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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of the institutional repositories (IRs) in use in Indian universities and research institutes. Design/methodology/approach: Repositories in various institutions in India were accessed and described in a standardised way. Findings: The 20 repositories studied covered collections of diverse types. Most of these collections have unique content. Originality/value: The goal of this study is to study the IR software and data based on the content type, metadata and characteristics. The paper also describes the collections and some important observations from this study. (Contains 1 table and 5 figures.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the use of electronic journals from the INFONET consortium by faculty and research scholars of physics and chemistry at Kurukshetra University, India. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on the results of a questionnaire distributed to all the teachers and research scholars of the two departments. Findings: The main findings are that the respondents are more attracted towards e-journals than print journals. However, they depend more on open-source materials than those available via INFONET. Respondents also identified the need for training in using e-resources and retrieving information from them from time-to-time. Originality/value: The use of e-resources, particularly e-journals, is increasing in the developing countries. Studies such as this one are required to understand the problems faced by the users and to increase the use of e-resources. (Contains 17 tables.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the functional attributes of the automated serials control systems of the libraries in seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and provide a comparative analysis. Design/methodology/approach: Features of the serials control modules of the library management systems (LMSs) in use in the central libraries of the IITs are thoroughly studied by logging into the respective systems. Findings: The paper finds that five IITs are using LibSys and two use Virtua and Troodon for their LMS. Virtua covers most of the functional attributes that comply with the international standards, LibSys has tried to incorporate the core functionality of serials control although the compliance of standards is limited, but Troodon is lagging behind. Originality/value: The recommended attributes of the automated serials control system will definitely act as guidelines for the libraries of the IITs to upgrade their existing systems and the developers of the respective library management system software will also take the necessary initiative to make their system fool-proof by resolving the identified drawbacks. (Contains 7 tables and 2 figures.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to quantify the use of electronic journals in comparison with the print collections in the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Library. Design/methodology/approach: A detailed analysis was made of the use of lending services, the Xerox facility and usage of electronic journals such as Science Direct, Emerald Management Xtra, ACM, IEL Library, subscribed to by the Library. Findings: The paper finds that, although many more users at the University are accessing electronic journals, it is not affecting the use of the print collection. The numbers of transactions and photocopy requests of print articles are continuously on the rise. Research limitations/implications: More research can be done by carrying out a deep log analysis of usage statistics of e-journals. Usage statistics of some of the resources could not be accessed. Purpose: The paper provides useful information on the use of electronic journals in comparison with the print collections in a university library. (Contains 6 tables and 8 figures.)

Purpose: This paper aims to give a brief description of some chemistry portals available worldwide, followed by a description of the chemistry portal developed for Panjab University Library, Chandigarh (India). Design/methodology/approach: A well-structured chemistry portal was designed for chemistry and its allied departments at Panjab University based on studies of other chemistry portals worldwide. Findings: All the students, research scholars and faculty members of chemistry and allied subjects are deriving benefit from the use of this portal. Research limitations/implications: The paper provides information about chemistry portals available worldwide. However, only selected portals are presented. Moreover, the information sources included in the chemistry portal may also not be exhaustive. Practical implications: The paper would be of help to librarians who plan to develop such portals for other subjects. Originality/value: The success of the portal has led to a demand from other departments in the university for developing subject portals in their subject areas. (Contains 16 figures.)

