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South Asia: Renovating the National Collection

A Guide to Selected Indian and Bangladesh Library and Information Resources


Introduction

The Australian Librarian field trip to South Asia was part of the project, South Asia: Renovating the National Collection, which was funded by the Australian Research Council, the Australia-India Council, the Australian National Library and a consortium of institutions which teach and research in the field of South Asia. They include Curtin University of Technology, La Trobe University, Flinders University, Monash University, University of New England, University of Sydney, Australia National University and the National Centre for South Asian Studies. The project has been coordinated by Curtin and La Trobe. Associate Professor John McGuire (Curtin) and Professor Robin Jeffrey (La Trobe) were responsible for the successful proposal and acted as Directors of the project.

The goals for the field trip which visited India and Bangladesh included the following: Undertake a systematic inquiry into a range of South Asian libraries, institutional link building, identification of institutions which may have an interest in establishing links with similar institutions in Australia and the acquisition of, and access to, information resources to support research on South Asia. The field trip also established a network of Australian librarians familiar with South Asia who have developed both an interest and a degree of expertise in the area.

In addition to the enquiry and the development of expertise, the participants also surveyed each of the institutions and libraries visited. The results of this survey make up the bulk of this guide which is intended as a tool for researchers or organisations wishing to engage with South Asia. The libraries hold a vast wealth of materials in their collections and in most cases they are willing to make these available to researchers.

The report has attempted to record details which the participants thought would be most useful for researchers wishing to become more familiar with libraries and information resources in India and Bangladesh. Details recorded include: institutional names and contact details, key staff contact details; collection strength and emphasis; facilities for visiting researchers; and services and resources.

If you find any of the details have changed or wish to make add information about a library or information not included in this guide please contact the editor. Also available via the web is the South Asia Resources Database (SARD) which details holdings of South Asian materials in Australian libraries. SARD is a resource made possible by the project South Asia: Renovating the National Collection.


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Last updated 31 May 2004
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