National Social Science Documentation Centre

The National Social Science Documentation Centre (NASSDOC), a constituent unit of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), was established in 1969. The objective of the NASSDOC is to provide library and information support services to social science researchers.

Facilities available at NASSDOC

  • Library and reference service
  • NASSDOC databases/publications
  • Current Awareness service
  • Bibliography on demand/literature search service
  • Acquisition of theses
  • Document delivery/interlibrary loan/reprography service
  • Study grant (for consulting libraries)
  • Grants-in-aid to bibliographical and documentation projects
  • Continuing education programme
  • Preservation of documents: microfilming
  • Library automation
  • ICSSR sales and distribution unit.

Library and reference service

The ICSSR-NASSDOC library has a collection of reference sources viz. bibliographies, encyclopedias, doctoral theses, research project reports, books on social science research methodology, computer and information technology, research surveys and on all social science disciplines.

The collection is augmented by bound volumes of periodicals, Indian/foreign periodicals including ICSSR publications and other abstracting and indexing journals in social sciences, newsletters and annual reports of organizations. Government reports/serials and institutional publications are also acquired.

Library collection

  • Doctoral theses = 5,400
  • Research project reports (funded by ICSSR) = 3700
  • Bound volumes of periodicals = 12,000
  • Books = 13,600
  • 900 current Indian/foreign periodicals
  • Publications including ICSSR publications and other abstracting and indexing journals in social sciences.
  • Government reports/serials and institutional publications.

Library membership

ICSSR-NASSDOC library’s membership is open to the following categories of readers :

Official members

These include ICSSR Council members/senior officials of the ICSSR secretariat and professional staff of the ICSSR (i.e. Research Assistants/Documentation Assistants and official members)....................

Institutional membership is open to organizations, corporate houses, and research wings of public/private bodies.

Consulting members

Consultating members are academicians, research scholars, students and members of the general public.

Borrowing members

Borrowing facility is extended to social scientists, academicians, students and general readers who are registered as members of the library.

Facilities and services for the readers

A user–responsive collection of books, periodicals and electronic databases in the field of social sciences.

The Online Public Catalogue (OPAC) is for the use of library members/readers so that subject/author or keyword based searches can be made from the holdings of library books, Ph.D. theses, research reports, and journals.

Members of the library can refer to online bibliographic as well as indexing and abstracting databases to search references: EconLit, ERIC, International Political Science Abstracts, LISA, Sociological Abstracts, and Social Service Abstracts.

Reference queries in the field of social sciences from the scholars are responded to via e-mail, telephone, fax, in person, or through postal correspondence.,

Scholars are assisted through an inter-library loan service.

Bibliography On Demand

Bibliography On Demand is a support service provided by NASSDOC to the social science research community. Normally, the requests for this paid service are received from scholars living in cities and small towns where library and documentation services are severely limited. Bibliography is a list of published books, periodical articles, etc. as well as unpublished PhD theses and reports. There are charges for use of the service.

Literature search service from electronic resources

NASSDOC has a collection of CD-ROM/on-line-based information sources. These are used for searching literature/references. Some of the most used CD-ROM/ On-line databases in NASSDOC are:

  • Dissertation abstracts on disc (Humanities and Social Sciences)
  • EconLit
  • International Political Science Abstracts
  • POPLINE
  • PsycLit
  • Sociological Abstracts
  • PsycINFO
  • ISID CD-ROM database

There are charges for use of the service.

Online databases

NASSDOC subscribes to the following online databases:

  • EconLit
  • ERIC
  • International Political Science Abstracts
  • LISA
  • Sociological Abstracts
  • Social Services Abstracts
  • PsycINFO

Acquisition of theses

NASSDOC acquires unpublished Ph.D. theses in social sciences accepted by Indian universities. Since 2003 NASSDOC has revised its thesis acquisition policy when it was decided to pay a scholar for a copy of their Ph.D. thesis.

Document delivery/inter-library loan

A document delivery service is provided through an interlibrary loan or by photocopying papers published in periodicals. NASSDOC borrows books, periodicals, reports etc. from other libraries to meet the demands of the research scholars.

NASSDOC as a member of DELNET (Developing Library Network) can access databases hosted by the DELNET on its website. NASSDOC can get documents on inter library loan through DELNET from the member libraries.

Reprography service

Photocopies are provided from the NASSDOC collection and also from its own network, if the document is not available within the premises.

