8 A.M to 7 P M on all working days10 A M to 2 P M on Second Saturdays and Sundays
The Mahatma Gandhi University Library is situated in the main campus of the University at Athirampuzha, 14 kms away from Kottayam town, on the top of the Priyadarshini hills. The University library was started in 1989 under the supervision of Special Officer Prof. K A Isaac, former University Librarian and Prof. & Head, Dept of Library & Information Science, University of Kerala. Sri K Ravindran Asari took over charge of the University Library in 1991. Under his leadership, the library system built up the required Information and Communication Technology infrastructure to facilitate access to relevant internal and external sources of information to academic community of the University. The Library Introduced various services on modern lines. On his retirement Smt. K R Jayammal,the Deputy Librarian were in-Charge of the library. And after her tenure the library was under the supervision of the Deputy Librarian, Sri P K Rajendra Kurup.Afterwards Dr. R Raman Nair took over the charge as University Librarian.On his retirement, the Registrar is holding the charge of University Librarian.
The University library is a member of the INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad (INFormation and LIBrary NETwork), an Inter-University Centre of the University Grants Commission. INFLIBNET Centre support has enabled to improve the quality and rlevance of University Informatio services.The University Library is a fully automated system using the library software package SOUL developed by the INFLIBNET Centre.
The Library is also a member of the DELNET (Developing Library Network). Being a member of these networks, the library is able to share the resources of a number of other libraries and has been able to make inter library loan of books.
The Mahatma Gandhi University is one of the first fifty Universities to come under the UGC-Infonet Programme. Through UGC-Infonet E-journals Consortium, the University library provides access to more than 4000 journals and databases.
MGU Library and Information System consist of University Central Library and more than 30 libraries of the departments, schools and study centers existing in different campuses. The most important achievement of the MG University Library is the endorsement related to the PhD Theses Archives developed by the University Library.
MGU became the first Indian university to adopt Open Access to make the results of doctoral research in the university transparent to academics World Wide.
MGU Online Theses Digital Library was Selected as Best Web Resource by INTUTE: The Online Service Consortium of Universities (UK)
INTUTE is a consortium of universities working with a whole host of partners, bringing together the expertise of people and processes through which academic and research resources in the web are evaluated for inclusion in its system. It is based in UK. The mission of INTUTE is to advance education and research by promoting the best of the Web easily accessible in a single system, through a process of evaluation and collaboration. Government of UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) fund INTUTE.
Mahatma Gandhi University Online Theses Digital Library website http://mgutheses.in which provides Open Access to the doctoral dissertations accepted by the MGU has been selected as one of the very best web resources for education and research by INTUTE and included in INTUTE: System accessible at http://www.intute.ac.uk. The selection information occurs at the INTUTE website: http://www.intute.ac.uk/social sciences/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090324-15000040
INTUTE Open Access Online Service provides access to the very best web resources for education and research. The software packages used and all content included is evaluated and selected by a network of experts to create the INTUTE System. With millions of resources available on the Internet, it is difficult for researchers to find relevant and appropriate material even with good search skills and use of advanced search engines. Issues of trust, quality, and search skills are very real and significant concerns - particularly in a research context. The INTUTE database makes it possible to discover the best and most relevant resources in one easily accessible place. Researchers can explore and discover trusted information, and be assured that it has been evaluated by specialists for its quality and relevance.
MGU is the only university from India, which could host such an official digital archive of PhD theses in the web using multilingual software and search Mechanism (for Malayalam, Hindi and English). With selection of MGU PhD Theses archive by INTUTE the citations for dissertations from MGU will has increased tremendously in research in European countries and our research will get international exposure.
Dr. R. Raman Nair Nominated to National Committee for Implementation of Electronic Theses in Universities in India in recognition of the work done by MGU on Theses Digitization.
Audio Visual Resource Centre
An Audio Visual Resource Centre (AVRC) was started at MGU Library during the year as a central facility in the university for collecting interactive multimedia, video lectures/films etc on subject areas relevant to the academia of MGU. The services will also be extended to nearby schools on special occasions.
