating, interpreting and applying.

• WRITING follows READING

Reading

• Slow reading

• Deep reading

• Attention, focus, retention.

• Print vs digital

Our Interfaces Are Killing Our Ability to Think. We are killing our ability to think. Mobile Touches dscout’s inaugural study on humans and their tech (June 15, 2016)

Q. How many times a day do users interact with their phone? A. People tapped, swiped and clicked a whopping 2,617 times each day, on average.

Readings

• Why the brain prefers the paper, Scientific American Nov 2013

• 95 Percent Solution: School is not where most Americans learn most of their science by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, American Scientist: v. 98 (Nov-Dec), 2010

• Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: effects on reading comprehension by Mangen, Walgermo and Bronnick, International Journal of Education Research, 58 (2013).

• Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World by Naomi Baron, 2015, OUP

• Digital Dieting: From Information Obesity to Intellectual Fitness by Tara Brabazon, 2013, Routledge

• The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time, by David L. Ulin, 2010, Sasquatch Books

• The Shallows - What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicolas Carr, W. W. Norton & Company, 2011

Writing

• Writing skills…Cambridge University is thinking of doing away from written exams due to bad hand writing!

• Power point???

• Banned at: Apple, Amazon, GSk, etc and Copenhagen Business School for Masters in Philosophy and Management

http://www.businessinsider.com/universities-should-ban-powerpoint-it-makes-students-stupid-and-professors-boring-2015-6?IR=T

Languages…dying • Slow death of languages fb posts in English • Digital translators

– Pilot Translating Earpiece by Waverly Labs - 15 languages – Skype Translator (real time) – Spanish English – as of now. – Google Pixel Ear buds – 40 languages

• Digital Writers – voice command writers • Digital Communication – languages are dying ??? • Losing a language also can mean losing crucial

knowledge about the linguistic group’s history, culture, or even knowledge about their local environment

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in

school...” - Albert Einstein

In this context are libraries innovating….what are the interesting things happening in the

world of academic libraries …

Delivery at your doorstep!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPc3pd89KnL1E9MyKZs0pzprHANWn1opm

https://www.library.georgetown.edu/news/maker-hub-innovators-and-creators

http://web.library.yale.edu/services-persons-disabilities

http://www.ondemandbooks.com/

• Lending Earbuds

• Certificate course in LIS for pharma students

Other interesting ideas

• Lib Apps

• Human book

• Earn while you learn

• Impact factor of journal on print issue display

• Lib guides, subject guides

IIMA Library

• Print…still in demand – Recommendations

– Marking, damaged, demand for increase in renewals

– Curated displays (startups, movies, feminism, etc)

– Today’s returns

– Bags

– Book reviews

– Book marks

– Faculty books

• Digital – Discovery & Remote access

– Subject guides

– Print promotion of books and papers

– Digital promotion through user videos / text

– Kindle lending

IIMA Library

• Services – Cleanliness

– Know your library Quiz

– Research Assistance

– Survey tool, technology support, reference management tools, etc

– Exploring pan India network of library spaces

– Special sessions for student clubs

– Children section

• Space – Nurturing entrepreneurship

– Visually disabled

– Discussion, silent study, etc

– Restoration project

Thank you

anilkumar@iima.ac.in