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UNIT 13 INFLIBNET: INFORMATION AND

LIBRARY NETWORK
Structure
13.0 Objectives
13.1 Introduction
13.2 INFLIBNET Programme
13.2.1 INFLIBNET for Resource Sharing
13.2.2 Objectives of INFLIBNET
13.2.3 Functions of INFLIBNET
13.2.4 Activities of INFLIBNET
13.2.5 Departments of INFLIBNET
13.2.6 INFLIBNETMembership
13.2.7 INFLIBNET Publications
13.3 INfLIBNET Services
13.3.1 Document Delivery Service
13.3.2 Bibliographic Information Services (Database Service)
113.3 Catalogue-based Services
13.3.4 Collection Development
13.3.5 ComrnunicationlInformation-based Services
13.4 INFLIBNET Resources
13.4.1 University Catalogue
. 13.4.2 R&D Library Catalogue
13.4.3 National Library Catalogue
13.4.4 National Union Catalogue
13.4.5 Indigenous Databases
13.5 Computerised Access to INFLIBNET Resources
13.6 Implications of INFLIBNET for Resource Sharing
13.7 Future Strategy of INFLIBNET
13.8 UGC-INFONET
13.9 Summary
13.10 Answers to Self Check Exercises
13.11 Keywords
13.12 References and Further Reading

13.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to:
• get a clear understanding of Information and Library Network (INFLIB NET) ,
which is the national network centre of India;
• recognise the need for and value of INFLIBNET for library resource sharing;
• become familiar with the efforts made for initiating action towards making
individual library resources accessible at national level;
• identify various information resources and delineate the issues involved in bringing
in uniformity and standardisation among the created databases;
• become aware of different services, resources and projects of INFLIBNET;

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I<esource Sharing Programmes • get an insight into the issues involved in implications of INFLIDNET for library
resource sharing;
• perceive INFLIBNET as an economic tool to improve status and services of
academic library system in India;and
• become aware of the UGC-INFONET Programme based on consortia
approach.

13.1 INTRODUCTION
this Unit deals with the Information and Library Network (lNFLID~T) programme
of the University Grants Commission of India. It is a major national programme of
UGC started in the year 1991. INFLIDNET Center is an autonomous Inter University
Center of UGC, which became independent in the year 1996. It is situated at
Gujarat University Campus, Ahmedabad. The Chairman of UGC set up a committee
in April 1988 to study the problems emerging due to accelerating prices of information
services, sources, products, shrinking budgets of the libraries and scarcity of space
and also to suggest measures to establish a system to share the available resources
. in the country towards optimum utilisation. History of library networks in India can
be traced back to the year 1958 when at the instance of Pt. J.L.Nehru, the
, Scientific Policy Resolution was adopted emphasizing the development of scientific
temper among people. As a result many committees and commissions came up
with many recommendations stressing cooperation among libraries at local, regional
and national level. Since 19808, many library networks viz, ADINET, CALIBNET,
. BONET, DELNET, MALIDNET, MYLIDNET, etc. have appeared on the scene.
At the national level UGC initiated ,lNFLIDNET.

" The lNFLIDNET aims at linking all universities, colleges, R&D laboratories, institutes
of national importance, etc., in the country through their libraries by computer
networks. The objective is to make all the available bibliographic and non-bibliographic
information resources in the country accessible and usable to any user from any
place in the country. The INFLIDNET is a cooperative venture where all its'
participants join hands to derive mutual benefit of resource sharing. It tries to avoid
unnecessary duplication of costly journals, indexing and abstracting periodicals and
other documents. .

The objectives can be achieved by the use of computer, communication and modern
network technologies. lNFLIDNET emphasises the use of modern technologies,
and suggests where and how these can be used with its specifications and guidelines.
It would be a major national programme towards modernisation of libraries in the
country especially college and university libraries. It aims to establish a mechanism
for information transfer and access to scholarship and academic world. It would be
an endeavour in resource development and its utilisation with a view to organise
library services at macro level as well as affordable costs for maximum benefit.

At present INFLIDNET is basically engaged in modernising university libraries in

India. Its main endeavour is to connect university libraries and information centres'
through high-speed data network for the maximum utilisation of information resources.

The Unit discusses the objectives and services of lNFLIDNET programme and
identifies the benefits and implications of it on resource sharing.

13.2 INFLIBNET PROGRAMME

Conceptualisation of the INFLIBNET project and the steps taken to frame a
proposal for its establishment and development are largely due to deep personal
interest of Prof. Yash Pal, the then Chairman UGc. It has been his firm conviction
204 that a library and 'information network of the nature and magnitude of lNFLIDNET
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is very much needed in the country on the lines of library and information services IN}'LlBNET: Information
and Library Network
elsewhere· in the industrialised world.

The INFLIBNET blueprint of programme has been projected in detail in a document

entitled "Development of an Information and Library Network: Report of the Inter
Agency Working Group, UGC, 1988". This project report is popularly known as
"Blue Document".

13.2.1 INFLIBNET for Resource Sharing

INFLIBNET is designed to improve library resource sharing by avoiding duplication
in acquisition of library materials to the extent possible. Resource sharing is the
backbone activity of INFLIBNET. The functions and services of INFLIBNET are
focussed on 'Resource Sharing' and promotion of scholarly communication among
the academics and researchers in India. Hence, INFLIBNET promotes creation of
conducive environment for library resource sharing through activities such as
identifying existing information sources, creating bibliographic databases, updating
and maintaining the databases, making them accessible by providing interconnection
and communication facilities, etc.

The implementation of library resource sharing is-possible only when two or more
libraries are willing to share their resources for mutual benefit.

Self Check Exercise

1) What is the INFLIBNET Project?
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
; ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.

13.2.2 Objectives of INFLIBNET

It is intended to provide a framework to the existing and planned efforts in networking
of libraries with particular emphasis on interconnecting university and academic
libraries. The main objectives of INFLIBNET are to:
•. evolve a national network, interconnecting various libraries and information centres
in the country and to improve capability in information handling and service;
• provide reliable access to document collection of libraries by creating online
union catalogue of monographs, serials, theses and non-book materials, etc.;
• provide better access to bibliographic and factual numeric databases with particular
emphasis on those databases created indigenously by the Sectoral Information
Centres of NISSAT and UGC Information Centres;
• establish gateways for online accessing of information;
• provide document delivery service by enriching information sources of libraries
having rich collection in specific subject areas;
• optimise information resource utilisation through development of conducive
environment for resource sharing;
• implement computerisation of operations and services in the libraries and
information centres of the country, following a uniform standard;
• facilitate scientific communication amongst scientists, engineers, researchers,
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Resource Sharing Programmes social scientists, academics, faculties and students through electronic mail, bulletin
board, file transfer, computer/audio/video conferencing, etc;
• enable the users disbursed all over the country, irrespective of location and
distance, to have access to information regarding books, monographs.:
serials,theses and non-book materials by locating the sources wherefrom available,
and to obtain the same through the facilities of new communication technologies
and union catalogue of documents;
• create database of projects, institutions and specialists for providing online
information service;
• encourage co-operation among libraries, documentation centres and information
centres in the country, so that the resources can be pooled for the benefit of
weaker resource centres;
• develop suitable professional manpower of appropriate quality to establish, manage
and sustain the INFLIBNET; and
• evolve standards and uniform guidelines in techniques, methods, procedures,
hardwares and softwares, services. and so on, and promote adoption in actual
practice by all libraries, in order to facilitate pooling, sharing and exchanging resources.

