Paper presented at SIS 2012 Conference held at NIT Silchar organised by Dr. K C Satpathy

1. BEST PRACTICES IN LIBRARIES & INFORMATION CENTERS:
A CASE STUDY OF NIT SILCHAR
Dr. Kishor Chandra Satpathy
National Institute of Technology Silchar
eMail: ksatpathy@gmail.com

2. Introduction
UGC-NAAC defines best practices as an application of
procedures to yield superior results which means way of doing
things in particular organization as guidelines for good practices.
The use of ICT with creative / innovative ideas leads to evolve
best practices in library and information environment which can
be replicated in library and information centres (LICs).
Best Practice may be innovative and be a philosophy, policy,
strategy, program, process or practice that solves a problem or
create new opportunities and positively impact on organizations.
Institutional excellence is the aggregate of the best practices
followed in different areas of institutional activities. (4)
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3. ODLIS (Online Dictionary of Library and Information
Science) describes best practices as “the application
of theory to real-life situations, procedures that, when
properly, applied consistently yield superior results
and are therefore used as reference points in
evaluation of the effectiveness of alternative methods
of accomplishing the same task. Best practices are
identified by examining empirical evidence of
success.”
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4. Best Practices:
add commendable value to an institution.
considered as reliable benchmarks or standards of
quality.
tools for the continuous improvement of products,
processes and services.
Leads to development of an understanding of the
fundamentals that lead to success.
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5. Strategy for Application of Best Practices
The successful application of the best practices can be
achieved by adopting the following five-stage strategy
(7) :
Identification of best practices
Implementation of best practices
Institutionalization of best practices
Internalization of best practices
Dissemination of best practices
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6. Examples of Best Practices
NAAC has also indentified few best practices for college
libraries that can enhance the academic information
environment and usability. (5) They are:
Computerization of library with standard digital
software.
Inclusion of sufficient information about the library in
the college prospectus.
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7. Displaying newspaper clippings on the notice board periodically.
Career/Employment Information/ Services.
Internet Facilities to different user groups.
Information literacy programs.
Suggestion box and timely response.
Displaying new arrivals and circulating a list of those to
academic departments.
Conducting book exhibitions on different occasions.
Organizing book talks.
Instituting Annual Best User award for students.
Organizing competitions annually.
Conducting user surveys periodically
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8. Best practices in Central Library, NIT
Silchar – An Overview:
In order to be able to provide world class
services to the users, the library adopts
processes and practices that are not only
considered to be the best but are comparable
with the best in the market (1). An attempt is
being made here to discuss and disseminate
these processes and practices for the benefit
of other libraries.
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9. About NIT Silchar:
The National Institute of Technology, Silchar (An Institute of National
Importance) is one of the premier national level institutions for technical
education in North East India offering BTech, MTech, MSc & PhD
programme in engineering & sciences. Government of India as a joint
venture with Government of Assam established Regional Engineering
College, Silchar in 1967 with the objective of imparting quality-
engineering education, providing cosmopolitan outlook among students
and development of National Integrity. This institution has been
transformed and upgraded to National Institute of Technology, Silchar
with a Deemed University Status with effect from 28.06.2002. The
institute has been subsequently made into a fully funded Government of
India institution. The institute is situated in an extending campus about
540 acres of undulating land and lakes surround by tea estates and
hillocks providing an ideal environment for studies.
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10. Library@NIT Silchar
The Central Library which is the heart of the Institute
was established in 1977. It provides one of the
important academic services to the Institute. It is a
well equipped Library, centrally located with easy
access and does provide right impetus for the
intellectual growth of the students, teachers, research
scholars & others around. Presently the Library is a
part of the LTT building with 2997 Sq. Ft. floor area &
having around 75,000 collections of documents.
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11. The National Institute of Technology Silchar Library with its modern
collection of knowledge resources and innovative information
services fills an essential role for students, faculty, and the
surrounding community in their intellectual pursuits. It is a hybrid
library with the state-of-the-art technological applications. The
Library holds knowledge resources predominantly related to Science
and Technology, Social Sc & other allied subjects. The Library is
now fully computerized with an integrated system connected to the
Campus Network providing e-resource facility to the institute
community. The entire Library collection including the CD-ROM
databases and the online databases are made available through
Institute’s network. Users can access the online databases through
Institute’s network. On-line Public Access Catalogue facility is
available at the ground Floor of the Library. OPAC can also be
accessed through any terminal on the Campus Network. Library
collection can also be searched through OPAC.
