Chapter - 4. FORSA and Consortium

Transcription

1 Chapter - 4 FORSA and Consortium

2 Chapter - 4 FORSA and Consortium 4.1 Historical background of FORSA 4.2 FORSA Introduction 4.3 Objectives of FORSA 4.4 FORSA Library Services 4.5 FORSA Members Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (lucaa) National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) Raman Research Institute (RRI) S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) 4.6 Role of FORSA 4.7 FORSA Initiatives 4.8 FORSA Libraries Online Web Catalogue 4.9 Library Consortia 4.10 Consortium and Mutual efforts 4.11 Initiatives for Library Consortia in India 97

3 Chapter - 4 FORSA and Consortium Being an ancient culture, India has a long tradition of astronomical and related activities. Modem astronomy came to India in tow with the Europeans, who needed it as a navigational and geographical aid. A number of astronomical centres have come up that seek to observe the universe in various wavelength bands, from ground and from space. In addition, theoretical studies are being carried out at various places. If the universities have lived up to their early promise, remedial action is being sought by the establishment of inter-university centres. Indian participation in the worldwide development of astronomy has been steadily growing. 4.1 Historical background of FORSA The idea of FORSA was conceived during July 1981 when library professionals of following institutes met for the first time in order to share library resources to maximum extent. 1. Centre for Advanced Studies in Astronomy (CASA), Osmania Univesity, Hyderabad 2. Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore 3. Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad 4. Radio Astronomy Centre (RAC), Ooty 5. Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore 6. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai 7. T.I.F.R. Centre, Bangalore In an effort in this direction the compilations like: Catalogue of current journals; books; annuals/reviews, non-book sources, papers published, books on order, theses, duplicates holdings were planned. 98

4 The basic objective of FORSA is to share the holdings of the Ubraries of the institutes engaged in research in astronomy and astrophysics in India. The current FORSA members are: Sr. No. Name of Institute /Organization URL Year of establish 1 Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HCRI), Allahabad Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (lucaa), Pune National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore http: //www. rri. res. in/ S. N. Hose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP), Kolkata Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai http ://www. tifr.res. in/ 1945 The FORSA members, since 1989 have generally been meeting during the annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI). FORSA members can interact and share their ideas with the astronomers from all over the India in the Joint Session during annual ASI meeting. 99

5 Tlo 1 lb" in INDIA N /\_-/ ^-C_^_JJ05.ARlfe^ V^^ "^^x. V_^ PRL* Vy ^ F TIFR. lucaa v*"^ S ^ ( NCRA J ^ y Figure 4.1: FORSA Libraries in India 100

6 A schedule of the meeting held till date is given below. 1. January 29-31, 1991 (at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad) 2. March 2-5, 1993 (at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai) 3. November 28-December 1, 1997 (at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad) 4. February 5-8, 2002 (at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune) 5. July 28-30, 2003 (at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) 6. July 26-27, 2004 (at National Centre for Radio Astronomy, Pune). 4.2 FORSA Introduction Due to proliferation of information, in the early 1980s, library professionals working in the Institutes where astronomy was one of the main thrust areas of research felt the need to come together and to form a forum, which can act as a springboard for sharing and exchange of information. The sheer necessity brought all like-minded astronomy librarians in the country together and a first meeting was held at Raman Research Institute, Bangalore and informally launched '"Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy and Astrophysics'"- FORSA with a vision and mission to share resources held in each library. FORSA members meet every year, in conjunction with Annual Meeting of the Astronomical Society of India. A noteworthy feature of such meetings is that FORSA members interact with the astronomers in the Joint Session, in which developments in library and information handling activities in the field of astronomy/astrophysics are presented and comments from users are solicited to improve and expand library services 101