Purpose: The paper aims to report on the 30th IATUL Annual Conference held in Leuven, Belgium, 1-4 June, 2009. Design/methodology/approach: The paper summarises the major themes of the conference as well as giving some specific details of developments at the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India, which supplement the author's presentation at the conference. Findings: The IATUL conference included a wide gamut of important issues faced by the libraries in the knowledge society of the twenty-first century. The delegates exchanged ideas and learnt of best practices prevalent in libraries across the globe. The conference provided insights into the issues of innovation, change, benchmarking, quality assurance, Web 2.0 tools, information literacy, free internet resources and so forth. Originality/value: It was a conference of immense value for library and information professionals. It raised important issues; problems faced by the libraries today and offered tentative solutions. (Contains 1 figure.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system in Pune University Library. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides a brief overview of background of the project, barriers faced and changes that have been experienced after the implementation of the technology. Findings: At the initial stage the library is facing problems with regard to the lack of availability of technology experts in the library for the RFID system and also for the software. Later on the library applied some solutions and tried to minimise the problems and now it has proved to be a boon for the library. Originality/value: The paper provides insight for other academic libraries wishing to implement an RFID system.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the initiative of the University Grants Commission of India in setting up the Infonet Digital Library Consortium (The Information and Library Network) in order to provide access to scholarly communication to the academic community in India. Design/methodology/approach: The context of higher education in India and the expansion and establishment of universities under the five-year plan is given along with details of e-resources that are being provided. The usage trends of e-resources from various publishers during 2004-2007 are detailed. Findings: The paper finds that there has been a qualitative increase in overall usage, but use is also dependent on a high-bandwidth connection. Originality/value: The study provides evidence of increased use of consortial services for access to e-resources in Indian higher education.

Purpose: The paper seeks to provide a comparative analysis of the functionality of five web-based OPACs available in Indian academic libraries. Design/methodology/approach: Same-topic searches were carried out by three researchers on the web-based OPACs of Libsys, VTLS's iPortal, NewGenLib, Troodon, and Alice for Windows, implemented in five academic libraries in India. Their functionality was compared using criteria selected from the literature on OPAC searching. Findings: The web-based OPACs investigated offered a range of facilities for searching by author, title, control number and by keywords. Federated searching across several e-collections was limited. Originality/value: This paper should be a useful source of information to librarians who are planning to introduce web-based OPACs and also for software vendors who wish to improve the functionality of their products.

Purpose: To describe how an institutional repository (IR) was set up, using open source software, at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur. Members of the IIT can publish their research documents in the IR for online access as well as digital preservation. Material in this IR includes instructional materials, records, data sets, electronic theses, dissertations, annual reports, as well as published papers. This opens up the world of scholarly publishing in a way that causes re-examination of many of the current practices of scholarly communication and publishing. Design/methodology/approach: Details of the hardware and software requirements are provided along with information about available open source software. The steps involved in uploading and submitting material in the IR are described. Findings: This paper provides evidence on how to set up an IR and how to create different communities and, under each community, many collections using the DSpace software. It was found that setting up an IR is very simple but its maintenance is very difficult. One person needs to have the computer knowledge, particularly in the Linux operating system environment and must be dedicated to carry out the IR administrative activities like registration, permission authenticity, submission and grant, installation of the updating version of the software, etc. Research limitations/implications: Before setting up an IR, the institution should have sufficient funds to acquire computer hardware and other related software, and computer knowledgeable manpower. It can also be noted that after setting up a successful IR, the administrator must train the faculty members and research scholars regarding the proper uploading and submitting of metadata into the repository. Practical implications: Guidelines are provided to assist those in setting up an IR. Appropriate staff are required to administer and run the IR smoothly. Originality/value: An IR provides the IIT with a central and cost-effective facility for the orderly and systematic archiving of research results and other documents that is accessible worldwide. Eventually, the library hopes to build a full IR, and make the resource available to other sites using a data harvesting protocol like OAI-PMH. This paper gives an idea that setting set up interoperable IRs among the same type of institutions in a particular state or country enables data to be transferred through OAI-PMH protocol from one IR to another.

Purpose; The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of information communication technology (ICT) in 31 college libraries in Karnataka, India by investigating the ICT infrastructure, current status of library automation, barriers to implementation of library automation and also librarians' attitudes towards the use of ICT. Design/methodology/approach: Data-gathering tools used included questionnaire, observation and informal interview with selected college librarians. Findings: Application of ICT in Indian college libraries has not reached a very high level. Lack of budget, lack of manpower, lack of skilled staff and lack of training are the main constraints for not automating library activities. Even though library professionals have shown a positive attitude towards the use of ICT applications and library automation, they need extensive and appropriate training to make use of ICT tools. Originality/value: This is a comprehensive study on the use of ICT in Indian college libraries. Its findings should help college librarians, local government and also the University Grants Commission, New Delhi. (Contains 9 tables.)