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.
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