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Libraries are institutions that provide access to a comprehensive collection of information and resources for educational, research, and recreational purposes. They serve as repositories of knowledge and offer numerous services to their communities. In this process, libraries play a paramount role in preserving and conserving library materials for future generations. The objectives of this paper were to investigate the significant Preservation and Conservation (PAC) initiatives of library materials from the ancient periods (3rd Century BC to 5th Century AD), the colonial period (1505 to 1948), and the post-independence period (1948 to date), to identify the gaps related to the current practices of PAC in Sri Lanka and to identify the issues related to PAC in Sri Lanka. This study focused on a qualitative research method. Relevant literature was found through secondary sources such as books, journal articles, conference papers, organizational reports and websites based on subject-related keywords. The Department of National Museums (DNM), Department of National Archives (DNA) and National Library and Documentation Services Board (NLDSB) and Sri Lankan University Libraries (ULs), were purposively selected. The published year was not considered during the process, and priority was given to Sri Lankan and foreign-authored publications on PAC of library materials in Sri Lanka. Literature was analyzed based on above mentioned three time frames selected for the study. The study identified growing trends in PAC practices from ancient to post-independence periods. Even though some evidence goes back to King Vijaya's period (483 BC), official writing was started in 103-77 BC. Some writing materials, such as inscriptions, palm leaves, and golden plates, were used during this period. Later, in the colonial period, the Portuguese, Dutch and British developed writing materials and established positions such as Record keepers and Archivists. Then, in the post-independence period, the DNM, DNA, NLDSB and ULs were identified as pioneering organizations that led the task of preserving. It was identified gaps between the literatures and existing literature only identified palm leaves as a main library material to be conserved and preserved. The main issues derived from the analysis were a lack of financial allocations, policies, laws and regulations, training, and research related to the field. The study pointed out the need for a separate PAC unit to handle the preservation activities of library materials in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an exploratory investigation about the contribution of libraries in achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study focusses on how libraries could formulate plans to integrate the SDGs into all its programmes and projects. The study identifies nine SDGs that require the direct involvement of libraries as well as some successful activities carried out by certain libraries for this purpose. The paper, after exploring the situation of academic libraries in Sri Lanka, found that eight universities in Sri Lanka have included 'sustainable development' in their strategic plans and academic libraries integrate them in library resources, services and programmes. However, these libraries are lacking in mapping of their activities with SDGs. The study recommends that academic libraries should map SDGs to the libraries' programmes, services, and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the prevailing competitive environment, libraries seem difficult to survive with traditional information services. Many of business organizations seem to practice multidimensional businesses and expand their profit potentials through diversification. Getting experience from business sector organizations, university libraries need to strategize the service delivery and retain the users through diversification of the product/service. Diversification can be implemented through innovation of directly related library services, indirectly related services and additional services probably not related to the typical library service but would be possible to provide by the library (out of the box). This paper investigates the Sri Lankan university librarians' perspective towards the implementation of such services in their libraries. The study also examines the possible barriers for the diversification. The paper involved the conceptual analysis and sample survey with library practitioners. Findings indicate that university libraries in Sri Lanka are providing diversity of services and have made many attempts to diversify them through 'direct library services', 'indirect library services' and 'additional services'. Relatively higher potential is shown with regard to directly and indirectly related services but the diversification through additional services indicated very low. The librarians face challenges for diversification stretching out through administrative factors, knowledge deficiencies, organizational environment and attitudinal issues of library managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the research productivity of five state universities of Sri Lanka during 2015-2018, using scholarly output, citation impact and collaboration metrics of SciVal, and the contribution of the university libraries towards research excellence. Five multi-disciplinary state universities; University of Colombo (UoC), Kelaniya (UoK), Peradeniya (UoP), Ruhuna (UoR) and Sri Jayewardenepura (UoSJP) were selected as the sample. During the study period, 4723 publications and 3831 authors have been recorded, of which UoC and UoP records the highest numbers. UoR records the highest publications in top journal percentile and highest number of views (72) among the five universities. A total of 33104 citations are reported while UoP depicts the highest citation count (18322) as an individual university, while UoR records the highest h5-index (39). Highest Field Weighted Citation Impact (3.18) and the highest citations per publication (12.4) is recorded by UoP while the highest output in top citation percentile (32.5%) is recorded by UoR. UoR records the highest overall international collaboration (74.4) during the studied period and UoP records the highest academic/corporate collaboration (2.2). University libraries provide collections and conducive environments for researchers, training in searching for information, referencing styles and use of reference management software, plagiarism detection and they maintain Institutional Repositories. The study established that there is much scope for university libraries to expand the services to support research productivity and recommends that librarians should consider on more current support areas like research data management, measuring research impact, and digital curation in order to support their universities to achieve excellence in research productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries have an innovative service called 'Research Support Service' to support institutional research. Under the research support service, the worldwide academic libraries provide a range of services. The library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka provides research support services since 2014. This paper investigates the research support service model of the library of Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL). This investigation analysed the documents such as official correspondence, pamphlets, library home page and students' feedback. The research support service of EUSL library focused more on training the undergraduates in research related aspects by organising a series of sessions on students' requests. As an extension of the research support service, the library also has introduced the individual research consultation service, where the researchers as an individual or group meets the library professionals to get personal assistance on research. The feedback analysis showed that the undergraduates highly appreciated the service on its usefulness. Moreover, the service was commended by programme review of the university grants commission of Sri Lanka. There are challenges to implementing this service, such as lack of skills and capacity among library professionals, lack of human resources and physical facilities, the conventional mindset of library professionals and lack of proper marketing of library services. However, this was a successful service, and increased the recognition of the library and library professionals among students and faculty. In turn, library professionals were invited to higher-level committees to contribute to the institutional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compelling argument raised by Bolton and Oliver, states that only customers' assessment of continuously provided services, which may depend on performance-only evaluation, deserves attention. As libraries are services provided continuously and considered in general to be a public service, it is important to research this issue. Thus this paper discusses four research problems based on quality domains, overall customer satisfaction, quality paradigm and the causality in the area of academic libraries in Sri Lanka. The paper concludes that the overall customer satisfaction is related to both satisfaction ratings in the form of gap scores and performance-only scores of quality domains, although the relationship between overall satisfaction and quality domains based on gap scores was weak, indicating statistical non-significance. The performance-only paradigm was found to be a statistically better paradigm, which produced significantly better predictors of overall customer satisfaction than the disconfirmation paradigm. Thus, all individual service quality domains, except Web services, were significant predictors of overall customer satisfaction in libraries. The study produced a final model based on the performance-only paradigm, with a linear relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality constructs in university libraries in Sri Lanka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), particularly internet, and the increasing development of user education forms and methods, such as new information literacy initiatives have resulted in significant changes in academic libraries. With these unprecedented changes, academic librarians in Sri Lanka have to deal with instructional processes more effectively and efficiently. The primary concern of this paper is to understand the concept 'user education' in the local context and its present practices in university libraries. Even more, this study intends to understand problems encountered, challenges being faced and potential new opportunities available on user education in university libraries in Sri Lanka. The total outcome of this paper is beneficial for researchers, policy makers, university authorities and academic librarians in Sri Lanka to understand the real situation which exists behind instructional activities of university libraries and to design, develop, implement policies and make strategies on pertinent subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web 2.0 is a popular technology that creates new paths in communication, networking, building partnerships and resource sharing. Though Web 2.0 technology helps the libraries to employ innovative web-based services, fewer studies have been conducted to identify the utilization of Web 2.0 tools by Sri Lankan libraries. The aim of this paper is, to explore the types of Web 2.0 applications employed and to identify the purposes of embracing Web 2.0 applications in Sri Lankan university libraries. The Sri Lankan government university libraries which are under the University Grant Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka were taken as the research population of this study and the total population was considered as the sample. Content analysis technique was adopted in this study for fifteen Sri Lankan government university libraries. The research instrument was a checklist consists of 60 checkpoints based on similar checklists found in the literature related to studies conducted on Web 2.0 applications and their usage. Data collection was conducted by accessing