IN FOCUS: INFLIBNET, GANDHINAGAR
The Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre, Gandhinagar, is an autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of University Grants Commission, New Delhi (Ministry of Education, Govt. of India). It is a major National Programme initiated by the UGC on 27 February 1991 as a project under the IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics), and it became an independent Inter-University Centre on 16 May 1996. INFLIBNET is involved in modernising university libraries in India using the state-of-the-art technologies for the optimum utilisation of information. INFLIBNET is set out to be a major player in promoting scholarly communication among academicians and researchers in India.
OBJECTIVES
INFLIBNET aims to establish communication facilities that improve the transfer of academic and research information, supporting scholarship, learning and research. It develops a nationwide computer-based network to link university libraries, colleges and research institutions, minimising duplication of efforts. The centre facilitates collaboration among researchers, faculty, and students through digital communication tools like email, file transfer and video conferencing. It undertakes research and development in computer networking, data handling and information management. The centre ensures efficient monitoring and maintenance of communication systems. It works with institutions and organisations in India and globally to enhance library and information services. The centre promotes R&D activities, develops necessary infrastructure and creates technical positions to advance its mission. It provides consultancy and information services to generate funds for sustainability. The centre undertakes any necessary initiatives that contribute to its overarching goals of enhancing information accessibility and academic excellence.
All Images Courtesy: Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre, Gandhinagar
KEY INITIATIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The key initiatives and activities of the INFLIBNET Centre can be categories in the following sections:
- Automation of University Libraries
- E-Consortium
- Research Support Services
- Research Network
- E-Learning
- E-Governance and Technical Services
- Automation of University Libraries
IndCat
IndCat is a free online Union Catalogue of books, theses and serials of major university/institute libraries in India. The IndCat contains bibliographic information, location and holdings of books, theses and serials. It provides the records in standard bibliographic formats i.e. MARC, MARCXML. Currently IndCat contains 2,56,03,528 books from 365 institutions, 2,56,03,528 theses from 464 institutions and 37,159 from 239 institutions.
Online Copy-Cataloguing System (OCS 2.0)
OCS is a very useful application for all university libraries who want to contribute their bibliographic data for INFLIBNET`s Online Union Catalogue of Indian Universities (IndCat).
A total of 74 universities have participated in cooperative cataloguing through OCS 2.0.
Software for University Libraries (SOUL 3.0)
Software for University Libraries (SOUL) is a state-of-the-art integrated library management software designed and developed by the INFLIBNET Centre based on requirements of college and university libraries. It is a user-friendly software developed to work under client-server environment.
SOUL 2.0 is compliant to international standards such as MARC 21 bibliographic format, Unicode based Universal Character Sets for multilingual bibliographic records and NCIP 3.0 and SIP 2 based protocols for electronic surveillance and control. About 4200+ institutions have installed SOUL 3.0 to manage their libraries.
IR@INFLIBNET
It is the institutional repository of INFLIBNET which includes full text publications of conventions, symposia, news clippings, newsletters, staff publications of INFLIBNET.
2. E-Consortium
One Nation One Subsciption (ONOS)
The Government of India has announced the ‘One Nation One Subscription’ initiative, a groundbreaking step toward democratising access to knowledge and research resources. Its aim is to provide access to scholarly research content to HEIs in the country. ONOS intends to acquire national licenses for e-journal/ database subscriptions from most of the prominent STEM and social sciences publishers and content providers by combining multiple institutional and consortia-based subscriptions. Concessions on Article Processing Charges (APCs) for open access publications is also envisioned as part of ONOS. INFLIBNET is the executive agency of ONOS.
eShodhSindhu
The objective of eShodh Sindhu: Consortia for Higher Education E-Resources is to provide access to qualitative electronic resources including full-text, bibliographic and factual databases to academic institutions at lower rates of subscription. It provides access to more than 7000 e-journals and 6 lakh+ e-books (through National Digital Library of India, i.e., NDLI) to 315 institutions.
N-LIST (National Library and Information Services: Infrastructure for Scholarly Content)
N-LIST is a college component of e- Shodh Sindhu that provides access to 6,500+ electronic journals, 1,99,500+ e-books, and 6 lakh+ e-books (through NDLI) to more than 7.87 lakh users spanned across 4200+ colleges.
InfiStats
It facilitates monitoring and evaluating usage statistics of subscribed e-resources made accessible to institutions. The InfiStats harvests the COUNTER Usage for members through SUSHI Protocol. The InfiStats portal imports the usage data from the publisher’s website.
INDIAN Access Management Federation (INFED)
It provides off-campus access to e-resources to users in institutes. The INDIAN Access Management Federation (INFED) has adopted Shibboleth, a standard-based open source software, for authenticating authorised users from institutions and provide them seamless access to e-resources from anywhere, anytime. A total of 195 institutions are actively using the services, and 44 publishers have joined INFED.
3. Research Support Services
Shodhganga
Shodhganga is the national digital repository of Indian Electronic Theses and Dissertations set-up by the INFLIBNET Centre. The repository has the ability to capture, index, store, disseminate and preserve ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) submitted by the researchers. A total of 5,25,200+ full-text theses, contributed by 765 institutes, a total of 886 institutions have signed MoUs with the INFIBNET Centre.
