Impact of Corona Virus on Knowledge Service Centers in West Bengal

Purpose: The significance of this article is to know about the existing situations of the different libraries and information centers in West Bengal and to understand the changing initiatives taken by those libraries to serve the purpose of the users and to motivate them to use library resources and for that provide remote access to Electronic Resources available through their library and information centers at anywhere any time. Methodology: Questionnaires were prepared online by using Google Form and were distributed among different library professionals throughout West Bengal by using e-mails and different social networking sites and snowball sampling method is used for data collection. After returning the filled questionnaires, the data were analyzed by using graphical presentation method. Findings: The crisis situation during COVID-19 period leads to the development of more and more virtual libraries. The libraries are serving online information services as per the user’s requirements. The library professionals have taken different initiatives to solve the requirements of the users of the libraries. Among them most recent and very useful is organizing the online lectures through online meeting platforms for the users. Value: The study has drawn the picture of the virtualization of different libraries. Library is the gateway of various learning resources, but in the hard condition of lockdown period it is not possible for the users to physically visit in the library and access library documents, the librarians come forward and do all the necessary activities to serve the users require services. © 2021, Library Philosophy and Practice. All Rights Reserved.