GOA UNIV'S 110,000 BOOKS GO ONTO AN INTRANET

By Frederick Noronha

Goa University's 110,000 books and thousands of
journal abstracts have gone on-line within the campus,
and plans are afoot to soon place this resource on the
Internet.

Currently, the listing of all these knowledge
resources can be accessed from different parts of the
university, through an intranet (local network).

"Our entire collection can be browsed (checked via
computer) from the different departments of the
university. We've set up an intranet (local network),
and not an Internet because we don't yet have higher
bandwidth," said Goa University librarian Dr P.V.
Konnur.

This makes Goa University one of the few institutions
to make available all its book 'holdings' on computer.


"We got the database prepared in three months time,"
said Konnur. Some 40 data-entry workers took up the
job, which was handed out to the ITIL firm. In
addition some 25 library staff also keyed-in the
books' records to prepare their library for the
twentyfirst century.

Collect librarians from affiliated colleges across the
state were also invited to help. Some 20 came forward.

It may be recalled that UK-based librarian of Goan
origin, Eddie Fernandes, who is active on the Internet
and works at the University College-London, had
earlier proposed that all institutions in Goa
collaborate to have a common format in which they
would put out their books' listings on the Internet.

This would make books on Goa extremely accessible,
to researchers in Goa and across the world too. In
addition, it would help different institutions in the
state -- like the Central Library or the Xavier Centre
of Historical Research -- to collaborate and share
their resources by way of books.

Books on Goa are often hard to find, and researchers
both here and elsewhere can sometimes have a tough
time locating information that they need on this
state.

On the Goa University intranet, there is information
about the library itself -- its 'holdings', automated
services and future plans.

There is also information about two major collections
that have been donated by private individuals -- the
Dr Pissulelkar Collection and the Nuno Gonsalves
Collection.

Both these together contain a total of some 7000
books, quite a few of which are rare publications
dating back to the nineteenth century or earlier on
subjects like Portuguese-Goa colonial relations or
trade.

Because of technical limitations, these collections
have been typed in English, and the Portuguese accents
and characters need to be added to the titles.

GU's server listing all the books is situated in the
Physics Department, where it was set up and supported
by Prof Gurunandan Bhat.

Information available to all the diverse locations
on the spread-out campus include the Encyclopedia
Britannica, the Oxford English Dictionary, World
Books, History Encyclopedia, National Geographic
Archives, the Income Tax Act and the Manorama
yearbook.

Efforts are on to purchase abstracts of various
articles published in technical journal. "We spend
Rs. 30 lakh on subscribing to journals for the GU.
But still the academic community is cursing because
this is inadequate for them," says Konnur.
(Report by: Frederick Noronha)