Rajashri Joshi Research Scholar P G Tadasad Professor and Chairman Department of Library and Information Science Karnataka State Women’s University, vijayapura

 Faces of public libraries are changing radically owing to rapid changes in ICT.  Digital environment demands new functions to be performed, new services to be provided by the libraries.  There is an enormous and diversified public demand for innovative library services.  Public libraries are expected to provide required services to the people in the changing IT environment.  It necessitates redefining of the role of public libraries in order to survive.  An effort is made in this paper to identify the changing role of city libraries using a case study of City Central Library, Vijayapura, Karnataka, India.

 A number of studies have been reported on the changing role of public libraries in India in the light of the emerging Internet and digital technology.  The review of literature indicates the following ◦ Public libraries are slow to adopt service models ◦ Very few public libraries are involved in delivering digital services ◦ Very few provide access to Internet resources ◦ User not aware of all the services of public libraries ◦ Public libraries never remain current to meet the demands of users in the light of ICT as these lack ICT infrastructure. ◦ Public libraries still have print collection only ◦ There is a need for changing role of the public libraries, in a society dominated by the progress of technology

 Headquarters of Vijayapura districts (Then Bijapur)and it has a corporation  The city has a population of 326,360 as per 2011 census among which male population is 1, 65,122 and female population is 1, 61,238.  Total literacy rate of the city is (239631) which is less than the state literacy rate (75.36) and the literacy rate among men is (128615) and among women it is (111016) which is slightly higher than the state literacy rate (68.1) among women.  Over a period of time the city has emerged as a hub of educational institutions  The city houses many historical and architectural monuments of Adil Shahi dynasty because of which it is considered as a place of tourist importance and as such many foreigners do visit the city every-day.

 Catering to the needs of Vijayapura city spread across 35 wards  The CCLV was established in 1981 and it has 14 branch libraries and 1 children library  Main library has a collection of 192,706 books and has a registered membership of  Branch libraries together have a membership of  The Children’s library was established in 2006 has 1025 books, few toys and facilities for indoor games like Carrom and Chess.  Branch libraries work in shifts from 8.30 am to pm and again from 4.30 pm to 8.00 pm.  The branch libraries are basically print dominated and provide reading facilities and circulation services.  They are managed by non-professionals.

 Recently conducted studies (Joshi and Tadasad) have revealed the following ◦ Urban women are not using the City Central Library to the extent required ◦ Awareness and use of CCLV is less and that the literacy and economic status have a direct bearing on the use of CCLV ◦ There is a disconnection between the needs and expectations of the children and the facilities and services provided in the branch libraries of the CCLV  Interviews were conducted with 137 adult users between 15 th December 2014 and 31 st January 2015 who had actually visited the CCLV/its branch libraries to map the expectations of them.

 Less number of adult users aged below 35 (10.95%) have visited CCLV/its branch libraries while more than one third of users aged between 35 and 45 have actually visited the CCLV (36.53%, N=19).  No single woman has visited the CCLV while just one fifth of women actually visited the branch libraries (22.35%, N=19)  Comparatively larger proportion of users with self business (78.84%, N=41) visit CCLV while significant proportion of salaried (30.59%, N=26) and retired personnel (17.65%, N=15) visit the branch libraries.  Graduate users (6.47%, N=9) as well as users with primary education (8.75%, N=12) have distanced themselves from CCLV/its branches while those with secondary education (46.71%, N=64) and those possessing PUC/ITI/Diploma etc (37.95%, N= 52) remains the visitors of CCLV/its branches

 More than one third of adult users visit CCLV/its branches to read newspapers/magazines. They are the people who have their self business near the CCLV area.  A larger majority of adult users (41.18%, N= 35) visited branch libraries to escort their children to library.  More than one fifth of the users visited CCLV just like that  A majority of adult users visit CCLV/its branches occasionally (41.6%, N=57) while more than one third visit once or twice a week (37.23%, N= 51) and just more than one fifth (21.17%, N= 29) visit every day  No adult user is happy with the facilities and services of either CCLV or its branches

 Internet is the most preferred expectation of all the adult users  Development of e-resources collection is the second preferred expectation  Photocopying service  Mobile library service  Providing indoor game facilities  Access to digital collection  Establishment of more branch libraries,  Web enabled library services,  Outreach activities

 Urban adult users in general and women, graduates, salaried people have started distancing themselves with the City Central Library, Vijayapura  The adult users are not in favor of maintaining the status quo of the public libraries.  There is a dire necessity to recognize the library as the hub of the community activities.  It can begin by providing indoor game facilities and take active part in delivering outreach services.

 CCLV/its branch libraries have not made any attempts to reach out to the adult users of all categories.  The most important problem with CCLV/its branches is the declining number of visitors and a very small base of registered members.  It is facing the danger of being non-existent in the years to come if it does not take any initiations to change its role aggressively and attract the user community.  The study has also dug out the fact that library is used as a place to for occasional users who visit to read newspapers/magazines.  Hence CCLV must remain as a trusted source for providing access to newspapers.

 CCLV has to develop infrastructural facilities to provide web-enabled services and give access to digital content.  To begin with CCLV can introduce e-books, e- magazines and open sources into their services to find ways to see that how technology will be received by the user community in order to develop e- resources collection.  They have to take immediate measures to re-start the mobile library services and also open new branch libraries in the outskirts of the city to attract more number of user community.  These have to fulfill the needs of its user community to remain as a social space.

 Thank you