LISPA JOURNAL, VOL II, 2016 41 School Library Services of and District: A Study Lipika Dutta*

Abstract Since our aim is to plan for peace and prosperity not only for hundred years, but for all ages to come, we must carefully ‘plan’ and ‘educate’ our future generation - the children. It has already been established that an educational programme depending upon the mystery of a few text books cannot help in achieving the aims of the school education. These can be achieved primarily by following a dynamic school library which requires students to consult many books and a great variety of reference materials in solving problems in the learning process in the school. Considering the present scenario of services and resources, the present study on ‘School Library services of Dibrugarh and Jorhat District: A study’ has been undertaken to know about the present status of services and resources, book selection policies, problems and to give suggestions for the problems of the surveyed school libraries. Keywords: Academic library, School library, , Jorhat District,

Introduction

“If you plan for one year, plan grain, If you plan for ten years, plant trees, If you plan for hundred years, plan men”

Since our aim is to plan for peace and prosperity not only for hundred years, but for all ages to come, we must carefully ‘plan’ and ‘educate’ our future generations- the children. It has already been established that an educational programme depending upon the mystery of a few text books cannot help in achieving the aims of the school education. These can be achieved primarily by following a dynamic school library which requires students to consult many books and a great variety of reference materials in solving problems in the learning process in the school. If such aims are to be fulfilled, it must be said that the existing conditions in school libraries in must be improved. The present condition of school libraries in India is poor beyond description. The authorities who are in charge of the school administration, principals or headmasters are yet not fully conscious of the role of the school libraries. Although the appointment of a trained librarian is a condition for the recognition of the school, the libraries are house in a room not worth mentioning. Considering the present scenario of services and resources, the present research work on ‘School Library services of Dibrugarh and Jorhat District: A study’ was undertaken to know about the present status of services and resources, book selection policies, problems and to give suggestions for the problems of the surveyed school libraries.

Objective of the study The objectives of the study are:

 To know about the services and resources provided by the school libraries.  To know about the book selection policy adopted by the surveyed school libraries.  To find out the problems of the school libraries and suggest some remedies for its solutions.

* [email protected] LISPA JOURNAL, VOL II, 2016 42

Area of Study Due to the large geographical dimension of Assam, it has not been possible to survey all the school libraries. Therefore, the study area is limited to only school libraries of central and private schools under CBSE located in Dibrugarh and Jorhat District of Assam . The schools selected for study are : Air Force School Jorhat, Army Pubic SchoolJorhat, Public SchoolJorhat, Hemlata Handiqui Memorial InstituteJoraht, ITBP Public School, Mohanbari, Dibrugarh Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (PuranaTitabar), Kendriya Vidyalya AFS Chabua, Kendriya Vidyalya Dibrugarh, Kendriya Vidyalya ONGC Jorhat, Vivekananda KendriyaVidyalya, Dibrugarh, SampoornaKendriyaVidyalya, Dibrugarh and Maharishi VidyaMandir, Jorhat.

Methodology Keeping the above objectives and area in mind the methods adopted for the study are questionnaire method to collect the data from different libraries and survey of micro and macro literature review related to the study.

Findings and analysis of Data The data collected through questionnaire is tabulated and then analyzed for result and discussion. Following section provides an analysis of the information collected and the result of the survey arrived from the questionnaire from school libraries of Dibrugarh and Jorhat District.

General overview of the surveyed school libraries A general overview of the surveyed school libraries of Dibrugarh and Jorhat District are presented in table: Table 1: General overview of the school libraries Name of the School Year of Est. Nature of Access Library staff Qualification AFS, Jorhat 1967 Closed 1 MLISc, M.Phil APS, Jorhat 1992 Open 1 MLISc ARPS, Jorhat 1974 Open 1 M.A., B.Ed HHMI, Jorhat 1962 Closed 1 H.S. ITBP P School 1985 Closed 1 B.A.,B.Ed JNV,Titabar 1995 Open 1 BLISc KV, AFS Chabua 1981 Open 1 MLISc KV , Dibrugarh 2003 Open 1 MLISc KV, ONGC Jorhat 1988 Open 1 MLISc MVM, Jorhat 1998 Closed 1 MLISc Sampoorna KV 2006 Open 1 BLISc VKV, Dibrugarh 1981 Open 1 MLISc

From the above Table 1, we can see that HHMI and its library is the oldest school established in 1962 and SKVand its library is the newest established in 2006. All the school libraries remains open for around 6 to 7 hours on week days and only JNV (Purana Titabar) school library provides services to the users on holiday for 1 hour. Rest of the library remains closed in holiday. Except four private school libraries i.e. AFS, HHMI, ITBP and MVM all the school libraries have open access to the collection. Each of the school libraries has only one library staff and three schools i.e. ARPS, HHMI, ITBP have non professional library staff having H. S, B.A, M.A and B.Ed. degree.

