Getting connected: Libraries in Government degree colleges are all set to go online through the UGC's Information Library Network.

HYDERABAD: An ambitious programme to facilitate automation of libraries in Government colleges and enhance access to e-publications at low costs through the University Grants Commission's Information Library Network (INFLIBNET) got off to a start at the Government City College here on Thursday.

The first step towards this programme was the adaptation of software packages prepared by the INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad, for computerising the functioning of libraries before they were networked with each other. The first five-day intensive training programme on this aspect conducted by a team of scientists from INFLIBNET, for librarians from 50 Government colleges, was formally inaugurated by the Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education, K.C. Reddy here. With journals becoming expensive and budgets of college libraries decreasing, access had become very difficult for students of Government colleges.

The networking of libraries and availability of over 14,000 e-journals and countless books would be extremely helpful to students, Prof. Reddy said, adding that there were plans to involve aided and unaided colleges in INFLIBNET. The Director of Collegiate Education, K. Lakshminarayana, said 50 Government colleges in the State would be networked in the first phase, while another 50 would be done in the second phase. The third phase would cover the remaining 78 Government colleges by 2006-07.

Andhra Pradesh was the first State in South India to automate its college libraries. Jammu and Kashmir was the first in the country. The training programme would have the Software for University Libraries (SOUL), designed by INFLIBNET, being given to librarians who would have to install it.

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