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INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SERVICES IN INDIA: TRENDS AND PROSPECTS

P.B. Mangla

University of Delhi
Delhi 110007

After India won independence in 1947, the national government gave due recognition to the vital role well-organized library and information services would play in the programs of national development and reconstruction. The need for developing an effective system for information transfer became all the more essential because of factors such as (i) vast proliferations in the universe of knowledge and the resultant phenomenon of 'document explosion' in the world as a whole, and (ii) the varied and complex needs of users for information in R & D activities, and in research programs for socio-economic development of the country.

As a result, a fairly good infrastructure of library and information services has been developed in the country during the past four decades or so. To highlight some of the achievements, it may be mentioned that the country now has:

• four national libraries, viz. the National Library at Calcutta, the National Science Library and National Medical Library at Delhi and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute Library at Delhi which can also be considered as the national agricultural library,

• an infrastructure of public library services in almost all the States and Union Territories with public library legislation in seven States, viz. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Manipur and Kerala,

• libraries of varying sizes and services in colleges, universities, institutions of higher learning, research laboratories and institutions, as well as government ministries and departments,

• bibliographic control of Indian publications with the publishing of the Indian National Bibliography since 1958,

• documentation services at the national level provided by the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC), the Defence Science Information and Documentation Centre (DESIDOC) and National Social Sciences Documentation Centre (NASSDOC),

• information systems in science and technology, medical and health science, environmental services, etc. and

• educational and research facilities in library and information science in about 6O library schools.

Several institutions such as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Bombay and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) are already functioning as input centres for the international databases, INIS and AGRIS, respectively. Collaboration with several other global information programs and databases, such as UNISIST, ASTINFO, APPINESS, DIALOG has been developed so as to have access to information resources at the international level. Several special libraries and information centres provide such services as SDI, CAS, repackaging of information and referral services. Computerized information services are already extended by several special libraries in the country. The Science Information Centre at Bangalore organized by the University Grants Commission aims at providing computerized bibliographic information to teachers and other researchers in the country.

Further developments are envisaged during the period of the 8th Five-Year Plan, 1990-95. A Working Group to make recommendations for this period has already been appointed by the Planning Commission, Government of India. The two reports: one by the Planning Commission Working Group on the Modernization of Library Services and Informatics for the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-9O) submitted in 1984, and the other called National Policy on Library and Information Systems: A Presentation submitted in May, 1986 by the Committee on National Policy and Information Systems appointed by the Government of India, Department of Culture are some of the noteworthy developments in this direction.

Like several other countries, libraries, documentation centres and information centres also got established in India as independent units. Some of the institutions which have played a significant role in building up information resources and services in the country are: Indian Scientific Documentation Centre, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Electronics Commission, Indian Space Research Organization, Indian Council of Medical Research and the University Grants Commission. Some of the R & D units in industries and private institutions have also been playing an active role in this direction.

Scattered resources, inadequate communication linkages, lack of proper cooperation and coordination have however been some of the weak points of these libraries, documentation centres and information centres. Though the need for developing systems of cooperation and coordination between them had always been emphasized yet it was only during the mid-1970's that concrete steps were taken in this direction. The underlying need for developing inter-linkages between them has been emphasized in order to: (i) develop programmes of sharing of resources and services so as to minimize duplication and maximize the utilization of financial resources and other facilities, and (ii) provide access to their resources so that any user living anywhere may have the required information at a time when he needs it and in a form that would best suit his purpose. Some of the developments in the country during the past few years in telecommunication and information technology which provide optimism for vast activities in this direction are: (i) use of satellite communication technology, and (ii) increasing availability of microprocessors, P.C.'s and growth of indigenous computer industry.

It may be added that the national investment on R & D and related science and technology activities in the country during 1986-87 is estimated to be of the order of about l.l per cent of the GNP. The number of personnel employed in R & D institutions including those in R & D units of public and private industries in 1986 were about 241,000. The total number of scientific and technical personnel in the country has grown from 188 thousand in 1950 through 731 thousand in 1965 to 1783 thousand in 1980. Also significant achievements have been made in the country in agricultural research and industrialization including small scale industries both in public and private sectors.