Collection of the surveyed school Libraries The collections of school libraries reflect the school education. The following table 2 depicts the varieties of collections of the surveyed school libraries of Dibrugarh and Jorhat district LISPA JOURNAL, VOL II, 2016 43

Table 2: Collection of the surveyed school Libraries Reference books

Name of Text School Books Dictionaries Encyclopaedias Atlases book, Story&Literary book etc. K G Newspaper materials Audiovisual Psychologicaland literature Pedagogic Others Total AFS, 2013 16 8 7 3473 2 150 Nill 72 5861 Jorhat APS, 3050 14 30 6 814 5 Nill Nill 56 4075 Jorhat ARPS, 1500 7 35 5 1443 4 Nill 4 40 3048 Jorhat HHMI, 1100 29 32 0 3487 5 50 210 111 5034 Jorhat ITBP, 800 9 5 0 580 3 2 Nill Nill 1409 Mohanbari JNV, 5465 8 87 6 4464 0 56 20 Nill 10156 Titabar KV,AFS, 5600 21 38 8 3164 6 10 Nill 153 9000 Chabua KV, 800 20 0 2 2061 7 8 Nill Nill 2938 Dibrugarh KV, ONGC, 1150 2 0 0 8615 4 8 5 Nill 9854 Jorhat MVM, 221 7 33 9 3713 2 Nill 198 8 4221 Jorhat SKV 2015 8 41 11 3692 6 Nill 40 99 5922 VKV, 1875 27 15 25 9589 6 300 300 260 12397 Dibrugarh

From the above table 2, we see that most of the school libraries possess maximum number of text books and story book, literary book, general knowledge book etc. in comparison to other type of materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, newspaper, audiovisual materials, pedagogic and psychological literature and others such as biographies, student project work etc. VKV, Dibrugarh has the highest number of total library collection i.e. 12397 and ITBP Public School has lowest number of total collection i.e. 1409.

Book selection policy, Library Committee, Sources of income of the surveyed school library The success of a library depends mostly on the proper selection of books, journals and periodicals. To promote the use of library collection extensively and also to encourage formation of reading habits amongst the school children, it is necessary to have a judicious book selection policy. The selection of books is best done by a school library committee consists of the principal (chairman), one representative teacher from each of the subjects, one or two representative from a senior class and librarian. Finance is the life blood of any institution for its effective functioning. In addition as libraries are growing organizations, more funds are requires for its maintenance. So for continuous supply of funds there should be some assured sources of income for each and every school library. LISPA JOURNAL, VOL II, 2016 44

From the study, we come to know that in all the school libraries, there exists book selection policy. Maximum number of school libraries have library committee as members associated with the policy except in three schools i.e. APS,HHMI, VKV library where principal and teachers is member in book selection policy. It is also found that, all school library have library committee excluding four school libraries i.e. AFS, APS, HHMI and VKV. From the table we also come to know that maximum number of school libraries have parent organization and library fee as sources of income but KV, AFS Chabua, KV Dibrugarh,KV ONGC Jorhat and JNV whose sources of income is only government grant.

Services of the surveyed School Libraries

A School Library is a service library. In order to perform its function a school library can provide a variety of services. The following table shows the varieties of services provided by the surveyed school libraries. The study reveals that all the school libraries offer services such as circulation, library period, information service, user education, organize story hour and quiz competition. Excluding APS Jorhat none of the school libraries provide inter-library loan service and internet service to its user. Apart from ARPS, APS, KV, Dibrugarh all the school libraries organize book exhibition. Except ITBP Public School and KV, Dibrugarh all the surveyed school library provide newspaper clippings service to its children. There is no wall magazine in ARPS, ITBP, KV AFS Chabua and KV Dibrugarh. Out of the twelve surveyed school library seven library organize book talk and maintains vertical file, only three library organize book debates, four library arrange essay completion, five library provide reprographic service to its user in their school and all the school libraries provide classroom library service except ARPS and JNV.

Classification and Cataloguing From the data analysis, we come to known that more than half of the libraries (66.7%) classify and one fourth of the libraries catalogue their documents. Most of the libraries use DDC scheme and only KV ONGC school of Jorhat use CC scheme. The AFS, KV AFS and VKV school libraries performed their cataloguing using AACRII.

Status of Library Automation

The study reveals that only five school libraries i.e. APS Jorhat, JNV Titabar, KV AFS Chabua, KV Dibrugarh, KV ONGC Jorhat use computers for performing different library operations. These school libraries use library software ‘E-Granthalaya’ for performing different task and providing services to its user. Some basic problems faced by the surveyed school libraries There are some problems faced by the surveyed school libraries:

 The collections of the school libraries are found not fully satisfactory. The Central Government school libraries have fair collections to the private school libraries  The services of the surveyed school libraries are also not fully satisfactory. The Central Government school libraries provided well services compared to private school libraries.  Classification scheme and cataloguing rules are not properly followed by the surveyed school library  Most of the surveyed school libraries are not automatized their services.  Although librarian as member of the library committee, associated with book selection policy but his/her choice is neglected sometimes.  There is no separate library building , all are attached to the school building and have lack of sufficient space to provide reading room facility.  Some of the school libraries also not have proper furniture and equipment. LISPA JOURNAL, VOL II, 2016 45

Suggestions and Conclusions

During the survey, some deficiencies in the functioning of the school libraries are found out which must be filled up by undertaking various measures. Following suggestions are put forwarded for the overall well- being of the surveyed school libraries

 Every school must have a library committee having some power to spend a given sum on books selected and approved by the principal.  For creating reading interest of the users, the school library has to judiciously select and procure the prescribed /recommended text books and other reading material from different sources, technically process it by making use of a standard scheme of classification, catalogue it to provide various access points, organize the collection on scientific lines, circulate the documents and disseminate the information in the manner most liked by the students and teachers.  There should be a professionally trained full timed librarian in the school libraries with adequate status and salary and one more staff as library assistant must be appointed for providing better services.  For effective use of the materials open access system must be introduced.  The all school library must have its own building with good facilities.

The educational system need to be changed so that the school library can provide good quality services to its users and becomes hub of the activities in the school. The role of the principals and higher authorities is extremely important in this regard.

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