The Development of Information Institutions in India: An Overview

Every library, documentation centre, and information network you encounter in India today is the product of a long process of borrowing, adapting, and rebuilding. The country did not invent its information institutions in isolation. It studied models that had developed in the West, reshaped them to fit local needs, and then expanded them rapidly after 1947. The result is a layered system where ancient manuscript traditions, colonial-era libraries, post-independence research bodies, and modern digital networks all coexist. Understanding how this system came together helps explain why information services here look the way they do.

How the three era framework shaped Indian institutions 🔗

Scholars of information science often describe the growth of information institutions worldwide through a “three era framework.” This idea, drawn from thinkers like Alvin Toffler and refined for the field by writers such as Rajagopalan and Rajan, divides institutional growth into three broad phases based on what kind of information transfer they support.

The three phases explained 🔗

The framework moves through three stages. Era one centres on disciplinary information transfer, where institutions like academic libraries serve scholars within established subjects. Era two brings mission-oriented transfer, where information units are built to support specific national projects such as atomic energy or space research. Era three, emerging from the 1970s, focuses on problem-oriented transfer, where institutions are designed to solve practical societal issues rather than serve a single discipline.

Adapting the Western model to local conditions 🔗

India did not follow this framework mechanically. As one teaching account notes, the influence of the three era framework can be observed in the country’s growth pattern, though not with all its characteristics. Deliberate policy decisions were taken to harness science and technology for economic growth, and this fuelled the spread of libraries, documentation centres, and research institutions. The Western library, transformed in the nineteenth century from a private collection into a democratic, publicly accessible institution, arrived in India through colonial channels. The Calcutta Public Library, founded in 1836 as a subscription library, later evolved into the Imperial Library and finally became the National Library after independence. Early training also borrowed heavily from abroad, with the American librarian W. A. Borden setting up the first training programme in Baroda in 1911. Before independence, only five universities offered a diploma in library science, so the foundation was thin but real.

Post-independence growth of libraries and research institutions 🔗

The real momentum came after 1947. Independence brought a wave of new universities, colleges, and autonomous research bodies, and each needed information support. The profession itself gained scientific footing largely through the work of Dr. S. R. Ranganathan, widely regarded as the father of library science in India, whose initiatives at the University of Delhi placed Indian library research on the global map.

Public libraries and government planning 🔗

Public library development received serious attention. The Delhi Public Library, started in 1951 as the first UNESCO Public Library Pilot Project under the joint auspices of UNESCO and the Government of India, was meant to adapt modern techniques to Indian conditions and serve as a model for Asia. Government planning bodies also stepped in. The Five Year Plans allotted funds for public libraries, and committees reviewed the state of services. The 1958 Sinha Committee famously described many libraries as stagnant collections where new books were rarely added, pushing the case for reform and legislation. A lasting feature of this period has been the enactment of public library laws in several states to provide a steady source of finance.

Documentation centres and R&D institutions 🔗

The most distinctive growth came in specialised documentation. The Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC) was set up in 1952 under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, with technical assistance from UNESCO, to provide information support to the scientific community. Its first director was B. S. Kesavan, and it hosted both the National Science Library and the SAARC Documentation Centre. Around the same time, the Publications and Information Directorate, later renamed the National Institute of Science Communication, was set up in 1951 to publish scientific journals. These two bodies eventually merged in 2002 to form the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR).

Other sectors built their own centres. The Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre (DESIDOC) began as the Scientific Information Bureau in 1958 and later became a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation. In the social sciences, the National Social Science Documentation Centre (NASSDOC) was established as a division of the Indian Council of Social Science Research to provide library and information support to researchers in academic institutions, government departments, and policy units. The Small Enterprises National Documentation Centre, set up in 1970 in Hyderabad, served entrepreneurs and small industry, reflecting the problem-oriented spirit of the third era.

Behind these documentation centres stood a constellation of major research and government agencies that generated and consumed information at scale. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the Indian Space Research Organisation, and the Electronics Commission each developed information units to support their missions. University libraries also expanded steadily, with the University Grants Commission playing a key role in raising library consciousness across academic institutions.

The emergence of national networks 🔗

By the 1980s, libraries and information centres faced a common problem. Publications were multiplying, budgets were tight, and no single library could acquire everything. The natural answer was resource sharing through networks, and India entered what many describe as the golden period of library networking in the 1990s.

NICNET and the early infrastructure 🔗

The groundwork was laid by the National Informatics Centre, which built NICNET, a satellite-based nationwide computer communication network that gave networking and communication technology in India a major boost. NICNET enabled services like file transfer, electronic mail, and remote database access between government and corporate organisations. Alongside it, the National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT) was set up in 1977 under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and it became the driving force behind many city-based library networks.

DELNET and city networks 🔗

DELNET, the Developing Library Network, was established in 1988 with support from NISSAT at the India International Centre Library in Delhi and registered as a society in 1992. It began as the Delhi Library Network but later broadened its scope across the country, focusing on union catalogues and inter-library loan. NISSAT also helped launch the Calcutta Library Network in 1986 and a cluster of city networks including those in Ahmedabad, Mysore, Bangalore, and Pune. These operated as local, metropolitan, and wide area networks to connect member libraries and cut down duplication.

INFLIBNET and academic resource sharing 🔗

For higher education, the most important initiative was INFLIBNET, the Information and Library Network, set up by the University Grants Commission as an inter-university centre in the early 1990s. Its aim was to link university, college, and research libraries for effective access to scholarly resources. INFLIBNET develops software, sets standards, trains library staff, and maintains the union catalogue known as IndCat. It also runs digital library consortia that give universities shared access to thousands of peer-reviewed journals. Education and research networking received further support from ERNET, which built expertise in networking and the internet across the country.

Together, these networks addressed the financial constraints that individual libraries could not solve alone. As the National Informatics Centre’s own account and academic reviews make clear, NICNET in 1975 and NISSAT in 1977 were the major breakthroughs that made later library networking possible.

A layered system that keeps evolving 🔗

What stands out about the Indian situation is its layered character. Colonial libraries became national institutions. Documentation centres built in the mission-oriented era now run digital catalogues and online databases. City networks that once operated within single metros now use the internet to reach far beyond their original boundaries. The National Digital Library of India and various consortia represent the newest layer, extending free access to scholarly resources for citizens. The framework borrowed from the West has been continually reshaped by Indian policy priorities, from literacy and rural access to scientific self-reliance.

What do you think? Which phase of this development do you believe had the greatest long-term impact on how information reaches ordinary citizens today? And as digital networks replace physical collections, do you think the older documentation centres will remain relevant, or will they need to reinvent their purpose entirely?

References

1. https://www.wbnsou.ac.in/online_services/SLM/PG/MLIS_04.pdf
2. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2107.13238
3. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1168&context=libphilprac
4. https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/lisp4/chapter/organisation-of-national-information-systems-and-programmes/
5. https://www.icssr.org/nassdoc
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_networks_in_India
7. https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/lisp11/chapter/library-networks-and-consortia-in-india/
8. https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/35262/5/Unit-10.pdf