Arora, Jagdish; Agrawal, Pawan(INFLIBNET Centre, February NaN, 2003)
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Abstract:
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has set-up a “Consortia-based Subscription to Electronic Resources for
Technical Education System in India” on the recommendations made by the Expert Group appointed by the ministry. The consortium is
named as the Indian National Digital Library in Science and Technology (INDEST) Consortium. The INDEST Consortium has
commenced its operation since Dec., 2002 through its headquarters at the IIT Delhi. The Consortium subscribes to full-text electronic
resources and bibliographic databases for 38 leading engineering and technological institutions in India including IITs (7), IISc (1),
NITs / RECs (17), IIMs (6) and a few other institutions directly funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
While the expenditure on electronic resources proposed for subscription under the consortium for these 38 institutions are being met
from the funds made available by the MHRD, the consortium being an open-ended proposition, welcomes all other institutions to join it
on their own for sharing benefits it offers in terms of highly discounted subscription rates and better terms of agreement with the
publishers. Moreover, beneficiary institutions may also subscribe to additional electronic resources through the consortium that are not
being funded by the MHRD. This article introduces the INDEST Consortium, its activities and services.
Chandel, A S; Mezbah-ul-Islam, M; Gupta, Sudhir(INFLIBNET Centre, February NaN, 2003)
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Abstract:
In view of the transition stage from print media to electronic media, information seeking pattern of users particularly research scholars
are likely to change. The present study was undertaken with an objective to ascertain as to what extent electronic as well as other
traditional resources are being used in university environment in India as well as in neighboring counties having similar conditions
like India, The analysis was focused to determine the use of the basic information sources in research particularly electronic resources.
Results indicate that traditional sources are still dominantly used with little use of electronic media except the use of some commercial
subject databases on CD-ROM. Internet use is much below the expectation. Even free e-journals are not being referred. Users, no
doubt, have the aptitude to use electronic resources including Internet but lack adequate facilities as well as initiation from
professionals. Suggest that enhancing the usability of available resources by way of adapting user to the systems and services seems to
be more viable.