These developments highlight the need for organizing information systems and services so as to serve different user-groups with wide variations in levels of education and interests in the country. Some of these are discussed in the following sections.

In the overall context of Unesco's programs UNISIST and NATIS, the Government of India in 1971 made a request to Unesco for a short-term mission of a consultant for advising the Government about the establishment of an information network in Science and Technology in the country. Dr. Peter Lazar, who worked as a consultant submitted a report on NISSAT in 1972. At the Government level, the proposal for establishing NISSAT under

the Department of Science and Technology (DST) was duly recommended by the Panel Group for the Information Sector of the high-powered apex body called the National Committee on Science and Technology (NCST) for the Five-Year Plan 1974-79 and its implementation was finally authorized in early 1977. With the reorganization of the Government of India in 1985, NISSAT was put under the charge of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in the Ministry of Science and Technology. NISSAT, which is rather a program than an information system as such, was formally launched in September, 1977. It is being implemented as a decentralized network involving standardized and mutually compatible systems for collection, storage and dissemination of information. The NISSAT headquarter at present functions as the national focal point in the field of Scientific and Technical Information.

The overall objectives of NISSAT are to interlink and coordinate a large number of systems, sources and services into an effective information network under a coordinating agency. Gaps in information sources and services are to be identified and filled up accordingly. Internationally compatible national standards and guidelines for information-handling techniques are to be evolved and applied to facilitate interchange of information at national and international levels.

One of the guiding principles of NISSAT has been to make maximum exploitation of the existing resources and facilities, particularly in view of the usual financial constraints for the program. The system has already taken steps to integrate and coordinate the existing sources and facilities and to fill up the gaps rather than to duplicate them or to build up new ones. Some of the existing information centres and services were upgraded whenever required by providing additional inputs from NISSAT so that services at the national level could be offered by these centres.

The SICs are expected to meet the information needs concerning a particular discipline, mission or product. A SIC should coordinate its activities with the other relevant information centres called Local Information Units (LIUS) in that particular field.

A SIC has therefore to be part of a national level research laboratory engaged in R & D work in that particular discipline, mission or product so that services of subject specialists would also be available for various jobs such as abstracting, information analysis, etc. This would also help in a better utilization of the information facilities and products created by the Centre.

The main functions of these SICs include all those areas concerned with the planning, coordination and cooperation of their activities as well as acquisition, organization and dissemination of information to the clientele.

The following five Sectoral Centres have been established up until now, the first four in 1977 and the fifth one in 1981:

(1) National Information Centre for Leather and Applied Industries (NICLAI) at the Central Leather Research Institute, Madras.

(2) National Information Centre for Food Services and Technology (NICFOS) at the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore.

(3) National Information Centre for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (NICMAP) at the Central Machine Tools Institute, Bangalore.

(4) National Information Centre for Drugs and pharmaceuticals (NICDAP) at the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow.

(5) National Information Centre for Crystallography (NICRYS) at the Institute of Crystallography, Madras.

Some of the other areas in which such centres will be established in future are: Small Scale Industries, Textiles, Minerals, Chemicals and Aeronautics.

Also, the Local Information Units (LIUs) as envisaged in the original plan for each SIC would be identified and supported so as to help in developing a national network of information services in that particular field.

During the past 10 years these SICs have been provided financial support by NISSAT so as to augment their equipment facilities, information resources and publication activities. Each of these centres has consequently built up large document collections and has acquired a wide range of equipment items such as plain-paper copier, microfiche reader-printer and processing system, off-set printing system etc. In addition some of them have acquired their own computer system (e.g. NICFOS and NICDAP) or use the computer facilities of their parent organization (e.g. NICMAP) or make use of the one available in some other institutions locally (e.g. NICLAI uses the facility at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras).

Each of the first four SICs provides a wide range of information services such as Current Awareness Service(CAS), Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), translation, reprographic and micrographic services. It prepares state of-the-art reports, subject bibliographies, directory of the on-going projects, and does repackaging of information on a regular basis to meet the varied interests and demands of the clientele. In addition, these centres organize seminars, lectures, etc. on the basis of their interest and activity.

