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How Libraries Kept The Lock, Down In Lockdown


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1 Post-Office Manager (Library Service), Competition Commission of India, Government of India., India

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Many people think of libraries as physical buildings to access documents, journals, and manuscripts; however, over the past few decades, libraries have been rapidly evolving beyond the physical, becoming powerful digital and virtual institutions, working significantly with the tangible library concept. The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has pushed normal life out of gear, and the library professionals understood that things were changing. Aiming this paradigm shift of library services and activities into the ‘new normal’, many librarians and information professionals across the world have found innovative ways in library services to serve the users in an effective way. In this paper, we identify and evaluate new normal library services and innovative resources and management methods used by the librarians and information professionals during the lockdown to beat the lockdown blues. We explore how library professionals were working constantly on finding ways to provide access to people in need of knowledge, while keeping them safe, how libraries were transforming their activities and services into the ‘new normal’, and how libraries kept the lock, down in lockdown.

Keywords

Lockdown, Library, Information Services, Innovative Services, Librarian, Mobile Services, COVID-19, Pandemic
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Abstract Views: 178




  • How Libraries Kept The Lock, Down In Lockdown

Abstract Views: 178  | 

Authors

Sandhya Kumari
Post-Office Manager (Library Service), Competition Commission of India, Government of India., India

Abstract


Many people think of libraries as physical buildings to access documents, journals, and manuscripts; however, over the past few decades, libraries have been rapidly evolving beyond the physical, becoming powerful digital and virtual institutions, working significantly with the tangible library concept. The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has pushed normal life out of gear, and the library professionals understood that things were changing. Aiming this paradigm shift of library services and activities into the ‘new normal’, many librarians and information professionals across the world have found innovative ways in library services to serve the users in an effective way. In this paper, we identify and evaluate new normal library services and innovative resources and management methods used by the librarians and information professionals during the lockdown to beat the lockdown blues. We explore how library professionals were working constantly on finding ways to provide access to people in need of knowledge, while keeping them safe, how libraries were transforming their activities and services into the ‘new normal’, and how libraries kept the lock, down in lockdown.

Keywords


Lockdown, Library, Information Services, Innovative Services, Librarian, Mobile Services, COVID-19, Pandemic

References