the web pages of these university library websites within a month period. Except for one university library, all the other fourteen university libraries introduced at least one Web 2.0 application with the primary features in their websites. Out of seven Web 2.0 tools considered in the study, Real Simple Syndication and Social Network Services are the most popular applications while Blogs, Vodcast and Podcast are less frequently used. Instant Messages and Wikis have not been implemented by any of them. Sri Lankan university libraries should be more focused on deploying Web 2.0 applications in their library websites to satisfy the needs of today's modernized user and also to be compatible with frequently changing technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A library website plays an enhanced role compared to its traditional physical library while providing a wide variety of library services to its users. Evaluation of library websites is a key to realize the extent of user acceptance of the website and to improve the overall quality of the website. Under such backdrop, this paper provides a framework for ranking university library websites in Sri Lanka based on two standard webometric methods. The proposed framework consists of quantitative web presence measuring attributes namely; size, visibility, rich files and scholars along with simple and comprehensible mathematical calculations. The library administrators can get awareness about whether their website has effectively represented itself on the internet with better performance from the ranking results. The findings of the study will guide to the librarians to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses accordingly with the performance of their library websites. In general, the effective presence of these library websites on the internet can be passed on as the top by having proper number of site pages in the website that impact their perceivability through web search tools and accordingly the quantity of received external links. Meanwhile, libraries having low rich files can publish more rich files on the web to improve their overall rank. The research approach, criteria and their relative impact provide useful information in monitoring the effectiveness of the current websites and provide strategic suggestions to develop enhanced websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main library of the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence University conducted a survey of the first and third-year undergraduates of the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Management, Social Sciences and Humanities, to investigate the use and user satisfaction on library services and resources. The study employed the 455 structured questionnaires to the whole population of undergraduates as the main tool for collecting data. Further, various registers were used to count the number of users. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS Version 20. The major findings of the study revealed that the respondents were satisfied with the library resources and services of the library as a whole. Also, the study found that many of the respondents visit the library for more than one reason, whereas the majority of the respondents visit the library for accessing past papers. Other findings show that the largest proportion of the respondents visit the library once a week. As for resources, the textbooks were ranked first, followed by the newspapers/magazine, and reference sources. The less frequently used resources are CD/DVD/VCD, online journals, databases, and library web links. To meet undergraduate information requirements and make them aware of the available resources and services, it is recommended to conduct information literacy programs as well as awareness programs at regular intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological applications have transformed the roles of academic libraries and they provide "higher-end-support" and play key role reforming education in academic institutions in the blooming information society. The paper will focus particularly on ICT based library service facilities and the usage of those facilities in the library. The objectives of this study were to identify the usage of the modern facilities of the main library, to find out the trend of users information seeking behavior in ICT based library facilities and to reveal the major reasons of using ICT based modem facility area of the main library, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka (WUSL). The case study was carried out gathering data on the statistics of the usage or IC1 based modern library and information service facilities. Ihe data were collected for the period from 2010 to 2015 as the application of ICT into library service is still in primary stage. The study found that the usage of modem facility area has gone up significantly more than the latter part of the period. The undergraduate students' trend was to access the modern facilities in the library as the way of building bridges for fulfilling their information needs. The usage of the library has recognized the ICT as fast information generated source. So, the existing space should be expanded and increased number of access points with infrastructure facilities for activating expected targets. In addition to that the library must move and focus by creating good relationship with user community and adopt information management skills in order to provide sustainable library and information services to achieve academic mission of the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author sought to understand the pattern of use of information resources by the university undergraduates in the Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences discipline. This study analyzed 6754 citations from 361 undergraduate dissertations from 2014-2018 submitted to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. According to the findings journals were appeared to be the most preferred source of citation among the Veterinary Medical students. Data sets conformed to the Leimkuhler model derived from Bradford’s