NICRYS which is the youngest among the centres, differs from others in the sense that it provides both hard and soft data in a limited area, namely organic chemical crystallography. These data are compiled on a global basis at Cambridge (U.K.) by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. These are computerized there and the data tapes are made available to NICRYS for dissemination in India. The current database includes information on: (i) compounds: organic and organometallic, excluding polymers and proteins; (ii) techniques: crystal structures determined by X-ray or neutron diffraction, and (iii) structures: for each structure three-dimensional coordinates determined for the atoms.

NICRYS also publishes a quarterly newsletter of its activities and of various items of interest to crystallographers in chemical sciences in India. It is proposed to augment the activities of NICRYS by extending the data files to inorganic data, data on biological molecules, X-ray powder data, etc. in the near future.

In view of the large size of the country, it was agreed in the original plan that a system of Regional Information Centres (RICs) to act as contact points be created in the NISSAT network. However, because of various reasons, including financial constraints, these Centres are yet to be created.

Among the several specialized services provided or experiments carried out under the NISSAT, a few may be mentioned as follows:

With assistance from Unesco, this service was started in January 1976 using the IBM 370/150 computer of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras with the Chemical Abstracts Condensates. A few users from Asian countries also participated in this experiment. From January, 1977, INSPEC A & B and COMPENDEX databases were added to the SDI service and the number of profiles was increased to about 300. Expenses for the SDI, which was initially free of charge, were met from the NISSAT budget. After the initial free service, a pricing mechanism was introduced later on. The project however could not continue because the experience was not quite encouraging.

A few demonstration to have online access to foreign databases such as at Frascati (Italy) ESA-IRS were held in 1976 and 1981. However, a system to have online access to international databases such as DIALOG and others on a regular basis is yet to be made operational in the country.

NISSAT has by now promoted the development of several databases notable among them being:

Besides these, NISSAT has sponsored special studies and projects on different areas of information processing and dissemination, micrographics, manpower development, etc.

NISSAT has also been playing an active role in bilateral cooperation programmes in Science and Technology Information (STI) with several countries such as theUSA, USSR, France, FRG and GDR within the overall framework of India's agreements in Science and Technology. The NISSAT Advisory Committee functions as the National Committee on UNISIST in India as well as for collaboration with Unesco including ASTINFO. It also collaborates with several other programmes such as International Referral System for Sources of Environmental information (INFOTERRA), Commonwealth Regional Renewable Energy Resources Information System (CRRERIS) and others.

Though not operating as information systems as such, two institutions, INSDOC and DESIDOC, which have been playing an active role in the dissemination of scientific information in the country at the national level also deserve our attention. A brief account of their activities is given below:

With technical assistance from Unesco to provide information support to scientific community in research organizations and industries INSDOC was established in 1952 as a constituent unit of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Since 1963 when administratively it became an independent unit with a full-time director, it has expanded its scope of programs to include activities such as computer-based information services and developing a National Science Library. It has three Regional Centres at Bangalore, Calcutta and Madras to survey and utilize information resources of the region and meet the information requirements of the users in those regions.

• to develop collections of relevant sources of information in the field of Science and Technology to complement and supplement the total national document sources;

• to develop appropriate linkages with the information systems and services organized in the country;

• to establish a national repository for reports and scientific works of the nation (both published and unpublished) and be a channel through which this information is made available within and outside the country;

• to contribute to advancements in information science and technology including documentation and library science through research and other activities;

• to adopt and promote appropriate technologies and management practices to enhance capabilities and productivity of information networks and services in the country; and

• to participate effectively in international information exchange of scientific matters.

To achieve these objectives INSDOC provides several services such as document supply, preparation of specialized bibliographies, translation, reprography, printing, preparation of audio-visual materials for scientific instructions, CAS and SDI. The National Science Library at INSDOC has built up a comprehensive collection of Indian Scientific Literature and other scientific publications supplementing the collections already available in other scientific libraries in the country. It provides reference and bibliographical services and acts as a referral centre for STI information to R & D institutions and industries in the country. For dissemination of scientific information it brings out several journals on a regular basis.

In addition, INSDOC has brought out directories giving information about scientific institutions, scientific periodicals, scientific information services and facilities, on-going research projects, etc. in the country. Its recent National Union Catalogue of Scientific Serials in India (NUCCSI) listing about 350OO titles of serials available in about 800 scientific institutions in the country is computer-based and is a remarkable achievement in the field. This data will be kept updated and made available to the users through supplements and also through the proposed national computer network.

