Resource Sharing Among University Libraries

7/31/2019 Resource Sharing Among University Libraries

1/22

RESOURCE SHARING AMONG UNIVERSITYLIBRARIES

Name of Student : A.K Madugalla


2/22

Resource Sharing among University Libraries

Page 2

Table of Contents

List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. 3 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... 3

Background Information .................................................................................................................. 4 Library IT Infrastructure and its current situation ........................................................................ 4 Other Countries ............................................................................................................................ 4

Importance of the Project ................................................................................................................. 6 Steps taken to Share Resources .................................................................................................... 7

Scope and Objectives of the Project ................................................................................................. 7 Requirement Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 8

Expenditure on Purchases............................................................................................................. 8 Total Expenditure ..................................................................................................................... 8 Expenditure- University wise ................................................................................................... 9

E-Resources .................................................................................................................................. 9 Coverage of required journals by fulltext databases............................................................... 12

Issues to be Resolved ..................................................................................................................... 13 Proper Funding Policy ................................................................................................................ 13 A Central Regulatory Body ........................................................................................................ 13 Altering attitudes of Library Staff .............................................................................................. 13

Alternatives to be Considered as Solutions .................................................................................... 14 Integration via Existing Library Management Systems ............................................................. 14 Open Source Library Management Systems .............................................................................. 14 ULibNet ...................................................................................................................................... 15 Developing a Unique Library Management System .................................................................. 15

Proposed Strategies and Recommendations ................................................................................... 16 Policy Endorsement .................................................................................................................... 16 Network ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Implementing as a Web 2.0 solution .......................................................................................... 16

Benefits of the Proposed Solution .................................................................................................. 17 Requirement Specific Solution ................................................................................................... 17 Easily Customizable ................................................................................................................... 17 Minimal Cost .............................................................................................................................. 17 Improved user interaction ........................................................................................................... 17 Improved Security and Ease of Access ...................................................................................... 17

Addresses all Sectors of Information Resources ........................................................................ 18 Funding and Authority will not be abused ................................................................................. 18

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Literature Survey ............................................................................................................................ 20 References ...................................................................................................................................... 21 Appendix 01 ................................................................................................................................... 22


3/22


Page 3

List of Figures

Figure 1: Libraries Using Evergreen ILS in USA and Canada ........................................................ 5

Figure 2: Total expenditure of the University Sector ....................................................................... 8

Figure 3: Actual Expenditure for items purchased (01.01.2008- 31.12.2008) ................................. 9

Figure 4: Total Expenditure on Online Databases.......................................................................... 10

Figure 5: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases ............................. 10

Figure 6: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases ............................. 11

Figure 7: Expenses in Purchasing the Emerald Database ............................................................... 11

Figure 8: University Libraries Based on the Library Management Software Type ....................... 14

List of Tables

Table 1: Coverage of Required Journals by full text databases... 12

Table 2: Library Usage on the regular ity of Usage17
http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179271http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179271http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179273http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179273http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179278http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179278http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179278http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179273http://c/Users/HP/Desktop/project/project_report.docx%23_Toc301179271


4/22


Page 4

Background Information

Sri Lanka is a developing country with a population of 190 million (Department of senses and

Statistics, 2001) where within 25000 2 km there are more than 6557 libraries which can be categorized

as national libraries, academic libraries, special libraries and public libraries. The term academic

libraries indicate libraries belonging to higher educational institutes such as universities, colleges,

technical and vocational training institutions, etc Among these libraries the university libraries are

universally considered as the highest level educational institute in which students study for degrees

and academic research are being done (OED, 1998). Over the years universities have become a center

of excellence for knowledge and their libraries have become an integral part of them. Hence the

university library has been invariably named as the heart of all university fractions (Sharma, 1978)

and it is this heart that is focused in this study.