, According to the Memorandum of Association, the major objectives of INFLIBNET

'are to:
• "promote and establish communication facilities to improve capability in
information transfer and access, that provide support to scholarship, learning,
research and academic pursuit through cooperation and involvement of agencies
concerned; and •
• establish INFLIBNET a computer communication network for linking libraries
and information centres in deemed to be universities, in colleges, universities,
UGC information centres, institutions of national importance and R&D institutions,
etc. to avoid duplication of efforts."
(Source: http://meb.inflibnet.ac.in)

Self Check Exerecise

2) Explain how the objectives of INFLIBNET emphasise resource sharing.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.

.....................................................................................................................
s

13.2.3 Functions of INFLmNET

In order to translate the objectives into practice the following functions will be
performed by the INFLIBNET:

Uniform Standard and Guidelines

According to a uniform standard, the implementation of the computerisation of
libraries/ information centres in the country and interlinking the university libraries/
information centres through a national network.

This network will evolve uniform guidelines for computerisation and put it in actual
practice by all the libraries/information centers for better sharing and exchange of
206 information and utilisation of resources.
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INFLIBNET Resources and Services INFLIBNET: Information
and Library Network

• INFLIBNET will create online union catalogues of information resources of

various libraries in India to provide access to document collections to the users
of all the libraries.
• It will also provide access to bibliographical information sources with citations
and abstracts through databases created by Sectoral Information Centres of
"- NISSAT and Information Centers of UGc.
• It will develop methods for archiving of valuable information sources in Indian
languages.
• It will promote shared cataloguing, ILL, catalogue production, etc. to avoid
duplication of efforts and also to enhance co-operation among libraries/
Information centers,. documentation centers in the country.
I •

• It will also create databases of projects, specialists and institutions for giving
effective information services.
• It will facilitate e-mail, ftp, computer and AN conferencing for academic
communication among the scientists in the country.
• It will give training to professionals in the filed of computerisation.
• JNFLIBNET Center ' will collaborate with other national and international
organisations in the area relevant to its objectives and promote research and
development.
• It will provide consultancy and information services to generate revenue.

13.2.4 Activities of INFLmNET

;

INFLIBET as it is called a gateway to India's academic and research community

is working towards modernising university libraries in India and also interlinking the
libraries as well as information centres with state of art technologies for the maximum
utilisation of information resources. One of the major objectives of INFLIBNET is
~
to promote communication among academics and researchers in India. To fulfil the
objectives the INFLIBNET has carried out certain activities. Some of the activities
have been categorised in the following sub sections.

a) .Software Deveiopment
INFLIBNET has developed SOUL (SOftware for University Libraries) software
to facilitate automation of housekeeping operations of participating libraries. This
software works on the client server mode in the windows environment using MS _
SQL server as back end tool to store and retrieve data. It supports international
standards such as MARC-21, CCF, AACR-2R, ISO-2709, etc. Till date it has
completed 450 installations in libraries. This software has six modules namely,
Acquisition, Catalogue, Circulation, OPAC, Serials Control and Administration. The
network feature of the software allows multiple libraries of university to work
together and also to access to the distributed databases mounted at INFLIBNET
using VSAT network. INFLIBNET has established five service centres for SOUL
in the States at Mumbai, Patiala, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The Centre has also developed some utility software, which can be accessed by
the universities on request. The utility softwares provide for searching the data
from union databases, (OPAC), catalogue card generation, duplication checking of
records, customised software for books, theses, serials and conversion of data from
Dbase, FoxPro, and text file to ISO - 2709 format. .

b) Networking of University Libraries

University libraries which are receiving funds under this programme can subscribe
to networks like: ERNET, VSNL, NICNET and other ISPs. The centre has planned
to set up WAN named 'UGCNET'. Under this, more than 170 Universities and
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Resource Sharing Programmes academic institutions may be linked. The centre has advised all the funded universities
to set up LAN in their Campuses in which all the departments will be connected
and later LAN will be linked to WAN.

c) Development of Databases
INFLIBNET Centre has developed Union Databases of Books, Theses, Serial
Holdings, Current Serials, Experts, Research Projects, Secondary Serials / CD -
RaMS and DDC serials.

• Books Database
It is a bibliographic database. It contains the bibliographic information of books,
monographs, reference and textbooks, conference proceedings, etc. provided by
the participating libraries under the INFLJBNET Programme. This database has
more than 30 lakhs of records from 100 urrlversities and it is constantly growing.
It also has 20 lakh unique records processed from 70 un~versities and t~ remaining
. are under process. It is accessible online and the participating libraries can search
the information by title, author, publisher, subject descriptor, ISBN no. and Boolean
operators.

• Serials Database
Serials database can be accessed by the user through the links namely, serial
holdings, secondary serials, current serials, current serials for Document Delivery
Centres and Integrated Search of Serials Databases (New System) .

.The users can search union database of serial and its various links by title, ISSN,
frequency, publisher, place of publisher, subject descriptor, by the name of the
library and Boolean operators. The union database of serial holdings contains
bibliographical information of serials of more than 96 universities/institutions having
approximately 47,591 holdings of various universities. It covers 13,751 titles that
include names of the serials, learned journals; periodicals classified under serial
collection of the university/institution libraries.

• Secondary Serials Database

This database service started in the year 1999. This database holds secondary
serial collection of more than 115 university/institution libraries, with 462 titles,
which includes floppy disks, CD-ROM also.

• Current Serials Database

This database contains the collection of 11,892 current serials of more than 197
university/institution libraries. It lists the current serials titles along with the name
of the contributing library.

