GeoTheses: development of union catalogue of Indian geoscience theses using GSDL
| Published date | 03 August 2012 |
| Date | 03 August 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471211252175 |
| Pages | 456-468 |
| Author | Nurul Alam,Pragya Pandey |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
GeoTheses: development of union
catalogue of Indian geoscience
theses using GSDL
Md. Nurul Alam
Library and Information Services, Udaipur Solar Observatory,
Physical Research Laboratory, Unit of Department of Space, Dewali, Udaipur,
India, and
Pragya Pandey
Library and Information Services, Physical Research Laboratory,
Unit of Department of Space, Ahmedabad, India
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to describe a model to provide a mechanism for the development of a
union catalogue for geoscience theses based on open source software (GSDL) and to show how
libraries can use open source as a vehicle for promoting library services. It is used for the geoscience
community and educational users in India.
Design/methodology/approach – The system is based on open source software (GSDL, Apache,
PERL, JRE). GeoTheses can be used both in offline mode (i.e. self-installable CD-ROM) and online
through the web.
Findings – The findings of this study suggest that GeoTheses can serve as an online distributed
digital library for geoscience theses held in India and will enhance the geoscience research activity by
providing nascent information pinpointedly, exhaustively and expeditiously.
Research limitation/implications – This is a pilot study, with the only limitation being that very
few samples have been considered. This will be investigated further with a wider population, which
will improve the GeoTheses system.
Practical implications – These results suggest that a system like GeoTheses could be used by the
geoscience research communities, which would help to serve students and scientists working in the
field to access information from other geoscience institutes around the world quickly.
Originality/value – The paper describes the application of open source software, GSDL as a form of
resource sharing, an electronic archive and a high quality, central database of records for geosciences
theses in India.
Keywords GeoTheses, Geosciences, GSDL, Digitallibraries, Union catalogue, Online catalogues,
Open source, India
Paper type Technical paper
Introduction
Conventionally theses and dissertations have long been regarded as the basis of higher
education. They represent the outcome of focused and extensive studies, involving
intellectual labour over several years. They are guided by experts in the field and
frequently funded by highly competitive scholarships and grants. As primary sources
of information, theses and dissertations are particularly useful to researchers. Since
these intellectual sources are usually not published, most of them languish in obscurity
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
EL
30,4
456
Received August 2010
Revised October 2010
Accepted December 2010
The Electronic Library
Vol. 30 No. 4, 2012
pp. 456-468
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640471211252175
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