The emerging role of national and regional associations in library development: an Indian perspective

Abstract

Purpose

Library associations in India have been playing an important role in conveying useful messages and guidelines for library development, acting in this transitional era as meeting places for professionals, helping them exchange opinions and promoting free access to information while also facing a series of structural, political, cultural and financial challenges. Despite this scale of involvement, there has been relatively little analysis of the characteristics and services Indian library associations provide, how these can be enlarged and how associations should manage the entire professional community. This paper seeks to fill that gap.

Design/methodology/approach

An attempt is made to comprehend the present status of membership based library associations in India and the range of structural, political, cultural and financial challenges which they face through SWOT analysis together with a review of the literature, websites and ephemeral material such as minutes, annual reports, newsletters and memoranda.

Findings

That there is an immediate need for restructuring these associations in pursuit of a new working model which would involve functioning in close partnership with other groups; the associations need to be stronger financially and have more impact in pursuing and meeting the objectives and goals of the members of association. To this end, an Indian Institute of Library and Information Science should be established on the pattern of the Indian Institute of Technologies.

Practical implications

The focus of this paper is on the practical aspects of making professional associations function more successfully.

Originality/value

Recommendations are made for carefully planned public relations programs to be carried out by leveraging convergence technologies which could guarantee the long‐term success of library associations.

Citation

Ghosh, M. (2006), "The emerging role of national and regional associations in library development: an Indian perspective", Library Review, Vol. 55 No. 1, pp. 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530610641781