Crowdsourcing for research infrastructure

Our universities can engage in larger-scale crowdsourcing to enhance their library holdings.

Let us only examine the data for the past three calendar months (December 2023-February 2024). During that period, several individuals who were usually based abroad, bought books in their countries of residence and brought them to Kathmandu for the Martin Chautari library. These people visited Nepal either to see family or for work. In December 2023, a student studying in the United States brought 13 books. In January 2024, a colleague doing her PhD at a US university brought three books (she had done much the same in several previous visits as well). In February, two colleagues based in the United Kingdom brought six books. All of the above were individuals known to the organisation’s personnel. But that is not the case all the time. An individual based in the US responded to a public call for such help and brought four books to Kathmandu last week.