The Maulana Azad Library is one of the largest libraries in India, comprising a central library with about 110 college and departmental libraries. Source: Shutterstock
Aligarh Muslim University’s Maulana Azad Library organised a three-day online training programme on transforming libraries through an integrated library management software developed by LIBSYS, a Gurugram-based software company that works in the field of library automation.
The main objective of the training programme was to provide hands-on training to all library professionals working in AMU with adequate practical knowledge and help them upgrade their skills for automation of seminar, college and departmental libraries using the LIBSYS software.
During the online training programme, resource person Amit Kumar Singh from LIBSYS, provided hands-on training to the participants through lectures and live demonstration. In the first session, acquisition and cataloguing modules were covered. Training on circulation and serial modules was provided in the second session.
Librarian of the University, Nishat Fatima emphasised the importance of automation in libraries and how the varsity started the process of automation in 2001 through LIBSYS software.
“Presently, our university performs automation activities using LIBSYS 7.0 version which is accessible within the university as well as its three centres in different states,” she said.
The Maulana Azad Library is one of the largest libraries in India, which comprises a central library with about 110 college and departmental libraries. It introduced AMU Library Network (AMULIBNET) with the aim to create a centralised database of all the libraries of the University in 2012. Seminar libraries at AMU are linked with the centralised database and the same may be retrieved anywhere through the internet, she added.
Deputy librarians Asif Fareed Siddiqui, Habibur Rahman Khan and Monawwer Eqbal highlighted the timeline of automation activities and discussed the status of automation at the Maulana Azad Library. They also briefed different modules of LIBSYS software. The trio also coordinated the programme.
Around 200 participants including faculty members, library professionals and students attended the training programme. Queries and problems regarding automation were discussed and resolved during the live sessions.