Information and Librarynetwork (INFLIBNET)

INFormation and LIBraryNETwork (INFLIBNET)

INFormation and LIBraryNETwork (INFLIBNET): In April 1988, the University Grant Commission (UGC) constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Yash Pal, to work out the details of a university information library networking system. The report of this working group was published in December 1988 containing a project proposal for the establishment and development of an information and library network. Finally, in April 1991, INFLIBNET was initiated by the UGC. It can be defined as a computer communication network of libraries and information centres of universities, institutions of national importance, Research and Development Institutions, bibliographical information centres, etc, thereby improving the capability in information handling and services.

a) Objectives: INFLIBNET Centre is an Autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of University Grants Commission (UGC) involved in creating infrastructure for the sharing of library and information resources and services among the academic and research institutions.

b) Organization: The organization of INFLIBNET can be viewed from the following angles-

i) National Centre: One national centre at Ahemdabad.

ii) Regional Centre: 4 Regional centre located in four geographical region of the country. They are -

- North: Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

- South: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

- East: Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

- West: University of Poona, Pune.

iii) Sectoral Centre: These are means for bibliographic and information services. About 40 Sectoral Information Centre (S.I.C.) will be set up in due course.

iv) Document Resource Centre (DRC): About 100 library / Information centres will be deigned as Document Resource centre. They will provide Document Delivery Service and they will be identified based on their collection strength.

Each regional centre will maintain the copies of union catalogue of other regions so that Union Catalogue enquires relating to the whole country holding can be solved at the regional centre itself. The terminal of the college / department library is to be connected to the University library, the terminal of the University library is to be connected to the Regional centre, sectoralcentre and D.R. Centers.

c) Resources: The main resources of INFLIBNET are.

i) University catalogue: The catalogue of document, periodicals, thesis forms major part of INFLIBNET resources.

ii) Research & Development Library Catalogue: The collection of NISCAIR and NASSDOC.

iii) National Library: The computerized catalogue of the National Library of Kolkata.

iv) Indigenous Databases: The databases of discipline oriented information centre such as Machine tools, Food technology, Leather technology, Drugs, Aeronautics are considered as input to the INFLIBNET resources.

d) Functions and Activities: The main functions and activities of INFLIBNET are-

i) SOUL Software: INFLIBNET has developed library management software known as SOUL. It is associated with its training, installation and up-gradation. Under Prime Minister’s special package to NE India, SOUL packages are given free of cost to those libraries which are under 2F or 12B of UGC. Delivery of SOUL package is done through the UGC Regional office. The SOUL 2.0 was launched in 2009.

ii) Institutional Repository: INFLIBNET Centre develops a digital repository using DSpace software. It hosts INFLIBNET’s Press and Media related documents, INFLIBNET's Annual Reports, INFLIBNET's Convention Proceedings, INFLIBNET's Special Seminar, etc.

iii) Electronic Submission of Theses and Dissertations (ETD): It is a joint venture of UGC, INFLIBNET takes an active role in making it mandatory to submit the electronic copy of a thesis whenever the research scholars submit their thesis to the respective university or institutions for the PhD degree.

iv) IndCat: Online Union Catalogue of Indian Universities: It is unified Online Library Catalogues of books, theses and journals available in major university libraries in India.

v) CCF to MARC Conversion Utility: INFLIBNET launched an open source utility primarily focused on libraries, where one needs to convert CCF data to MARC21 format. Development of tool has been done with VB.Net 2005 with Framework 2.0. It can be found in <

vi) Standardization: MARC – II has been accepted as bibliographic standard for data capturing.

vii) Seminars, Conferences, Workshops and Training: INFLIBNET is regularly conducting Convention on Automation of Libraries in Education and Research Institutions (CALIBER) and Promotion of Library Automation and Networking in North Eastern Region (PLANNER) every year. From 2009, the authority of INFLIBNET has decided to hold CALIBER and PLANNER every alternate year. Besides, it also conducts INFLIBNET Regional Training Programme on Library Automation (IRTPLA) and Attachment Training Programme for Practicing Librarians and Computer Professionals of North Eastern Region.

viii) Mailing Lists and Forum: As on November, 2009 INFLIBNET is maintaining four online mailing lists besides its “INFLIBNET Centre Blog” < that provides news and announcement related to the INFLIBNET.

INFLIBNET is a cooperative venture. So its resource strength depends on its participants. The development of SOUL is likely to give more revenue to INFLIBNET and provide justification for more and more libraries to join it. As a resource, it is hoped that INFLIBNET will grow faster as a service based library network in India. The INFLIBNET Library plays a vital role in the collection development and dissemination of scientific and technical information to meet the present and future needs of the Centre.

