Punjab Government Assurance Committee consisting of 13 sitting MLA’s of Punjab under the chairmanship of Dr.Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh visited Bhai Gurdas Library to assess the Digitization and Automation of Library. S. Jeewan Singh Sangowal, S. Raghubir Singh Rai, S. Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sh Madan Lal Bagga and S. Balkar Singh Sidhu alongwith other secretariat officials were present
They have visited various sections like Periodicals, Acquisition, Rare Books Section and were got apprised about Digitization and Automation by Dr. Amit Kauts, Professor Incharge Library and Sh. Sarbjit Singh System Administrator.
Newly implemented RFID System with complete integration has been shown to Committee, which makes library system more effective, user friendly and secure. All the students and faculty members have been issued smart cards, which further smoothen the process of circulation of books (issue/return).
An intelligent trolly and RFID based Self Check in/Checkout Kiosks have been installed for issue and return of the books without any human intervention. A demonstration of the whole system was given to theCommittee members and they were appreciative of the facilities provide for the benefits of the students by the University.
Committee members further visited Digital lounge consisting of 100 computers, which has been set up with an aim to counter the difficulties faced during covid eraand being used as a digital learning centre and provide access to all the e-resources,ejournals and e-books purchased by the University.
This lab is being used by faculty, research scholar and students which further facilitate the optimum utilization of eresources subscribed by Bhai Gurdas Library.Bhai Gurdas Library has also procured resources from The Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) as per the MOA with CEC.
This Digital Lounge also facilitate access and use of these CEC resources. Dr.Kautsfurther told the committee that the Library is also a member of INFLIBNET’s Consortium for Higher Education Electronic Resources and DELNET, which is providing access to 7032+ e journals and some databases i.e. Web of Science, MathScinet, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID) and jGate plus (JCCC).
Besides, these e-resources about 2200 online journals from various publishers such as John Wiley , Elsevier and Royal Society of Chemistry, Theme and IEEE e-journals and conference proceedings are being subscribed by the Library.
Recently Library has also subscribed about 15612 e-books from publishers like Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Oxford University Press, Sage and Cambridge University Press. Keeping in view of the optimum and effective usage of these e-resources. This Digital Lounge further facilitates the optimum access to these resources.
Committee visited rare book and manuscript section and appreciated the methods of preservation of rare books and manuscripts. Committee members were shown manuscripts, coins, rare books, paintings and sculpture etc.
Committee members visited Seminar cum orientation Hall, which has been developed with multimedia facilities and smart digital podium.This Seminar Hall is being used to provide orientation about the functioning of Library and e-resources to the batch of students, research scholars and faculty.
Dr. Amit Kauts, Professor Incharge welcomed the committee and expressed that these facilities have been developed in the Library with the help of Punjab Government and RUSA 2.0 grant and benefitting the students and researchers.
He further emphasized to encourage the use of these facilities up to the optimum level.Mr. Sarabjit Singh. System Administrator has given the presentation on Bhai Gurdas Library and get the committee apprised and demonstrated the digital resources of the library.
Dr. Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, chairman of the Punjab Government Assurance Committee appreciated whole heartedly the progress being made by the University. He expressed his satisfaction on the development in digitization and automation work being done by the Bhai Gurdas Library.
Being alumni of the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, he expressed his commitment to provide all types of support to facilitate quality learning environment for the students.Professor Dr. Anish Dua, Dean Student’s Welfare thanked committee for their time to see the development with respect to digital library.
Professor Dr. Hardeep Singh, OSD(VC) coordinated the visit and showcase the strength of the library with the assistance of senior assistant librarians, System Administrator and Professor Incharge (Library).