law. In the ranked list of core journals in Veterinary science, Journal of dairy science took the first place with 108 citations. Further, results indicated that the students utilized current information mostly for their research. Further observation on authorship patterns of the journal citations indicated that the students of selected veterinary dissertations had mostly cited journal articles which have been authored in collaboration. Recommendations were drawn towards improving the library collection in a user-centric manner and strengthening library instruction. The study contributes to the realm of library literature where research that focuses on citation analysis of Veterinary dissertations which is in scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, libraries face the challenge of being underutilized, and special libraries in Sri Lanka in particular are no exception. Studies show that this can be overcome through marketing. Current study determines how marketing is applied in special libraries in the Colombo district, Sri Lanka and their future prospects in marketing. The study identifies the current marketing activities, marketing techniques and librarians' perception towards marketing in selected special libraries (n=50) in the Colombo district. Findings revealed that special libraries under study have a sufficient number of resources acquired and market opportunities available. However, it is assumed that unintentional marketing is been carried out in a majority of libraries as reflected by the absence of a marketing plan, absence of user surveys and lack of persuasive communication with parent organization for undertaking marketing. Most librarians give priority to promotional works such as conducting awareness programs, focusing on public relations, designing new information products and advertising library events and services. Techniques used for marketing were email lists, library website, seminar and workshops, traditional communication methods and social media. A majority of librarians were of the view that marketing concept can be applied to special libraries. Periodical collections, library spaces and infrastructure were identified as highly marketable resources. Other libraries are not considered as a challenge when employing marketing practices in their own library but respondents hold a mixed perception regarding how users would react to marketing practices if they are implemented in their libraries. Overall findings concludes that these libraries can break the boundaries and take up formal marketing if confronted with a proper market plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries should explore the marketing strategies to be used to promote their services among users, to entice new users and retain existing users. The objectives of this study were to find out the marketing techniques used in Sri Lankan university libraries and identify the challenges that university librarians face when marketing their services. The study involved 130 academic staff members of the libraries in 15 state universities established under the purview of the University Grants Commission in Sri Lanka. The total population was considered as the sample and the data were collected through self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software package considering the mean and standard deviation. There were 105 valid questionnaires among returns, and the response rate was 80.8%. As per the results, library websites, user orientation seminars, notice boards, and e-mail notifications were most frequently used to promote library services. Mobile applications, blogs and podcasts were rarely used to promote library services in Sri Lankan universities. The mean ratings of perceived challenges in the marketing of library services by university librarians in Sri Lanka were considered. Lack of networking among librarians (3.54) was identified as a significant challenge faced by Sri Lankan university librarians when marketing their services. Other significant challenges were unawareness of library user requirements, insufficient funds for marketing, increased cost of marketing and lack of skills in marketing library services. This concludes that Sri Lankan university librarians market their library services using an array of techniques and come across various challenges while adopting marketing techniques to their services. To overcome these challenges libraries should consider appointing a marketing librarian for each university library and establish a collaboration between them, develop a unique marketing strategy for each library, and allocation of funds for marketing library services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As modern Information Technology has created a way to a variety of information service opportunities, many options other than the conventional library service are available for users. A stiff competition has emerged among information service providers and therefore university library professionals too have to think of their competitive advantage. Service quality has gained a high concern as a strategy for developing the competitive position of an organization and many studies in different fields have established a strong relationship between service quality and competitive advantage. Viewing inversely, some practitioners contemplate that the competitive position of resource capabilities can influence the improvement of service quality. In order to examine the relationship between competitive position and the service quality in a university library context, an exploratory survey was employed utilizing a VRIO based questionnaire and LibQUAL+ based instrument with 89 library professionals selected from 15 state university libraries in Sri Lanka. The study reveals that there is a moderate positive correlation between two variables (r = .286, n= 66, p = .020). As the relationship is moderate, further studies seem essential to support the hypothesis. The large percentage of residuals indicates that there are more factors contributing to the service quality in university libraries. This study deploys a robust process to develop