NASSDOC databases publications

NASSDOC is involved in the creation of databases and information locating tools:

  • Library databases, directories, indexes, Union catalogues, bibliographies
  • Annotated index to Indian Social Science Journals, 2005
  • Bibliographic Data Bank (1), 2005
  • Bibliographic Data Bank (2), Jan. 2002 – Dec. 2004
  • Conference Alert July 2005 onwards>
  • Directory of Social Science Research and Training Institutes in India 2005
  • Directory of Social Scientists in India
  • ICSSR Research Project Reports, 2000–2005
  • INSPEL (Indian Social Science Periodical Literature) up to 1970
  • Online Public Access Catalogue (all the documents available in the NASSDOC library e.g. Books, Theses, Research Reports etc.
  • Union List of Current Social Science & Humanities Periodicals : Delhi Libraries 2004-05.
  • Doctoral Dissertation Abstracts 2003–2004
  • Holding List of Periodicals 2007
  • Accession List (Qly)

Current Awareness Service

NASSDOC provides a current awareness service by bringing out publications. Photocopies of references included in the CAS publications are provided. Following are the serial publications of NASSDOC available at the sales counter of the ICSSR :

  • Accession List
  • Annotated Index to Indian Social Science Journals
  • Conference Alert : A Quarterly Calendar

Study grant scheme

Under this scheme, Ph.D. research scholars get financial assistance from ICSSR to consult libraries and archives that are located in other cities. Traveling allowances and a daily allowance are paid to the scholars for this purpose.

Grants-in-aid to bibliographical and documentation projects

Under this scheme NASSDOC provides financial assistance to conduct research in the field of Library and Information Science and compilation of research/reference tools for social scientists. Project proposals fall under one of the following categories :

  • Research in fields like bibliometric analysis, information seeking behavior, and library users’ study.
  • Compilation of user guides, directory, annotated bibliography or union catalogue.

Continuing Education Programme

In order to familiarize librarians, information experts and social scientists, with the techniques of information technology, NASSDOC organizes training workshops, seminars and lectures under its Continuing Education Programme in different parts of the country.

Preservation of documents: microfilming

NASSDOC has started microfilming of its Ph.D. theses collection. 1500 theses have been microfilmed in three phases during the year 2003–2004, 2004–2005 and 2005–2006.

NASSDOC has a collection of microfilms/microfiches of Ph.D. theses, some of the Indian and foreign journals, Economic Working Papers, Union Catalogues, Government Publications and rare publications are available for consultation in the Microfilm Section in the Reading Room at ground floor.

Library automation

Retro Conversion of Catalogue Records

The catalogue database of the library has been converted into machine readable or electronic form with the help of an agency. In total 6000, catalogue records have converted using UNIMARC so that this data can be exchanged with other libraries. RFID Technology

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been introduced for inventory management of books and members. The technology obviates the need for human intervention in issuance of books/journals to the members in the library. The components used in RFID are electronic chips, which are pasted on books; membership cards (i.e. smart ID cards); two mid-range readers and pad antenna.

Library Automation Software

LIBSYS software is being used for library automation. NASSDOC has upgraded its LIBSYS Software version 3 to LIBSYS version 4 release 5 under Windows 2000. It works now in LAN. Modules used in the package are :

  • Acquisition (purchase of books)
  • Cataloguing (organisation of documents)
  • Serial control (pertaining to periodicals)
  • Circulation (membership Record and Books issue and Return)
  • Article Indexing (database of articles published in journals).
  • Interlibrary loan

UNIMARC

For making the software compatible for exchange of catalogue records UNIMARC utility was purchased. To make the catalogue available online on the web, purchase of the Webopac add-on facility is under process. This facility has been implemented within NASSDOC building but not on Internet scale, due to lack of infrastructure.

Internet

Internet connectivity has been provided to officials and scholars in the library. Internet is used for electronic communication, accessing and retrieving information from the subscribed online databases and from other Internet resources.

Indian Social Science Literature in Electronic Form

Under the project, started in 2003 -2004, digitisation of Indian Social Science Periodical Literature was undertaken. The purpose was to digitise Indian Social Science Literature published in 119 periodicals since their inception to 1970. It has 97492 references. Two disciplines i.e. Economics and Political Science have been taken for this project. The product has been completed and the database has been released in CD-ROM (INSPEL).

The references in CD-ROM can be searched by name of the author, title of the article, subject of the article, name of the journal in which article has been published. Free search (i.e. the term may exist in any field) can also be conducted. The search results can be printed, saved, or exported to MS word. INSPEL has been developed in Visual Basic as front end for circulation on CDs.

Digitization of theses collection

NASSDOC has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Vidyanidhi Digital Library Project of Mysore University to digitise the Ph.D. theses collection of NASSDOC. More than 2000 Ph.D. Theses have been digitised and put on CD–ROM format. The objective is to put them on the web, so that research scholars can view them on the website.

ICSSR sales and distribution unit

To promote sale of its publications, the council has a sales counter at NASSDOC. There has been participation of the Council in book fairs and exhibitions.


This page was last updated at 2019-11-16 08:15 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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