Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
Purpose: Library and Information Science subject is exceedingly pragmatic in nature in India more than a century old, which is one of the most knowledge producing and knowledge utilizing area and is associated with many of the tool subjects like computer science, statistics, management science etc. Since the subject has a very practical base therefore, both the theory and practice should go side by side. As a knowledge fabricating domain, a lot of researchers, professionals, academicians etc. are profoundly involved in the research. This research work briefly traces the Library and Information Science research stemming from India in the 21st century based on the data as depicted in Indian Citation Index (ICI) during the year 2006 – 2015 which will help the LIS professionals to get aware of the latest and emerging issues in this field.
Methodology: A whole of 2,483 bibliographic data set have been retrieved in CSV format from one of the India’s national level citation database i.e. Indian Citation Index (ICI) from 2006 to 2015. Methodologically bibliometric tools and techniques have been taken up and descriptive statistics methods were employed. The study also uses fractional counting method.
Findings: 2,460 sole Indian LIS researchers have contributed 2,483 research papers in seven diverse categories and amongst them, 90.61% (2250) are research articles. 2015 have been the most productive year by publishing 16.63 % literatures. SRELS, DJLIT, PEARL, IJILS, IASLIC Bulletin, Library Herald and ALIS are the most preferred journals to the LIS professionals for publishing their research works. Most of the works of the researchers has been categorised into 57 micro areas. Out of them, Bibliometrics (14%) is the most significant area for the research fraternity. Other emerging areas of research are the following- User studies, Information technology, digital libraries, library consortia, library automation etc. Many of the literatures have been published in closed access in comparison to open access platform. The study showcases the collaborative research is leading in this field.
Originality/Value: The bibliometric work on the quantitative analysis of Indian LIS literature published in Indian journals during the time span of 2006 – 2015 is the first of its kind.