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South Asia: Renovating the National Collection

A Guide to Selected Indian and Bangladesh Library and Information Resources


Company Libraries

Ananda Bazar Patrika
INFORMATICS (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Motorola India Electronics Pvt Ltd.

Ananda Bazar Patrika

6 Prafulla Sarkar Street
Calcutta 700001

Telephone: +91 33 274880, 278000
Facsimile:
E-mail:
URL:

Contact Person/s: Dr Saktidas Roy (Chief Librarian)

Institution

Background / History

Ananda Bazar Patrika is a publishing organization that publishes two newspapers, twelve journals and a newspaper that is only sold abroad. (See under publications for details). Their head office is in Calcutta and they have offices and journalists based in Delhi and Mumbai

Funding

This is a commercial organization and all operations including the library are funded by the sales revenue raised through the sale of their publications and advertising.

Library

The Library is in the offices of the newspaper. As the collection and activities of the Library have grown the space available for the Library has become very cramped and there is a constant struggle to find space to house the ever growing collection. Consequently, an active on-going weeding program is considered vital.

The Library is funded by the organization and exists to serve the needs of the employees of the organization in Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai.

Collection

The Library consists of two main sections each with its own specialist collection and librarian. The sections are a Photograph Unit and a Journal library each run by a librarian:

Photograph unit

This consists of a large collection of negatives, transparencies and prints. It includes a valuable old collection of glass photographic plates. The Photo unit also stores the microfilm collection. The microfilms are obtained from the Library of Congress Photo Duplication unit. In addition to their own publications, they have microfilm collections of some other newspapers such as The Economist and The Times.

They also have The New York Times and Periodical Abstracts on CD-ROM.

The photo collection is closed access.

The Journal Library

The Journal Library collection consists of a Reference collection which is all printed material and a clippings collection. This is a huge collection of clippings from all their publications, all major Indian newspapers and a selection of overseas newspapers and magazines. These are scanned each day, clipped, assigned subject headings by a librarian and then filed in envelopes. The clippings are arranged in three runs: a name set where items relating to a particular person are kept; a Corporate set (approximately ten thousand files) which has information about particular companies and a subject set. They use a in-house subject heading scheme modeled on the Times of London. The subject set is weeded every five years but clippings in subjects considered to be of continuing interest are retained. Both the Corporate set and the Name set are not weeded.

A vertical file is also maintained. This is for material not suitable for placing in the clippings files. References to the existence of items in the vertical file are placed in the envelopes in the clippings file. In addition there is a limited government publications collection, an extensive map collection and a small art work collection. The library maintains a card catalogue and the library staff are working on indexing (manually) the leading articles in their publications.

Staff

There are forty staff working in the two sections of the library, about fourteen of these are professional.

Services

The library provides a reference service to the journalists working on their publications. The journalists based in Calcutta are expected to come to the library but those in Delhi and Bombay/Mumbai can phone with queries and the result will be faxed or airmailed depending on the degree of urgency of the request.

Automation

The library has started to computerize their operations. There are two terminals but only one in use. There is also a CD-ROM player and a printer.

Opening Hours and Access

It is possible for scholars from outside the organization to use the resources but because of severe space constraints they refuse most requests for access to the library. They do not normally allow access to Doctorate or Masters students but will consider post doctoral research requests.

Publications

Newspapers:

The Telegraph, published in English and started in 1982. They have the entire run on microfilm.

Ananda Bazar, published in Bengali and started in 1922. They have the complete back set on paper and from 1945 on microfilm.

In the past they have also published:

Hindustani Standard, published from 1937 to 1982. They have from March 1944 on microfilm.

Business Standard, first published in 1975 and sold in 1986. They have the complete run in hard copy.

Journals:

Sunday, a news magazine which has been published for the last twenty four years.

Business World, which has been published for the last sixteen years.

Sports World this has been published for the last eighteen years

Desh, a literary magazine which has been published for sixty four years

Anandamela, a magazine for young adults published for twenty two years

Anandalok, a film magazine published for twenty three years

Sanadna, a social magazine published for eleven years.

Overseas newspaper:

Prabasi Anandabazar. This is published for people from West Bengal living overseas. It is published in Bengali and only available outside of India.

In addition to the above activities they are also the publisher for Penguin and Unwin in India.


INFORMATICS (India) Pvt. Ltd.

No 337
3rd Floor
Kruna Complex
Sampige Road
Malleshwaram
Bangalore 560003

Telephone: +91 80 3365940 or 3313473-5
Facsimile: +91 80 3344598
E-mail: Inform@ncb.ernet.in
info@bng@iipl
URL: sprintrpg.ems.vsln.net.in

Contact Person/s: P.S.Narayanan (general manager subscriptions and operations.
K.S. Subba Rao (Chief executive, Silverline Information Systems)
Mr N.V. Sathyanarayana (Director)

Institution

Background / History

INFORMATICS was established in 1984 as a private company publishing and distributing electronic information through CD-ROM databases and the Internet.

Publications

Its CD-ROM databases use Silverplatter software and include:

Exim India on CD: This is a reference guide to customs, excise, imports, and exports policies, procedures and tariffs. This electronic reference tool aims to serve as a comprehensive source of information for all those involved in foreign trade as it incorporates published data from various government agencies and integrates them into a manner convenient for user access.

Indian Business Insight this is a abstract database covering forty Indian business magazines newspapers and trade journals.

India Books in Print is expected for release on CD Rom mid 1997.

Other information

Inquiries about subscription to CD Rom products should be directed to the company

Note: Reuters subcontracts its Asian encoding jobs to Informatics

Documents Held by the Project

  • List of sources being covered
  • Copy of newsletter
  • Exim India Reference guide to customs etc.
  • Handout on INFORMATICS
  • Press clipping service example

Motorola India Electronics Pvt Ltd.

The Senate, No. 33A, Ulsoor Road
Bangalore 560 042
India

Telephone: +91 805598615
Facsimile: +91805598660
E-mail:
URL: http://www.mot.com

Contact Person/s: Mrs Nina Raju (Librarian)

Institution

Background / History

This is the software development centre for Motorola Corporation. The US - India office was established in 1991.

Funding

Motorla Corporation

Library

Collection

The collection includes over 6000 monographs and 70 serial titles mostly in English. There is a concentration in software engineering and telecommunications. The collection is a very well funded and is constantly growing and changing. Most acquisitions are sourced via the United States and United Kingdom. The collection is catalogued using Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Two (AACR2).

Staff

There are two library staff.

Services

The library is a member of an informal Information Technology library group which meets to discuss common issues and problems. No inter library loan service is provided.

Automation

LibSys software is used for the catalogue. Terminals within the library have access to several on-line databases, CD-ROM databases and the Internet including their own web-page.

Opening Hours and Access

Usually open to staff only. For permission to visit library check directly with librarian.

Publications

The institution is responsible for official publications and different departments publish internally. The library is responsible for the company’s newsletter.

Documents Held by the Project

  • Handout on Motorola

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Last updated 23 December 1998
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