Library IT Infrastructure and its current situation

It was as early as in 1986 that the Sri Lankan university libraries started contemplating on

possibilities of automating university libraries (IUCL, 1987). Later in complying with the

technological advancements, they shifted from manual library management to automated library

management software. As at 2011 the university libraries around the island employs the service of

four major library management software (Appendix 01). These libraries have also utilized the OPAC,

a new and sophisticated catalogue format that has simplified the task of searching and accessinglibrary resources.

Rapid growth in world literature along with problems such as shrinking budgets, steady increase

in document prices has made it increasingly difficult for an individual library to become self-

sufficient. Therefore most libraries have started considering a resource sharing initiative. In

confirming with this tendency the Sri Lankan university libraries have also established a yahoo group

named as Library Friends in order to facilitate resource sharing.

Other Countries

The INFLIBNET, India is the resource sharing network that is managed by the UGC of India. It is

involved in creating an infrastructure for sharing of library and information resources and services

among Academic and Research Institutions. INFLIBNET works collaboratively with Indian

university libraries to share the information resources and among the libraries.


5/22


Page 5

Open source integrated library systems such as Evergreen and Koha are the solution United

States of America has come up with. These are deployed by many libraries around USA and since by

default they have resource sharing capabilities, the information resources are shared via these systems.

Figure 1: Libraries Using Evergreen ILS in USA and Canada


6/22


Page 6

Importance of the Project

In spite of the utilization of advanced technologies, the Sri Lankan university libraries are still

struggling in respect of catering to the growing needs of their users. The access to internet and vast

amount of resources available on World Wide Web has led the university library users to expect their

library to be also competent in providing more relevant, up to date and timely information to a wide

range of users. The potential user groups of a library are not restricted only to university students. The

library information resources will be utilized even by the lecturers to enhance knowledge on current

affairs and to find assistance in compiling researches.

To satisfy these varying needs the libraries require availability and accessibility to a variety of

information resources and formats. Yet unfortunately theres a deficiency in these information

resources in the Sri Lankan university libraries.Like the other libraries in most of the developing countries, this condition has arisen in Sri Lanka

as well mainly due to the inadequate funding and stringent budget cuts that the libraries are subjected

to. This has affected the level of services offered to users both in terms of quality of collection degree

of staff support. This situation is aggravated by the large-scale reconstruction and development

projects Sri Lanka is undertaking as a result of ending the 26 years of conflict with the LTTE. As the

librarians of these libraries are stating, the Sri Lankan university libraries have received sufficient

funds while the war lasted. Yet with the end of it and the governments concentrations shifting on to

alleviating poverty and such projects the library funds have suffered immensely. If possible in the pastfew years, the funds were cut down even due to 2008-09 global financial crisis and recession.

Under these circumstances it is apparent that there are few or no university libraries in Sri Lanka

that can cater to cater to a wide range of information resources. Therefore it is cannot be

recommended to duplicate the information resources among the libraries and resource sharing is the

only feasible solution to this lack of resources or lack of access to resources.

Resource sharing among libraries is long standing and takes a number of forms including inter-

lending, co-operative acquisitions, shared storage facilities, staff education, sharing of human and

computer facilities and information networks (Edwards, 1994). As a developing country, resourcesharing holds a strong potential for the Sri Lankan university libraries.


7/22


Page 7

Steps taken to Share Resources

In realizing the importance of resource sharing the university libraries have attempted to exercise

a successful resource sharing mechanism over the years.

The E-Consortia was one such project initiated few years back focusing on conceiving a library

consortium and yet it failed due to insufficiency of funds. The e-resources were shared under the gift

subscription of three full text databases from International Network for the Availability of Scientific

Publications (INASP) in 2002. This was followed by funding and training from the Sida/SAREC

Library Support Project coordinated by Colombo university library. In 2000 JSTOR database came

with a special concessionary price and from 2009-2010 the INASP is funding the e-resources under

the PERII project.