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12. The Library offers a range of information
services to support the learning process set
to the highest professional standards. The
Library is holding membership of DELNET,
New Delhi for inter library loan. National
Institute of Technology Silchar Library is an
active member of INDEST Consortium
through which online full text journals can
be accessed.
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13. Best Practices@NITS Library
The library follow a set of standardized practices. Some
of the practices are given below:
IT Related:
24X7 Services through Web Portal
eResources & eBooks
Digital Library
Digital Photo gallery
eLearning Solution
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15. NIT Silchar (Total e-Resource available: 20)
American Economic Review (JEL + JEP + AEJ) (combined
subscription)
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
ACS Web Edition
Knovel ME Books
ACM Digital Library
ASCE
ASME (including AMR)
ASTM Standards and Journals
IEL Online (5 Users)
Nature
ProQuest Science ( formerly ASTP )
Springer Link
Science Direct (Backfile Collection-Engg & Technology)
J-Gate Custom Content for Consortia (JCCC)
Annual Reviews
Knovel ME Books
Project Muse
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20. Other important Best Practices: Collection
North East Collection
The library has established a separate collection of books pertaining to North East India.
These collection portray their History, Culture, Economy, Geography, Ecology and about their
Society.
Standards Collection
The library has got a separate collection of standards and special publications published by
Bureau of Indian Standards & Indian Road Congress. The standards are kept in a separate
number - wise with sequence.
Career and Counseling Collection
The library has established a separate collection of books pertaining to Career and
Counseling. These collections include GRE, GMAT, TOFFEL & books related to counseling
etc.
Miscellaneous Collection
The library has miscellaneous collections comprising of Institutes examinations old question
papers, competitive books, Hindi, Bengali and English literature books etc.
News Paper Clipping Collection
The library has opened up the News Paper Clipping collections comprising of publication
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21. Other important Best Practices
RFID & CCTV Implementation (for Security Purpose)
Career/Employment Information/ Services. (with
USEFI)
Resource Sharing (Inter-library loan) / Delnet Service
Information Literacy / Orientation Programmes
Library Marketing (Newspaper Add for Local Users)
Book exhibitions
Seminars/Workshop for LIS Professionals
Projects
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22. Conclusion
To cope with the timely challenges, every library has to
identify and develop its own tailor-made best practices
to enhance the collection development process,
services dissemination and use of the library as a
whole.
Developing best practices, analyzing and revising them
at a regular interval will lead to continuous
improvement in overall performance of the library and
the whole institution.
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23. References
1. Jotwani, D, Best Practices in a Modern Library and Information Center – The Case of Central
Library, IIT Bombay, Paper presented at 6th International CALIBER -2008, University of
Allahabad, Allahabad, February 28-29 & March 1, 2008
2. Kesavan, R. Venkata, Design, Delivery and Management of Business Information Services at the
Times Archives and Knowledge Centre: A Success Story, A Paper Presented at the Workshop
on Librarians’ SUCCESS STORIES, Organised by SLA Asian Chapter in Association with TCS,
Pune on 28 Feb 2011.
3. Leila Fernandez, Open Access Initiatives in India - an Evaluation, Partnership: the Canadian
Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, Vol 1(1), 2006.
4. National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Best practices in library and information
services:a case presentation. Available at http://naacindia.org/Publications/Best%20Practices
%20Library%20Science.doc
5. National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Guidelines on quality indicators in library
andinformation services : universities / autonomous colleges. Bangalore, NAAC, 2005.
6. National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Guidelines on quality indicators in library
andinformation services : affiliated / constituent colleges. Bangalore, NAAC, 2005.
7. Prasad, V.S, Best practices in higher education for quality management. Bangalore, NAAC,
2005. Available at http://naacindia.org/circulars/best_practices_in_HE-Qlty_Mgmt.pdf
8. Vyas, S. D, Best Practices in Academic Libraries in India: A Study, ICAL – Management Models
and Framework, 2009, PP. 418-21.
9. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c5_p9.html
http://knol.google.com/k/madhuri-tikam/best-practices-in-academic-
libraries/35muq6i9t1aro/3#
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