From Repositories to Knowledge Ecosystems : Artificial Intelligence, Open Science and Adaptive Library Spaces in Indian Higher Education

From Repositories to Knowledge Ecosystems : Artificial Intelligence, Open Science and Adaptive Library Spaces in Indian Higher Education Dr. Amar Nath* Indian academic libraries are undergoing a significant transformation from collection-centred repositories into digitally connected knowledge ecosystems. This transformation is being shaped by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, expanding national digital infrastructures, artificial intelligence (AI), open-science practices, and changing expectations of learners and researchers. This study examines the emerging knowledge-ecosystem model in Indian higher education through documentary research and secondary-data analysis based on government policies, national digital platforms, institutional reports, and recent scholarly literature. Particular attention is given to three interrelated dimensions: AI-enabled discovery and intelligent library services, open-science infrastructure and scholarly access, and adaptive physical and hybrid learning spaces. The analysis focuses on national initiatives including One Nation One Subscription (ONOS), Shodhganga, the National Digital Library of India (NDLI), and VIDWAN. The official ONOS platform reports more than 6,500 member institutions and more than 1,140 lakh full-text downloads during 2025. Shodhganga crossed the milestone of 600,000 theses in May 2025, while VIDWAN currently reports more than 3.38 lakh academic peers in its verified research directory. These developments demonstrate the increasing importance of interoperable digital infrastructure in supporting research, discovery, collaboration, and lifelong learning. However, technological expansion is accompanied by challenges involving digital inequality, professional competencies, infrastructure, privacy, algorithmic bias, intellectual property, and uneven institutional capacity. The paper proposes a four-layer knowledge-ecosystem framework comprising infrastructure and connectivity; AI and knowledge processing; user-centred services and adaptive spaces; and governance, ethics and professional capacity. The paper argues that the future-ready academic library should no longer be conceptualised merely as a repository of information resources but as an integrated knowledge infrastructure connecting people, content, technology, research, learning and scholarly communication. * Post Graduate Government College, Sector-11, Chandigarh