Shodhgangotri
Under the initiative called ShodhGangotri, research scholars/ research supervisors in universities are requested to deposit an electronic version of the approved synopsis submitted by them to the universities for registering themselves for the PhD programme. Now it is expanded to MRPs/PDFs/Emeritus Fellowship, etc. A total of 15953 documents including synopses, MRPs, PDFs, fellowships and PG dissertations have been uploaded till date on Shodhgangotri repository.
Shodhshuddhi
A web-based plagiarism detection software system, known as Drillbit-Extreme Plagiarism Detection Software, was provided to the Indian universities and institutions under the Shodhshuddhi initiative. A total of 1150 institutions are benefitted with this initiative and 1,79,265 users have checked plagiarism of 1559283 documents through Drillbit-Extreme.
Shodh-Chakra
Shodh-Chakra is an initiative of the INFLIBNET Centre under the guidance of University Grants Commission (UGC) to help the academic community during their research life cycle. Shodh-Chakra provides a unique space to the researcher, guide/supervisor and university to manage the research lifecycle of a scholar.
4. Research Network
Vidwan (Expert Database & National Researcher’s Network)
VIDWAN is the premier database of profiles of scientists/ researchers and other faculty members working at leading institutions and R&D organisations involved in teaching and research in India. It contains profiles of more than 2 lakh+ faculty members and scientists working in 19,506 academic institutions retrieved 30 lakh+ publications metadata from various sources.
Indian Research Information Network System (IRINS)
The INFLIBNET Centre has created 1200+ IRINS instances for institutions until the reported period and connected 18500+ faculty members through this project. The project retrieved 25 lakh+ publications metadata from various sources, received 229 lakh+ citations, and 91.7 lakh+ of Altmetrics mentions.
SheRNI (She Research Network in India)
SheRNI: She Research Network in India, a platform dedicated to women in India, was launched by the Director, INFLIBNET Centre on 7 March 2024 to mark the International Women’s Day 2024 (March 8). It contains 93053 profiles.
5. E-Learning
ePGPathshala
e-PG Pathshala is an initiative of the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) under its National Mission on Education through ICT (NME-ICT) being executed by the UGC. The Centre is deriving e-books
from the e-PG Pathshala content, 23,000+ modules, including 700+ PG courses.
SWAYAM-Prabha
INFLIBNET maintains the SWAYAM-Prabha portal and its hosting including archiving videos for all the channels. INFLIBNET is also one of the National Coordinators (content partner).
Vidya-Mitra
Vidya-Mitra is an online learning portal for all the e-content projects developed under the NME-ICT, MHRD. It hosts 66,000+ videos (self-learning/ e-tutorial) and 44,000+ e-texts.
INFLIBNET Learning Management Service (ILMS)
ILMS is a service offered by the Information and Library Network Centre (An IUC of UGC) to the institutions of higher education across the country. A total of 50+ universities are availing the services of ILMS as of now.
6. E-Governance and Technical Services
NIRF Ranking: The INFLIBNET Centre has been executing the yearly exercise of NIRF since its inception in 2015 under the guidance of NBA.
e-NBA: Accreditation Workflow Management System (AWMS): The Centre has been involved in developing a full-fledged online platform for accreditation workflow management of National Board of Accreditation since 2018.
NAAC: The Centre provides publications, citations, H-index, and other related bibliometric data to NAAC for accreditation
UGC & AIU: The Centre is providing automation services to UGC & AIU for their activities.
ISBN: The Ministry of Education has assigned the ISBN project to the INFLIBNET Centre to develop comprehensive platform for allotment of ISBN and day-to-day routine activities of ISBN.
Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB): The Centre is the technical partner for designing and developing the website, web applications, and hosting for the EBSB project.
National Portal for Transgender Persons (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment): The Centre signed MoU with the DSJ&E to create a National Portal for Transgender Persons which enables a transgender person to apply for a certificate and identity card.
CONVENTIONS
INFLIBNET is involved in organising two prominent conventions, namely CALIBER and PLANNER. Convention on Automation of Libraries in Education and Research Institutions (CALIBER) is an International Convention organised by the INFLIBNET Centre in different parts of the country in collaboration with universities, and invites high quality papers on research & technical works, case studies, technology updates etc. related to the themes and sub-themes of the convention.
Promotion of Library Automation and Networking in North-Eastern Region (PLANNER) is a biennial convention with a special focus to uplift academic libraries in the North-Eastern region of the country in the aspect of library automation and networking. The event is organised by INFLIBNET Centre along with universities located in the respective North-Eastern states.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Apart from the above activities, INFLIBNET also facilitates training programmes throughout the year. INFLIBNET also conducted orientation programmes and workshops across the nation for maximum utilisation of its products and services.
The centre has trained more than 1,01,081 professionals through a total of 1,029 such programmes.
INTERNATIONAL PROJECT AND OUTREACH
ORCID: The INFLIBNET Centre was awarded a grant of $20,051 on 15 July 2023 for one year (from 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2024) from ORCID, Inc., as an awardee in ORCID’s Global Participation Program 2023.
DataCite: The INFLIBNET Centre has been awarded the project to conduct an Outreach Programme under the DataCite GAF (Global Access Funds) project funding of 10,043 EUR.
COAR and INFLIBNET agreed to launch a community of practice for repositories in India and announced to work together to coalesce and strengthen the substantial network of open science repositories in India.
CONCLUSION
The Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre is an autonomous institution under the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India, dedicated to modernising and networking libraries and information centres in higher education institutions across the country. INFLIBNET plays a crucial role in strengthening the academic and research ecosystem through various initiatives and services.
*The writer is Director, INFLIBNET Centre, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