In practice resource sharing is basically restricted to interlibrary lending and document delivery

activities. The Sri Lankan university libraries also follow a Inter- Library loan service under a loose

network wi thin the local universities and utilize the British Document Supply Center as a mechanism

to obtain foreign resources. Yet both these suffer from long response time, unfamiliarity with the

system and high cost and therefore the requests for resources tend to get prioritized.

Thus the need for an efficient and effective resource sharing mechanism that focuses on all

aspects of information sharing and maximizes the availability of resources while minimizing the

expenses has come in to consideration.

Scope and Objectives of the Project

This study is based on a literature survey of published and unpublished documents (e.g: Annual

reports, circulations, researches, project reports, etc) on all libraries within Sri Lankan university

system and a number of interviews with the librarians, staff members as well as with some past

members of the University Library Association (ULA) and National Institute of Library and

Information Sciences (NLIS). A more detailed knowledge on individual library expenses was gained

by paying special attention to the University of Colombo and University of Moratuwa libraries. The

current economic status of the country and information on resource sharing initiatives adopted by

other countries were uncovered by browsing through the web and referring to newspaper articles.

The objectives of this investigation are to unearth the need of embarking on a information sharing

program among libraries, to evaluate the attitudes and opinions of the library staff towards such a

program, to discover the barriers in implementing the program and finally to propose a feasible

solution for effective utilization of resources within Sri Lankan university libraries.


8/22


Page 8

Requirement Analysis

University libraries such as Moratuwa and Colombo have mass resources waiting to be tapped by

their university students. Yet with the development in the fields of information technology and such,

none of these libraries can call themselves self-sufficient anymore and there is a grave need to have

information sharing methodologies among these universities. Upon having few discussions with these

university library staffs and referring the circulations published by the UGC following statistics were

found.

Expenditure on Purchases

Total Expenditure

Figure 2: Total expenditure of the University Sector

LKR 0.00

LKR 20.00

LKR 40.00

LKR 60.00

LKR 80.00

LKR 100.00

LKR 120.00

Books Periodicals Non Print BrailleMaterial

101.1806962

83.51646567

11.090.09

M i l l i o n s


9/22


Page 9

Expenditure- University wise

As depicted in the above graph it is evident that millions are spent annually by each university on

purchasing books, periodicals, non print materials and braille materials. Yet most of these expenses

are born due to replication of resources. The books and periodical articles purchased by the colombo

university is much the same as those purchased by the peradeniya university. The approximately 9

milliion spent by colmbo university and the 7 million spent by the peradeniya university can be

avoided and reduced if all the universities had a resource sharing mechanism.

E-Resources

The e-resources include all forms of articles in the digital format. Out of these resources the

online journal databases such as Emerald, IEEE take up the majority of library expenses. The

expenditure on e-resources is analyzed using the data gathered from the Colombo and Moratuwa

University libraries within 2009, 2010 and 2011.

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

M i l l i o n s

Books

Periodicals

Non-Print

Braille Materials

Figure 3: Actual Expenditure for items purchased (01.01.2008- 31.12.2008)


10/22


Page

10

Figure 4: Total Expenditure on Online Databases

This is the total expenditure of Moratuwa and Colombo Universities on the online databases.Each of these expenses can then again be categorized based on the databases they have purchased as

follows.

Figure 5: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases

$0.00

$2,000.00

$4,000.00

$6,000.00

$8,000.00

$10,000.00

$12,000.00

$14,000.00

$16,000.00

$18,000.00

2010 2011

2462.09117

10,309.54

17232.7444816272.057

U S

$

T h o u s a n

d s

Year

Colombo University

Moratuwa University

$0.00

$1,000.00

$2,000.00

$3,000.00

$4,000.00

$5,000.00

$6,000.00

$7,000.00

H.W Wilson JSTOREmerald

Hein Online

U S

$

Databases

2009

2010

2011


11/22


Page

11

Figure 6: Expenditure of Colombo University Library on Full text Databases

Above are the expenses born by Colombo and Moratuwa universities with respect to purchasing

of databases. Since Colombo university users are much more management oriented than the

Moratuwa university users, they have purchased databases such as JSTOR, HW Wilson and Hein

Online (Law). Where as Moratuwa university has focused on IEE and ACM Digital library, etc Yetboth these have purchased the emerald databases even though Moratuwa university has purchased the

175 title package while the Colombo university has selected the 200 title package due to its varying

users.