At the international level, INSDOC operates as an Associated Centre for ASTINFO. It functions as the national centre for ISDS and assigns ISSN for serials published in India. It has been designated as the focal point in India for the proposed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Documentation Centre. It has bi-lateral exchange programmes with several countries and actively participates and coordinates activities with other information systems within the country.

Recognizing the value of scientific information in defence research, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of the Government of India created a Scientific Information Bureau (SIB) in 1958 to collect and process STI of Defence interest and disseminate it to the concerned R & D scientists and other agencies of the Ministry of Defence. In 1967 SIB was reorganized and renamed DESIDOC with wider scope and responsibilities. Since 1970 it has been functioning in the DRDO as a central agency to collect scientific and technical information from various published and unpublished sources, process it in different usable forms and disseminate the same to about 40 DRDO laboratories and several other establishments of the Ministry of Defence. It is responsible for developing a database and an information system in Defence Science and Technology and coordinate the library and information activities of the DRDO as a whole. It is also expected to carry out R & D work in information science relevant to defence needs.

For this purpose it has built up a large document collection and disseminates the information by preparing indexes, abstracts, digests and state-of-the-art reports. It provides CAS and SDI services to its clientele. b. Literature searches

To meet the enormous information needs of the scientists working in DRDO laboratories, establishments and other institutions such as CSIR, Universities, etc. DESIDOC has already developed the software for creating a database of scientific information and for online searching and information retrieval on the Prime-750 system available in the DRDO at Delhi. Computer-based SDI and retrospective information services are being provided and online access to international databases is being developed.

A computer based information network called DRDO Information Retrieval System (DRDO-IRS) covering libraries and Technical Information Centres (TICs) of the DRDO laboratories and establishments is being planned. Under this plan, details of the documents received by them will be sent to DESIDOC for inputting into the central database and the printouts will be sent to the laboratories/establishments concerned. This system will ensure that scientists of DRDO are informed as and when documents of their interest will be received in these libraries and TICs. The system would provide project-oriented and mission-oriented information as well.

DESIDOC collaborates with DRDO in the publishing of its quarterly journals - Defence Science Journal and R & D Bulletin. It also organizes short-term courses in areas such as information science, computer-based information service, indexing and abstracting.

Although there are proposals to establish information systems in other areas within Science and Technology, Social Sciences and the Humanities, the two which deserve special mention are those discussed below:

As mentioned earlier, research in social sciences in India received a great impetus only after independence because of the vast programs of socio-economic development in the country. Consequently, several research institutions have been established. Universities and other institutions of higher learning have also given a great thrust to studies and research in different aspects of social sciences. The establishment of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) in 1969 can be called a great landmark in this direction.

These research institutions, universities and other organizations have developed large and rich library collections. There are about 250 of these scattered all over the country which are comparatively larger in size and provide extensive bibliographical and reference services to their clientele. The National Social Science Documentation Centre (NASSDOC) at the ICSSR at New Delhi has undoubtedly been playing an active role so as to supplement the information and library services in the country by: building up a comprehensive collection of different categories of documents such as doctoral dissertations, serial publications; abstracting, reprography and translation services and by compiling union catalogues of different categories of documents, etc.

The need for an Information System in Social Sciences has always been emphasized and well accepted not only by scholars but also by the authorities concerned. Some years ago the ICSSR even appointed a Working Group to prepare a report on this aspect which was duly accepted by it. Unfortunately, however, it has yet to be implemented. It is hoped that such an Information System would be duly created during the 8th Five-Year Plan, 1990-95.

The proposed model for the NISS more or less is that of NISSAT with NASSDOC as the national focal point.

The need for establishing a National Social Science Library on the pattern of the National Science Library has also been emphasized. The usefulness of computers and other tools of new information technology to provide proper linkages between these libraries and information centres as well as to provide online access to information to scholars with local and foreign data-bases has been well accepted.

