HRD ASPECTS IN THE ICT BASED ENVIRONMENT OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES: A STUDY ON SOME SELECT DISTRICT LIBRARIES OF ASSAM

Abstract

Today we are in 21st era in where almost everything is IT based and public libraries cannot remain far from this common concept. RRRLF and Directorate of Public Library services are trying to create an IT based environment in the public libraries of Assam but only installing IT equipment are not sufficient for IT based services; in fact, the library staff /the human resources should be well trained to handle the IT gadgets so that proper IT based services can be provided to the users. The Paper is prepared based on this concept. The researchers surveyed some selected district libraries of Assam (twelve out of twenty-three district libraries under Directorate of Library Services, Assam) and trying to give a picture of the library staff capabilities on IT along with the organizational structure of the selected libraries and services provided by the staff on IT based environment too. The paper elaborately discusses about the training types, training modules etc. received by the staff of the selected libraries. Finally, the paper gives some suggestions to develop the IT skills of the staff of the selected district libraries of Assam so that IT based services could be provided to the users.

Keywords: Assam, District library, ICT, library professionals, public library, training