7 4.3 Objectives of FORSA The following are the objectives of FORSA Forum: Collection Development in JT Environment; Facilitate e-access to Journals and Books; Actively participate in Resource Sharing, ILL; Document delivery by Fax, , Speed post, Courier, etc. Database merging of library holdings (Books/Journals) and facilitate access to merged database; Digitization of archival materials of the institute and making it available on website for access by all; To facilitate access to website of each institutes library; Participate actively in Consortia Plans for sharing e-joumals, e-books and other databases with various Publishers and academic societies publications and joining existing consortia where forum members are benefited; To come forward for "Open Access" and lo develop institutional repositories; To welcome new members of institutes where astronomy is one of the subjects of study and library has collection pertaining to the subject. 4.4 FORSA Library Services The following arc the Library Services of FORSA Forum: Access to automated book catalogue; Access to on-line journals (including those subscribed through institutional and consortia); Active participation by all members in resource sharing, interlibrary loan; Document Delivery (by , speed post, courier and fax). 4.5 FORSA Members All the FORSA members are described here in details: Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) The government of Uttar Pradesh established an observatory in 1954 at Benaras. It was later shifted to Naini Tal in 1955 when Vainu Bappu was its Chief 102

8 Astronomer. Sinvhal, who succeded Bappu, acquired a I-meter Zeiss telescope. The observatory also has a 15 inch and a 20-inch reflector with folded Cassegrain and Coudc foci for solar work. The observing program includes photoelectric photometry of variable stars, comets, and occultation work. In 1977, during the occultation of SAO by Uranus, observers at Naini Tal detected the ring system around this planet. ARIES is an autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for front Hne researches in astronomy, astrophysics and atmospheric physics and related areas. It offers challenging opportunities to motivated researchers in theory, observation and instrumentation. Area of Research: Solar Physics, Molecular and Atomic absorption lines in the Solar atmosphere, Solar activities, Comets and Planetary Physics, Stellar Physics, Stellar Population, Variable Stars, Gamma-Ray Bursts, Galactic and Globular Clusters, Galaxies, Dark Matter, Active Galactic Nuclei. Its library has been steadily building up through the years and is now known to be libraries amongst those belonging to any similar scientific research institutions in the country. The Library acquires books and journals mainly related to A&A and Atmospheric Sciences although from time to time reference books are also acquired. The number of institutions on the exchange list is about 100 now. The number of documents an exchange publication are about 48,500. Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Othe resources Facilities provided for users LIBSYS Non-book materials 3000 Vols. Xerox, Microfiche reader, Lamination, Online journals on internet 103

9 4.5.2 Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) Harish-Chandra Research Institute is a research institution, named after the mathematician Harish-Chandra, and located in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. It is an autonomous institute, funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. Research at HRI is focussed Theoretical Physics. on Mathematics and The Institute has a graduate programme, conducted jointly with the University of Allahabad, and with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), leading to the Ph.D. degree. Admissions to the graduate program take place through a Joint Entrance Screening Test, which is organized in collaboration with several other institutions, and an interview. Further, the Institute offers postdoctoral fellowships, and visiting positions at various levels. HRI seeks to expand its activities. New additions arc made to the faculty every year. HRI expect the faculty strength to rise the current phase of development. The number of graduate students, and of post-doctoral fellows, will increase correspondingly. HRI library contains one of the best collections in the country, in the fields of mathematics and physics. Library's operations are automated, and electronic access to several journals is available. It provides a web enabled On Line Public Access catalogue (OPAC) services to its users." Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Facilities provided for users LIBSYS Xerox, Online journals on internet, Web OPAC, Video Lectures Archives Indian Institute of Astrophysics (II A) The Indian Institute of Astrophysics is a premier national centre at Bangalore devoted to research in astronomy, astrophysics and related physics. It traces its 104