In early 1988 the University Grants Commission (UGC) constituted a Committee on National Network System to suggest measures to network libraries in the country, so as to share their literature resources towards optimum utilization and to avoid duplication in holdings, to the extent possible. The report under the title Development of an Information and Library Network; Report of the Inter-Agency Working Group was published by the UGC in December 1988. It has gone into the matter at great length covering different aspects such as: Output and Services, INFLIBNET Organization, Standardization for Information Handling, Application Software Requirements, Computer Hardware, Technical Specifications, Network Architecture-communication, Data Capturing and Data Preparation, Manpower and Training Need, Management Mechanism, Implementation Mechanism, and Cost Implications.

The INFLIBNET is designed to be a computer-communication network for linking libraries and information centres in universities and other institutions of higher learning including colleges, UGC Information Centres, and R & D institutions in the country. The main objectives can be summarized as follows:

• to evolve a national network, interconnecting various libraries and information centres in the country to improve their capability in information handling and services;

• to provide online access to document collection by creating online union catalogue, etc.

• to provide better access to worthwhile bibliographic information sources with citations and abstracts through indigenously created databases of the Sectoral Information Centres of NISSAT and UGC Information Centres and others by establishing access to international databases;

• to optimism information research utilization through shared cataloguing, resource sharing, etc;

• to introduce computerization of operation and services in libraries, by following a uniform standard;

• to facilitate scientific communication through electronic mail, computer conferencing, etc;

• to evolve standards and guidelines, for techniques, methods, procedures, hardware and software etc. for facilitating the exchange and use of information.

The INFLIBNET proposed by the Working Group would greatly help the development of our library information network in the country hopefully during the next plan period, 1990-95.

Though during the last two decades there have been several discussions and experiments in the country for the computer application to library and information activities, yet it is only during the past 4-5 years that this aspect has received somewhat serious attention of the library professionals and the concerned authorities. Availability of the low cost micro-computers has certainly served as a great incentive in this direction. Also, the training of manpower is another contributory factor in this regard. It is estimated that about 50 libraries and information centres in the country have by now introduced computers for their housekeeping jobs and/or services. Most of them however are special libraries. University and college libraries as well as public libraries unfortunately are still lagging behind in this respect. Some of the software packages in use are CDS/ISIS (micro-version) developed by Unesco and MINISIS by IDRC, Canada. A few private Indian firms have also now started to develop software which are made available on commercial basis.

The Department of Electronics, Department of Telecommunications and others have either established or are in the process of establishing data communication networks in the country. Some of these are NICNET developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for government information, and INDONET by Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) for commercial use. There are possibilities of mounting bibliographical databases on these networks for providing online access to users.

Some of the more progressive library schools in the country have already been offering courses in this field for making available the required manpower. Special refresher courses are also being held occasionally at several places in the country.

Undoubtedly the prospects for developing information systems and services in the country are quite optimistic. Much however remains to be done. Some of the problems usually faced by the developing countries in this regard do exist in India as well. They may be identified as: lesser awareness in the value of information, disinterestedness in developing coordination and cooperation in resource building and exchange of information, financial constraints, poor communication linkages, non-availability of the required equipment, lack of the required dedication, motivation and even knowledge in the available manpower, and lack of standardization in methods and procedures, etc.

While discussing the problems in the promotion of international information activities, Neelameghan and Tocatalian have summarized the situation as follows which in particular is applicable in developing countries:

• In building up information infrastructures, emphasis has been placed mostly on the supply of information services and little importance is attached to resource mobilization to meet future demand;

• In several countries, development planners and administrators do not use existing national information services effectively and endeavor to introduce new information services of their own which tend to be counter productive;

• In many countries, access to home-produced information and data is not satisfactory;

• Access to foreign and international information and data is restricted by its high cost, the small proportions of total world sources of information which is held in each country, the dispersion of information sources among different institutions and the paucity of cooperative arrangements designed to provide access to these sources, and the user's limited ability to read foreign languages;

• The national coordinating mechanism and the policy institutions for information systems and services are inadequate, and consequently information does not receive priority funding; and

• Certain international support actions have been beneficial, specially those designed to solve specific information problems or to increase the information capability of particular countries, but the enormous efforts made to develop new systems and services have been of less immediate value.

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7. Neelameghan A. and Tocatlian, J., "International cooperation in information systems and services," JASIS 33 (3): 153-163 (1985).

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