Changing roles of university libraries of Bangladesh: an exploratory study
| Published date | 22 November 2019 |
| Pages | 5-9 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-10-2019-0068 |
| Date | 22 November 2019 |
| Author | Md. Habibur Rahman |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Library & information services |
Changing roles of university libraries of
Bangladesh: an exploratory study
Md. Habibur Rahman
Introduction
Bangladesh entered into the arena of
computer technology in 1964 with the
installation of an IBM 1620 machine at
the Atomic Energy Commission (Islam
and Islam, 2007). However, usages of
computers in the libraries of Bangladesh
started more than 15 years later.
According to Ahmed et al. (1997),
libraries have only begun to use
computersby the beginning of the 1980s.
The International Center for Diarrheal
Disease Research, Bangladesh Library
and the Agricultural Information Center
are pioneers in creating bibliographic
databases on specialized fields (Khan,
1989;Ahmed et al., 1997). After that,
many libraries of Bangladesh gradually
introduced databases for ensuring better
library services to the library patrons. At
present almostevery university library of
the country are using institutional
repositories (IRs). Many university
libraries have introduced sophisticated
collections management technologies
such as radio frequency identification
(RFID). Accordingto Rahman a nd Islam
(2019), the trend of implementing RFID
in university libraries of Bangladesh
started in 2012 with the help of the
higher education quality enhancement
project. They also stated that already 10
university libraries out of 144 had been
using RFID-basedautomated libraries.
Now Bangladeshi university libraries
have begun to provide new services
such as arranging training program on data
analysis, reference management, text
analysis, information searching, using
automated and digital library technologies.
This paper investigates the roles that
should be practiced in university libraries
of Bangladesh in the ever-expanding
digital environment. Library development
in Bangladesh is closely related to the
library movement in the Indian sub-
continent (Rahman et al., 2008). Libraries
in India can be traced from the history of
ancient Indian libraries furnished by the
travel diary of the famous Chinese traveler
Fa-Hien, who visited India in 399 AD
(Mishra, 1979). The library movement in
Bangladesh started with the establishment
of four public libraries in the district towns
of Jessore, Bogura, Barisal and Rangpur in
1854 (Shuva, 2010). Subsequently, public
libraries were established in other district
towns and municipalities and these
libraries were run and maintained by
private initiatives and without any
assistance from government agencies
(Ahmed, 1998). So the year 1850 is known
as the milestone in the history of
librarianship in Bangladesh. The history of
university libraries of Bangladesh is not so
old. Dhaka University is the oldest
university in Bangladesh which was
established in 1921 (University of Dhaka,
2019). ICT was installed to perform
library-based activities for the first time in
1999. Ahmed (1998) carried out a study on
224 different libraries in Bangladesh and
found out that only 58 libraries were using
computers for their operations and
services. Chowdhury (2019) stated that
Bangladesh library computerization and
implementation of databases for
information storage and dissemination
started in almost every library, though in
some libraries it is still in the initial stage.
Digital technologies
Due to low initial investments to
establish a computerized system, cloud
computing has become popular for
libraries worldwide. It is gradually
becoming popular in Bangladesh too.
library Now cloud computing has
become a new buzz word in the field of
libraries, which is blessing in disguise to
run different ICT services without much
of a problem as third-party services will
manage servers and undertake upgrades
and backup data (Dutt, 2015). Anyone
connected to the internet is probably
using some type of cloud computing on
a regular basis, whether they are using
Google’s Gmail, organizing photos on
Flickr or searching the Web with Bing
they are engaged in cloud computing
(Goldner, 2010). The use of information
communication, Internet of Things and
cloud system technology caused an
extensive data growth in almost every
area of life in this digital environment
(Ahmad et al., 2019;Liu et al., 2018).
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used
for many tedious jobs in the library that
could be performed fairly accurately and
quickly. The practicability of AI is helpful
in areas such as cataloging, documentation,
and collection development. (Mogali,
2014). Based on nacent uses of AI,
numerous prototype intelligent library
systems have been created for lroutine work
both technical and public serivices
(Shrivastava, 2018). Different studies are
about AI applications in library systems
such as descriptive cataloging, technical
services, collection development, subject
indexing, reference services, database
searching and document delivery (Asemi
and Asemi, 2018). AI is recognized as an
important trend in that is just coming into
focus in academic libraries and an
important area of impact is likely to be in
search and resource discovery (Cox et al.,
2018).
Library consortia have become critical
in libraries (Lal, 2012), since no individual
library has adequate resources to meet user
needs and help participate in sharing
resources. According to Islam (2012),the
Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS)
took initiatives to collect electronic
resources through the program for
Enhancement of Research Information, a
program of INASP (the International
Network for the Availability of Scientific
Publications) in 2007. In responses to this
initiative, several universities and research
organizations came together to form the
first consortium in Bangladesh. The
University Grants Commission of
Bangladesh Digital Library (UDL) another
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 2 2020, pp. 5-9, V
CEmerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-10-2019-0068 5
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