Odisha Channel Bureau
Bhubaneswar: The much awaited National Digital Library project is now running in its pilot stage.Seeking to create a national online educational asset for students interested in innovation and research, the project started in August 2014. It is a flagship initiative of MHRD, initiated, conceptualized and being executed by IIT Kharagpur.The limited launch pilot portal was provided to IIT Kgp students who then tested and submitted feedback to Project committee.
With the initial inclusion of more than 50 Institutional Digital Repositories of Indian Universities and Colleges which is the bank of all teaching materials, the project NDL is going to give free access to every student.The entire project team is working on incorporating video lectures and embed interactive learning softwares that can make the process of transaction of knowledge even more interactive.The portal is meant for much larger all India community.
It will provide its users with all but copyrighted content.The digital forum will provide single-window search portal facilitating focussed and quick searching.Professor Das, professor at Computer Engineering Department and one of the core team members of NDL said, “Every university has its own digital archive of its intellectual output and syllabus, known as the Institutional Digital Repository (IDR), whose access is limited to the university’s own staff and students.“The NDL is modelled on the IDR, but will consist of IDRs of several universities and any student will be free to access it.For instance, a student of IIT Madras will be able to access study material of a specialisation taught exclusively at IIT Kharagpur.” Once fully functional, the NDL would make IIT Kharagpur proud possessor of a huge digital knowledge repository, according to the Branding And Relations Cell, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.The Institute already boasts of Asia’s Largest Technical Library.
Its Central Library is one of the most magnificent and resourceful libraries of the world.It is equipped with the finest infrastructure, advanced systems and unimaginable collection of more than 3,50,000 books and documents, and subscription to more than 1,600 printed and online journals and conference proceedings.
It has one of the most advanced computerized searching facilities, which can let you find the location of your book right from a computer screen.Presence of numerous group discussion rooms, audio-visual rooms, Study halls, and Computer labs, Central library makes the academic lives of scholars more interactive and hustle-free.With completely centralized air-conditioning system, it lets one study comfortably and peacefully.
The library’s collection consists of books, reports, conference proceedings, back volumes of periodicals, standards, thesis, micro-forums, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and audio-visual material.The library’s transaction service is automated and online searches are possible through an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC).With the credo of “Digital India” in mind, IIT Kharagpur is in process of making education more interactive and advanced.The National Digital Library is a big step towards improvement and advancement in education sector.
