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Thursday March 28, 2024

Lack of funds leaves libraries struggling to digitise and deliver books

By Arshad Yousafzai
May 03, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing us to change our lifestyles and reshape the way we do everything, some of the major library associations have been trying to digitise their collections and deliver books to students, academics and researchers to their doorstep during the preventive lockdown.

Due to a lack of funds and resources, however, librarians are unable to provide access to their books completely online or disinfect the printed works before issuing them to people.

They said libraries have an extensive physical collection of books, which can be carriers of the novel coronavirus, so no risk can be taken in such a situation.

They also said that in accordance with the advisories of health experts, librarians need to purchase chemicals to disinfect the entire buildings where libraries are housed, but they lack funds and resources for that.

Libraries are closed for now, they added, but soon after the pandemic ends, when they start operating again, they’ll need funds to disinfect their collections. Some of them, however, believe the books already on the shelves don’t need to be disinfected.

“In the current lockdown, libraries and library services across the country have been equally affected like other fields,” said Dr Farhat Hussain, Sindh president of the Pakistan Library Association (PLA).

Dr Hussain, who’s also assistant professor at the University of Karachi’s Department of Library & Information Science, said that all library materials must be disinfected before being touched or issued to people. Majority of the libraries have their own fumigation systems that must be upgraded for the disinfection, he added.

‘Ask a Librarian’

He said the PLA, other such bodies including the Sindh College Library Association and literary forums have joined the Sindh Salamat Forum to provide online reading materials on request for free.

He, however, pointed out that providing books and other required materials to the doorstep of people is almost impossible because librarians don’t have enough funds to disinfect books before delivering them.

He added that the PLA has also set up an ‘Ask a Librarian’ helpline to assist people in finding their required books or answers to their questions through senior library professionals in different regions of the province.

Spirit of reading

School Libraries Association (SLA) Director Nooruddin Merchant said that during these challenging times when libraries have been closed, there’s an urgent need to digitise libraries.

The least that can be done, he suggested, is to take advantage of the smartphone technology and messaging apps that can help keep the spirit of reading and studying alive during such difficult times.

He pointed out that there are a number of publishers and sellers who have put their collections, including audiobooks and journals, online to be accessed for free.

He said lists can be constantly made available on websites, blogs or WhatsApp groups. If there’s a campus-wide email system, the patrons can be regularly informed about these resources, he added.

Isolation of books

Merchant said hard copies of books should be isolated between 24 and 48 hours or until 14 days. He said they can then be put up on the shelves. However, he added, the books already on the shelves don’t need to go through this.

Having said that, he pointed out, standard operating procedures should be made available for disinfection of libraries and isolation of not only books but also DVDs, laptops, desktops, tablets, furniture, doors, etc.

Online readership

The SLA’s Rashid Ali Khawaja said librarians are constantly struggling to collect data on online readership, but it continues to be a challenge. One of the difficulties, he said, is a lack of information available about the total number of educational institutions, their libraries and their contact details.

No systematic data collection is being carried out to assess the amount of readership, and as a matter of fact, it’s very difficult to do, he added. He, however, pointed out that some librarians, especially at private institutions, have been trying to do it in their individual capacities.

As for public libraries, which can provide much more content to people, they’re not playing any significant role in this regard, he said. The reason for that, suggested Khawaja, is that there are very few public libraries, and on top of that, they’re also under-resourced.

He said that public libraries can play a greater role in promoting reading among those who don’t have easy access to books and other such resources, so this is an area that everyone needs to think about and where they all need to work together.

Time to digitise

Talking about the measures the library associations have taken to provide online access to books during the current lockdown, they said that working from home and schooling at home are relatively new phenomena for local businesses and educational institutions.

They pointed out that almost every educational institution is ill-prepared to meet the challenges posed by the situation resulting from COVID-19, especially that of e-learning. They said that just like people at other institutions, librarians are trying to understand how to effectively harness the power of the internet.

But, they added, there are many questions that need to be answered before we’re able to completely digitise our libraries, so our policy-makers need to ponder over them to decide how much time is required for a full digital transition and how to reap its benefits to the full.