a measuring instrument for a competitive position in university libraries and uncovers many research areas in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important measures used for evaluating the service quality of a library is a user satisfaction survey. The objectives of the study were to find out the purposes of using a library and to evaluate user satisfaction towards the library facilities, library staff, library services, library resources and library website of the Open University of Sri Lanka. The population of the study was the university staff and the students who registered in the library of the Colombo regional centre of the Open University of Sri Lanka. Total sample size was 357 inclusive of both university staff members and students. Purposive sampling technique was utilized to get a representative sample. Primary data were collected with the help of a survey using a structured questionnaire, designed specifically for the purpose. Analysis of primary data was done using frequency tables and basic descriptive statistics such as mean, median etc. To measure the validity and reliability of the statements that are used to measure the user satisfaction, Cronbach Alpha testing was used. User satisfaction was evaluated under 05 parameters, such as (a) Library facilities; (b) Library staff; (c) Library services; (d) Library resources and (e) Library Website and Information access. It was identified that the respondents used the library for different purposes. Study results indicated reading, searching library resources, using computers to access information, and borrowing and returning books as the major purposes of using the library. The results of the study also revealed that on average, the respondents were relatively most satisfied with the library staff and their performance and helpfulness, moderately satisfied with the available library services, satisfied with the library website and its facilities and generally satisfied with the library facilities and library resources as a whole. The results also indicated that overall library users are satisfied with the available library resources, services and facilities. But, the study could also identify that there were some areas that users were not much satisfied with, particularly, providing user awareness programs, training on information searching, dissemination of services or providing information through social network media like face book, twitter etc., improving Wi-Fi facilities, improving access to audio visual materials, increasing the availability of electronic databases and providing more online library services. Therefore it is important to conduct information literacy programmes and user awareness progammes in order to make library users aware about new library resources and services and to enhance their information literacy skills. Further, it is recommended that understanding the user information needs, fulfilling those needs and measuring their level of satisfaction on regular basis is essential in order to provide a better service and to establish the sustainability of libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information has becoming the most valuable asset in the emerging world. Hence, information has become one of the major driving forces that lead a country towards sustainable development. While the libraries and other information centers are closed around the world, it could be adversely affected on the economy and general livelihood of the society. Thus, continuing the information services uninterruptedly is a matter of significance. However, the continuum of library services during lock-down situations and post-pandemic scenarios should be practice with proper care and understanding, especially during the post-pandemic conditions when re-commencing work in an academic library after the lock-down situation. Prevailing COVID -19 pandemic has provided an eye-opening lesson for academic librarians to re-think the way they perform and in what ways they can prepare for the post-pandemic reopening of the library. With the knowledge of the COVID -19 pandemic and related pathological nature of the virus, the present approach attempts to formulate an input while reopening the academic libraries of Sri Lanka. The concept also is applicable while planning to provide library services in similar post-lockdown scenarios. Practical safety precautions were suggested after conducting a thorough literature search in relevant and reputed journal databases, magazines and official websites. It can be recommended that the library should formulate a dedicated body, with the leadership of one senior member of the library staff for the overall monitoring and assessment of the pandemic-safety in the reopening time. Awareness of the libraries' stakeholders via different mediums, develop policies for disinfection, meetings, and other official tasks can be suggested. Following a country-specific existing-strategy that developed for the libraries of Sri Lanka is highly recommended. As a summary, the academic library should formulate an integrated pandemic prevention protocol to serve the library patrons with a delightful post-pandemic reopening experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was carried out to examine the user satisfaction of library facilities, services, and resources of three regional center libraries; Kandy (KRC), Matara (MRC) and Anuradhapura (ARC) of the Open University of Sri Lanka, which functions as an open and distance learning (ODL) education institute. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire, from a sample of 350 library users dispersed among the three centers. The study found that the users were satisfied with the physical facilities in the libraries but they were unsatisfied with the library collection and computer facilities provided by the libraries. Findings of the study can be used to reinforce the services with which the users were satisfied, focus on services that need more improvement according to user concerns, and to take steps for resolution of identified problems to gain users' satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]