10 origin back to an observatory set up in 1786 at Madras whieh from the year 1792 began to formally function at its Nungambakkam premises as the Madras Observatory. In 1971 the old Madras and Kodaikana! Observatory were made into a single autonomous research institution. The solar observations continued to be performed at Kodaikanal. New instruments had been added over the years - a large solar telescope with a high dispersion spectrograph, a coronagraph, and a monochromatic heliograph. The solar telescope now has a photoelectric magnetograph to make fine measurements of magnetic and velocity fields in the sun. This observatory has sent out several expeditions to observe solar eclipses. Optical observations of stars and galaxies are conducted from Kavalur in Tamil Nadu. The 20-inch Grubb reflector that was acquired from the Maharaja Takhtasingji Observatory was tranferred from Kodaikanal to Kavalur. After Bappu became the director a 30-inch reflector was added to the observatory for photoelectric photometry. During Bappu's directorship a 2.3 meter telescope was designed and fabricated indigeneously. This telescope is used at prime (f/3.25) and cassegrain (f/13) focii for imaging and medium resolution spectroscopy using CCD detectors. There is also a 1-meter Carl Zeiss telescope used for CCD imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy. IIA is a premier national centre devoted to research in astronomy, astrophysics and related physics. Areas of Research are Solar physics, Solar system research, Stellar physics, Galactic Astronomy, High Energy Astrophysics, Cosmology, Solar Terrestrial Physics and Instrumentation. Its Library is more than 200 years old and has a rich collection of books and journals in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Some of the astronomical journals start from volume 1 dating back to the nineteenth century. The library has most of the old observatory publications. They form an important part of the collection as many astronomical catalogues are published here which are still used by our scientists. 105

11 In addition to the subscribed journals, the Hbrary receives observatory publications from 75 institutes, and observatories newsletters from 23 institutes and Annual Reports from 22 organizations from all over the world. The library also has a good preprint collection. It receives preprints from 50 institutions. Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Microfiche Collection Facilities provided for users LIBSYS Reference service, Xerox, Inter Library Loan, Microfiche reader-printer, journal article search, FTP sci'vice, Internet search Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (lucaa) The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics is an autonomous institution set up by the University Grants Commission in 1989 at Pune to promote nucleation and growth of active groups in Astronomy and Astrophysics in Indian universities. lucaa aims at being a centre for excellence within the university sector for teaching, research and development in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The Functions of lucaa Basic Research: Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics and related areas. Advanced Research Workshops and Schools: Meetings with small participants (15-20) in specialized subject areas centred around the lectures of a visiting expert Visitors and Associates Programme: Visiting scientists and students as well as faculty members of universities/colleges coming for academic activities and usage of lucaa facilities. 106

12 Refresher Courses: 3-5 weeks lecture and practical courses providing subject update and reference material to university and college faculty members. Helping Nucleation of A&A in Universities: Guidance on syllabi and experiments in A & A, help with instrumentation, advice or writing project proposals, etc. M.Sc, Ph.D. Programmes: In-house training of Ph.D. students, teaching specific lecture courses to M.Sc. students, inter-university graduate school, etc. Interaction with GMRT: Involving the university faculty and students in the use of Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope. Guest Observer Programmes: Inducting university academics into observing programmes using national and international facilities The main areas of research are Astronomy and Astrophysics, General Relativity and Gravitation, Artificial Neural Networks, Astronomical Instrumentation, Classical and Quantum gravity, Cosmology and Structure Formation, Detection of Gravitational Waves, Extra-galactic A&A, Elliptical Galaxies, Formation of Large Scale Structure, Galactic Astrophysics, Galactic Dynamics, Interstellar Turbulence, Quasars, Solar system and Stellar Physics, and Simulations. Though the library of this institute is new, it has succeeded in building up a very good collection of books and journals in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The majority of astronomy journals are received by airmail at lucaa.' Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Facilities provided for users SLIM ++ References Services, CAS, SDI, ILL, Reprography, Online access of e- joumals (full text) to users 107

