Access to E-Resources for Indian Higher Education System and the Role of INFED (INFLIBNET Access Management Federation)

Abstract

Indian Universities and institutions of higher education have witnessed a boost in e-resources accessible to their users through various consortium initiatives. However, at present, mostly the access is restricted to only university/institute campuses within specific IP ranges. There is a need to widen the access of e-resources. Ideally the access to e-resources should be available to users from anywhere i.e. on-campus, off-campus, from home, while travelling and at any given point of time. The purpose of this article to give an overview of the role of INFED (INFIBNET Access Management Federation) to expand the reach of e-resources and make some suggestions about how effective it is from perspective of practice with a view to justifying its role. This paper attempts to describe the scope of INFED and benefits of inter federation services, beyond the features off-campus access.