International bibliographic Information System for the AGRicultural Sciences and technology (AGRIS)

International bibliographic Information System for the AGRicultural Sciences and technology (AGRIS): AGRIS is the International bibliographic Information System for the AGRicultural Sciences and technology. It was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1974, to facilitate information exchange and to bring together world literature dealing with all aspects of agriculture. It become operational in 1975 as an international initiative aiming to build a common information system for science and technology in agriculture and related subjects, based on a collaborative network of institutions. AGRIS uses computer configuration and software packages located at the Vienna, the INIS centre.

a) Organization: AGRIS is a cooperative system in which participating countries input references to the literature produced within their boundaries and, in return, draw on the information provided by the other participants. The bibliographic references forwarded by participating countries are collected and processed in the AGRIS Processing Unit Vienna, which is hosted by the Division of Scientific and Technical Information of the IAEA. AGRIS is managed centrally by the WAICENT/FAOINFO Dissemination Management Branch of the Library and Documentation Systems Division (GIL) of FAO, Rome.

b) Members: To date 159 national and 31 international and intergovernmental centers participate and submit about 14.000 items per month. To date, 240 national, international and intergovernmental centres participate.

c) India’s participation in AGRIS: The Agricultural Resources Information System (AgRIS) is the Central Sector Scheme for Strengthening / Promoting Agricultural Information System in the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. AgRIS is “a Needed Domestic Strategy for Sustainable Agricultural Production and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in India”. It is an e-Government Programme for fostering agricultural growth, poverty reduction and sustainable resource use in India at grassroots level and also “a step towards establishing a location-specific e-Government model for the poor”. The implementation of component AgRIS will facilitate development of typology specific agriculture development plan in the country. This Project is being executed by Agricultural Informatics Division of National Informatics Centre.

In July, 1974 India formally decided to participate in AGRIS programme on a national basis through Agricultural Research Information Centre of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). After an initial experiment carried out in November, 1974 the Agricultural Research Centre of ICAR has been participating in the AGRIS programme since 1975. From May 1975 the Agricultural Research Information Centre (ARIC) began sending bibliographic data on AGRIS on a regular basis. The database is maintained in Viena. On an average India passes on about 4000 bibliographic entries to AGRIS every year. Previously the input was sent on Optical Character Recognition (OCR) sheets but now for economy and speed the input is being sent on Worksheet only. In return, India receives every month updated AGRIS Magnetic Tape, and AGRINDEX- a printed monthly service.

i) Objectives of AGRIS: The major objectives of AgRIS will include among others:

* “Development of Decision Support Systems (DSS) on Production Practices and Systems”. It facilitate farmers in adopting appropriate agricultural production practices;

* “Creation of Metadata” to become the Country’s initiative of “National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) on Agriculture”, and

* Preparation of Guidelines on standardized methodology/best practices to be used for building Agricultural Resource Information System in similar districts of the Country.

ii) Services: The Indian Centre of AGRIS provide the following services

* Training on AGRIS methodology, indexing, abstracting and AGRIS Classification Scheme.

* Provides training for the use of AEROVAC.

* Provides training to information and documentation personnel from developing countries.

* SDI services.

* Retrospective services.

d) Conclusion: The AGRIS network of Centres formally has 201 participating centres. Of these, over half have contributed material to the central database at some point in the last 6 years, but only 35 contributed in all of the last 6 years. Some AGRIS centres in developing countries have already expanded from the original role of centralised “Input Centres” for an entire national system, to focal points for a more decentralised system. Some are also covering not only the documentation of scientific and technical literature, but are working in the development of agricultural information management more generally. More than 60 of the centres participating in AGRIS already have their own website, and many of them publish their bibliographical databases on the web.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR): Like other forms of property, intellectual property is also an asset which can be bought, sold, exchanged or gratuitously given away. Owners of intellectual property also have the right to prevent the unauthorized use or sale of their property.

According to The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) < “Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce”.

Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programmes.

According to The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) < “Copyright and related rights protect the rights of authors, performers, producers and broadcasters, and contribute to the cultural and economic development of nations. This protection fulfils a decisive role in articulating the contributions and rights of different stakeholders and the relation between them and the public. The purpose of copyright and the related rights is twofold: to encourage a dynamic creative culture, while returning value to creators so that they can lead a dignified economic existence, and to provide widespread, affordable access to content for the public.”

Copyright is basically the individual right of an author to dispose of his / her work in return for remuneration. According to Christopher Scarles, “subject to certain exception, it is ownership of and right of control over all possible ways of reproducing a work”.

1. International Context

a) Berne Convention: The international convention for protection of literary and artistic works was first signed at Berne on 9th September, 1886, which later on came to be known as “Berne Convention”. It guaranteed protection for the life of the author plus fifty years after his death. The convention was revised and amended more than seven times.

