Changing role of modern research library

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Excerpts from the speech delivered by Higher Education Minister Prof. Wiswa

Warnapala at the Research Symposium on Information, organized by the National

Institute of Library and Information Science, University of Colombo March 20, 2009.

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The very concept of the library, both ancient and modern, has undergone a major transformation in the last two or three decades due primarily to the impact of modern technology. The impact of modern technology is such that all areas of knowledge are subject to a process of multiple transformations.

In the given context, has been identified as an aspect of globalization. In certain spheres of activity, the process of globalization has produced a series of complex issues whereas in other areas it has registered some kind of uniformity in the application of modern technology. Information and Library Sciences is one such area.

University role

The role of universities in creating knowledge is well established, and their role in transmitting knowledge is equally important and critical.

The role of universities in economic development came to be highlighted recently, and the social inclusive role of universities has assumed important.

Universities, at present, represent mass systems and they do not, as in the past, represent the elite. In this scenario, all Governments, both in developed and developing countries, see the university as one of the motors of globalization. The impact of globalization is such that knowledge has become an important factor in promoting economic growth, and this is in the context of a revolution in both information and communication. Knowledge accumulation and application have become major factors in economic development and they are at the core of a country's competitive advantage in a highly competitive global economy. Tertiary education has become central to the creation of the intellectual capacity on which knowledge production and utilization of knowledge depend.

Tertiary institutions

New types of tertiary institutions and new forms of competition have emerged, inducing all kinds of traditional institutions to change their modes of operation and delivery. Traditional library sciences, especially at the Universities, are now undergoing a radical change.

Traditionally the university library played an important role in the production of knowledge; both the University intellectuals and pubic intellectuals made use of the library for producing knowledge.

For instance, Karl Marx made full use of the British Museum Library to produce most of his seminal works. It is on the basis of the relationship referred above that the university library became a research library, and it, in that sense, was different from a public library, which primarily catered to general readers who had an appetite for general reading.

The British Museum Library became a national institution because of its massive collection of books, and foreign scholars regarded it with reverence.

Its Library Department - the Department of Printed Books and Manuscripts, was a storehouse of knowledge.

In addition to these two Departments, there was the Department which specialized on Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts. It was after the International Copyright Conventions of 1886 and 1908 that the Museum Library began to develop into a main research library, and the Copyright Acts of 1911 and 1915 further expanded its role as a research library.

All countries, especially those in the Commonwealth began to emulate its traditions, and the universities and scholars who made use of the library, too wanted to build libraries as research libraries.

University libraries began to develop as research libraries, and no such library can be built within a short period and a lot depends on the initiative of the librarian who has to be innovative.

University libraries developed as research libraries while the public libraries, most of which were supported by local Government institutions, remained largely as public reading rooms with a lending collection as well.

Manuscripts in the research libraries were collected with the aim of assembling, preserving and making available the written sources of the main intellectual and historical activities of the world, and the original works of such languages as Sanskrit and Pali were preserved in this form.

Research practices

The research practices adopted by the scholars of the period differed from the current practices, guided by modern technology. Teaching and research are inter-linked today, and the entire learning culture has undergone a transformation as a result of the developments in the Information Sciences.

It is in this context that the role of the University library needs to be assessed to see whether they still remain centres of knowledge production. Research, undoubtedly, adds and supplements specialized knowledge; in that sense, the research enterprise is a dynamic one, and it articulates and promotes new knowledge.

Because of the need for institutionalized research, universities have become centres of excellence. Knowledge production, in the present global context, is something more than mere production of knowledge.