Impact and Assessment on Library Resources and Services during COVID-19 Pandemic: A study on Library of the Central University of Jharkhand and Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Bihar

Abstract

The burst of coronavirus, COVID-19 and proclaimed by the World Health Organization as a pandemic, created fear and nervousness among the world community. This was an extraordinary situation for libraries. All services of reader’s activity were closed, and staffs were asked to stay at home or work from home as far as possible for the safety of library staff and its users. During the pandemic Library and its staff played an important role in supporting online teaching with its limited resources. This paper examines the COVID-19 impact on resources and services of the Central University of Jharkhand and Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, libraries. The results found that both the libraries rendered their services in their limited resources to the users and followed government guidelines. They adopted a quarantine policy for returned books, provided a remote access facility for e-resources, adopted alternate day working hours for library staff, used sanitization, added new e-resources and planned to adopt changes in collection development policy.