The Kerala Agricultural University Library and Information System (KAULIS) was established in 1995 as per provisions of the KAU Act 1971. It was formally inaugurated by the Hon`ble Minister for Agriculture Sri. Krishnan Kaniyamparambil on 24.12.1998.
Mandate
With the changing scenario of library and information service environment, the mandate of KAULIS will be to
- provide library and information service network consisting of electronic information stores of the university, central library, libraries in the headquarters of other units, libraries and information service divisions in the colleges, and research stations under the university, specialised information systems available to the university, and other information service or documentation units
- build up a repository of information on subjects mandatory to KAU
- to develop Central Library as an advanced centre for information science
- undertake research in current information technology and develop relevant information handling tools and techniques
- evolve standards and guidelines for various aspects of library and information systems and networks
- prepare computerised database of agricultural sciences and
- provide advisory and consultancy services.
Resources
Building
The headquarters of the Library and Information Services Unit is at the University Library Building. The unit has also established an Electronic Library and information technology lab, and IT training facilities at the headquarters which are housed in the university library building.
IT Laboratories
An Information Technology Lab with facilities for customising library and information service packages, database development and for generating information products according to the requirement of users functions under this unit.
Electronic Library
An Electronic Library has already been developed by the unit with the support of various national and international institutions. This is the first electronic library for agriculture envisaged in India under any SAU or ICAR research Institute.
Power
For sophisticated library equipment that need high power protection UPS back ups for twenty four hours are available. A back up generator is also available for the library when it is not used by the nearby auditorium.
University Central Library
The University Central Library functions in the Headquarters. It serves as the main library for the colleges and stations in the main campus. All costly reference books, foreign journals and other documents which are required for more than one station will be acquired and maintained by University Library for common use and to avoid duplication.
College Libraries
There are seven college libraries coming under the unit. All of them have required minimum infrastructure like building, equipments and collections of print and non print documents. Library at College of Agriculture Vellayani was automated with a college library LAN and information resources in EM to serve the campus and nearby stations. Equipments for automation had already been acquired for the College of Fisheries, Panangad, College of Agricultural Engineering, Tavanur etc. Library modernisation programs are on the anvil in other colleges. College of Agriculture Library, Vellayani, Trivandrum forms one of the major subsystems of KAULIS. It has a collection of about 25000 books, 6500 back volumes of journals and 3500+ PG and Doctoral Dissertations. The complete database of these collections are computerised and a LAN also has been implemented here for online information retrieval. Internet facility is also provided at his library for searching world wide databases on agriculture and allied areas.
Department Libraries
Various Departments of the Colleges are served by Department Libraries having small collection of specific books on the subjects specific to those departments which are required for day to day use. RARS / Research Station Libraries: Regional Agricultural Research Stations are served by libraries established in the concerned RARS with collections on subjects specific to that agro-climatic region and projects managed by them. Research stations are served by small libraries established in those stations with collections on topics on which their projects are carried out.
Book collection Development
Book collections are developed at all College libraries, Regional Agricultural Research Station and Research Station Libraries. Due to non availability of staff at the headquarter of the unit, terms and conditions of book acquisition and list of titles to be acquired at various stations are approved by the Librarian for purchase at the concerned station.
Journals
Journals are subscribed for various stations avoiding duplication between stations on very costly foreign journals. Such journals required by different stations are detained at Central Library; and information service based on them is to be provided by Central Library to all stations which require that journal. Journals available in electronic medium are subscribed in that medium only which is cost effective and convenient for speedy and efficient service. This policy enabled the university to subscribe to an additional 60 Indian and Foreign journals without increasing total recurring expenditure. Change to CD ROM versions have reduced the recurring expenses towards subscription to some foreign journals by 60%.
Computerized Information Service
The unit offers computerised information services using the electronic documents as well as resources existing outside shared under various MOUs, through Internet. Experimentally, a nominal fee that covers consumable, telephone charges and part of maintenance is charged.
Centre for Library and Information Science Studies
A Centre for Library and Information Science functions at the unit for providing training programmes and consultancy services on information handling particularly in agriculture and science and technology areas and offers courses on Library and Information Technology and Information handling in agricultural sciences. Evaluating the facilities available at this unit NISSAT, under DSIR, Government of India had already offered to meet partial expenses for offering courses at subsidised rate. INFLIBNET, and Information Service Package Division of NIC, under planning Commission have also agreed to support the unit for conducting training programmes for which university have already signed MOUs. It is also obligatory for this unit to train three apprentices in library and information science for which Board of Apprenticeship, Government of India is providing Financial support. The unit has in association with District Library Council and Bharat Yuvak Samaj organised a workshop and IT familiarisation programs for librarians working in village libraries under District Library Council. More than 250 librarians and social activists participated in the programme which was inaugurated by Justice Sri. V. R. Krishna Iyer.
Reprography
Some of the libraries under this unit are already offering reprographic services at subsidised rate.
Farmers Division
A Farmers Division functions at the headquarters. The division has reading materials specially prepared for the farmers, facility for offering video programmes, interactive multimedia programmes, and conducting exhibitions.
Information Technology
The unit has the most modern IT environment with Information Technology Lab, electronic library, a building LAN for Central Library and computer based training facilities. A temporary E-mail using ERNET connectivity has been established for use till getting an independent VSAT or leased line for the library which will ensure 24 hours accessibility to the information resources held by the library from any location. All divisions of the unit have been provided with computers and specialised packages for automation of the works related to that division and for providing services to users. Various Abstract and Index databases are available on computers for Selective Dissemination of Information. Textual, graphical and video access terminals have been provided at various points at the Central Library for users. In order to successfully maintain various library and information technology projects, close collaboration and appropriate linkages have been established with many national and international agencies specializing in this specific field like NISSAT under DSIR, Govt. of India, Information and Library Network Programme (INFLIBNET) of University Grants Commission, National Informatics Centre (NIC) under Planning Commission, Informatics Division of UNESCO, Paris and institutes under Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
