Emerging Roles of Librarians in Academic Libraries: A Great Leap Forward

Library Herald Year : 2019, Volume : 57, Issue : 2 First page : ( 183) Last page : ( 194) Print ISSN : 0024-2292. Online ISSN : 0976-2469. Article DOI : 10.5958/0976-2469.2019.00010.1

Emerging Roles of Librarians in Academic Libraries: A Great Leap Forward

Mr Shoyel1, Dr Jalal Samir Kumar2 1Professional Trainee, IIT, Kharagpur, sohayel131@gmail.com, 8583965926 2Deputy Librarian, IIT, Kharagpur, jalalsk1971@gmail.com, 9933941352

Abstract

The transition of library collection from print to electronic to digital to virtual led a tremendous scope and opportunity for librarians in delivering various library services to the users especially in an academic library. Advancement of ICT dramatically changed the concept of rendering library services in traditional libraries. Academic and special libraries do not even require large building and infrastructure to serve their users because resources are mostly available digitally and accessible over the campus network. Emergence of new technologies and tools turn the world into a global village where the main driving force is knowledge. Librarians are facing several challenges in managing huge information. This paper discusses the changing role of librarians in academic libraries and addresses the challenges faced by them in delivering library services to their users in digital environment, The study also discusses the skills set required to satisfy the information seeking behavior of the users in the context of virtual environment.

Keywords Librarians, Librarianship, digital age, skills, changing roles, challenges, academic library.