Networking of govt schools libraries

SHILLONG, JULY 22: A three days’ workshop on e-Granthalaya Software for Automation and Networking of government schools libraries in the state was held at Meghalaya Administrative Training Institute.

The workshop was held by the Meghalaya’s Directorate of School Education and Literacy, in association with National Informatics Centre, Government of India.

E-Granthalaya is an Integrated Library Management Software developed by NIC for Automation and Networking of government libraries. The current version is 4.0 which is Cloud Ready Application to facilitate web-based data entry with a centralized database. It has a common application for libraries with multi-tenancy with single instance application connected with many databases. E-Granthalaya is at present successfully running in 3200 libraries all over the country.

The e-Granthalaya software has been developed by a team of experts from software as well as Library and Information Science discipline. The software is useful for automation of in-house activities of libraries and to provide various online member services.

The software provides built-in Web OPAC interface to publish the library catalog over Internet. The software is UNICODE Compliant , thus, supports data entry in local languages. Latest version of e-Granthalaya i.e. Ver.4.0 is a ‘Cloud Ready Application’ and provides a Web-based data entry solution in enterprise mode with a centralized database for cluster of libraries. e-Granthalaya 4.0 uses PostgreSQL – an Open Source DBMS as well as Free Edition of MS SQL Server (any version) as back-end database solutions. e-Granthalaya 4.0 is made available in NIC National Cloud for government libraries on request basis with free hosting of application and databases for online access.

Addressing the gathering on the role and achievements of NIC, Senior Technical Director & State Informatics Officer of Meghalaya NIC Timothy Dkhar said that library automation and networking has already started in the state with the computerization of State Central Library in 2005 by NIC, Meghalaya. He hoped that the workshop will enable the participants to successfully install the software in their institutions and bring the schools under the purview of library automation and networking.

Earlier, Technical Director, New Delhi NIC Ram Kumar Matoria said that libraries are important for any institution and e-Granthalaya will improve the services rendered by libraries. The objective of the workshop is to make available the practical experience in using the software he informed.

The three days’ workshop will include e-Granthalaya setup, Admin Module, Circulation Module, Acquisition/Catalog Module, Serials/Search Module, MS SQL Server Setup and Hands on sessions for the trainees.- By Our Reporter