Figure 7: Expenses in Purchasing the Emerald Database

$0.00

$50.00

$100.00

$150.00

$200.00

$250.00

$300.00

$350.00

$400.00

$450.00

$500.00

ACM Digital

Library

Emerald Grove Art

Online

IEEE Xplore Science

Direct

U S

$

H u n

d r e

d s

Databases

2009

2010

2011

$0.00

$1,000.00

$2,000.00

$3,000.00

$4,000.00

$5,000.00

$6,000.00

$7,000.00

$8,000.00

2010 2011

5145

650067007035

U S

$ Colombo University

Moratuwa University


12/22


Page

12

The $5145 amount spent by Colombo University and the $6700 amount spent by Moratuwa

University adds up to the fact that both these universities have spent a total of $1, 1845 on purchasing

the same database in 2010. And in 2011 they have spent a total of $13, 535 for the same purpose. If

resources were shared, both these universities could have shared the same database and thus instead of a total of $1, 1845 they would have to have paid only $6700 in 2010 and instead of $13, 535 they

could have spent only $7035 in 2011.

This is only a single instance of financial resources that can be saved from information resource

sharing. And when this is applied to the whole university sector the total of Rs. 101180696.15 spent

on books and Rs. 83516465.67 spent on periodicals and Rs. 11088497.28 spent on non-printed

articles could be reduced in millions.

Coverage of required journals by fulltext databases

Database Percentage of available no.

out of required total no.

Percentage of available no.

out of e-available total no.

EBSCO-HOST 43.62 64.27

HW WILSON 41.51 61.16

JSTOR 15.24 22.46

WILEY-BLACKWELL 10.07 14.83

SCINCE DIRECT 9.11 13.42

SAGE 5.94 8.76

CAMBRIDGE 3.36 4.94

OXFORD 2.49 3.67

EMERALD 0.86 1.27

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 0.29 0.42

Table 1: Coverage of Required Journals by full text databases

This table depicts the percentage of available number of titles in each database as a percentage of

the required list of titles. Most of the university libraries are not able to purchase all the titles they

wish to purchase due to budgetary constraints. This situation can be avoided if the resources were

shared aong the libraries and a central agency would be funding the purchasing of resourcs.


13/22


Page

13

Issues to be Resolved

By studying the university library system and its history, certain issues were identified that have

to be solved prior to the implementation of an effective resource sharing mechanism.

Proper Funding Policy

Each university library receives a meager annual budgetary allocation for their survival

throughout a year. Therefore they cannot be expected to contribute to any resource sharing projects

financially. A major reason for the E-Consortia to fail within few months of its inception was also its

strategy to accumulate financial resources from within the university libraries themselves. Hence in

order to make a resource sharing initiative a success, proper funding policies have to be established.

Foreign agencies/programs, directly funding this project could not be encouraged because a

foreign body can withdraw their funds at any time and the funding programs might also reach its end

with time. Therefore it would be preferable if these funds are furnished by the government. And it

should also be treated as a separate allocation under the title of Resource Sharing among University

Libraries, r ather than regarding it as a mere addition to the universities annual allowance.

A Central Regulatory Body

A central regulatory body responsible for the funding and accumulating of resources has to be

established. It would be preferable to appoint UGC (University Grants Commission) or a UGCaffiliated body as the responsible figure since it would give this particular regulatory body the

authority to make decisions.

Altering attitudes of Library Staff

In a period of rapid and dynamic change in all fields of higher education, the place and function

of the library have yet to be considered dispassionately by university librarians, who seem content to

tackle the day to day problems of routine administration as they arise, without lifting their gaze to

wider a nd purposeful horizons ( Goonetilleke, 1975). The library staff tends to be satisfied as a mereprovider of books and periodicals instead of widening their services to project a more dynamic image

of itself to the undergraduates and lecturers. This conventionally comfortable view of providing the

basic minimum services has to be altered.