• Theses Database
. Theses database contains records of doctoral theses submitted to Indian Universities.
There are presently more than 1.4 lakh records. Abstracts of theses may be added
in the future.

d) Automation of Libraries
For the purpose of enhancing resource sharing through networking, all the participating
libraries should be computerised! automated. INFLIBNET Centre is providing support
to university libraries for automation. Till 1999-2000, 142 university libraries had
been given the grant for automation and it was decided to give grant to rest of the
libraries by end of 9th Five Year Plan. The funding libraries were supposed to sign
MOU with INFLIBNET. SOUL software has been installed in 450 libraries for
automation purpose.

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e) Human Resources Develop~ent (HRD) Training INFLIBNET: Information

and Library Netw.ork
For the proper implementation of INFLIBNET programmes the skills of the university
libraries staff are to be enhanced. To fulfil this purpose INFLIBNET· Centre
undertakes various training programmes . One month training programme is meant
for operational library staff. Basically it is training for application of computers to
library and information services. Under 'on the site' training programme the staff
of INFLIBNET give'training for initiating automation process. INFLIBNET has
conducted/so far 20 training courses of 4·weeks duration and 7 workshops of one-
week duration. To solve the problem in using ILMS (Integrated Library Management
Software) INFLIBNET gives ILMS Training for a week to the users. For SOUL
software, which has been installed in 450 libraries, the Centre gives ~me week
training to the library staff.

INFLIBNET Centre also conducts conferences and workshops on the themes

related to library automation.

Caliber stands for Convention on Automation of Libraries in Education and Research

Institutions. This conference is being conducted by the Centre annually. The Centre
has already conducted 10 such conferences so far. Apart from this the Center is
also conducting two day programme called "PLANNER" which is specially related
to the issues. and problems of North East States. This programme started in the
year 2003.

To train the college librarians of different regions with emphasis on regional languages
the centre conducts IRTPLA: INFLIBNET Regional Training Programme on Library
Automation. The Centre has conducted 35 IRTPLA and trained 800 library
professionals. •

13.2.5 Departments of INFLIBNET

The INFLIBNET Centre has been maintaining departments to execute its functions,
namely, database development and maintenance, database research and development,
e-education, HRD and consultancy, informatics, network, testing and quality control,
software and R & 0, web development. We will explain the activities and future.
action plans of the departments in the following sub sections:

i) Database Development and Maintenance Department

This department is responsible for giving access to union catalogue of participating
libraries and world wide bibliographical information. It is also maintaining consistency
and quality of databases development by participating libraries. One of its main
responsibilities is to evolve standards, uniform guidelines, methods and procedures
for data capturing and also for hardware and software.

It has developed union databases for Books, Theses, Serial Holdings (information
about serial holdings of different university libraries), Current Serials, DDC Serials
(Serials of document delivery centres), Experts, Research Projects, and NISSAT
Project.

It is continuously maintaining, and updating these databases. This department is

working in the direction of developing databases of national infrastructure. These
include databases for patents, manuscripts, technical reports and non-book materials.

ii) Database Research and Development Department

This group looks after the problems related to development, maintenance and
updating of databases. It also helps the participating libraries in the development of
databases. Its major activities include the development of utilities for database
creation.conversion and maintenance in formats like CCF and MARC 21, retrieval
software for CD-ROM based bibliographic databases, utility tools for retrospective 209
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Resource Sharing Programmes conversion of union catalogues and software tools for multilingual databases of
union catalogue. The future activities of this department include R & D of retrieval
software for multilingual, multimedia and full text databases and distribution of
databases through the medium of CD-ROM.

iii) E-Education Department

This department was established in August 2001 with the objective of R & D
activities in the area of e-learning and imparting web-based training to professionals.
It is basically concerned with latest technological changes in the area of computer
technology. Some of its main activities include settirrg up of e-learning lab at
INFLIBNET Centre and development of retrieval software, planning, implementing
and reviewing of e-Iearning policies, and e-learning infrastructure for the set up.
With the. collaboration of HRD department of this Centre, this department will
launch various e-learning training courses and develop various tools and technologies
to deliver e-Iearning courses. This department will also provide consultancy service
to those R&D Institutions/Universities/Colleges who wish to collaborate with
INFLIBNET Center. It will also explore techniques to implement Digital Library
and Knowledge Management.

iv) HRD and Consultancy Department

This department is conducting various training programmes, sometimes collaborating
with national agencies like ICSSRlNASSDOC, All India Radio, etc. INFLIBNET
Centre is also conducting various training programmes of short and long duration.
National Seminar CALIBER is a regular feature of this group. The basic objective
of this group is to prepare libraries for automation and professionals to help in
achieving automation in li~raries.

v) Informatics Department
The main objective of the INFLIBNET Centre is to provide information services
to academic and research community in the country. For this the Centre has
subscribed to some important databases and e-journals to cater to the needs of
academic community. This centre catalogues the Internet resources and provides
online access to e-resources. The future plan of this centre is to provide full text
access to journal articles. This Centre provides CD-ROM based bibliographical
information services, content page service STN International, Database Service,
document delivery service. It promotes SOUL, organises Internet resources. Through
consortium approach it enhances resource sharing.

vi) Network Testing and Quality Centre

This department promotes R&D activities in the area of networking, testing and
quality control. The main objective of this department is to set up, maintain and
update campus wide network and coordinate with UGC-Network. For quality network
and management network it conducts training programmes, workshops, etc. in the
related area.

vii) Software and R&D Department

This department has developed SOUL software for library automation. It supports
other departments of the INFLIBNET Centre by providing software help and
technologies support. One of the major activities of this department is to maintain,
manage, and update the union databases. Till date Centre has eight union databases.
The department is planning to develop fully web based library management system,
incorporation of multilingual interface and data conversion utilities in SOUL and
development of MARC-21 based database creation tools.

viii) Web Development

On visiting the INFLIBNET Centre's web site we find there is vast amount of
information available. Web development department is working towards providing
-~-...- •. ;~ .ha ~;plrl of research and academic activities.
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The department is mainly responsible for centre's website design, maintenance and INFLIBNET: Information
and Library Network
updating. It also keeps tracking reports of users of this web site. It is improving the
centre's infrastructure with the help of latest technologies. It is basically responsible
for installation of SOUL in the participating libraries for automation. It also provides
hardware and software support. This department is working towards setting up of
Intranet for the management of internal information of INFLIBNET Centre.

13.2.6 INFLmNET Membership

INFLIBNET Centre provides two types of membership viz, primary and associate
membership. Universities, which receive grant from the UGC, become primary
members. Presently universities are the primary members of the INFLIBINET
Programme After signing the MOU the members automatically receive the benefits
and become aware of their responsibilities. The other category is of associate
membership. In this category the libraries which do not receive UGC grant but are
public funded academic and research organisations, government departments, non
profit making organisations, can become associate members of INFLIBNET only
after signing the MOU and the payment of fees, etc.

