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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of exchange rates of foreign currencies on the material budget in the libraries in India. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of journals costing in foreign currency was selected for the purpose of study. A comparison of inflation rate pertaining to serial price is done with the general rate of inflation in India. Findings - The paper finds that exchange rates of foreign currencies have extensive impact on the acquisitions budget of the libraries in India. Practical implications - Academic institutions may protect the buying powers of the libraries while allocating funds, keeping in mind the strengthening or weakening of Indian Rupee in comparison to foreign currencies. Originality/value - This is one of the comprehensive studies on the impact of foreign exchange on subscription in Indian libraries system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the materials cited in doctoral theses of botany, submitted to the Kuvempu University during the years 2000-2006, with the aim of improving the existing collection development of the library. Design/methodology/approach – The study employed descriptive research design. Theses submitted for the award of Doctoral degree from 2000 to 2006 to the Department of Botany, Kuvempu University were examined. The population of the study was all the theses submitted during the periods under study. Data were extracted from title page and references given at the end of each chapter. Extracted data were analysed using statistics. Findings – The study reveals that journals are the most preferred sources of information used by the researchers in the field of botany, accounting for 74.77 per cent of total citations, although citations from books, proceedings, theses, reports and patents are also found. It is also observed those researchers are not taking much advantage of internet resources. The journal Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (USA) was ranked the first, with 158 citations, accounting for 7.57 per cent of the total journal citations. Further, Bradford's law of scattering was applied. It is observed that major citations come from journal literature. In addition, more cited materials were contributed by multi authors and degree of collaboration is 0.75. Research limitations/implications – The paper presents a sense of the importance of botany research, and as such informs that community, as well as researchers involved in citation analysis. Originality/value – The outcome of the study is an original research work with citation analysis of doctoral theses in botany. It highlights the information materials available and used by researchers of the Botany Department for their research work and those which need to be added for a healthy collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Monastery libraries have, for centuries, been the hub of religious education and research. They house collections that are unique and even rare and have been useful to students of religion as well as to members of the public. Some, along with the monasteries to which they are attached, even serve as tourist attractions, being as they are ancient relics with rich culture and history. The Tawang Monastery, in Arunachal Pradesh, India, is one such monastery whose libraries are unique and valuable. This paper reports results of a study on the collection in the two libraries of Tawang Monastery which not only found that they are among the best in terms of format, variety and value but also discovered shortcomings like shortage in staff and space which need to be addressed at the earliest.Design/methodology/approach For this research, case study method was used by the researchers. The tools used for data collection were questionnaire and interview. This is because they were found to be easier and convenient methods to carry out this research. Apart from that, observation method was also carried out throughout the research period. Besides these field work research methods, literature review was also carried out to gather mostly historical and some background information about the monastic libraries in India. Internet searching was also carried out to find out other relevant information.Findings This study provides an enumerative account of collection development in the Tawang monastery libraries. During the study, certain pitfalls were noted. First, the ancient Parkhang library building is in a very precarious state of existence. In fact, the library building was undergoing renovation during the period of this study. Due to this very reason also, it’s collection of Kanjur and Tanjur religious texts have not been subjected to any preservation methods, although it is of utmost necessity.Research limitations/implications During this particular period of study the ancient Parkhang library was undergoing the process of building renovation. In fact, the whole library building was deserted as a result, and was in topsy-turvy condition. The tour of the library hall was given, for whatever it was worth by the librarian himself, during which some photographs were taken. Hence, most of the data collection was possible only due to the dedicated cooperation of the monks and a few learned teaching staff of the monastery school. Much relevant information was collected through personal interviews, apart from the questionnaire sets. On the other hand, no such hindrance was faced for the data collection from the school library.Originality/value This study, to an extent, shows that the collection development in the Tawang monastery libraries (especially Parkhang library) is a very vital and important asset, both for the state of Arunachal Pradesh and for India as well. It is the first full-fledged study on collection development in the Tawang Monastery libraries, covering all aspects of the topic at hand, and can serve as a precedent to other such studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to find out the budgetary allocation for books and journals (Print and Electronic) and growth of resources during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013. The study also explored the significant/non-significant relationship for budget allocated for books and journals (Print and Electronic) as well as growth of resources across the libraries. This will help the librarians of such universities to build their collection accordingly. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire. Moreover, information was obtained from the primary library records such as annual reports, budget estimates, ledgers and also the staff involved in the acquisition section. The hypotheses were tested using chi-square test. The relationship between budgetary allocation and growth of resources amongst the five university libraries during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013 were analysed and discussed. Findings: Maharishi Dayanand University library had the highest budget for purchase of books (Rs.125 lakh), whereas Panjab University library had the highest budget (Rs.208 lakh) for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013. Panjab University library allocated Rs.18 lakh for purchase of books and Rs.208 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013. Punjabi University library allocated 16 lakh for purchase of books and 45 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013. Guru Nanak Dev University library allocated Rs.16.80 lakh as the budget for purchase of books and Rs.8.30 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) from 2007-2008 to 2012-2013. Kurukshetra University library allocated Rs.9 lakh for purchase of books during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, whereas it had allocated Rs.79.20 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2008-2009. Maharishi Dayanand University library allocated Rs.125 lakh for purchase of books during 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, whereas it allocated Rs.125 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013. Research limitations/implications: The study was limited to five universities of Northern India, which comprised Panjab University, Chandigarh (PU); Punjabi University, Patiala (PbiU); Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (GNDU); Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (KU); and Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak (MDU). The data related to budgetary allocation for resources and growth and cumulative growth of books and journals (print and electronic) during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013 were collected and analysed. Originality/value: This is the first of its kind of study in these universities, which provides an overview of how much budget was allocated for collection development in these university libraries. The relation between budget allocation and growth of resources were compared, and their significant/non-significant relationship in five university libraries in North India was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]