The library staff also tends to consider the resources under their direction as personal property.

Sharing them among other universities tend to give rise to the doubt that the resources might not be

available to their library users when they require them. Misconceptions such as these have to be

eliminated to support a effective resource sharing mechanism.


14/22


Page

14

Alternatives to be Considered as Solutions

Integration via Existing Library Management Systems

The 15 university libraries of Sri Lanka use four different propriety library management systems

to manage their information resources internally.

A

According to the graph, since 6 libraries out of a total of 15 are using LibSys, it can be recognized

as the mostly employed library management software. Yet it does not amount to even half the number

of total university libraries. Therefore if it was attempted to install and configure the same Library

Management Software in all the university libraries more than half of the existing library systems will

have to be transformed and this would also demand more than half the universities to endure new

purchasing and licensing costs.

Open Source Library Management Systems

Free and open source library systems such as Evergreen, NewGenLib and Koha also support

integrated library information management. These come with user manuals with step by step guide to

simplify installation procedure. Yet one major disadvantage they present with is that it is not easy to

configure them to suit to the different requirements in each library and in case an error occurred while

in the installation or afterwards, it requires a high level of technical knowledge to restore it to its

previous condition.

21%

43%

29%

7%

Libraries by Library Management Software

ALICE

LibSys

ISURU

WINISIS

Figure 8: University Libraries Based on the Library Management Software Type


15/22


Page

15

ULibNet

University Library Network (ULibNet) is a proposal that has been put forward bearing the

resource sharing concept in mind and is still being considered by the UGC committee. Yet this

proposal focuses only upon the sharing of books and other printed articles among the libraries. The

sharing of e-resources such as databases and printed journals are completely disregarded in this

proposal.

Developing a Unique Library Management System

In order to facilitate the resource sharing initiative a library management system can be developed

specifically to cater to the Sri Lankan university libraries. A system that manages internal resources,

that supports OPAC searching and indexing within and among the libraries and which would be

having a central database with all the e-resources would be another alternative to be considered.


16/22


Page

16

Proposed Strategies and Recommendations

The most feasible solution out of the alternatives stated above would be the development of a

library management system designed specifically to cater to the function of resource sharing among

Sri Lankan university libraries. Gathering requirements from each individual university, identifying

the generic and specific requirements of each university and designing the database and a web based

system that enables effective and efficient resource sharing are the steps to be followed in

implementing this solution.

In order to accomplish the goal of effective resource sharing following strategies can be followed

while implementing the recommended solution.

Policy Endorsement

It is crucial for the success of the project to endorse a policy at the governmental or ministerial

level. The proposal to share informational resources need to be agreed upon by both the ministry of

higher education and ministry of finance and it needs to be included as a revision to the countrys

development plan. It also needs to be accepted by all the university librarians and library staff.

The UGC or one of its affiliated bodies has to consent to act as the regulatory authority

coordinating all university libraries and the terms of the funding policy, the role of each university and

Network

The proposed web based system needs to be accessible within the universities with a minimum

delay and has to be inaccessible to outsiders. To facilitate these ease of access and security features its

recommendable to host the developed system in LEARN . LEARN is the NREN (National Research

and Education Network) of Sri Lanka, which interconnects Educational and Research institutions

across the country, and provide network related services to them (Lanka Education and Research

Network | Lanka Education and Research Network. 2011). Currently it interconnects all of the UGC

funded state universities, the University Grants Commission, the Ministry of Higher Education and

many other educational institutes affiliated to the state.

Implementing as a Web 2.0 solution

The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information

sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web (What Is

Web 2.0 - O'Reilly Media. 2011). Implementing the proposed web based system as a web 2.0 would

enable sharing personal archives of information. Lecturers and likewise personal can share articles,

papers in their possession with the other users of the system. Forums and commentary on shared

resources would improve the knowledge of the users by helping them to critically review the scholarlyarticles.