13.2.7 INFLIBNET Publications

INFLIBNET Centre brings out the following publications:
• Caliber Proceedings.
• Union Catalogue of Secondary Serials.
(This includes bibliographic databases on CD-ROM)
• Guidelines for Data Capturing: A User Manual.
• INFLIBNET Newsletter (published since 1995).
.• Union Catalogue of Current Serials of Document Delivery Centres.
• Annual Reports.

CaIiber Proceedings and Newsletters can be accessed on line full text. The Centre
also publishes promotional material like information brochures on INFLIBNET,
SOUL, INFONET, etc.

13.3 INFLIBNET SERVICES

The benefits that can accrue from a library network get maximised as the number
of services on the network increases. From cost-benefit point of view, a multiple
function/service network is more justified than a single function/service network.
Further, the cost will decline progressively as the number of participants in the
network increases.

INFLIBNET is a multiple function/service network. It provides the following

services:

13.3.1 Document Delivery Service

Document Delivery Serv~ce (DDS) is initiated by INFLIBINET to overcome the
problem of resource crunch due to ever-increasing costs of information resources.
and shrinking budgets .of libraries. In this service the resources of six libraries
namely BHU, University of Hyderabad, lIS, JNU, Punjab University and TISS will
be utilised: These libraries will serve as Document Delivery Centres (DDC) and
provide this service at a nominal basis of no profit- no loss basis. Anyone who is
associated with learned institutions can avail this service but priority will be given
to the requests from INFLIBNET Member Institutions. The requests can be made
for journal articles, conference proceedings or any other material required for
academic and research purposes. The requests can be made through e-mail, fax,
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Resource Sharing Programmes telephone, post or in person and the delivery can be made bye-mail, fax, speed
post, normal post or even by hand.

INFLmNET has collaborated with the document delivery centres and developed
a database namely, UnionDatabase of Current Serials of DDC. Through this
database all the users can come to know the availability of material in the DDC.
The database is available on line and also in the printed form. If the requested item
is not available in a particular DDC then efforts will be made by the concerned
DDC to procure and supply the material.

13.3.2 Bibliographic Information Service (Database Service)

INFLIBNET is providing bibliographical information service through online and
offline databases, CD-ROM databases, COPSAT and OCLC's First Search.

• Online Access to Databases

INFLIBNET Centre has developed eight databases; out of these five databases
are bibliographic in nature. They are Serials Holdings, Current Serials, Secondary
Serials Catalogue, Theses and Books. The remaining databases viz., Research
Project, Experts and University Information System come under non-bibliographic
category. Bibliographic databases are a tool for resource sharing. In these databases
the participating university libraries contribute the data. All databases are accessible
online.

• Sewak Software (Oftline)

INFLmNET has also developed SEWAK software tool which receives queries
from users through e-mail, and sends back replies. Sewak searches the
databases on behalf of the user and thereby reduces the time as well as money
of the user.

• CD-ROM Databases
In order to provide bibliographic information services to the users INFLmNET
Centre has a number of CD-ROM based bibliographic databases covering different
subjects. This service is being provided at the national level to the researchers and
academics free of cost. The users can send their requests and the search output
is provided in a floppy or through e-mail. INFLmNET Centre has subscribed to
a number of CD-ROM database some of them are: Current Contents on Diskette:
Social and Behavioural Sciences; Dissertation Abstract International; Humanities
and Social Sciences; Econlit: Economic Literature ... ,etc. For the complete list the
students are advised to visit the website http://inflibnet.ac.in/services/cdromDb;jsp

• COPSAT
In the field of S&T, INFLmNET Centre is providing Current Awareness Service
in the form of COPS AT: Contents of Periodicals in Science and Technology. This
service is ~eing provided in collaboration with National Centre for Science
Information (NCSI), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore .

. The service covers 4000 top ranking journals in the field of S & T. Besides
contents COPSAT provides author abstracts also. The user/library/institution can
select 40 journals out of 4000 and subscribe as one set. The cost of one set is at
an affordable price.

• OCLC First Search

OCLC First Search service is highly used by the users community. It is on line
bibliographic service. It covers over 85 databases and links to www. These databases '
are from major fields. This service offers online, full text, document delivery, library
holdings and ILL (Inter-library Loan) service.
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INFLIBNET Centre is subscribing to OCLC First Search Service and helping the INFLIBNET: Information
and Library Network
universities covered under the programme. The user will send the request to
INFLIBNET and it will access the database, conduct the search, download records, .
and send the results to the user. This service is restricted to bibliographic information
only. The Centre has launched the service on experimental basis.

• Databases on CD-ROMs
The INFLIBNET Centre has developed eight databases on Serial Holdings, Current
Serials, Secondary Serials Catalogue, Theses, Books, Experts, Projects and University
Information System. These databases are accessible online and updated periodically.
Besides this the Centre also accesses bibliographic CD-ROM databases on different
subject areas. The users can send their requests through the librarian and the
search output will be delivered through e-mail or on floppy. This service is given
free of cost.

13.3.3 Catalogue-based Services

This service includes:
• shared cataloguing of monographs, serials and non-book materials;
• union catalogue of books, serials and non-book materials;
• online catalogue (OPAC) access for shared cataloguing and location identification;
• catalogue production in card, book, magnetic tape/floppy, optical (CD-ROM),
and CaM form; and
• book; processing and preparation.

Shared Resources: The objective of shared cataloguing is to share cataloguing of

publications already done elsewhere by any other participant library of INFLIBNET.
The service will enable a library to use the catalogue information available in a
major, near by university library or regional centre for cataloguing of new publications
added. This means, a document is catalogued only once at the time of its first input
into the network. The efforts and experiences of cataloguing are shared.

Union Catalogue: The objective of Union Catalogue service is to provide a Union

Catalogue of books, monographs, serials and non-book materials available in different
libraries in the country. The service provides information regarding the specific
library, or libraries, where copies of a required document are available. The Union
Catalogues are planned to keep up-to-date. They are to provide information of the
location of document with geographical proximity. For example, if a scientist from
Mysore is searching Union Catalogue, he is obviously interested to know the
availability, first in the libraries in and around Mysore. The service of Union Catalogues
will help him in procuring a photocopy or the document on inter-library loan.

OPAC: The Online Public Access Catalogue service is planned to provide online
access to catalogue information to users at individual library level or at university
or' at higher level of regional catalogue.

The catalogue production service provides a facility to individual libraries to produce

their library catalogues in the form of cards, books, magnetic tapes, floppy/CD-
ROM, etc.

