Page 85 - DLIS101_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SOCIETY

Library and Information Society

Notes NISSAT also contributed to the development of MAITRAYEE software package based on INGRESS
5.2 for CALIBNET. This package was developed through CMC Ltd. And given to CALIBNET. So
far, no data has been created in machine readable from using MAITRAYEE. At present, CALIBNET
has become a centre for CD-ROM databases. CALIBNET has made significant studies towards
fulfilling its dual objectives:
Launching its library network programs, facilitating remote online access to the holding data of
Calcutta libraries and other specialized databases as well – a significant step towards bibliographic
resource sharing amongst Calcutta libraries; and Providing electronic access to globally available
information, imbibing its information centre approach.
Both are essential for advanced learning and scholarship. In the process, CALIBNET aims at covering
a wide panorama of information end-user interests, with diffusion of new electronic information
technology as the primary concern.
Software Developed and Library Network Launched
Intense in-house research and development efforts have now achieved the Library Network capability
by three significant studies:
A multi-user storage and retrieval software ‘SANJUKTA’ to support CALIBNET’s centralized
Database (CDB) and to provide online access to its from remote locations. A conversion software
package ‘PARAPAR’ to support interchange of bibliographic data between USMARC, UNIMARC
and CCF files and also from non-standard formats to standard ones.
Evaluation of a centralized Database (CDB) of holdings data of Calcutta libraries, and specialized
databases as well.
These apart, CALIBNET’S pioneering study and research led to its publication of the “Guidelines
for Implementation of UNIMARC in Indian Libraries”. This will be an invaluable aid for the national
database development programme under consideration that favors adoption of UNIMARC format.
With the support of SANJUKTA, the centralized database hosted on CALIBNET server and located
at the Network Service Centre, can be accessed and searched online by any one from a remote
location, provided one is equipped with a computer, a telephone, a modem and a password from
CALIBNET. The efficacy of SANJUKTA has been tested by successful remote logging of the
CALIBNET server at Jadavpur, hosting the CDB from a workshop venue at Great Eastern Hotel,
Calcutta. Online access to the locational information of bibliographic resources via the CDB and
sharing up such resources amongst the libraries of this metropolis is now a reality.

The capability of PARAPAR was established through exercises and tests on sample
records furnished by a major library in New Delhi and conducted in-house at Calcutta
at their instance and eventually demonstrated at a workshop-cum-meeting in
New Delhi.

The Centralised Database
Since library network capability has been established, the most crucial and indispensable activity is
to develop the basic resource – the Centralized Database (CDB), that constitute the very backbone
of any library network – by inputting the holding data of Calcutta libraries. The centralized database,
launched only recently, currently held around 30,000 record covering:-
• conference documents held by Calcutta and contiguous libraries.

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