17/22


Page

17

Benefits of the Proposed Solution

Requirement Specific Solution

The development of a web based system to endorse resource sharing is recommendable to the Sri

Lankan library system mainly because it would be developed specifically to facilitate to meet the

requirements of the of university library system. Since this would involve a requirement gathering and

requirement analysis phase it would identify each university libraries requirements precisely.

Easily Customizable

Unlike open source library systems, this system would be unproblematically customizable.

Maintenance would not require high technical expertise and therefore libraries will not need to recruit

new technical staff members.

Minimal Cost

Unlike in using the already installed library systems, the proposed solution would not give rise to

licensing and maintenance cost. Since it can be developed another library user, there would be zero

development cost.

Improved user interaction

Minimal user involvement is yet another problem the Sri Lankan university libraries are facing.

Implementation of the system as a web 2.0 would ensure active participation of all users within

the library users network via forums and comments.

Improved Security and Ease of Access

Since LEARN interconnects all the state funded universities, the deployment of the system in

LEARN would improve speed of access. And since LEARN is IP restricted it would be impossible for

outsiders to access the system thus the shared information resources would not be abused or

mismanaged.

Table 2: Library Usage on the regularity of Usage


18/22


Page

18

Addresses all Sectors of Information Resources

Since in contrast to the ULibNet, the proposed solution focuses on all aspects of resource sharing,

ranging from printed articles to e-resources, it is expected to enable sharing of each and every

resource within the university libraries.

Funding and Authority will not be abused

By establishing a central regulatory body presumably UGC, would ensure the success of this

project since UGC is the best authority to influence the state funded universities.

Establishing a proper funding policy would guarantee long term success of the project and would

ensure that the monetary resources would not run out untimely.


19/22


Page

19

Conclusion

Sri Lankan libraries have been in the forefront of technology since 1986 which was the year when

they started focusing on the automation of university libraries. In complying with the technological

advances of the world the university libraries implemented propriety library management software.

Yet they had to face difficulties with this implementation due to the high cost in licensing the library

management software, and as the libraries of a developing country, Sri Lankan universities were not

able to afford it. Therefore the need for a novel mechanism to manage library information has arisen.

Along with this, the need of resource sharing has also arisen in the libraries due to budgetary

constraints, libraries inability to store all resources in one place and their inability to cater to the

varying needs of the users (both undergraduates as well as lecturers. Over the years university

libraries have attempted many resource sharing mechanisms and some of them have failed drastically

while the others are still functioning unknown to many of its users. E-Consortia was one such project

that failed due to lack of funds and interlibrary loans and British Document supply Centre systems are

used with a loose network of no established procedure.

In this study, the need for resource sharing is identified by gathering data about all the university

libraries. A special attention is paid to Moratuwa and Colombo University libraries by interviewing

their staff members and accessing their documents. The study depicted that by having a resourcesharing mechanism to share all printed, electronic documents as well as non printed materials (Audio,

Video) annual expenditure of each university library can be reduced drastically and it would also help

to improve user satisfaction.

The solution suggested to share resources is the development of a web based system specifically

targeting the Sri Lankan university libraries. Yet in order to make it a success a central regulatory

body such as UGC has to be established for this network and proper funding policies have to be

endorsed. The library staff members attitudes also have to be altered to help implement a resource

sharing initiative. And finally it is recommended to host the proposed web based system in theLEARN and to integrate the characteristics of a web 2.0 in to the system to improve its success.


20/22


Page

20

Literature Survey

Resource Sharing

Resource sharing is a concept that is discussed and focused upon in many of the libraries around

the world today. It is considered to be the pillar of library modernization and is accepted to be an

essential step that has to be followed if the libraries intend to stay in tune with the modern world and

its expectations. Swift growth of modern literature along with rapidly diminishing budgets as well as

growing information requirements has made resource sharing a must in todays context.