Book Processing: The book processing services include preparation of spine

labels, book cards, list of additions, etc. using the catalogues of INFLIBNETat
different levels. .

13.3.4 Collection Deveiopment

Acquisition and assistance in selection and procurement of information resources.
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Resource Sharing Programmes 13.3.5 CommunicationlInformation-based Services
The Centre provides academic communication through electronic mail, bulletin board, .
and file transfer, computer/audio/video conferencing.
-,
Under this category we will be discussing types of facilities provided by INFLIDNET
Centre. Firstly, the experts can register themselves online and those who are
already registered can also update their information online. This information is
required for Expert database of the INFLIBNET Centre. This database comprises
academic profile of senior faculty members of Indian Universities. Presently this
database has 3500 records. The number of records is increasing very fast. It is
updated continuously. The other facility given by the Centre is to register projects
online. The information on ongoing and completed projects can be viewed online.
It has over 9000 records and more than 15,000 records are under process. Research
Project database holds information about the research projects funded by various
agencies viz., UGC, ICAR, ICMR, DST and DBT, etc.'

Expert Database in S&T (EDST) holds profiles of scientists, researchers, and other
faculty members who are engaged in research and teaching in India.

This Centre has also posted information about Indian UniversitieslInstitutions and
National Information Centres and also provides web links to these websites.
INFLIDNET Centre gives information about the OPAC of Indian libraries along
with their online address.

These categories of services are basically created to promote communication among

the academic community.

INFLIBNET Centre also provides Internet based services to the users of those
participating libraries.

Self Check Exercise

3) Describe the major implications of INFLIBNET with reference to its planned
services.
Note: i). Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.

13.4 INFLIBNET RESOURCES

INFLIBNET is a cooperative venture. Its resource strength depends on its
components, participants and their resources. Catalogues of university libraries and
special libraries of the R&D organisations have to be converted into machine
readable form. It further derives its resources from colleges, industries, and private
and public sector organisations. In fact, its scope is enormous and viability of
INFLIDNET largely depends on this. All problems associated with implementation
of INFLIBNET and its success is largely connected with vastness of these resources.
The problems emerge due to voluminous data, its non-uniformity, non-standardisation,
inconsistency in practices, variety of languages, scripts and above all due to its
availability in manual catalogue card forms or print forms. It would have been much
714
 better of INFLIBNET had stood on the shoulders of half a dozen regional networks INFLIBNET: Information
and Library Network
as a federal structure. .

13.4.1 University Catalogue

The collection of documents of university libraries and their catalogues serve as the
backbone of training and education programmes, and also the research activities.
Collectively, the collection of all Indian universities put together can be looked upon
as the major national collection of documents. The INFLIBNET considers this
collection as its major information resource. A survey conducted by INFLIBNET
in 1985 showed that 21 university libraries had over 3,00,000 volumes, 48 'libraries
between 1,00,000 and 3,00,000 volumes, 51 libraries between 25,000 and 1,00,000
and 53 libraries had less than 25,000 volumes. On an average between 4,000 and
6,000 volumes are added annually by university libraries. The periodical collection
together was about 2,00,000 items. The theses collection of the university libraries
was significantly large and was considered as very important component of the
national information resource.

Presently the INFLIBNET monograph database holds more than 80 lakh records
from more than 100 universities, which includes textbooks, reference books,
monographs, conference proceedings, etc. It has serials holdings of more than 96
universities/institutional libraries, which contain more than 47,591 holdings with 13,751
unique titles.

Secondary serials of 115 university libraries include 462 titles. This covers indexing
abstracting journals along with titles available on CD-ROM or Diskette.

Current serials of more than 197 UniversitylInstitution libraries, which include 11,892
titles, are covered in the database. It also covers the holdings of six Document
Delivery Centres that collaborate with INFLIBNET under the Document Delivery
Programme. Presently its holdings are more than 4000 unique serial titles subscribed
by the DDC. It also holds the records of doctoral theses. Presently there are more
than 1.4 lakh records, which are submitted to Indian universities. This number is
updated regularly.

The bibliographic information of the collection is available in manually prepared

catalogue cards. The cataloguing practices differ from university to university. A
large number of libraries use Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme for classifying
. documents. But there are inconsistencies. The subject headings are assigned on
various basis. There are non-standardised practices in rendering the data. As such,
the whole collection almost looks unusable, unless properly standardised.

In order to overcome the problem of inconsistency in the data provided by the

member libraries in the database, INFLIBNET has prepared' a manual titled
"INFLIBNET Standards and Guidelines for Data Capturing" with the help of task
force consisting of experts in the field. INFLIBNET Centre has provided it to the
participating libraries. to maintain uniformity. INFLIBNET Centre also recommends
the use of AACR-2R, DDC and LCSH List.

13.4.2 R&D Library Catalogue

Compared to the university library data, the special libraries of R&D organisations
of the country have better managed collection and data. A lange rumber of R&D
libraries have already computerised their catalogues and services The funding is
also sound. The INFLIBNET survey of 1985 showed that an average R&D
institutional library in the country had 30,000 to 40,000 volumes, adds about 400-500
volumes in a year, and receives 300-500 titles of current periodicals.

In the case of. R&D libraries, it is not the size but the intensity and specialised
215
/

I
Resource-Sharmg Programmes nature of services that count. Based on the requirements, the special libraries have
very good collection of technical reports, standards, specifications and patents.

13.4.3 National Library Catalogue

The National Library at Kolkata is supposed to receive copies of all Indian publications
in all languages. The library prepares the national catalogue and maintains the
collection. The entire catalogue of the National Library is being computerised. This
serves as a significant information resource of the INFLmNET.

13.4.4 National Union Catalogue

The NISCAIR (for Science and Technology) and NASSDOC (for social sciences)
compile Union Catalogues of Serials. They are comprehensive and reliable. The
union catalogue for scientific serials is kept fairly up-to-date and is available on
machine-readable form. It can be accessed online through SIRNET of NISCAIR.

The union catalogue for social sciences is also being made available in machine-
readable form by NASSDOC.

These national efforts constitute the information resources of INFLmNET and

also help and guide in formulating national standards, codes and practices for data
capturing for INFLmNET.

13.4.5 Indigenous Databases

The National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT) of the
Department of Science and Technology had established some discipline oriented
information centres. The areas include machine tools, food technology, leather
technology, drugs, aeronautics, etc. These NISSAT information centres created and
maintained indigenous databases in their respective areas. A few of these are,
available in machine-readable form. In addition, some specialised organisations
create databases in different areas. These indigenous databases are also considered
as input to the INFLmNET resources.