13 4.5.5 National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) The NCRA was established in 1989 at Pune, which is fiindcd by the Government of India through Department of Atomic Energy. NCRA of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a leading centre for research in a wide range of areas in astronomy and astrophysics. NCRA also offers exciting opportunities to work in technical aspects relevant for radio astronomy such as analog and digital electronics, signal processing, antenna design, communication and software development. NCRA has built and operates the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), which is located approximately 80 km north ofpunc, India and is the most powerfiil radio telescope operating at low radio frequencies. It is a national facility and is being used by astronomers across the world, leading to several significant discoveries. NCRA has also built and operates the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) which is a large cylindrical telescope located near Udhagamandalam, India. Its Library has a wide collection of materials on radio astronomy and astrophysics. This institute is located in University of Pune campus, Pune. The library has a large collection of books on Astronomy, Astrophysics, Mathematics, Physics. Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. The library aims to develop a comprehensive collection of books on A&A that is useful for the academic members and research scholars. The major objective of the library is to organise the collection and make it available to the users at NCRA, Pune and GMRT, Khodad. The NCRA library acquires books for the NCRA, GMRT and RAC, Ooty libraries. The library uses SLIM software version 3.0 for all the library operations. The library database is available on the intranet for the library users at NCRA and GMRT. 108

14 Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Facilities provided for users SLIM ++ Digital photocopying facility, ILL, CAS/SDI services, High End scanner to scan documents, Computer with internet connectivity for searching library resources and online resources available on web Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) Founded in 1947 by Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai, The Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad had a modest beginning at his residence, the retreat, with research on cosmic rays. There is a 48-inch telescope at Gurushikhar on Mt. Abu, The telescope is operated by the Physical Research Laboratory and is used mainly for infrared work. They have a 256 x 256 pixel HgCd array detector for 2 micron imaging. The observing program includes spectroscopy and polarimetry. PRL also has a solar observatory in Udaipur. h has a 12-ft solar telescope on a small island in the midst of Fateh Sagar Lake, The observatory is involved in high resolution chromospheric and photospheric studies of flares. The Laboratory was formally established on November 11, 1947, in the M. G. Science College, Ahmedabad, with support from the Karmkshetra Educational Foundation and the Ahmedabad Education Society. The initial focus was research on Cosmic Rays and the properties of the Upper Atmosphere. Research in Theoretical Physics and Radio Physics were added later with grants from the Atomic Energy Commission. PRL library has been an important part of the laboratory for many years. It is responsible for the collection development and processing for the libraries in all the four campuses of PRL, PRL Main Campus, Thaltej, Mt. Abu and Ddaipur 109

15 Solar Observatory. It has an extensive and valuable collection of publications in the fields of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Space and Geosciences; Theoretical Physics including Nuclear, Plasma, High Energy, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics and Quantum Optics and Quantum Information. The collection consists of rich selection of Books, Journals, Reports, Data, CDs, Theses and other articles in various forms. It is subscribing to few e-books from Springer. It is the first library in India to initiate automation in the early sixties with the development of the Mechanized Indexing using the first IBM-1620 computer. Since then the library systems and services have grown tremendously. With the acquiring of the LIBSYS software, the circulation desk and all its functions have been automated. The current awareness service now includes intimation of new arrivals of books through e- mail. The library also provides the Web OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog). PRL library is in the process of establishing a digital library, which will include the PRL archive and its repository. The PRL publications and PRL doctoral theses from 1995 onwards are being digitized. Almost 1000 papers and 25 theses have been made available over the LAN. Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Facilities provided for users LIBSYS Xeroxing, Microfilm reader, INSPEC search, CAS/SDI,ILL Raman Research Institute (RRI) The Raman Research Institute was founded by Nobel laureate Sir C.V.Raman in 1948 at Bangalore with hands from private sources. The main activity of the institute was basic research in selected areas of physics, which were of particular interest to Prof Raman. The institute owes its origin to action of government of Mysore in gifting to the Indian Academy of Sciences a plot of land in Bangalore 110