Audio-Visual Resource Centre (AVRC) of the University Library was inaugurated by Hon. Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr. Rajan Varughese on 1st October 2009 at the Seminar Hall of University Library
Staff Position
The Registrar is holding the charge of University Librarian, Smt. Laila T.Abraham was promoted as Deputy Librarian and M.B. Reghunathan Nair continued as Administrative Officer.
Services
In addition to the usual services of the library such as reference services, lending of books, inter-library loan service, etc the following documentation services are provided:
Online Information Service
University Library is automated using SOUL software of INFLIBNET. Library catalogue can be searched through Library website mgu.ernet.in. UGC- INFONET service is provided using1 Mbps Leased Line Internet Connectivity enabling access to full text of 4500+ electronic journals and 20 various online databases. The Library maintains membership to institutions like DELNET (New Delhi), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, I Its, NISCAIR and NCL, Pune.
The library obtained internet connectivity in August 1996. The facility is open to all library members. 20 Information access terminals have been arranged for the purpose to access e-journals and databases. In average 287 users visited the library per day during the year. Average users for online journals were 190 per day. M.G. University Library was ranked 16 among the 125 universities to which UGC has endowed with the facility.
Sci-Finder Scholar:
MGU has become one of the 20 universities and the first in Kerala during the year to provide access to SciFinder Scholar (SFS) the world’s largest pool of scientific information, which includes numerous mechanisms for retrieving information and also for thousands of knowledge processing applications including laboratory functions. The access cost Rs.57 lakhs, annually which is met by UGC. Access to Scifinder enables at our disposal a cost effective opening to a sea of knowledge already generated in science with powerful knowledge processing mechanisms that can effectively improve quality and relevance of our research.
Document Delivery Service (DDS)
Photocopies of articles are collected from DELNET, Document Delivery Centres of INFLIBNET, National Information centres, authors directly and other leading libraries. The resources of the library are thus effectively supplemented through this service.
CD-ROM Searching
The library has a CD ROM networking facility to search databases in CD-ROM. The services of INFLIBNET Center and National Centre for Science Information (NCSI) are also utilized to access the databases not available in the library. The library has also access to the First Search Services of Ohio College Library Centre (OCLC, USA. About 70 databases are accessible through this.
Reprographic Services
Library provides specialized reprographic services like printing, scanning, CD writing etc in addition to the usual photocopying service. Printers include laser jets, ink jets and dot matrix with different specifications to give services on special papers, transparencies etc.
Technical Consultations/Research & Development
University Librarian continued to acted as an expert member of the High level Technical Committee of the Kerala Legislative Assembly on digitization of the Legislative Assembly proceedings from the year 1888; an unique project of the Government of Kerala.
Periodical Publications from the Library:
A periodical entitled Latest addition to Mahatma Gandhi University Library containing list of books added during the month along with abstracts of selected books is polished every month.
Projects
The rewarding projects of the library include:
Open Access Initiative of MGU and INTUTE’s reward
M G University received world wide focus for its Open Access Initiatives during the year. INTUTE, United Kingdom recognized mgu.theses.org, the website of the Digital Archives of Theses of M G University as the Very Best of Web Resources for Education and Research during the year 2009.
M.G.University Library in UNESCO’s Libraries Portal
UNESCO Libraries Portal, an international gateway to information for librarians and library users has included the website of M G University Library along with the Academic and Research Libraries of Asia-Pacific.
Research Centre for Library and Information Science
Research Centre on Library and Information Science under Faculty of Social Sciences was sanctioned by the University to function at the MG University for Library. Dr. R. Raman Nair, Dr. Dineshan Koovakkai, Assistant Librarian, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod have already been approved as Guides in this discipline by the university.
During 2009 the membership of the library is 12581 including students, teachers, research scholars and others. About 1600 users use the library per week.
Library