13.5 COMPUTERISED ACCESS TO INFLIBNET

RESOURCES
The INFLIBNET intends to provide access to the vast information resources
available in the country. The access to information is also intended to all those who
need it without any barrier of distance, language and status. This could be possible
through machine-readable databases, computerised access and sophisticated
communication links. Resource sharing among the participants of INFLmNET
programme can be improved through the use of modern technology.

The INFLmNET has suggested several methods to prepare the national bibliographic
information in such form which is easily accessible, and facilitates its sharing. The
suggested procedures include:
• Retrospective conversion - converting manual catalogue into machine-readable
form. Here, two methods are suggested:
- downloading the standard bibliographic information corresponding to the
required existing records using MARC database of the Library of Congress
(USA), OCLC database of Online Computer Library Centre (USA), WLN
database of Western Library Network (USA), etc.
- Preparing data entry in standard form at various inputting centres using
uniform worksheet displays for capturing data and simple computer
programmes.

216
 I

• Standards - INFLIBNET has suggested several bibliographic standards which INFLIBNET: Information
and Library Network
include:
format specifications (bibliographic, project, institution and specialists) -
Common Communication Format (CCF) is suggested;
- cataloguing rules - AACR2 rules are suggested;
mandatory/optional data elements;
- input formats;
- guidelines for data input/update;
- cataloguing/data input samples; and
- standards, rules and guidelines to be used for country names, languages,
- abstracting, indexing, subject-headings, periodical abbreviations, etc.
• Uniformity across the network is suggested with respect to:
- access points for catalogue;
- access points for bibliographic databases; and
- access points for database of projects/institutions/specialists.

The syntax of the command set used by the search system for catalogue and
bibliographic databases should have a high degree ofcommonality. The INFLIBNET
also suggests that the search language should support users at invoice, intermediate
and expert levels. For invoice users, the system should be completely menu driven
and user friendly.

13.6 . IMPLICATIONS OF INFLIBNET FOR RESOURCE

SHARING
The major implications of INFLIBNET for resource sharing can be summarised as
follows:

Creating Awareness: The INFLIBNET through its various regional and national
meetings with librarians, information scientists, academicians, teachers, managers,
vice-chancellors, etc., has created some awareness with respect to library resources,
their sharing and networking. '

Metropolitan City Network: Only after the creation of INFLIBNET and

NICNET, various metropolitan city networks of libraries are taking shape. These
include DELNET for Delhi libraries and information centres, CALIBNET for
Calcutta, MALIBNET for Madras, BONET for Bombay, and for cities like Pune,
Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mysore, etc. INFLIBNET has to collaborate with these
vital regional units in a vast country like India.

Institutional Networks: Some of the homogeneous institutions working for a

discipline or a mission are also making efforts to pull their resources together to
form useful library and information networks. These include CSIR library network,
liT library network, DRDO library network, DAE library and information network,
etc. They should also get hooked up with INFLIBNET in a suitable manner.

Accelerating Library Automation: It can be seen that a large number of libraries

are computerising their library services. They are, to the extent possible, using the
guidelines suggested by the INFLIBNET.

Realisation of the benefits of Cooperation and Resource Sharing: The

University and academic libraries have realised the benefits of a cooperative venture
such as the INFLIBNET, which helps in resource sharing. The realisation has been
rather forceful in recent times due to several factors, such as: 217
I
Resource Sharing Programmes • exponential growth of publications;
• powerful inflationary trend and severe budgetary constraints;
• increase in variety and degree of user needs;
• fragmentation and specialisation of knowledge;
• fusion of different subject fields and inter-disciplinary nature of research
areas;
• self-sufficiency, a mirage;
• right to know and greater demand to access information;
• shift in emphasis from local ownership to collective access and from local
holdings to document delivery capability; and
• technological influence of computer, communications and micrographies,

Thus the implications of the INFLIBNET for resource sharing amount to:
• access "to large resources of information;
• . avoiding unnecessary duplication;
• exhaustive search capability;
• precise retrieval of information;
• faster and speedier dissemination of information;
• fast and prompt document delivery;
• greater economy;
• standardisation and uniformity of procedures, techniques, hardware and software; .
• increased facility for communication with experts through e-mail, bulletin boards,
teleconferencing, .etc.;
• gateway to international information systems and scientific communications;
and
• each university library can access the richest resources.

Self Check Exercise .

4) "INFLIBNET is an ambitious programme to support scholarship." Examine the
statement critically.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.

......................................................................................................................
,

13.7 FUTURE STRATEGY OF INFLIBNET

In order to provide wide accessibility to information resources by inter-connecting
libraries of colleges, universities and R&D institutions, INFLIBNET proposes to
connect unique nodes throughout the country. These nodes include 150 university
libraries, 50 autonomous collegeslP.G. centres and 2002 others comprising R&D
institutions, document resource centres and sectoral information centres. -The
hierarchical structure of information flow from each centre to the libraries of
college/university/R&D institutions is given in Fig. 13.1. The functions of some of
the nodes/centres shown in the figure are as follows:
218
 1
Regional Centres (RC) INFLIBNET: Information'
and Library Network
The Regional Centre will be responsible for maintaining the union catalogue of
monographs, serials and non-book materials held in the libraries of the region. There
will be four regional centres to be located in four geographical regions of the
country - north, south, east and west. The four regional centres will be inter-
connected through communication links. Each regional centre will also maintain the
copies of union catalogues of other regions, so that union catalogue enquires relating
to the entire country's holdings can be handled at the regional centre itself, thereby
reducing the traffic between the regional centres.

Sectoral Centres (SC)

These are for bibliographic and information services. About 40 SICs will be
considered. These may belong to the University system as well to outside' institutions.
The SICs will have a rich collection of materials in their specialised areas. The
centres will be based on subject specialisation.

Document Resource Centres (DRC)

100 libraries/information centres will be designated as Document Resource Centres.
Their main function will be to provide document delivery service. These DRCs will
be identified from universitieslR&D institutions, based on their collection strengths.
DRCs will be suitably supported for strengthening their document collection and
photocopying facilities.

The terminal at college/departmental library is to be connected to the university

library. In respect of non-bibliographic services, the terminal at the university library
is to be connected to the Regional Centre. For bibliographic services, the University
library should have direct access to Sectoral Information Centre. For document
delivery through Fax and Non-Fax, the University library or R&D institution library
should be connected directly to a Document Resource Centre. The catalogue
search in the overall system hierarchy should be such that a user could first find
out from his college/department library if his book is available or not and if not
available, as a next step, from his university library and as final resort to approach
the Regional Centre. to find out, through union catalogue, if the book required by
him is available in his region or in any other region or not at all available in the
network.

