JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 LIBRARY BEST PRACTICES: A STUDY OF SELECTED COLLEGES AFFILIATED TO ASSAM UNIVERSITY, SILCHAR Rofique U. Laskar1, Dr. Nabin Chandra Dey2 1Librarian, A.L.C. College, Algpur, Hailakandi 2Asst. Prof. Dept of Lib. & Info. Sc., Assam University, Silchar. Received: 14 March 2020 Revised and Accepted: 8 July 2020 ABSTRACT: Purpose: “Survival is the fittest”, being as an organism modern day library has to fight for the changes to survive with the latest technological advancements. To cope with the day to day challenges, college libraries have to categorize and extend its own best practices to enhance the library usage, services and dissemination of information. While planning any best practices for future strategies should follow specific planning, analysis for user base objectives and institutional goal. Library practitioners must take active participation for creative and problem solving attitude. A regular analysis of library best practices leads to the continuous development in performance of the library and institution as a whole. Methodology: Survey method with the help of structured questionnaire has been applied in this study along personal observation to conduct this study. The colleges assessed and accredited by NAAC are well equipped and implemented library best practices therefore this study covers 13 numbers of colleges out of 24 degree colleges in three districts of Barak valley affiliated to Assam University, Silchar. Findings: As the study population has assessed and accredited by NAAC therefore the selected colleges fulfilling minimum benchmark of NAAC best practices which can be extended to achieve higher academic performances and quality of library services. The study suggests some extended parameters after reviewing related literatures to meet user requirements. Originality: This is an original research works conducted by the researcher based on the data collected thorough scheduled questionnaire distributed to the librarian of colleges affiliated to Assam University, Silchar. KEYWORDS: Library Management, Colleges Library, Library Best Practices, Library Science, NAAC, Assam University. I. INTRODUCTION “Library is a growing organism” the fifth law of library and information science given by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan directs towards survival by adopting day today changes. Change in technology, practices, profession and innovation. To adapt drastically changes in information technology (IT) and information communication technology (ICT) forces library professional to e-resources and new way of information exchange. The trend in information sources, services and dissemination of information has moved towards a new turning. Hence e-resources, online reference, social networking on libraries, Web OPAC, cloud base services and management, digital libraries, MOOCs etc based on technology evolved in librarianship. National Assessment and Accreditation (NAAC) clearly indicates and directed library best practices as a method or techniques which practiced in modern libraries for providing better and quality services. It is creative and problem solving process, practice of library and information centers. The present is to understand best practices in the libraries from the scholarly opinions and suggestions especially NAAC guidelines and check how college libraries are implementing these parameters to meet quality services for overall academic achievement. This study covers 13numbers of NAAC accredited degree colleges out of 24 colleges in the Barak Valley, Assam affiliated to Assam University, Silchar. II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The present study has been carried out to understand library best practices from the scholarly opinions and suggestions especially NAAC to evaluate and assessed how far college libraries are implementing these parameters to meet quality services for overall academic achievement. The main objectives of this study are: i) To develop and extend NAAC best practice parameters as per the opinion, suggestion from the scholarly publications and research experts. ii) To find out the status library best practices in the selected colleges of Barak Valley, Assam affiliated to Assam University, Silchar. iii) To evaluate and rank colleges surveyed according to library best practice parameters. iv) To evaluate the awareness and usage of library Web 2.0 tools for libraries services. 3106 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 III. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY In this study the researcher proposed a list of best practices from the scholarly opinions and suggestions especially NAAC documents for “Best Practices in Academic Libraries” to assess and evaluate college libraries to strives for quality and excellent library services for overall academic environment and achievement. This study is limited to the college libraries of three districts (Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi) of Assam under jurisdiction of Assam University, Silchar. There are 24 Govt. provincialised degree colleges but present study is covering 13 colleges affiliated to Assam University, which are assessed and accredited by NAAC so far. IV. METHODOLOGY The methodology for this study has been discussed under the following subheadings. i) METHODS USED: Survey method with the help of structured questionnaire along with personal observations and Experiences has been applied to conduct this study. ii) SAMPLE SIZE: The colleges assessed and accredited by NAAC are well equipped and implemented library best practices therefore this study covers 13 numbers of colleges out of 24 degree colleges in three districts of Barak valley affiliated to Assam University, Silchar. iii) SAMPLE SELECTION: Purposive sampling method has been used to select these samples for data collection for the study. iv) DESIGN OF QUESTIONNAIRE: A structured questionnaire designed for the college librarian and distributed to collect the data from the total study population. v) STATISTICAL MEASURES: After collecting the data from the selected college libraries have been tabulated and analyzed to find out the frequency, percentage, ranking and graphical representation of data according to the study objectives. vi) DATA SOURCES: The data sources are the library data provided by the college librarian or librarian in charge in the questionnaire distributed during the survey from whole study universe is the total data source used in this study. V. LITERATURE REVIEW A literature review has been made to find out scholarly studies related library best practices to develop and extend standard library best practices tools to evaluate, assess library services in the college libraries. 5.1. Best practices definition: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_practice) defines the term best practice as “a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark. Best practice is considered to describe the process of developing and following a standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use. Best practices are used to maintain quality”. “Best practices pertain to the process, practices, and systems identified in public and private organizations that perform exceptionally well and are widely recognized as improving an organizations performance and efficiency in a specific area. Successfully identifying and applying best practices can reduce business expenses and improve organizational efficiency”. (www.gao.gov.special.pubs/bprag/bprgloss.htm). 5.2. NAAC and Best practices. NAAC (2005) has conducted a workshop on Identifying Best Practices in Library and Information Services held at NAAC on 26th October 2005 for academic libraries, and developed some of the following best practices that can enhance the academic information environment and usability of academic libraries. i) Computerization of library with standard digital software. ii) Inclusion of sufficient information about the library in the college prospectus. iii) Compiling student/teacher attendance statistics and locating them on the notice board. iv) Displaying newspaper clippings on the notice board periodically. v) Career/Employment Information/ Services. vi) Internet Facilities to different user groups. vii) Information literacy programs. viii) Suggestion box and timely response. ix) Displaying new arrivals and circulating a list of those to academic departments. x) Conducting book exhibitions on different occasions. xi) Organizing book talks. xii) Instituting Annual Best User award for students. xiii) Organizing competitions annually. xiv) Conducting user surveys periodically. 3107 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 Vyas , S. D. (2009) has suggested a set of best practices by accessing different best practices given by experts and researchers based on NAAC and latest trend in LIS. Different aspects of best practices are i) Library Management and Administration: for administering a library management is very crucial for better library management some of the steps given below for better management of library a) Formation of library Committee b) Organization and management of Stack c) Well trained professional library staff d) Organize user awareness about library e) Collect feedback using suggestion box f) User motivation program such as book talks, author talks, review book, seminar etc. g) Maintain library statistics for implementation of library policies norms and determine library development. ii) Collection development