Prof. & Head, Dept. of Library & Information Science, University of Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir, India
Abstract
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. Its large area is mountainous and lacks access to basic facilities like
education and information. For providing equitable access to information resources and IT infrastructure, the central and state governments
established CICs and public libraries in urban as well as rural areas. In the present article an effort has been made to analyse the present
scenario of both institutions, i.e. CICs and public libraries in J&K. During the study, it was found that at one point of time 135 community
information centres (CIC) were functional in J&K and were delivering community information services to the needy population of the areas.
However, within a short period of time, around a decade, these centres became defunct and ceased to perform their main function of delivering
community information services to the public. On the other hand, with the renewed efforts of the state government, large numbers of public
libraries came into existence in J&K at the state, district, tehsil, and even at the village level. These libraries have qualified manpower and
information resources. The information resources in these libraries mainly consist of books, journals, magazines, and newspapers, with some
of them having electronic resources too. However, it was found that most of these libraries were rendering the traditional services like book
borrowing, reference services, CAS/SDI services, and reading room facilities. Keeping in view the changing needs of society, as well as
changing user behaviour, it has been felt that public libraries in J&K can play a proactive role in delivering community information services
(CIS). Before undertaking CIS, however, the public libraries in J&K need to strengthen their resources and redesign their services as per the
demands of the population residing in the areas.
Keywords: Public Libraries, Community Information Centre, Community Information Services
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