Delhi University sanctions ₹110 crore to expand central library

The announcement was made at the launch of The Centenary E-Book Collection and Digital Archive, which aims to digitise library resources and make it more accessible

The Delhi University plans to expand its central library and has sanctioned ₹110 crore for the work which is likely to begin soon, vice chancellor Yogesh Singh said on Tuesday.

DU’s central library has over 1.7 million documents. (HT Archive)

The announcement was made at the launch of The Centenary E-Book Collection and Digital Archive, which aims to digitise library resources and make it more accessible. Over 83,000 e-books and digital archives as well as subject collections from nine reputed publishers have been added to the collection, officials said.

“When the concept of e-journals came, many educationists were not comfortable with it, but now the mindset has changed,” said Singh, who was the chief guest at the e-book collection launch. “Today students find it very comfortable to read e-books and supplement it with their reading of printed books.”

“We have to change things in the library system in a similar way, so that one can access the library resources from anywhere,” he said.

The vice-chancellor also called upon librarians of the university and colleges to organise workshops to create awareness about these updated facilities.

Asserting that the internet has brought a lot of changes in work practices in the last 20-30 years, Singh said, “India has emerged as the leading country in the world in UPI transactions.”Things have to be changed in the system, similarly so that the library resources are accessible from anywhere.”

The Delhi University’s Library System (DULS) has a collection of over 1.7 million documents consisting of books, print periodicals, monographs, theses and other resources, according to Rajesh Singh, the university librarian. The university has also acquired subject collections and digital archives from publishers such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Bloomberg, SAGE Publishing, Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, Springer Nature and Wiley Online Books, he said.

CEO of Institute of Eminence (IOE) Professor Rajeev Gupta and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) chairperson professor Neeta Sehgal were also present at the occasion.