Situation of Sri Lankas Libraries

Sri Lankan libraries have attempted to stay in the forefront of the technological advances since the

1980s.Currently the university libraries are using propriety software such as ALICE for Windows,

ISURU and LibSys.

The Sri Lankan university libraries had survived in the past few years mainly due to the foreign aid

projects such as Sida/SAREC. Yet since these projects were mainly focused on funding the purchases

of e-resources, it has resulted in the library users getting used to the e-resources and therefore the

users are expecting the libraries to facilitate this requirement as well.

Over the years library staff has got used to play the role as a mere provider of books and periodicals

and are content with tackling their day to day problems instead of attempting to focus on wider vistas

of knowledge.

Sri Lankas Economical Situation

With the end of the war Sri Lankan government has started focusing on reconstruction and

development projects to improve the living condition of the country. Therefore the higher education

and educational institutes are given a secondary importance where the budget only addresses the

traditional costs of education and are not attempting to launch any educational reforms that would

increase the annual allocation on education.

Status in Other Countries

USA has moved over to resource sharing with the implementation of open source library management

systems and has succeeded in achieving this goal due to their high availability technical expertise.

Malaysia and Kuwait are considering resource sharing initiatives and yet are facing problems due to

similar conditions such as lack of financial resources as in Sri Lanka. Yet they are attempting to

overcome this problem and implement a resource sharing mechanism with the use of foreign aids and

so on.


21/22


Page

21

References

1. Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka. 2011. Department of Census and Statistics-Sri

Lanka. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.statistics.gov.lk. [Accessed 8 th August 2011].

2. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (1998), 4 th edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

3. Sharma, J.S (1978), Library Organization, Vikas publishing house, New Delhi.

4. Inter University Committee on Librarians (1987). Report on computerization of university

libraries in Sri Lanka. Unpublished report submitted to University Grants Commission by

university librarians.

5. Edwards, H.M. (1994), Library cooperation and resource sharing in South Africa;

considerations for the future. South African Journal of Library and Information Science ,

Vol.62 No. 2, pp. 113-16

6. Goonethileke, HAI 1975, P130, A University, its library, and the undergraduate, in

Oshavari Corea (ed), Libraries and People , Colombo Public Library, Colombo

7. Lanka Education and Research Network | Lanka Education and Research Network. 2011.

Lanka Education and Research Network | Lanka Education and Research Network.

[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ac.lk/. [Accessed 10 August 2011].

8. What Is Web 2.0 - O'Reilly Media. 2011. What Is Web 2.0 - O'Reilly Media. [ONLINE]

Available at: http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html. [Accessed 16 August2011].

9. Jayasuriya, S, 2011. University Library Services in Sri Lanka: A Historical Perspective.

Journal of University Librarians Association, Sri Lanka, Vol 15, Issue 1

10. Marimuthu, V, Paraman, V, 2011. Analysis of Informatin Technology (IT) applications in

academic libraries in Kuwait. Library HiTech News, Emerald Group Publishing Limited,

Number 2, 1-6.

11. Majid, S, Anwar, M..A, 1999. Resource sharing among Agricultural Libraries in Malaysia.

Library Review , Volume 48, Number 8, 1.12. University Grants Commission, Sri Lanka, UGC, 2008. Sri Lanka, a Statistical Profile of

University Libraries. 1st ed. Sri Lanka: UGC.


22/22


Appendix 01

ALICE for Windows University of Colombo

University of Peradeniya

University of Sri Jayewardenepura

LibSys University of Moratuwa

University of Kelaniya

University of Jaffna

Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka

Open University, Sri LankaEastern University of Sri Lanka

ISURU University of Ruhuna

Wayamba University of Sri Lanka

South Eastern University of Sri Lanka

Rajarata University

WINISIS University of Visual and Performing Arts

Documents

Resource Sharing Among University Libraries