DESIDOC: Enhancing Defence Research Through Information Services

Behind every missile system, radar, and combat aircraft developed in India lies a vast body of scientific and technical information. Someone has to collect this knowledge, organise it, and place it in the hands of the scientists who need it. Within the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), that responsibility belongs to the Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre, better known as DESIDOC. It is one of the most important information organisations in the country’s defence research ecosystem, yet it works largely behind the scenes. Understanding how it functions offers a clear picture of how a specialised information centre supports cutting-edge research.

How DESIDOC was formed 🔗

DESIDOC did not begin life with its current name or status. Its origins trace back to 1958, when it was set up as the Scientific Information Bureau (SIB), a small division within the Defence Science Laboratory. The DRDO library, which itself dates back to 1948, was merged into SIB in 1959. This early consolidation of library and information functions laid the foundation for what would become a national-level information centre.

The turning point came in 1967, when SIB was reorganised with expanded activities and renamed the Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre. For a few more years it continued to operate under the administrative control of the Defence Science Laboratory. Finally, on 29 July 1970, DESIDOC became a self-accounting unit and one of the laboratories of DRDO in its own right. This shift gave it the autonomy and stature needed to serve the entire organisation rather than a single laboratory.

For decades, DESIDOC operated out of Metcalfe House in Delhi, a heritage building and national monument. In August 1988, it moved into a purpose-built five-storeyed building within the same Metcalfe House complex, where it continues to function today.

The core objectives 🔗

The mission of DESIDOC can be summed up in one phrase: to provide essential scientific and technical research and development information rapidly, accurately, and reliably so that DRDO scientists can do their work. Beyond this central goal, the centre also aims to build an integrated resource system that combines a knowledge centre, publishing, e-services, printing, and multimedia under one roof. It works to collaborate with national and international institutions to improve the quality and visibility of DRDO’s research output, and to keep modernising its library services using emerging digital platforms.

The Defence Science Library at the centre 🔗

The heart of DESIDOC is the Defence Science Library (DSL), which serves as the central library for the whole of DRDO. This is not an ordinary reading room. It is a fully automated, ISO 9001 certified library equipped with RFID technology, spread across the five floors of the DESIDOC building. The library is built to deliver information to project leaders, top management, and the research community in the shortest possible time.

The collection is substantial and highly specialised. The library holds around 75,000 books, roughly one lakh technical reports, and tens of thousands of conference proceedings, with strengths in physics, chemistry, materials science, electronics, aerospace, life sciences, computer science, mathematics, and remote sensing. It also maintains special collections of standards, specifications, and well-known defence reference publications. To keep the research community current, the library subscribes to several hundred online journals and a few hundred print periodicals.

Library and documentation services 🔗

The services offered through the library go well beyond lending books. Researchers can use the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) to find materials, request items through a document supply service, and benefit from resource-sharing arrangements that connect different DRDO libraries. Documentation services such as indexing, abstracting, and current awareness help scientists stay informed about new developments in their fields without having to search through mountains of literature themselves.

Digital library and e-services 🔗

As research moved online, DESIDOC built a dedicated Digital Library and E-Services division to complement the traditional library. The need was simple: scientists increasingly expected access to resources through the internet and mobile devices, available around the clock rather than only during library hours.

This division runs a digital library platform for DRDO through which library resources, including e-journals and e-books, can be searched and accessed from a single gateway. The DRDO e-library developed by DESIDOC allows the holdings of many DRDO libraries to be reached through one interface. The division also works on automating the libraries of DRDO laboratories across the country and integrating their catalogues, so a user in one location can search the holdings of another.

The publishing wing of DRDO 🔗

One of the most visible functions of DESIDOC is its role as the publication wing of DRDO. Research has little value if it stays locked in a single laboratory. By formally publishing technical documents, reports, and journals, DESIDOC ensures that knowledge flows between the research wings of DRDO and other bodies such as the Ministry of Defence, while also raising the visibility of Indian defence research.

The centre brings out several peer-reviewed journals. The Defence Science Journal is a peer-reviewed research journal that has been published since 1949, covering the broad area of defence science and technology. It is joined by the Defence Life Science Journal and the DESIDOC Journal of Library and Information Technology (DJLIT).

