Authors
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Ramesh Pandita
BGSB University, Rajouri
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Shivendra Singh
Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Faridkot, Punjab.
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P. N. Bajpai
J.C. Bose University of Science & Technology, YMCA, Faridabad.
Keywords:
Commercial Publishers, Information and Communication Technology, Publisher Hegemony
Abstract
Time and again, libraries are facing existential threats. It may not be inappropriate to say that libraries were initially reluctant to embrace Information and Communication Technology (ICT), especially in the Asian sub-continent. However, the way ICT intruded into our lives, libraries were left with no choice except to embrace ICT, which otherwise had posed an existential threat to libraries, especially with the advent of e-content. Questions were also being raised on the true contribution of an institutional library to an institution’s academic and research activities following the decline in library readership. These sub-institutions were dubbed lax by the respective institutional administration, resulting in downsizing and curtailment in the library budget. The waning library budgets and the escalating subscription costs have once more posed a challenge to institutional libraries, whereby libraries cannot subscribe to enough resources for their clientele and pose themselves as a rich and resourceful library. Thereon, the monopoly commercial publishers enjoy over subscription pricing of research journals has rendered libraries ineffective, posing an existential threat to libraries. Accordingly, the undergoing conceptual framework revolves around how libraries can survive this existential threat and overthrow commercial publishers’ hegemony.
Author Biographies
Ramesh Pandita, BGSB University, Rajouri
Dr Ramesh Pandita, PhD is a Senior Assistant Librarian at BGSB University, Rajouri, J&K, managing the library system since 2007. Previously, he served as a college librarian at Tagore College of Education and briefly as a Lecturer at the University of Jammu. He has authored over 100 research papers and 100 articles, received the ILA C.D. Sharma Award in 2011, and was recognized as a top one per cent reviewer by Publons in 2018.
Shivendra Singh, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Faridkot, Punjab.
Dr. Shivendra Singh, PhD, MLIS, is an accomplished librarian with 28 years of experience. Since 2006, he has been the Assistant Librarian at Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Faridkot, Punjab, currently at the Central Library of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College. He received the ‘Emerging Librarian Award’ in 2019. His previous roles include Senior Librarian at AIIMS Patna and implementing the “Electronic Information Retrieval System” at NIPER Mohali.
P. N. Bajpai, J.C. Bose University of Science & Technology, YMCA, Faridabad.
Dr. P. N. Bajpai is the Deputy Librarian at J.C. Bose University of Science & Technology, YMCA, Faridabad, with 28 years of experience in institutions such as INSDOC, AIIMS, and IMT Ghaziabad. He has modernized library services and organized numerous workshops and training programs. He has published 25 research papers, authored two books, contributed various chapters, and developed course materials for the BLIS distance education program at Dr. H. S. Gour Central University.
