PAU library organized national level sensitization-cum-training programme 

Ludhiana, March 25, 2022: Mohinder Singh Randhawa Library, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), in collaboration with Agricultural Knowledge Management Unit (AKMU), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi organized a one-day national level sensitization-cum-training programme “Digital Libraries for Knowledge Dissemination in NARES” for the students, faculty and library professionals from all the State Agricultural Universities, Deemed Universities, Central Agricultural Universities and Central Universities with agriculture faculty of India. This training was conducted under a sub-project “National Knowledge Management Centre for Agriculture Education and Research (NKMCAER)” of Innovation Grants of National Agricultural Higher Education Project. The main objective of this project was strengthening of digital libraries under NARES.

About 285 participantsfrom all over the country attended the programme. From all over the country attended the programme. The training was imparted on Krishikosh: the national digital repository of NARES; developed and strengthened under NKMCAER, Dr Amrender Kumar, Incharge and Principal Scientist (Agril. Statistics), AKMU, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi and Collaborating Centre Principal Investigator of NKMCAER provided an overview of Krishikosh, its usage, latest data and special features. In addition to Krishikosh, participants were also acquainted with research metrics system by Dr G. Rathinasabapathy, University Librarian, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai. The training also included a lecture on using Zotero: a reference management tool in research publications by Narinder Singh Rohila, seniour Technical Officer, National Library in Dairying, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal.

While welcoming Dr. Jaskarn Singh Mahal, University Librarian, PAU Dr. (Mrs.) Sandeep Bains, Dean Post Graduate Studies and Dean College of Community Science, PAU and the participants. He informed the participants about the benefits of digital libraries and use of various programs for reference management in the research process. The chief guest Dr. Sandeep Bains congratulated ICAR on achieving the milestone of developing and constantly strengthening the national digital repository for agricultural sciences and allied areas for benefit and linkage of agricultural libraries under NARES. She further added that strengthening of digital libraries has not only facilitated access to rich content useful for research, teaching and education but also avoided duplication of research to a large extent. She mentioned the changing role of libraries in the digital era and emphasised that further advancements in this regard is the need of the hour. She congratulated on the conduct of this training programme towards strengthening of library management system under NARES. The training ended on a successful note.