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The role of Libraries
for the development of human resources in the field of Agriculture in
Bangladesh
Dr.
Md. Hanif
Uddin
Assistant
Professor ,Dept. of Information Science and Library Management,
University of Dhaka
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Agriculture is the backbone of the economics of Bangladesh.
But it
is not yet contributing as much as it could. A great deal of research and
development is required to make Bangladesh agriculture to achieve its
potential productivity and ensure its
sustainability. At all stages of such an endeavor, as in most human activities these days, good, timely information
is absolutely essential.1
Information has been identified as one of the resources
required for
the improvement of agricultural production. It is defined as the data for
decision making. It is said to be a resource that must be acquired and
used
in order to make an informed decision. Those who possess appropriate and
timely information will make a more rational decision than those with out.2
According to Dervin3
every individual whether literate or non-literate needs information in
order to take decisions, thus every sector of the population engaged in
agriculture needs information.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Bangladesh's economy. The performance of the sector has an overwhelming impact on major
macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty
alleviation, human resources development and food security. Meeting the
nation's food requirements is a key objective of the government and in
recent years there has been substantial increase in food-grain production.
However loss of food and cash crops due to flood and other natural
calamities is a recurring phenomenon which disrupts the entire economy of
the country.4
Agricultural holdings in Bangladesh are generally
fragmented and small. Use of modem machinery through cooperation is
gradually gaining popularity. Rice, jute,
sugarcane, potato, pulses, wheat, tea and tobacco are the principal crops of Bangladesh. The crop sub-sector dominates the agriculture sector
contributing about 72% of total food production. 32% of
GDP in Bangladesh comes from agriculture sector. Fisheries,
Livestock, Tea and Industry provide 39% of total GDP. But still,
agriculture in Bangladesh plays the vital role in food production for the
entire country, export, employment, removing poverty and sustainable economic development.5
After the independence of
Bangladesh, the government has established several agricultural
institutes, colleges and universities with supportive agricultural
libraries with their collections. This has been to promote the study,
teaching and research in agriculture in Bangladesh. The institutions and
their libraries generate and disseminate agricultural information as knowledge to agricultural extension workers, researchers, teachers,
students, farmers as well as to policy makers of the government.6
Agricultural information can be in coded (documented) form as
uncoded (oral) form. The dissemination
of proper agricultural information is vital to improve agricultural
production because it is a media through which people get acquainted with
new and better farming methods, fertilizers, improved seedlings, modem
pest control measures, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. The role of
agricultural university libraries for the development of human resources
in Bangladesh is discussed in this paper.
Materials and methods:
Documentary sources and direct observation were
the major methods used in collecting information for this study. Gleaning
documents, books, journals and reports from various libraries provided a
lot of information on the existence and state of the art of agricultural
libraries in Bangladesh.
General information on the types of services offered by agricultural
university libraries was largely gathered through direct observation of
the activities of 5 randomly selected libraries which were visited on
different occasions.7
Agricultural universities in
Bangladesh:
Bangladesh is mainly a country or agriculture. To develop its agriculture,
the role of agricultural university is vital. The first
agricultural university of Bangladesh is Bangladesh agricultural
university. It was established in 1961.
The objectives of the university is
1. to
impart teaching in all disciplines,
2. to conduct research and
3. to execute extension and teachers
training.8
The university has six faculties. These are -
1. Faculty of agriculture,
2. Veterinary sciences,
3. Agricultural engineering and
technology,
4. Animal husbandry,
5. Agricultural economics and
rural sociology,
6. Fisheries.
Sher-e-BangIa Krishi
Bishwa Biddyalaya is the oldest
agricultural education institution of Bangladesh. The former name of the
university was Bengal agricultural institute (1938) which was founded by
Sher-e- BangIa A.K. Fazlul
Haque. It has 14 departments, 120 teachers and 700 students.
Patuakhali University of Science and
Technology was established in 1979. The former name of the university was Dumki Agricultural College. It has also
14 departments, 80 teachers and about 600 students.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman Agricultural University was established in 1983. The former
name of the university was IPSA
(Institute for Post Graduate Studies in Agriculture). This university
offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in some selected disciplines of agricultural
and social sciences.
Hazee Danesh
University of Science and Technology (Dinajpur) was established in 1988. It was an agriculture college before
upgrading it into a university. It has 14 departments, 80 teachers and 183
officers and other staffs. The above
five agricultural university libraries are also under discussion of the
present article.
Functions of Agricultural University Libraries:
Agricultural university libraries derive their
functions from the objectives of their parent institutions. They are
established in Bangladesh to play an important role in the achievement of
the training on research objectives of their parent institutions through
the provision and dissemination of
agricultural information. They play this role by performing the following
functions or activities:
1. collection, organization and
provision of information materials in general agriculture on particular
area of specialization as well as in allied subjects,
2. receiving and disseminating technical reports and information,
3. reference, queries services, inter-library loan services,
4. literature search,
5. current awareness services and selective dissemination of information
services,
6. provision of photocopying services,
7. Computerized library services.
Agricultural information and their types:
Agricultural information is that kind of
information, which is used in the development of agricultural research,
extension and education. Without this type of information no country can
prosper in the field of agriculture. According to
L.O. Aina9 there are
four main categories of agricultural
information.
1. Technical/Scientific:
This type of Agricultural information arises
from research and development work aimed at increasing agricultural
production by providing high yielding crop varieties, controlling major
pests and diseases, developing new methods of crops production and so on.
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