British Council Library gets tech-savvy

Drowning the chorus that disclaims IT as a passing fad is customer demand, as is evident in the case of the IT Learning Resource Center (ITLRC) set up by the British Council Library in Chennai. More importantly, the setting up of the ITLRC reflects the growing importance of IT to UK's relationship with India. 

"The British Council has recognized that IT is a fundamental part of our lives and is of particular significance to the aspiring young Indian," said Eunice Crook, Director, British Council, South India. "The ITLRC has been set up to cater to the demands of our customers who were asking for more books on IT," she added.

It's an ocean of knowledge out there at British Council's IT Learning Resource center. ITLRC boasts of over 2000 titles spanning over 30 key areas like computers, information and communication technology and IT application in various fields, to name a few. In addition to this, the ITLRC also offers a host of journals, CD ROMs, learning packages and tutorials. And deviating for the first time from its policy to focus solely on British books and periodicals, the ITLRC will now house material from other counties, including books and periodicals published from India. "IT is a dynamic field subject to constantly emerging technologies. We at ITLRC will ensure that our collection is replenished at regular intervals," promised Eunice Crook.

The ITLLRC is plush in infrastructure. Apart from the characteristic 'BCL' ambience, ITLRC offers its members workstations where in they can use the study/reference material right away--be it CDs, tutorials and learning packages on IT. In addition to workstations, ITLRC has two computer terminals dedicated exclusively to the IT collection and five more, where members can access the Internet. Just one hitch though. You'll have to race to the terminal before someone beats you to it! "The response has been absolutely fantastic. And with the launch of ITLRC, we are witnessing a substantial increase in our memberships," said Eunice Crook.

The good news is that the ITLRC is open to all existing member of the British Council Library. And for those who would like to access the ITLRC, all it takes is an annual membership for Rs 600. 

In addition to Chennai, the British Council has opened IT Learning Resource Centers in 10 other cities in India-- Calcutta, New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Pune and Thiruvanthapuram. And in order to keep its 1,00,000 customers networked, the British Council has also launched an online catalogue, where customers can have access to over 3,00,000 titles available across all the British Council Libraries in India. 

And coming fast on the heels of the ITLRC would be the GOBEL (Global Library) launch in January 2002. "GOBEL is the library of the future. It is an initiative to provide all our customers access to general and academic databases in the UK," said Eunice Crook.

Future plans also include a website that would allow Indian academic institutions looking for partners in the UK and vice versa. In other words, the website would open up a whole world of opportunities for those wanting to access distant learning programs from UK over the Internet.