Foundation for Innovation and Technology (FITT) has been awarded a project on "National Centre for CD-ROM Databases by National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT), Deptt. of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi. The basic objective of FITT is to market intellectual ware of IIT teaching research activities. FITT place the catalytic role in initiation, sustaining and enhancing the institute/industry interaction through information support services, consultancy, human resources development, etc. This Centre has been set up at IIT Delhi for promoting usage of CD-ROM databases for basic and applied research. Therefore, it is acting as depository for all CD-ROMs produced in India, on India and provides single window information services to clients/users.
The databases alongwith their contents are briefly described as follows:
Environment Asia:
Asian Health, Environmental & Allied Databases (AHEAD), PID, CSIR, New Delhi.
Full text databases on collection, treatment and recycling of waste water and solid wastes; water supply management; water resources planning; hygiene education and community participation. It also provides bibliographic databases on water supply and sanitation.
Wealth Asia
Asian Health, Environmental & Allied Databases (AHEAD), PID, CSIR, New Delhi.
Full-text databases on Indian raw material resources including plants, animals and materials. It also covers bibliographic database on world literature covering all aspects of medicinal & aromatic plants, viz. cultivation, botany, chemistry, pharmacy and marketing of various plants and database on tropical oil seeds, biochemistry, crop protection, economics, marketing and oil product quality.
National Union Catalogue of Scientific Serials in India (NUCSSI):
INSDOC, New Delhi
It provided valuable reference source, ideal tool for resource sharing, covers 350 libraries, nearly two lakh holdings data. It is updated annually.
Banga Parichya - A Multimedia Introduction to Bengal:
Gautam and J. Dev Sengupta, USA
Present through a combination of text, sound, slides and video. Covers history of Bengal, fifty biographies of prominent people of Bengal, examples of songs from Nazrul, Rabindranath and others, and much more.
SUCHAK on CD-ROM
Partnership between SNDT Women’s University and Pioneer Infovision Technologies (P) Ltd., Mumbai.
Comprehensive bibliographic reference database covering the fields of sociology, women’s studies, and library science. It includes cumulative bibliographic reference to articles published in more than 800 Indian and foreign journals, books, thesis, dissertations, reports, conference papers, etc.
Business India on CD-ROM:
Business India Group
Enables users to access any information published in the Business India magazine during the year. Contains data from the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Electronic Corporate Directory:
Corporate & Economic Research Centre (CERC):
Provides information on board-of-directors, key financial expansion plans, export-imports figures, availability of raw material and finished products, plants and locations of 4,000 companies, marketed by Cyber Mart (I) Ltd.
KOMPASS India ’96:
Teledirect Informatics India Ltd.
Provides search and retrieval based on 58,000 companies name, 40,000 product codes/names, geographic location, type of business activity, type of company, annual turnover, no. of employees, etc.
Gandhi: Apostle of Peace and Non-violence:
Walnut Creek, California, USA
Depicts the life and message of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi’s role as the liberator of Indian from British rule was only one of his many achievements. His life and teachings have a universal meaning for all humankind of all time. It contains forty-five minutes of selected movie clips, one hundred and seventy-five photos, some of them are rare, from the collections of the Gandhi National Museum & Library, New Delhi.
Goa-The Pearl of Asia:
Kirloskar Computer Services Ltd., Bangalore
This interactive title captures the beauty and riches of Goa.
Hindi-English Dictionary:
Gateway Multimedia India Ltd. and Electroson B.V., The Netherlands.
Every entry consists of title in transliteration and Devanagari, followed by an English description of the titles meaning. It is useful for verifying meanings or pronunciations of words.
India Mystica:
Magic Software Pvt. Ltd.
Over 400 audio clips, video, and animation bring alive the world’s oldest living faiths and try to provide information for popular beliefs and practices of India.
Yoga : A Multimedia Guide to Yoga:
Kirloskar Computer Services Ltd., Bangalore
Based on the expertise of Yogacharya B.K.S Iyengar and Geeta Iyengar. It contains over 30 minutes of video, and four hours of instructions for 23 asanas.
Karishma:
Western Outdoor Ltd.
It has four sections detailing the people, culture, and land history of India.
Taj Mahal:
Kirloskar Computer Services Ltd., Bangalore
Besides the history and architectural details of Taj, there is data on accommodation and transportation available to Agra.
Bibliography on Science and Technology and Medicine in Japan on CD-ROM 1995 (Sample):
The Japan Information Centre of Science & Technology (JICST), Japan.
