INSDOC serves as a single window in the country for providing all kinds of S&T information. Its role as the national information resources is fulfilled through the National Science Library that has a rich collection of over 1,50,000 books, reference books, back volumes of periodicals and Russian monographs. The library has one of the finest collections in the field of information science and technology in the country. It receives over 3,320 periodicals both Indian and foreign. Of this, nearly 1,200 periodicals are received in electronic form on CD-ROMs.

In addition, full text databases like the U.S. Patents Database and prominent directories are also being obtained on CD-ROM. To provide time bound information services for the corporate and business sector, INSDOC is acquiring over 800 management and business periodicals on CD-ROM. Information on market intelligence, competitors and global tenders in an area can be provided by scanning international databases.

The acquisition policy of the National Science Library stipulates acquisition of all Indian S&T monographs and periodicals. It also lays emphasis on acquiring foreign periodicals in electronic form and sharing of resources with other libraries.

Evaluating and analysing the scientific research activity of the scientists and researchers in the country is an important service of INSDOC. Indian scientists contribute nearly 40,000 R&D papers annually, of which 80% are disseminated through more than 700 S&T journals of Indian origin and the remaining of foreign origin. The bibliometric analysis of research output is based on the Science Citation Index data. Research output analysis of selected research institutes, agencies, universities and other similar bodies are also being done. Effors are also underway to create an Indian S&T Citation Index database.

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

INSDOC attaches great importance to mutual co-operation amongst various institutions in different countries and continuously works for its development. INSDOC is the National Member of the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID) from India and has been actively involved in the FID activities since 1952. The headquarters for the FID Commission for Asia and Oceania is located at INSDOC since January 1996.

INSDOC is also associated with the International Federation of Library Association and Institutions (IFLA). IFLA has been regularly sponsoring candidates for undergoing training at INSDOC. The SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC), set up at INSDOC for exchanging S&T information among SAARC nations, has been functioning since June 1994.

INSDOC is the National Centre of the ISSN International Centre for assigning ISSN numbers for serials published in India. INSDOC exchanges publications with over 150 institutions in 44 countries in the world. Distinguished experts from other countries visit INSDOC every year. INSDOC scientists also attend international conferences, seminars, workshops and training programmes.