16 in December In the year 1956, Prof. Raman made an irrevocable gift to the Indian Academy of Sciences, of various movable and immovable properties for the use and the benefit of the Raman Research Institute. The Raman Research Insdtute and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics jointly operate a large low frequency (-35 MHz) array at Gauribidnur. The telescope is being used for studies of the Sun, Jupiter, HII regions, our Galaxy, and external galaxies. In 1970, The Indian Academy of Sciences created in July 1971 a public charitable educational trust by the name RRI Trust. The Academy transferred to the trust the lands, buildings, deposits, securities, bank deposits, moneys, laboratories, instruments and other movable and immovable properties held by it for the purpose of RRI. One of the main objectives of the RRI Trust is principally to maintain, conduct and sustain the Raman Research Institute. The institute was reorganized in 1972 and started receiving funds from the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. The institute is administered by a Governing Council. Currently, the main areas of research are Astronomy and Astrophysics, Liquid Crystals, Theoretical Physics and Optics. After the institute's activities enlarged from 1972 onwards, library's collection developed in the new areas of research activities. Its collection is strong in the areas of astronomy and astrophysics, theoretical physics, optics and liquid crystals. Apart from these subjects, there are books on computer science, electronics, scientific biographies, general science, nature and fine arts. It has also a collection of non-book materials like scientific slides, CD-ROMs and sky surveys (both on paper and CD-ROMs), audio and video tapes. The Library participates in inter library networking activities and has a good rapport with the libraries in the city as well as outside. It is used not only by the scientists of this institute but also by others belonging to Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific 111

17 Research, National Aerospace Laboratory, National Center for Biological Sciences and TIFR Center. o Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Library publications Facilities provided for users LIBSYS List of additions (forthnightly), List of journals received (daily), List of journals subscribed, Serials holding list. Memoirs ofrri Reference service. Reprography, Translation, ILL, Informal SDI service, Daily science news (on internal network), new paper clipping service S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences Established in 1986 at Kolkata as an autonomous institution by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The library of S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences i.e. SNB Library strives to evolve as a model and leading basic sciences library in eastern India. The collection comprises of documents in the fields of Physics, Astrophysics, Quantum Mechanics, Solid States, Optics, Particle Physics, Mechanics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Electronics, Laser, Chemistry, Biology, Material Science, Nano Science and Technology. It is primarily intended for the faculty, staff members, consultants, scholars, and students of S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences. However, outside users" viz., professionals, bona fide research scholars, bona fide students, etc. also make use of the library. It has resource sharing arrangements with other similar organizations in IColkata. 112

18 Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Facilities provided for users LIBSYS Lending, Reservation, Reference service. Reprography, Newspaper Reading, Publishing, Lamination, Spinal binding services. Colour printing Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) The Institute grew out of the Palit Research Laboratory in Physics of the University of Calcutta (CU). Professor M N Saha came back from Allahabad in 1938 to succeed Prof. D M Bose in the PaJit Chair of Physics. In the discovery of Nuclear Fission by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman in 1939, he had seen immense potential of nuclear science for betterment of the country. Soon after laying of the Foundation Stone for the building by Dr Syamaprasad Mookerjee, The Institute of Nuclear Physics was founded in 1949 at Kolkata.. Some time after this the Institute was renamed as Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. The Library was set up in 1950 with a budget of a few thousand rupees and a generous donation of books and periodicals. Indian Science News Association, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and the National Institutes of Science in India made gifts of periodicals. The Library has the Libsys 4.0 (with the Web OPAC) software installed on a Linux platform to help access the Library Databases using any standard browser. On-line access to journals is available to the institute members only. Journal sharing facility exists among a few Libraries in Kolkata. The Library offers its reading room service to the outsiders on appropriate registration

