Khaiser Nikam

The changing face of India. Part I: bridging the digital divide

“India lives in villages” said the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. With 1,000 million people and 180 million households, India is one of the biggest growing economies in the world. With the advent of the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) revolution, India and its villages are slowly but steadily getting connected to the cities of the nation and the world beyond. Owing to the late Rajiv Gandhi, India is now a powerful knowledge economy, and though India may have been slow to start, it certainly has caught up with the West and is ahead in important respects. The Government, the corporate sector, NGOs and educational institutions have supported rural development by encouraging digital libraries, e‐business, e‐learning and e‐governance. The aim of this paper is to touch upon and highlight some of the areas where, by using ICT, the masses have been reached in this way. A follow‐up paper will outline collections of significant cultural material which, once national IT strategies are fully achieved, could form part of a digitally preserved national heritage collection.

The changing face of India (2): knowledge management for digital preservation

Previously, the authors have indicated how the use of information and communications technology in India has encouraged rural development: the promotion oft digital libraries, e‐business, e‐learning and e‐governance have been effective ways of starting to bridge the digital divide in the sub‐continent. This follow‐up paper outlines traditional collections of significant cultural material in India which, once national information technology and knowledge management strategies are fully achieved, could form part of a digitally preserved national heritage collection.

Development of an information support system for yogic science using knowledge organization systems

This paper deals with the design and development of an information support system for yogic science using specially designed knowledge organization systems such as a yoga glossary and yogic thesaurus. A machine-readable Sanskrit-English bilingual glossary, thesaurus for yogic science is developed using Greenstone Digital Library software, and also there is a web portal for the yogic science community, which includes a list of all major yoga institutes, research centers, libraries, glossaries, thesauri, yoga subject term visualization maps, Google groups, forums, online digital repositories, and online public access catalogs related to the discipline of yoga.

Attitudes of law university library users towards the use of Web OPAC in Karnataka

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of two law university libraries in the Karnataka state of southern India and their web-based online public access catalogue (web OPAC). Results from a survey of library users’ attitudes towards the use of the web OPAC, methods adopted to learn how to use the web OPAC, guidance sought to use the web OPAC and the extent of use of the web OPAC search facilities in select law school libraries in Karnataka are reported. Design/methodology/approach – To study the users’ attitudes towards the use of the web OPAC in law university libraries in Karnataka, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 300 users, including Bachelor Of Legislative Law students, Master of Laws students, research scholars and teaching staff. The sample population was chosen using the convenience sample method, and the researcher received 256 completed and usable questionnaires. A five-point Likert scale was used in the research questionnaire. Typical statistical tests suc...

Information Technology Application in Law University Libraries in South India: A Study

Information technology (IT) plays an important role in the development of libraries and information services. This paper aims to describe the application of IT in the law university libraries in South India. The method adopted for collection of research data from the field was the survey method. As the researcher desired to include all the six law university libraries, no sampling method was adopted and the census population was considered. This study found that Wi-Fi Internet facility was available in only four law university libraries - National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Karnataka State Law University (KSLU), National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) and National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR). The NLSIU library was the first to automate its collection, in as early as 1996, followed by the NALSAR (2005), the NUALS (2009) and the reaming three (KSLU, Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University (TNALU) and Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University) in the year 2012. All the libraries selected for the study have a circulation module and online public access catalogue (OPAC) search facility, while the Web OPAC was found in only four libraries (NLSIU, KSLU, TNALU and NALSAR).

Use of E-Resources by the Academia of Speech and Hearing Discipline: A Study

Present study is an attempt to understand the use of e-resources by the academia at the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), Mysore. The sample consists of faculty members, research scholars, and student of AIISH, Mysore. A total of 150 members of the library were surveyed with a response rate of 80%. Different aspects of e-resources like use of e-databases, e-journals, Open Access Public Catalogue and the Internet by the academic community were examined and the results relating to that are reported here. The main objectives are: availability, access and impact of e-resources; frequency of use of e-resources; use of e-databases and e-journals; OPAC and Internet. The results shown here are descriptive and tables are very few. Some of the highlights of the study are: sample is 120/150. Methodology is questionnaire with Likers scale. Large users (56) were in the range of 21–25 years of age. Nearly, 24.16% of respondents are specialised in speech and hearing. E-journals (mean=1.40) and e-databases (mean=0.80) are extensively used. Web Crawler (mean=0.33) is the most frequently used Meta search engine. The positive impact is ‘Access to current/up-to-date information’ (mean =1.60). The negative impact is too much of information is available (mean=1.40).

Use Patterns of Aerospace E-Indexing, Abstracting and Citation Services: A Research Study of Aerospace Scientists and Engineers of Bangalore

A research survey was undertaken to ascertain the ‘Use Patterns of Aerospace e-Indexing, Abstracting and Citation Services’ amongst the aerospace scientists and engineers of 16 aerospace organizations of Bangalore The major findings of this study are: (a) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was applied for testing the significant difference among the mean scores obtained towards the Use Patterns of ’Aerospace Indexing, Abstracting and Citation Services’ It is observed that all organizations show a significant difference (P < 0.05) in their mean scores viz., ‘Aerospace and High Technology Databases (CSA Abstracts)’, ‘INSPEC’, ‘ISI Web of Science’, ‘ISI Citation Indexes’, ‘ISI Web of Knowledge’, NASA – Technical Reports Server (NTRS)’, ‘NASA Technical Information Services Indexes (NTIS)’ and ‘SCOPUS’, except for ‘Engineering Index ((Compendex), Engineering Village 2)) (P = 0.094)’ and ‘Search Tools’.