A journal for the LIS community 🔗

DJLIT deserves special mention for students of library and information science. Formerly known as the DESIDOC Bulletin of Information Technology, it is a peer-reviewed, bi-monthly, open-access journal published since 1981. It focuses on developments in information technology as applied to library and information science, making it a valuable resource for librarians, documentation professionals, researchers, and students. The fact that DESIDOC produces a respected LIS journal shows how its work connects directly to the wider profession.

Newsletters, magazines, and monographs 🔗

Apart from research journals, DESIDOC publishes material aimed at broader audiences. It brings out a monthly, bilingual DRDO Newsletter that acts as a house bulletin of organisational activities, and a bi-monthly magazine called Technology Focus that highlights technologies, products, and systems developed by DRDO. The centre also produces DRDO monographs, special publications authored by eminent retired scientists, and outreach material such as DRDO Samachar and Prodyogiki Vishesh in Hindi. This range allows DESIDOC to serve both the specialist researcher and the general reader interested in defence technology.

Specialised support services 🔗

DESIDOC goes beyond traditional library functions by offering specialised support that improves the efficiency and quality of research work across DRDO. These services are organised into dedicated divisions that work in close coordination with one another.

The multimedia lab 🔗

The multimedia division serves as a platform for presenting complex scientific and technical information in visual form. Defence research often deals with concepts that are difficult to convey through text alone, such as aerodynamics, missile systems, and electronic warfare. By converting abstract research into clear visuals, presentations, and promotional material, the multimedia lab helps scientists explain their work effectively and collaborate with one another. The division also prepares presentation material for DRDO scientists and supports the digitisation of research papers.

Reprographic and printing facilities 🔗

Given the sheer volume of technical documentation produced within DRDO, DESIDOC operates its own reprographic and printing facilities. It maintains both offset and digital printing technology to meet the printing requirements of DRDO laboratories and headquarters. These facilities ensure that technical papers, reports, journals, and other publications are produced in a timely and professional manner. Equally important, reprographic services allow materials to be duplicated and distributed across multiple DRDO establishments, which supports the rapid sharing of knowledge.

Network and web services 🔗

DESIDOC also carries significant responsibility for DRDO’s online presence. It designs, hosts, and maintains the official DRDO website and intranet, manages network services through dedicated leased lines, and handles software development and hardware support. Because the DRDO website is viewed globally and carries announcements, achievements, and recruitment information, keeping it secure and up to date is a task of considerable importance.

Why DESIDOC matters to DRDO 🔗

To appreciate the role of DESIDOC, it helps to remember the scale of the organisation it serves. DRDO operates a large network of laboratories spread across the country, each working on different aspects of defence technology. Without a central information resource, every laboratory would have to build and maintain its own information systems, leading to duplication and gaps.

DESIDOC solves this problem by acting as the central information resource for DRDO. It provides science and technology information to the DRDO headquarters and its various laboratories, links their libraries together, publishes their research, and supports them with multimedia and printing services. In doing so, it reduces the time scientists spend searching for information and increases the time they can spend on actual research. This is the quiet but essential contribution of an information organisation: it does not build weapons, but it makes the work of those who do far more effective.

For students of library and information science, DESIDOC is a textbook example of a special library and information centre serving a focused user community. It demonstrates how the classic functions of collection, processing, and dissemination can be combined with digital services, publishing, and technical support to meet the demands of a high-stakes research environment.

What do you think? How does a specialised information centre like DESIDOC change the way scientists approach research compared to relying on general-purpose libraries? And as defence research becomes increasingly digital, which of DESIDOC’s functions do you think will grow most important in the years ahead?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_Scientific_Information_and_Documentation_Centre
2. https://www.drdo.org.in/drdo/index.php/labs-and-establishments/defence-scientific-information-documentation-centre-desidoc
3. https://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/labs-establishment/work-sphere/defence-scientific-information-documentation-centre-desidoc
4. https://www.drdo.gov.in/labs-establishment/technologies/defence-scientific-information-documentation-centre-desidoc
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_library_and_information_science_journals