19 Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of reports No. of CD-ROMs Library Software used Facilities provided for users LIBSYS Reference service. Reprography, ILL, User notification regarding reserved books Online facilities, Access to e- joumals. Automated issue return, CD- Rom online of books, Current content through OVID Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) TIFR was established at Mumbai in 1945 at the initiative of Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha. The Institute is proud to have produced many of the finest scientists of India who have been involved in seminal research in fields ranging from Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics and Science Education as well as some aspects of Public Health. Scientists working in various disciplines at TIFR grouped into three major schools: the School of Mathematics, the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Technology and Computer Science. The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education at Deonar, Bombay; The National Centre for Radio Astrophysics at Pune and The National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore also form a part of TIFR activities. The School of Mathematics has research interests in areas like Algebra, Algebraic Geometry, Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, Algebraic Groups, Representation Theory and Quantum Groups, Theory of Numbers, Combinatorics, Differential Geometry and Topology, Real and Complex Analysis, Ergodic Theory, Probability Theory on Groups and Mathematical Physics. In addition to the research laboratories, the facilities of TIFR include: A large library in India with more than one hundred thousand books and journals in its collection. The library is fully computerized and provides microfilm, microfiche, audio - video and compact disk reading facilities. 114

20 A powerful central computing facility together with individually assigned personal computers and workstations for computation, control and monitoring of experiments and data analysis. A network connected to the world grid through high speed communication networks. A liquid helium facility for very low temperature experimental studies. A large workshop and glass blowing section for manufacturing high precision instruments. Pioneering work done in the Institute in several areas has resulted in the establishment of new National organizations such as the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) and the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST). ]n addition, several projects for which technology was developed at the Institute were transferred to the industry and other departments of the Government of India. TiFR library continues to add latest published literature to its collection supporting the research programs of Institute and has received national acclaim for its quality. It serves not only TIFR members, but also researchers from other institutes in the country. II Library Holding and Services No. of books No. of Journal Holdings No. of Current Subscription Library Software used Facilities provided for users LIBSYS Xeroxing, Web OPAC, CD Mirror Server, Digital Library, all other traditional Library and Information Services. 4.6 RolcofFORSA FORSA playing an important role for astronomy and astrophysics community in India. FORSA Libraries subscribe to 23 journals (published by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group) in astronomy and astrophysics in both print and electronic format. Electronic access to these journals has an added advantage for the remote 115

21 information seekers. The recently fonncd consortium of astronomy libraries facilitates the astronomical community getting access to additional electronic journals within their campuses. 4.7 FORSA Initiatives 1. Providing the facility of e-access to 23 e-joumals. 2. Entered in to consortia subscription for the journals published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherland. 3. Entered into consortia subscription with Nature Publishing Group for Nature Online. 4. All FORSA members are having their own library webpage. 5. Initiative for merged Database of FORSA Libraries, which will be accessible and searchable on the internet. 6. Directory of FORSA members being regularly updated. 7. The FORSA members meet once every two year during the meeting of the Astronomical Society of India, which gives the opportunity to interact with the astronomers from all over the India and to implement the suggestions and comments received from them. 8. FORSA webpage gives the information about the member's library and links to individual library web pages. 9. Actively participating for Resource Sharing among members Future Initiatives 1. Implementation of a merged database of FORSA member libraries searchable on the internet. 2. Additional consortia subscription initiatives. 3. To organise workshop/seminars at regular interval to keep update in this field. 4. Regular Meeting of all the FORSA Librarians at least once in a year, which may be rotate among Member Institutions. 116

