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Unit 13: Research in LIS in India

Neither class discussion nor questioning by students is encouraged. New methods of teaching Notes
are not tried. Use of educational technology in teaching is rather rare. It can be easily inferred
from one of the recommendations of the 15th IATLIS Seminar (1997):
It is observed that [the] majority of LIS schools are lacking adequate infrastructure
facilities to teach/train LIS students in IT. Hence it is recommended that the UGC
should provide special financial assistance to develop adequate need-based IT
infrastructural facilities in LIS schools.

13.3 Infrastructure

About a dozen universities have introduced the M.Phil. Degree, predominantly an intermediate
research degree. During the last decade there has been a mushrooming of LIS courses available
through correspondence courses or by the more respectable nomenclature of distance education.
Except for one, most of such open schools are ill equipped for LIS education, though they have
proved money minting machines for the parent universities due to higher enrolment. Some
such schools do not have even full-time or regular teachers – good libraries or workshops are
not even considered. There is always a cry for improvement or for closing of such courses –
but they go on thriving.

13.4 Proliferation of Library Education

At present about 107 institutions, mostly university colleges and polytechnics, have library
science education courses. Of these, the M.Lib.I.Sc. course is being offered by 67 universities;
11 universities offer the M.Phil. though this degree has no value in the job market. Today 32
Universities have Ph.D. research facilities (Handbook 1997, III). One University recently awarded
a D.Litt. that it claimed to be the first such degree in library science all over the world. It may
not be an odious comparison that up to 1986 only 38 universities had master programmes; and
18 universities provided doctoral research facilities though not all these 18 universities had
master programmes then (Kumar 1987, vii). The words of the eminent librarian, former President
of the Indian Library Association, and former President of the Indian Association of Teachers
of Library and Information Science (IATLIS), P.N. Kaula, starkly hold true today. A decade
ago, Kaula (1992, 10) said:
It has been observed that more and more institutions and libraries are opening
library science courses without having even the minimum facilities for teaching.
Even with poor libraries and funds they have started M.L.I.Sc. Programmes. In
some universities there are not full time teachers to teach B.L.I.Sc. courses and yet
some of them have also started M.L.I.Sc. programme. Open universities have also
started [M/]B.Lib. Sc. programmes. Some private colleges have been conducting
large number of C Lib. Sc. programmes with little or practically no facilities for
books and libraries. This uncontrolled growth has bought down the standard of
the courses. Library associations have also been having large intake of students
without accessing the employment opportunities of the products.
Another problem with library schools has been a lack of public relations and marketing of their
images and products. The late C. G. Vishwanathan (1990, 88), a veteran librarian, aptly wrote:
At present library schools and professional training centres in India are yet to
receive a kind word from any section of the public ... Even the academic world still
does not believe that there can be anything like education for librarianship and
curriculum of studies for library science. But at the same time everyone wants
library service to be first rate.

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