The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has made research projects and dissertations mandatory for undergraduate students in India. This shift has put a lot of academic pressure on new student researchers. As a result, many students rely on a simple "copy-paste" approach from the internet. This unchecked dependency leads to high risks of plagiarism, reduces critical thinking, and opens the door to cyber threats like phishing and malware. This study explores how college librarians can act as "Digital Mentors" to help students overcome these challenges. Using a mixed-methods approach, data was collected from 100 undergraduate students and 15 library professionals through surveys and interviews. The findings show a clear positive change after library interventions: student usage of official academic platforms (like Shodhganga and INFLIBNET) jumped from 35% to 85%, direct copy-pasting dropped by 45%, and cyber security awareness improved by 58%. The study concludes that modern librarians are no longer just caretakers of books but are key educators in the digital age. It recommends mandatory digital literacy sessions for all new students and dedicated funds for library anti-plagiarism tools.
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Nitin Pandit Sarkate (2026) studied this question.