22 4.8 FORSA Libraries Online Web Catalogue The following member libraries of FORSA have merged their books catalogue using LIBSYS software, and the access to this merged database is available at, URL: The participating libraries are 1. Indian Institute of Astrophysics (11 A) 2. Inter University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (lucaa) 3. National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) 4. Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) 5. Raman Research Institute (RRl) LIBSYS Users Meet: RRI hosted LIBSYS users meet on June 25, About 40 delegates participated in the meeting representing from 23 organizations from the southern region. The proposal to initiate LIBSYS Users Forum in the form of an discussion list under consideration. 4.9 Library Consortia A consortium is a group of libraries coming together with common interests. One of the libraries or agencies works as coordinator for each publisher, negotiation, legal matters, etc. One definition of Library consortia could be the "coming together of libraries to achieve a common goal that is beyond what an individual library could achieve on its own". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, consortium means a "temporary cooperation of a number of powers, companies etc. for a common purpose. It is an association of similar type of organization/institution who are engaged for producing and servicing the common things/for providing services for a specific purpose of its users." According to the Cambridge Online Dictionary, a consortium is "an organization of several businesses or banks joining together as a group for a shared purpose". The aim of consortia is to achieve what the members of the group cannot achieve individually. A library consortium is a collective activity to provide shared expertise, access to new electronic and print resources, professional development, and new sources of funds. With more and more library users turning to their 117

23 desktop computers for infomiation, the libraries are also redefining their role by adapting to state-of-the-art technology. The need for e-joumals has created the necessity for the librarians to change their role of keeper of the library documents to that of a navigator of information Consortium and Mutual efforts According to Kopp, the word "consortium'" is a good word for libraries, as it combines the past with the present and the future. It is not only derived from Latin, but also retains its Latin form and structure. In modem usage, the word was first adopted in the seventeenth century in relation to the association and fellowship between husband and wife. In law the term still applies to the husband and wife relationship. Although the exact date for the first use of the term library consortium is not clear, it can be said that the concept of consortium as association or partnership has long been a tenet of librarianship, generally encompassed in the terms cooperation, coordination, and collaborafion. Furthermore, futuristic view of library cooperation in a paper "One for all: a historical sketch of library co-operation, " that was included in the 1939 symposium on "The Library of Tomorrow'" organized by the ALA. The formation of a consortium was an attractive solution to many institutions since it addressed a number of longstanding processes and problems. The role of consortia in sharing expertise about library automation was another reason for their growth. In the introduction to Guidelines for Library Cooperation, Ruth Patrick provides similar observations on cooperation among libraries to those mentioned earlier. She notes. "Inter!ibrary cooperation is not a new phenomenon. Awareness of the vast and growing world literature, in relation to the holdings and resources of any single library, has fostered among librarians as acute appreciation of the interdependence of most of the nation's libraries and of the requirement for some level of cooperation. Academic libraries have proposed cooperative ventures long before the other parts of their institutions expressed any interest in such ventures, 118

24 and intcrlibrary cooperative arrangements have often been one of the more productive areas of inter institutional agreements." 4.11 Initiatives for Library Consortia in India Until some years ago, academic Hbraries could subscribe to a reasonable number of journals in different disciplines. Due to rising costs and unfavorable foreign exchange rates, it has now become impossible for most libraries to be able to subscribe to periodicals, which has caused grave difficulties for university faculty, research students and other users. Indian universities are not able to maintain the subscription even for core journals due to the ever-increasing cost of journal subscriptions in all disciplines. This situation appears to be irreversible because the cost of subscriptions isrising at a higher rate than the increase in grants to the university libraries New Developments Over the last several years, much of the periodical literature has become accessible electronically over the Internet. At the same time computers, reasonable communication bandwidth and access to the Internet have become available to some university departments. This availability is expected to increase enormously over the next years because of the initiatives undertaken by the University Grants commission (UGC) to provide computer, networking and Internet access to universities and colleges. It should therefore be possible for departments to electronically access periodicals, and a mechanism must be created by which such access is made available to everyone in a robust manner UGC-INFONET Consortium With globalization of education and competitive research the demand for the journals has increased over the years. Due to scarcity of funds, libraries have been forced to discontinue the scholariy journals, which have great impact to the users. In order to provide the current literature to academia, UGC has initiated the UGC- INFONET: E-joumal consortium. Timely initiative of UGC is a great boon to academia in the country, which enables them to access large number of scholariy 119

