FUNDING FOR A LIBRARY SCHOOL: A PROPOSAL

A few suggestions for generating funds for a library school are given below. Professionals are requested to go through them and give their comments. I have an open mind. Let there be a debate.
Prof Krishan Kumar

Funding is crucial . An excellent library school will be in a better position to get financial support. A few suggestions for generating funds are given below:
(i) The faculty may prepare sound proposals to get funding from their parent body, University Grants Commission and other institutions for the library school,
(ii) The faculty may take projects and consultancy to generate funds,
(iii) The school may organize training programmes for teachers and librarians . The money saved may be transferred to the school.
(iv) The alumni may be approached to contribute in different ways, to establish scholarships, fellowships, chair (professorship in LIS); purchase of equipment, furniture, books, journals etc; for extension of the building; even the present faculty or past faculty can contribute in various ways. When the first computer laboratory was established at Dept of Library and Information Science(University of Delhi) in 1998, money for infrastructure, printer and internet was contributed by the faculty and students. Alumni association can play an important part. It may hold a gala night, to collect funds from alumni and others. They can approach philanthropists and various organizations. Great institutions like Harvard University, University of Oxford , MIT , etc have been build up mainly through support from them. Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management have used this resource with great advantage. Even a library school or library or laboratory of the school can be named after the name of an individual or organization.
(v) Attract students from neighbouring countries, who may be charged higher fee and a certain percentage of this can go to the library school
(vi) Publication programme (journal, reports, proceedings of conferences, seminars etc) can generate fund. It can also give prestige to the school and its faculty.

Working for getting funding from various sources is a continuous process. Total faculty must be involved for chalking out plans and implementing them with passion. Annual budget of the school must be prepared thoughtfully, with an aim to get additional funding from the parent body or University Grants Commission. The case must based on sound arguments along with supporting data. Visiting team from the University Grants Commission have an open mind, if they can be convinced , they are quite often helpful.
A document prepared carefully based on sound logic and supporting data can do the trick. We must learn the art of communication and use the tricks of the trade involved in such a venture. We can learn from the experience of others. Studying how great institutions are build up, can be useful in this context.