Automation Process in Academic Libraries:

An Assessment of Human Resource

MUHMMAD NAUSHAD SABZWARI & RUBINA BHATTTI

Introduction Resources are the foundation for development, establishment and generation of any service. Without resources, no one could create, develop, produce and run any type of product or service.

According to Drucker (1999) “The most valuable asset of a 20th century company was its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st century institution will be its knowledge of workers and their productivity”.

Wairrach (2010) is of the view that humans are an essential part of this society and manpower is fundamental concern with present information society as well as for modern libraries. Only people can make any organization successful rather than materials.

The last two decades have rapid continuous emerging trends to our lives. It is just like scouts that we should prepare our manpower according to future unseen change to cope with new aspects of the technology. (Gorman, 2003), p.12.

Literature Review (Rehman, Mahmood, & Bhatti, 2012) elaborated the Function of information professionals that it is like bridge between the recorded reading material and the seekers of information. The changing and emerging technological developments demand new prospects from information professionals to emphasize and broaden their learning abilities within their institutions and community.

Batool and Ameen (2010) pointed out a base for self-evaluation of their information and expertise and for evaluation of the technological level of knowledge of staff on regular basis. Mehmood (2007) studied under title “ICT training for LIS professionals in Pakistan: a need assessment.” Article investigated the ICT background of library professionals and what kind of proficiency they intended to attain.

Haley (2008). Policies should be framed out for human resource development, and they must formulate training infrastructure for cumulative learning and competencies.

(Suku & Pillai, 2005) identified that insufficient planning and guidelines for automation of library functions is one major reason for failure of automation projects. Warraich (2011) noted that libraries are not utilizing present staff expertise and the reason is that insufficient staff, increase in quantity of users and unfavorable atmosphere. Zaman Shuva (2005) described that institutions might take steps for training and human resource development of libraries. For this purpose proper planning would be very necessary.

Statement of Problem

Human resources, are the fundamental key for effectual operations, prompt functioning and are responsible for supervision and future development of any system. But, unfortunately the libraries often get material resources, equipment and other related accessories and utilize much more financial resources but ignore the most important aspect which is the assessment and planning for development of human resources, which is to be given the first preference for operations of the system.

Objectives of the Study

To assess the knowledge and skills of library professionals of academic libraries involved in automation process

To find out the status of planning before launching the automation Process in Academic Libraries

To ascertain the problems Academic library professionals face during Automation Process

Research Question

What knowledge and skills academic library professionals keep for successful implementation of Automation ?

What was the status of planning before launching the automation in Academic Libraries ?

What are the problems academic library professionals face during Automation Process ?

Research Methodology

Design: Descriptive Survey Method

Delimitation of the Study: Study was delimited to only HEC recognized University libraries of the Punjab Province and Islamabad. Only library professionals were included in this study.

Setting: The study was conducted in Public and Private Sector University Libraries of Punjab Province and Islamabad (Federal Capital).

Population: The population of the study was the Chief Librarian, Deputy Chief Librarians, Librarian, Assistant Librarians and Library Assistant involved in library automation process and having Professionals Degree of MLIS (Master Library & Information Science).

Methods: Structured Questionnaire was developed

Continued

Data Collection and Analysis: Data was collected through closed ended questionnaire. Questionnaire distributed to population through post, email, friends and personal visit to the respondents. Data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-19). Descriptive statistics was used for frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation while inferential statistics was used for One way ANOVA to see the significance difference between the variables.

Response Rate: Total 152 questionnaires were distributed to the library professionals, whereas 131 library professionals responded the survey. Thus the response rate was 86.184%.

Results

Rank University Respondents

%age

1 Public Sector Punjab 59 45.0%2 Private Sector Punjab 35 26.7%3 Public Sector Federal 28 21.4%4 Private Sector Federal 9 6.9% Total 131 100.0%

Public/ Private Sector Universities Respondents’ %age.

Rank Gender Frequency Percent1 Male 85 64.92 Female 46 35.1 Total 131 100.0%

Frequency of Gender Distribution

Rank Respondents' Age Frequency Percent1 21-30 Years 62 47%2 31-40 Years 45 34%3 41-50 Years 14 11%4 51 Years and Above 11 8% Total 131 100.0%

Respondents Age Group

Rank Respondents' Qualification

Frequency Percent

1 MLISc 117 89.32 M.Phil. 9 6.93 DLISc/BLISc 4 3.14 Ph.D. 1 .8 Total 131 100.0%

Respondents' Qualification

Rank Respondents' Occupational Status

Frequency Percent

1 Librarian 51 38.92 Assistant Librarian 32 24.43 Library Assistant 18 13.74 Deputy Librarian 13 9.95 Chief Librarian 11 8.46 Other (For Private Sector) 6 4.6 Total 131 100.0%

Respondents' Occupational Status

Rank Courses and Workshops Frequency Percent1 1 to 2 51 38.92 More than 5 28 21.43 3 to 4 28 21.44 Not at All 24 18.3 Total 131 100.0%

Respondents' Courses and Workshops Attended

RANK RESPONDENTS’ PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE FREQUENCY

1 1 TO 5 YEARS 65 2 6 TO 10 YEARS 39 3 11 TO 15 YEARS 11 4 21 TO 24 YEARS 09 5 16 TO 20 04 6 31 AND ABOVE 02 7 26 TO 30 YEARS 01 TOTAL 131

Recommendations Assessment for human resources is very essential process and libraries should made possible to assess available human resources before automation process.

Proper planning is another essential aspect and it careful planning is compulsory before starting automation projects.

Time to time orientation should be made possible on regular basis to the present staff.

Study identifies the prior orientation and training to library staff for successful implementation of library automation process.