COVID-19 Pandemic and Online Library Services: Web Analysis of the National Institute Library Webpages

Abstract

The present study is concerned with Web analysis of library webpages of national institutes in West Bengal, India, in order to know the types of e-resources and online library services provided by those libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study explores the significant initiatives taken by the libraries on online library support services being offered to meet the requirements of the library patrons during the lockdown. The researcher visited the selected library webpages of said institutes for collecting relevant information with the help of Google Search Engines between March 2021 and April 2021. It is clear from the study that any library user can easily access the libraries of IIM, Kolkata; ISI, Kolkata; IIT, Kharagpur; IIEST, Shibpur; and NUJS, Kolkata, through their library homepages. The remaining eight institute library webpages are accessed through the institute websites. A major finding is that the IIT library provided maximum information on online library support services on their library webpage, with 24 points (out of 30 points), thus ranking first, followed by ISI with 16 points ranking second, and both IIM and NUJS with 12 points ranking third. The main purpose of this study is to highlight the types of e-resources and online library services provided by libraries of national institutes in West Bengal during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a Web analysis of the contents available on their library webpages.

Keywords: COVID-19, Online Library Services, Web Analysis, Library Webpages, National Institutes, West Bengal

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