Encyclopaedia Britannica to come up with a Digital Library

Mr Sarvesh Shrivastava has been the Managing Director (MD) of Encyclopaedia Britannica (South Asia) since 2012. He comes with a vast experience of over 25 years in the education and training. In this conversation, Mr Shrivastava imparts his rich knowledge and also informs about the exciting new digital library by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Tell us about your journey to this position.

I have been involved with education since 2003. Earlier, I was associated with NIIT before joining Encyclopaedia Britannica. I joined this organisation for a cause which was to find out how it can help in being the solution for India's educational system. And the basis for that is when I was growing up, my family could not afford a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Similarly, all the good reference titles were too expensive to purchase. Even libraries would keep them in locked cabinets and they were not meant for circulation. With the journey of Encyclopaedia Britannica converting its material to digital form, we can now provide resources that are renowned and trusted globally. And because they are available in digital form, they can be made available to learners too. Today, inclusion is very important because 70 per cent of India's population still resides outside metropolitan cities.

What advice would you give to people who are passionate about working in this sector?

Firstly, Indian education sector is an exciting place to be in right now. It is one sector where you can be assured of a healthy growth for the next 40 years. It's also a place undergoing transformation. We have several challenges, both in terms of human and physical infrastructure. However, these are conditions ripe for innovation and opportunity for people who like challenges. There's a lot that can be done. For example, ideas on how to overcome the shortage of teachers which is acute at the moment. We also have a shortage in availability and access to classrooms specially in the remote areas of India. The third important thing in terms of learning, is the emphasis on enquiry based learning. You cannot restrict learning to just what is available in a textbook. In a nutshell, if we have to address these challenges comprehensively, we must think out of the box. This, in turn, creates an opportunity for people to get involved with education and finding solutions to the current problems comprehensively.

What skill set does one require to be a part of the education sector and in forwarding it?

One of the best things about education is that all of us who can make a difference have gone through the education system ourselves. We have faced the problems and we can all contribute, whether you are in the education industry or not. All of us can contribute.

Would you like to share your success mantra for our readers?

I think one should always be critically questioning things. Finding an innovative solution to a problem will always begin with a critical question and asking the right critical question is what is required. At the same time, one has to be passionate about anything they do. When something is driven out of passion and a sense of purpose, it is no longer in the realm of a job that has to be done. It becomes something that you have to accomplish substantially without taking any shortcuts.

As far as Indian education is concerned because we are at a stage where it needs transformation, I am reminded of Tagore's words, 'Be ready to walk alone'. So whatever we may have accepted as the status quo in education, if that needs to be changed, be ready to walk alone. It may take time if the convictions are right for innovative thinking otherwise the challenges are humongous.

You spoke about how the education sector in India is growing. Where do you see it going and what do you think it will achieve in the near future?

There are various aspects to it. The term we generally use is ICTE in education. The T stands for availability of good teachers, the C stands for availability of good content and for me the I stands for availability of good infrastructure. Unless, all three are not addressed a good solution is unreachable.

Holding such a prominent position in Encyclopaedia Britannica, where would you like to take the company from here?

Encyclopaedia Britannica in India and South Asia, we are focussing on finding solutions that effectively overcome the current challenges of access to trustworthy, age-appropriate and safe content both for teachers and students. The reason being the internet has so much content today that it can become an information overload for a kid where the kid does not know what is right or wrong. For education the trustworthiness and age appropriateness of the content is essential.

We are also focussing on developing and offering solutions that teachers can use in classrooms for explaining and discussing concepts in close as well as offering solutions that offer collaborative learning.

Do you see any difference between what Encyclopaedia Britannica was and now is or is it the same vision?

If you look at the very essence of why we came into being 50 years back was to offer trustworthy content. We also focussed on age appropriateness and we wish to stick to those values in whatever we are doing. But more importantly, i would like to highlight what is happening where the textbook itself is concerned. We see a transformation taking place in the textbook in print form. In its digital avatar, the textbook will be a launching pad for knowledge and rich content which will take the learner on a journey beyond what the textbook provides.

Tell us about the e-library and its purpose.

E-library concept aims to remove the four walls that a library is confined to. No more locked cabinets or waiting for a copy of a title you are interested in. The digital copy is available to any number of readers so the constraint of a physical copy does not apply. More importantly, our main is that the library should become an integral part of the classroom. Today, students have to do projects and assignments which the teacher can now easily give knowing that titles are available within the digital library and accessible to all children in the classroom. Similarly, topics can be discussed within the classroom from what is available in the library. So the rich content a library offers which till now was restricted to four walls is now available across classrooms and mobile devices. The equity of access to knowledge is an important advantage that the digital library provides.

Do you think e-learning could take over traditional learning methods in classrooms?

That is already happening. However, e-learning is happening more in the offline mode which means it is available in the classroom. Publishers including ourselves make content available on CDs or DVDS but there is only so much you can put on a CD. The primary purpose of the e-library is to remove these constraints. So, you have a book, you like a book, you makes notes in it and highlight it and you can retain that either online or offline and it is available to you at any time.

What do you think is the biggest difference between e-books and tangible books?

If you look at global trends, e-books are on a rise as compared to books in print form. I see more of that in India when connectivity improves. Thankfully mobile penetration is showing great progress of how we can take such solutions to the market. I see e-books becoming increasingly important in our daily life.

Will the e-library be available only to the school librarians or would the common masses be able to have the access to it?

Our solution is currently available to schools and can be made available to the public via the National E-library initiative that our honourable HRD Minister has announced. I think the initiative is very important because we have to bring back the importance of a library in the society. If we compare the importance we give to a library currently in India and in other countries, we need to make it a daily part of our lives.

India is turning to digitization in a large manner. How effective do you think that the e-library will be?

Schools can now look at affordably increasing their collection without worrying about the number copies, So overall it is a very cost-effective solution. Similarly when the national e-library initiative is underway then we can easily combine the two and that is what is happening across the world.  It will provide access to knowledge which has been curated and it is extremely important because it makes your search much easier so you are able to focus on research. All learners will benefit from this initiative.

What is your vision for the e-library?

We are currently focussing on CBSE and ICSE schools. Parallelly we are offering the solution to various state governments for possible introduction in state funded schools. My vision is to figure out how to make the library part of our daily life. And I would like to see it at par with other parts of the world.

Source | http://indiatoday.intoday.in/