IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (COMPUTERS) ON BIOMEDICAL INFORMATION CENTRES AND LIBRARIES (ICLs) IN INDIA : A CRITICAL EVALUATION

Abstract

Biomedical information is Critical to public health in general, and biomedical research and education in particular. Although some progress has been made to improve the biomedical information centres and libraries (ICLs) in India with the help of information technology (IT), there remain ICLs where concept of modern IT does not exist. Deals with the computer aspect in information technology Furthermore, aims at developing a model of Indian Biomedical Information System using computer technology, its relationship with ICLs, users and professionals. Identifies Government of India (GOI) policies and programmes to promote and design IT based services. The study deals with seven objectives.Keeping these as main objectives, the research plan was drawn and multi-method approach employing field survey random sampling method and questionnaires as main instrument was adopted. However, interviews and indirect studies of records were adopted for collection and analysis of relevant data to supplement the data collected through questionnaires, so as to enhance,strengthen its reliability and gather some additional information on specific aspect of computer and ICLs, which were not obtained through questionnaires and literature searches. The conclusions speak of the future environment for biomedical librarians/information scientists/information consultants, as existing services,resources provided to biomedical community are inadequate and insufficient to meet their demands.