The catalogues of libraries are aggregated bottom up as follows:

CollegeJDept. Library University Library Regional Centre

Catalogue of its own Catalogue of its own Union catalogue of the
collection collection and of all its Region and Union
colleges and departments. Catalogues of other Regions:
Database on projects,
institutions and specialists.

Since more and more university libraries are availing services of INFLIBNET, the
volume of traffic is expected to grow substantially. If the present data networks fail
to provide full service to the INFLIBNET users then there may be a need to
establish a captive network for INFLIBNET Programme. The Block Schematic of
such a network is shown in Figure 13.2. The jietwork will link libraries not onlyin
cities but in remote and far off places too. Connectivity among the nodes will be
provided through a mix of satellite and terrestrial systems.

219

I
Resource Sharing Programmes

REGIONAL
CENTRE

SUBJECT SPECIFIC SECTORAL

COLLEGEIDEPT. UNIVERSITY
INFORMATION
LIBRARY LIBRARY SERVICE
CENTRE

DOCUMENT
RESOURCE
CENTRE

Fig. 13.1: Communication Hierarchy

MAIN TERMINAL
UNIV REGC SIC (CENTRAL HUB) RC R&DC P&C

Fig. 13.2: Schematic of Overall Network (lNFLmNET)

220
 I
The future plans of INFLIBNET Centre include the following: INFLIBNET: Information
and Library Network
a) Developing modules on e-learning, education and teleconferencing;
b) Collaboration with national documentation Centres and other resourceful libraries;
and
c) To conduct specialised training programme on Web Design, Standards, Digital
Libraries and other subjects.

13.8 UGC-INFONET
Indian University community forms one of the largest education systems in the
world. There are 294 UniversitieslInstitutions, 13150 affiliated colleges having 88.12
lakh students and 4.27 lakh teachers. For better coordination and communication
among the academic community UGC in partnership with ERNET which is a
1 Scientific Society under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
(ICT) has set up a communication network called INFONET. This network is
funded by UGC. INFLIBNET Centre, which is autonomous Inter University Centre
of the UGC, is monitoring and coordinating agency for INFONET. Till last year 124
universitiess were given grants under this project to be connected to INFONET
(see Unit 14 for more detail).

13.9 SUMMARY
The UGC sponsored, an ambitious country-wide Indian library and information
centre INFLIBNET network is explained.

The INFLIBNET proposes to link all libraries belonging to universities, colleges,

R&D laboratories and other national information centres. Its emphasis is on the
academic libraries.

It suggests use of computers communication and document delivery technology for

data capturing, data preparation, information processing, .its transfer and delivery.

It aims at providing access to large information resources to users from any remote
place in the country so that the poorest library could access the richest information
resources.

It is a cooperative venture and seeks cooperation of participants at every level.

Its major services include shared cataloguing, information access, retrieval and
dissemination, document delivery, union databases, facilitating communication of
experts, referral service, avoiding duplication of costly resources, overall economy,
training and sustaining the network activities.

Implications of INFLIBNET for resource sharing among the participating libraries

are identified as creating awareness regarding library and information networks,
standardisation and uniformity, encouraging library automation activities, avoiding
duplication and achieving overall economy. It has to develop proper collaboration
with metropolitan city networks. .

13.10 ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK EXERCISES

1) INFLIBNET is a project sponsored by the University Grants Commission of
India to link the libraries and information centres including about 294 universities/
institutions, over 13,150 affiliated colleges, having 88.121akh students and 4.27
lakh teachers. It is a computer network to put together all existing and anticipated
information resources in a standard machine-readable form and to make it
Resource Sharing Programmes accessible to facilitate specific information search from almost any place in the
country.
The INFLIDNET has been established as a project of the registered society,
!UCCA and its head office is located at Ahmedabad in the campus of Gujarat
University.
The INFLIDNET is a cooperative venture and realises its success on cooperation
of all its participants for mutual benefit. It suggests use of modern technology
and techniques using computers, telecommunication, micrography and document
delivery.
The INFLIDNET is considered as an economical tool in the current environment
of budgetary constraints and inflationary trends -by" avoiding multiplication of
• costly resources and by creating conducive situation for resource sharing.
2) INFLIDNET is to be a computer communication network inter-connecting libraries
and information centres in universities, deemed universities, institutions of national
importance, UGC information centre, R&D institutions and colleges. Since the
libraries and information centres are the repositories of information resources,
their linking with one another will improve and create greater opportunities for
resource sharing. The main purpose of connecting, various centres is to make
their resources accessible and available for sharing by all.

Let us examine some of .the major objectives of INFIBNET from this viewpoint.

To evolve a national network - The concept of network is the only modem way
wherein the latest technology developments in computer and telecommunication
\
have provided for faster and reliable transfer of information from one centre to the
other. It provides speedier means of sharing resources, and reliable methods of
, information handling and services.

To create on line Union Catalogue - The union catalogues of books, thesis,

serial publications and non-book materials of the participants of INFLIDNET in
fact try to reflect the entire national bibliographic information. These union catalogue
are made accessible online, to increase their utility. A library, which does not have
a specific document, can easily identify through the online union catalogue, as
to where it is available, and accordingly it can register its request for inter-library
loan.

To provide access to databases - The database created indigenously by various

sectoral information centres and UGC information centres and various bibliographic
databases available at other information centres, could be accessed. This provides
better facility for searching and retrieving information.

To encourage shared cataloguing - The preparation of shared catalogues

economises on cataloguing efforts, helps in avoiding duplication of costly material,
brings in uniformity and standardisation. These' are the incentives for resource
sharing.

To implement computerisation - To encourage creation of databases, to facilitate

communication among experts, to develop trained manpower for network management
and such other objectives of INFLIBNET will help in creating and sustaining
conducive environment for resource sharing.
3) INFLIBNET is planned as a multiple function/services network of libraries and
information centres in the country. Compared to a single function/service network,
the multiple function/service network is more economical. The cost in such a
network decreases progressively as the number of participants in the INFLIDNET
increases.
INFLTBNET services that are projected and planned include catalogue-based
222
 1
services, database services, document supply services, collection development, INFLlBNET: Information
and Library Network
and communication-based services.

The major implications of INFLIBNET may be identified as increased awareness

regarding library automation, library networking, resource sharing and use of latest
technology and computer telecommunications for library and information handling
activities. The implications of INFLIBNET can also be seen in the growth of
metropolitan city networks such as OELNET, CALIBNET, MALIBNET and
BONET. Similarly, there are institutional networks, which are being established.

The implications of INFLIBNET can be identified in the context of various multiple

functions and services that are planned and projected.

