Problems of library automation in India

The major activites of the different categories of Indian libraries are mainly routine work, such as acquisition, circulation, management, processing, reference and bibliographic service, periodical holdings, information retrieval, inventory, and so on. The services and techniques utilized in the different libraries, however, tend to make these activities very cumbersome and slow. The acquisitions of most libraries are done independently, and involve unnecessary duplication of work and lengthy procedures. Cataloging and classification methods differ from one library to another and are generally time-consuming and labor-oriented. This is very confusing for the users as they must thus switch from one classification and cataloging system to another when using more than one library. There is also a lack of bibliographic control at the national level. The Indian National Bibliography suffers from a large time lag. Almost all library activities involve long hours of manual work, tending to make library service very unpopular. Therefore, users still cannot envisage a librarian as a giver of information but consider him or her a custodian of books. In order to improve the services of libraries, application of newer methods, such as information, computer and communication technologies, will be needed. I am only concerned here with computer applications in libraries and believe that for efficient functioning of our library systems, we will need automated services at some point. But serious thought must first be given to which areas will be automated, while keeping in mind the national need.published or submitted for publicatio