25 journals from reputed publishers, aggregators and society publications. Under the consortium, about 4000 full text scholarly electronic journals from 25 publishers across the globe can be accessed. The consortium provides current as well as archival access to core and peer-reviewed journals in different disciplines. The whole programme has been implemented in different phases. So far 100 Universities out of 171 Indian Universities, which come under the purview of UGC, have been provided access to these journals and it will gradually be extended to affdiated colleges as well. It covers almost all areas of learning like Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical and Chemical Sciences, Life Sciences, Computer Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics Indian Digital Library in Engineering Science and Technology (INDEST) Consortium Indian National Digital Library in Engineering Sciences & Technology (INDEST) Consortium is a major initiative under of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India for 38 institutions in the area of technology and applied sciences. The major institutions covered under this consortium are all IIT's, IISc, REC's, llm's, etc., mostly covered under AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). INDEST Consortium is providing access of 16 Full Text e- resources and 7 Bibliographic Databases to 166 institutions as members who are taking advantage of cost effective access of premier resources in Engineering Science and Technology including Astronomy and Astrophysics. Member institutions could access to over 6500 e-joumals from 1092 publishers. Out of these, over 150 e-joumals are exclusively for astronomy and physics community.. This consortium allows other institutions with similar objectives to join together for getting the better pricing for the databases being subscribed FORSA Libraries Consortia: FORSA came into existence in the year 1982, for sharing the resources available in astronomy libraries in the country. In this consortium, Subscription for print and electronic format are paid through the supplier. The agreement is meant for only astronomy journals published by a particular publisher. As per this agreement 120

26 each member maintains its own print subscriptions and with an additional 12% of its print subscription can access the journals subscribed by other libraries electronically. The entire negotiation was based on the number of the print journals. It is a win-win situation for both the members and the publisher in terms of decreased cost for electronic access to members and more number of journals at same price. FORSA consortium has concluded a consortium deal recently, to access the journal Nature and working out a consortium deal with Blackwell Science for the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). The most important point of this consortium is that the members are not burdened with subscribing to peripheral journals, which is a standard feature 18 of'bundling-together" by publishers. 121

27 References 1. Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy and Astrophysics. (Available from: (Accessed on March 03, 2006). 2. Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Neonatal. (Available from: (Accessed on March 03, 2006). 3. Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad. (Available from: (Accessed on March 03, 2006). 4. Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. (Available from: (Accessed on March 04, 2006). 5. Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune. (Available from: (Accessed on March 04, 2006). 6. National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune. (Available from: (Accessed on March 05, 2006). 7. Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. (Available from: (Accessed on March 06, 2006). 8. Rainan Research Institute, Bangalore. (Available from: (Accessed on March 07, 2006). 9. S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata. (Available from: (Accessed on March 07, 2006). 10. Saha. Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata. (Available from (Accessed on March 26, 2006). 11. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. (Available from: (Accessed on March 07, 2006). 12. Oxford English Dictionary. (Available from: (Accessed on December 19, 2006). 13. Cambridge Online Diclionaiy. (Available from: (Accessed on December 19, 2006). 14. Kopp, J. "Library Consortia and Information Technology: The past, the present, the promise." Infonnation Technology and Libraries 17(1) (1998):

28 15. Patrick, R.J. Guidelines for library cooperation: development of academic library consortia. Santa Monica, System Development Corporation, 1972; UGC Infonet E-joumal Consortium: A Gateway to Scholarly Information. (Available from: (Accessed on December 19, 2006). 17. Indian National Digital Library in Engineering Science & Technology: Networking People and Resources. (Available from: (Accessed on December 19, 2006). 18. Pathak, S K and Deshpande, N. J. "Role of FORSA in Astronomy & Astrophysics community in India." International Conference on Digital Libraries: knowledge creation, preservation, access and management. New Delhi, February 2005: