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.

A colleague’s mother will be bringing two books in March, and another colleague will probably bring some in April. Some generous academic friends and colleagues based abroad who have been doing this favour for the Chautari library every single time they have visited Nepal in recent years have said they will inform us when their next visit dates are confirmed. This kind of facilitation of the passage of books to Kathmandu has been going on for about 20 years now, with several dozen individuals physically transporting hundreds of books to a single small library in Kathmandu.

The operational details of the process involved are rather very simple. The librarians compile a running list of books needed that are not published in Nepal and India (some friends travelling from India have also brought books occasionally but such books are usually ordered via the academic bookshops in Kathmandu). This list contains titles recommended by the organisation’s members, staff researchers and external users. Then when news comes in that someone known will be visiting Kathmandu soon, a simple email is sent asking the person if she or he can bring some books. If yes, a list of books (usually 3-5 titles) along with the links where the cheaper priced ones are available is sent to the person. That person orders the books and forwards the receipts. When the books arrive in Kathmandu, they are retrieved from the person bringing them, who is reimbursed in Nepali rupees.

This operation certainly needs a bit of coordination, but at the end of it, needed books arrive at a library in Kathmandu for anyone to use. To me, this is an example of crowdsourcing to support the research infrastructure in our country. One online source defines crowdsourcing as the “act of collecting services, ideas or content through the contributions of a large group of people.” This definition, in my view, unnecessarily restricts how crowdsourcing can be successfully operationalised in our case. As the example discussed above shows, the act of ordering books and bringing them to Kathmandu does not require a “large” group of individuals. Some committed individuals can do this favour repeatedly and several dozen individuals in total are quite enough to ensure that selective books put out by publishers based in Europe or North America find their passage to Kathmandu regularly.

I highlight the experience of how a small research library has increased its holdings of books with dedicated support from members of the “crowd” to make the point that crowdsourcing is not always about money or ideas/information (for example, Wikipedia) but it can be a resource for enhancing service. Moreover, there is every reason to believe that this kind of service-oriented crowdsourcing can be used by larger institutions in our land. To begin with, our universities can engage in a much larger-scale crowdsourcing operation to enhance their library holdings.

Think about this. Given the hundreds of thousands of graduates and well-wishers of Tribhuvan University (TU) now spread all around the world, it should be possible for Nepal’s oldest and largest university to adopt a crowdsourcing model to enhance its main research-supporting libraries in Kirtipur and other parts of the country. Given the online possibilities these days, TU (and its constituent colleges) could simply put up a list of books needed for its libraries and members of the “crowd” can then indicate which ones they can bring or help to facilitate their passage. In such an online platform, it would also be easy for them to indicate if they wish to be reimbursed for the costs of the books or would simply consider them as gifts. To realise such an arrangement, TU’s librarians and administrators would have to adopt a new way to procure books, in addition to the traditional way in which books have been ordered for the university’s libraries over the past decades. It could be as simple as that.

I would further suggest that crowdsourcing could enhance other service elements of TU’s research-supporting infrastructure. For instance, it could facilitate the establishment of writing centres with fast internet connections. Such centres are highly needed for students who cannot afford personal laptops to do their major writing assignments, including theses and dissertations. I am not suggesting that secondhand hardware be donated to such writing centres. Relatively successful members of the Nepali diaspora (many with official degrees from TU), acting as members of the “crowd”, could easily gather hundreds of new computers each year and arrange for their physical passage to the constituent colleges of TU in various parts of the country. If coordinating such a process is too cumbersome, they can resort to the more usual crowdsourcing mode by raising the money needed to buy such computers directly from Nepal’s vendors. TU’s constituent colleges can then find dedicated space in their campuses to set up the writing centres.

There is no shortage of similar ideas that can be executed through crowdsourcing. But in saying as much, I am not suggesting that TU or the other universities of our country crowdsource all aspects of their research operation. They will continue to need significant earmarked public funds to support the research work of their faculty and students. They will also need money in their annual budgets to buy books and computers as needed by their libraries. However, by resorting to crowdsourcing for some aspects of their research operation and infrastructure, they will be giving life to connections that will ultimately help our universities broaden their social support.

Such broad social support will be absolutely necessary if our universities are to thrive in their post-bhagbanda avatars (we can remain hopeful that such days will eventually arrive). Crowdsourcing could become one mechanism to bring in alumni, parents of current and former students and other well-wishers as active constituents for the regeneration of higher education institutions in our country. This kind of buy-in could be one of the ways through which the current criminal neglect of this domain by our netas might be tackled. But such crowdsourcing can only happen if academics, administrators and librarians within our higher education institutions show a commitment to innovative and long-term service.

Is anyone listening?