The INFLIBNET, Information and Library Network of India is to offering various

services such as catalogue-based services, database services; document supply
services, collection development and communication based services. The services
will surely benefit the libraries and information centres in providing their users the
required information at minimal cost through effective sharing of their resources.

a) Catalogue-based Services:
The following services are planned:
• Shared cataloguing;
• Union Catalogues;
• OPAC;
;

• Catalogue production;
• Book processing.

, Shared Resources: The objectives of shared cataloguing is to share 'by a library

the work of cataloguing of publications already done elsewhere by any other
participant library of INFLIBNET. The service will enable a library to use the
catalogue information available in a major, near by university library or regional
centre for cataloguing of new publications added. This means, a document is
catalogued only once at the time of its first input into the network. The efforts and
.experiences of cataloguing' are shared.

Union Catalogue: The objectives of Union Catalogue service is to provide a

Union Catalogue of books, monographs, serials and non-book materials held in
different libraries in the country. The service provides information regarding the
specific library, or libraries, where copies of a required document are available. The
Union Catalogues are planned to keep up-to-date. They are to provide information
of the location of document with geographical proximity. For example, if a scientist
from Mysore is searching Union Catalogue, he is obviously interested to know the
availability, first in the libraries in and around Mysore. The service of Union Catalogues
will help him in procuring a photocopy or the document on inter-library loan.

OPAC: The Online Public Access Catalogue service is planned in INFLIBNET to

provide online access to catalogue information to users at individual library level or
at university or at higher level of regional catalogue.

The catalogue production service provides a facility to individual libraries to produce

their library catalogues in the form of cards, books, magnetic tapes floppy/CO-
ROM, etc.

, Book Processing: The book processing .services provide for preparation of spine
labels, book cards, list of additions, etc. using the catalogues of ~IBNET at
different levels.
223
Resource Sharing Programmes b) Databases Services
The database services planned in INFLmNET include:
• Bibliographic databases;
• Non-bibliographic databases;
• Databases of ProjectslInstitutions/Specialists.

All these databases are to provide searching and retrieving facility for the users.
Libraries can make use of the database services for retrospective searches. SDI
services or for current query searches.

Bibliographic databases: The major bibliographic databases such as chemical

Abstracts, BIOSIS, COMPENDEX, MATHSCI, etc., are planned to be counted at
one place for providing access from other places. This service is planned to eliminate
. duplication in acquisition of costly secondary sources.

Non-bibliographic databases: These databases, containing factual information,

even full text document, descriptive information, directory type information, etc., is.
planned for searching and retrieving in INFLIBNET. The databases include those
material procured form commercially available sources and also the ones developed
within the country.

Databases of projects/institutions/specialists: The INFLmNET also developed

indigenously various databases concerning projects, institutions and specialists.
4) INFLIBNET is a library and information network of India sponsored by the
University Grants Commission. In its totality, it aims at inter-connecting some
200 universitieslInstitution 294 over 13,150 colleges, about 88.12 Lakh students
and 4.72 lakhs teachers. It tries to bring all available bibliographic information
of all types of documents in the form of Union Catalogues in a standard record
format in .machine-readable form. Its objective is to make the information
accessible and available to all those who need it irrespective of distance, language,
status, etc.

The difficulties are many. The major one seems the data conversion from manual
catalogue card data of individual libraries into a machine readable Union Catalogue
of monographs, serials and other publications. The varied cataloguing practices,
classification schemes, indexing, etc. followed at the individual library level and
their vast data.

The technological developments in information storage capacity and the media

available for storage of information can handle the entire national bibliographic
information. The computers of today can process the vast information and can
retrieve precisely any required information through very complex search queries.
The developments in telecommunication and satellite communication can handle the
huge daily-required information from almost any place to any destination in India.
The country has its own communication satellites to handle the data traffic. In this
light, INFLmNET is an ambitious programme in the country to support scholarship.
The academic and scientific community will be able to get access to academic
resources of the country. The network will facilitate sharing of these limited resource
and help avoiding duplication in the holding to an extent.

13.11 . KEYWORDS

Automation The organisation of machine handling of

routines or operations, requiring minimal human
intervention.
224
 I

Document Delivery This system enables users to order copies of INFLIBNET: Informatio
and Library Networi
materials retrieved by online searches, either.
by direct despatch of items by the host or via
an agent.
.~.
Database Information stored on computer files and
accessible via a remote terminal and
telecommunications link.
Electronic Mail The transfer of messages, memoranda, letters,
reports, etc. between individuals or organisations
by the use of videotext, online and online
networks.
Facsimile An electronic system for transmitting pictures
and graphic materials over very high frequency
airwaves.
Gateways Any system permitting users of one computer
system to access another.
Network A system of physically separate computers with
telecommunication links, allowing the resources
of each participating machine to be shared by
each of the others.
OPAC (OnIine Public Access Catalogue) An
automated catalogue system stored in machine-
readable form and accessed online by the library
clientele via a VDU and employing user-friendly
software.
Reprography The reproduction in facsimile of documents of
.•.
all kinds by any process using light, heat or
electric variation - photocopies, micro-copies,
blue prints, electro-copies, thermo-copies, etc.
Teleconference A conference with participants in different
locations linked by telecommunication devices.

13.12 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Burkett, 1. (1979). Library and Information Network in the United Kingdom.
London: ASLIB.
India. University Grants Commission (1988). Development of an Information and
Library Network. Report of the Inter Agency Working Group. UGC: Delhi.
Kent, A. and Galvin, T.J. (1979). The Structure and Governance of Library
Networks. New York: Marcel Dekker.
Learn, L.L. (1987). Networks: The Telecommunications Infrastructure and Impacts
of Change. Library Hi-Tech. (21).
Markuson, B.E. and Wools, B. (1980). Networks for Networkers. New York:
Neal-Schuman Pub.
Marwskin, A.F. (1980). OCLS: Its Governance, Function, Financing and
Technology. New York:· Marcel Dekker.
Mathur, M.N. and Rarnakrishna, S. (1987). Project ERNET: Perspectives, Plan and
Approach of an Academic and Research Network Programme in India. ICCC
Special Conference Paper. 147-66.
Moon, B.E. (1986). Corporative Networks and Service to the Scholars: University
Library Resources for On-line Research. British Journal of Academic
Librarianship. 1(1), 41-52.
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r
rurce Sliaring Programmes Quarterman, J.S. and Hoskins, l.C. (1986). Notable Computer Networks.
Communications, of ACM. 29(10), 932-969.
Salgar, S.M. (l995). Networking of Libraries under INFLIBNET Programme
Present and Future Scenario. Information Access through Networks (CALIBER
95). INFLIBNET Programme (UGC).
INFLIBNET Website Address: http://www.inflibnet.ac.in.

· .