Smart library services: Trends, opportunities and challenges for school library professionals during the pandemic

Abstract

The whole world is facing an unforeseen crisis due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The education sector too is not free from its impact. School library professionals faced unpredicted challenges during this time. As physical learning in schools came to a stand-still, teaching- learning process moved from classrooms to personal spaces. As education became deranged, some schools provided access to remote learning via internet and other technological tools. But technological and socio-economic barriers made online education an uncharted territory for a good number of schools in our country. Most of the library professionals rose to the occasion. Working in a quick pace, providing all available resources to support both teachers and students, technology became a saviour to librarians in every nook and corner of our country. This study mainly focused on those who have not compromised with challenges posed by the pandemic. The paper presents an outline of the significant makeover that happened to school libraries and how school librarians, with the help of various technological tools provided a virtual support to their patrons in an excellent manner. The paper tries to suggest some possible solutions on how to provide more efficient library service in future.  Keywords: Online Education, Remote Learning, School Library, Technology in Libraries, Virtual Library services.