Berne remained essentially European. It could not attract the U. S. A. So, most civilized states except the U. S. became signatories to it.

b) Universal Copyright Convention (UCC): In the early 1950s UNESCO set about devising a union that would combine Berne and Montivideo convention and the outcome was the establishment of Universal Copyright conventions in 1952. U. S. joined it in 1955.

Paris Revision of 1971: In 1971 both Berne and UCC was revised. This is what goes by the name of Paris revision of 1971. This has made some realistic concession to the developing countries with regard to reproduction and translation of material having great educational value.

c) World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest. WIPO was established by the WIPO Convention in 1967 with a mandate from its Member States (Till 2009 there were 184 Member States, i.e. over 90 percent of the countries of the world) to promote the protection of IP throughout the world through cooperation among states and in collaboration with other international organizations. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

2. Indian Context: The earliest statutory law in India concerning copyright was the Indian copyright of 1847 which was passed by the Governor General of India. In 1911 the law of copyright was codified in England and was made applicable to all Majesty’s dominions including India. The Governor General of India enacted the Indian Copyright act of 1914 to make some modification to the provision of the 1911 Act. The copyright of 1914, granted copyright to an author for the whole of his life and fifty years after his death.

The provision of the copyright act of 1914 were again modified after independence and the copyright act which is in force even today was passed in the Indian Parliament in 1957 and known as Copyright Act, 1957. The copyright act of India of 1957 had been amended in August 1983 with the specific purpose of incorporating the provisions of the Paris text of 1971 of the Berne convention concerning the grant of compulsory licenses for translations and reproduction of foreign work for educational purposes. The copyright was further amended in 1984 in order to overcome the problem of wide spread piracy in India. The act was further modified in 1992 and 1994 (No. 38 of 1994). The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999 officially published in: The Gazette of India, 30/12/1999, No. 49. In accordance with the copyright act of 1957, a copyright office and a copyright board were set up in New Delhi under the auspices of the Government of India of which the copyright board serves as a civil court with the power of adjudicating disputes arising out of claims and counter claims. The copyright board serves as a civil court and its judgment can be challenged only in the high court of the area and in no other lower court.

The legislation covering intellectual property right in India are

i) Communication: Communication Bill, 2000;

ii) Copyright: The Copyright Act of 1957 (last amended in 1994);

iii) Designs: The Design Act 1911;

iv) Information Technology: Information Technology Act 2000;

v) Patent: The Patent Act 1970 (changes bought in 1994);

vi) Trade Mark: The Trade Merchandise Mark Act 1958, etc.

India signed the Berne convention in 1886 when it was part of the British Empire. India also signed the Universal Copyright convention in 1952 of its own choice as a free country.

3. Intellectual Freedom: According to American Library Association, every individual has the right to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive, and disseminate ideas.

According to Canadian Library Association, the fundamental right is to have access to all expressions of knowledge, creativity and intellectual activity, and to express their thoughts publicly.

Institutional Repository Software Packages

Institutional Repository Software Packages: An Institutional Repository (IR) is an online locus for collecting and preserving in digital form the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution. For a university, this would include materials such as research journal articles (before (preprints) and after (postprints) undergoing peer review, and digital versions of theses and dissertations, but it might also include other digital assets generated by normal academic life, such as administrative documents, course notes, or learning objects. The main objectives for having an institutional repository is to provide open access to institutional research output by self-archiving it and to store and preserve other institutional digital assets, including the unpublished or otherwise easily lost (grey) literature (e.g., theses or technical reports).

IRs are partly linked to the notion of a digital library i.e., collecting, housing, classifying, cataloguing, curating, preserving, and providing access to digital content, analogous with the library's conventional function of collecting, housing, classifying, curating, preserving and providing access to analog content.

There are different softwares for building institutional repositories. Some well known software packages are described bellow

a) Dspace: Dspace was developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) libraries & Hewlett-Packard labs. It runs on Unix or Linux machine and Apache web server, Tomcat servlet engine and the postgre SQL relational database system are required. The software is released under BSD license. Website:

b) EPrints: Eprints was developed by University of Southampton and released under GNU General Public License. It runs on Unix machine and Apache, MySQL database, Perl language is necessary for its installation and operation. Website:

c) Green Stone Digital Library software (GSDL): The Greenstone Digital Library Software is a suit of Open Source, multilingual software package for building and distributing Digital Libraries. It provides a new way of organizing information and publishing it on the Internet or on CD-ROM. The software has been developed by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Greenstone is supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Human Info NGO, based in Antwerp, Belgium for spreading the benefits of this software to developing countries. It is released under GNU General Public License and runs on Windows, Linux / Unix machine that have Apache web server, MySQL database and Perl language. Website: