Digital Curation Skills among Librarians in Government First Grade Colleges of Karnataka: A Digital Literacy Perspective

Abstract

In an increasingly digital world, the role of librarians has evolved from managing physical collections to digital curation, requiring new competencies in digital literacy. This study explores the digital curation skills of librarians in Government First Grade Colleges (GFGC) in Karnataka, focusing on their preferences for digitization, institutional repositories (IR), and the use of digital library software. A survey-based quantitative research design was utilized, gathering responses from 285 librarians across 430 colleges. The results reveal that while a significant i.e majority (78.59%) support digitization and IR adoption, 21.40% have not yet implemented these practices due to resource constraints and a lack of infrastructure. The study highlights that previous year question papers (71.57%) are the most commonly managed content in IRs, whereas e-theses (7.71%) and rare book digitization (10.52%) remain limited. Furthermore, the adoption of digital library software like DSpace is low (8.48%), with most respondents (83.92%) not using any dedicated software for digital archiving. Findings also show that 79.65% of libraries maintain a webpage, but maintenance is primarily handled by library staff (55.50%) rather than dedicated IT personnel. The study underscores the need for capacity building, software adoption, and enhanced digital infrastructure to optimize digital content management. It suggests increased collaboration between library and IT departments, along with targeted training to improve librarians’ digital curation capabilities. Addressing these challenges can enable libraries to strengthen their digital presence, preserve valuable academic resources, and remain pivotal in the evolving digital knowledge landscape.