University/ Institutional Libraries in North Eastern Region of India
North Eastern Region (N E Region) of India has attracted attention of the government of India since two decades for overall development of the region. North Eastern Region is comprising of seven states which is popularly known as seven sisters and recently in 2001 the eight State “Sikkim’ has been included in the North Eastern Region. These states are viz., Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura.
North Eastern Region is bestowed with seven Central Universities, (Assam University, Silchar; Tezpur University, Tezpur; NEHU, Shillong; Nagaland University, Kohima; Mizoram University, Aizawl; and Manipur University, Imphal and Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunanchal Pradesh), three State Universities (Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University, and Tripura University) , two Agricultural Universities (Agricultural University, Jorhat and Central Agricultural University, Imphal,) , and few institutions of national importance like IIT, Guwahati, Sikkim Manipal Institution of Medical Science, North Eastern Regional Institute of Technology, Ita Nagar, National Institute of Technology, Silchar & Agartalla and North Eastern Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Shillong
Impact of Information Technology on University Libraries/ Institutional Libraries of N E Region of India
Most of the Library and Information Centres (LICs) of India have started using computers and Information Communication Technologies in organising their collections, housekeeping operations, processing, retrieval and dissemination of information to the end users. The use and impact of ICTs is now visible in Indian library and information centres which may be due to the drastic reduction /escalation of the cost of hardware and software and their easy availability in the markets with service support from the suppliers or venders.
The automation and networking of many universities, national institutions and other institutions of higher learning has been initiated by the national agencies dealing with information and library networks like NICNET, INFLIBNET, DELNET, CALIBNET and other metropolitan and city networks which have started developing various bibliographic databases of their holding. NICNET and ERNET have made e-mail/ Internet service available to the academic as well as in Government sectors. Some of the metropolitan and city library networks like ADINET, MALIBNET, CALIBNET, MYLIBNET, PUNNET, BONET etc. have also been initiated and couple of them have started functioning and providing various on-line services through these networks.
The impact of IT is also evident on the activities of many LICs associated with universities and other institutions of the national importance. Thanks to University Grants Commission for establishing INFLIBNET which have been playing an important role since its inception for initiating the automation and networking activities of library and information centres of universities, colleges, R&D laboratories, and various institutions of higher learning. So far 142 universities have been covered under the INFLIBNET Programme which have been funded with non-recurring grant of Rs.6.5 Lakhs for infrastructure development, purchase of computers and peripherals and recurring grants for five years to support the salary of information Scientist, data entry work, telephone charges for Internet use, and maintenance of the systems
The North Eastern India has also experienced the changes in the library automation and networking activities, which is possible mainly due to inclusion of 12 university libraries for financial assistance under INFLIBNET Programme, which made possible the initiation of Information Infrastructure Development of University Libraries and Database Creation Work for Library Automation & Networking. Besides that other institutions of national importance like IIT, Guwahati, Sikkim Manipal Institution of Medical Science, Agricultural University, Jorhat and Central Agricultural University, Imphal are getting financial assistance from their respective parent bodies and funding agencies like AICTE, ICMR and ICAR.
These universities and institutions of national importance located in this region have been catering the needs of the people of North Eastern Region and contributing in the human resource development of the region. According to the latest UGC Report there are 1230 numbers of colleges scattered throughout the NER having 120000 students and 15000 teachers. Teachers of universities have been engaged in research and development activities and have been producing qualified manpower for sustaining the economy of NER in particular and India in general.
Background of Assam University and Knowledge Resources Available in Assam University Central Library
Located in the heart of nature, the Assam University was established on January 21, 1994 at Silchar a District town of Cachar in Southern Assam by an Act XIII of the Parliament promulgated in 1989. In a short span of time, since its inception, the university has taken long strides and today it occupies its permanent campus with 31 Post-Graduate Departments and 3 Inter-Disciplinary Centres. These departments are distributed under 9 Schools Viz., School of Environmental Science, School of Humanities, School of Information Sciences, School of Languages, School of Life Sciences, School of Management Studies, School of Physical Science, School of Social Sciences and School of Technology. This University serves the aspirations of the academia and the students of the southern part of the State of Assam comprising the Districts of Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimgunj, North Cachar Hills, and Karbi Anglong. It is a teaching –cum- affiliating University having 52 colleges of Professional and Degree levels.
The Knowledge Resources available in Assam University Library have been categorized in 13 collections arranged in separate Hall. 1) Text Book Collection, 2) Social Science and Humanities Collection (including Business Studies, Commerce & Information Science), 3) Language Collection, 4) Science Collection, 5) Reference Collection, 6) Periodical Collection (Current and Back Volumes), 7) Ph.D. Theses / M. Phil Theses Collection, Master Degree Dissertations , 8)Reports and Conference Proceedings Collection, 9) Gifted Collection, 10) Donated Collection of Eminent Scholars of the Locality having important Manuscripts and rare documents, 11) North East Collection, 12) Audio-Visual Collection and, 12)Digital Collection including CD-ROM/ DVD Databases, E-Journals, Internet Resources, In-House Databases of Books, Serial, and Theses and On-Line OPAC Service
At present the library has altogether 72372 books, which includes Textbooks, General books, Reference books relating to all disciplines. Besides , A.U Library also developed special collection on North Eastern Region (NEC Collection), collection of donated books (Donated by eminent scholar Prof. Asim Dutta , Prof. R.D. Dutta and Prof. K.P. Sinha). Besides, we have some gifted books received from various organizations, Government Reports, M. Phil/Doctoral Thesis, Back volumes of journals few CD-ROM supplied with journals and books.
Research Output of Assam University, Silchar and Other University of NE Region
The expansion of universities and institutions of higher learning as evident from the above paragraphs leads to production of enormous number of research output in the form of Doctoral, M. Mhil. And Masters level Theses and Dissertations, Research Monographs, Proceedings of Seminars and Conferences, Research Reports of ongoing research projects funded by various funding agencies, valuable scholarly publications in Indian and foreign peer reviewed journals, publications , in-house publications reference books etc. Most of the in-house publications are kept in the universities in printed from and the faculty, research scholars and students can access these resources which are mainly kept and maintained in central libraries.
