Very disappointed to see search results for Sathya Sai Baba in National Digital Library of India

Last updated on 3rd Sept. 2019

I request interested readers to do this search themselves by visiting the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) website, https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/.

Note that this is funded by Union government of India and seems to be the premier digital library of India.

I had hoped to see entries on well known Sathya Sai literature like Sathya Sai Speaks Volumes, Sathyam Shivam Sundaram Volumes, various Vahinis etc. Yes, these digital books may get accessed only through Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust (SSSCT) and sister trust (e.g. Sadhana Trust) owned and operated websites for copyright purposes. But, ideally, NDLI should have entries that directs the user to these ebooks on SSSCT and sister trust owned websites.

Instead we get very few books on Sathya Sai teachings and philosophy. The top result is a Ph.D. thesis submission titled, "PEACE PHILOSOPHY OF SATHYA SAI BABA "! Now it is good to see such Ph.D. thesis on Sathya Sai but I would have liked that to be 100th or beyond result for a general search on Sathya Sai Baba!

Some Mathematics research paper by an SSSIHL faculty that is dedicated to Bhagavan is listed as the 3rd result. But the research paper is on Mathematics!

And I am very disappointed to see my part autobiography book listed as the 25th result! It should have been somewhere after 1000th result! My book description mentions "From around 1993/1994 Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Dombivli Sathya Sai samithi become central spiritual influences." So the search is listing it. But it does not have Sathya Sai in the title.

My book is appearing as the 25th result simply because books authored by Sathya Sai and having Sathya Sai in its title, seem to be few in NDLI database.

Having a more elaborate search term like:
Sathya Sai Baba Upanishad Vahini
does not improve matters. I find this to be so disappointing!

I hope somebody in suitable position in SSSCT or sister trusts does something about ensuring good coverage of Sathya Sai authored books and important books on Sathya Sai by others, in key digital libraries of the country like NDLI.
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Given below are some comments of mine from Facebook post,  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2581888802027681, associated with this blog post:

In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited):
Thanks for the valuable info. --name-snipped-- sir. SSSCT and sister trusts involved with publication of Sathya Sai literature should contact NDLI through appropriate channels (just an email won't do), and request that links to free Sathya Sai literature on SSSCT & sister trust websites, be added to NDLI database. ... But .... Jai Sai Ram!
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But I don't think in India, there is such a law relating to depositing few copies of books published with a particular national library. I may be wrong, but I have not come across that. And I don't think it applies to self-publishers as I am now a self-publisher with ISBN numbers allotted to me by Indian govt. agency for ISBN, http://isbn.gov.in .. Searching for my name as the publisher in this website lists my books. Clicking on 'Recently Published Books' link leads you to the search form.
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In response to a comment, I wrote (slightly edited):
This is search in what I think is a premier digital library of India and NOT the Internet in general. Digital Libraries will have mechanisms to filter out junk/garbage. Internet Search, in general, does not have effective mechanisms of that sort.
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In response to a comment, I wrote (slightly edited):
Oh! I am not so exposed to management of library systems in academia or large non-academic libraries. I have only been a user of such libraries. .... I was not aware that you had studied oriental philosophy in an academic setup. Hmm. ... Perhaps you may be right that there are some biases that are common to Internet searches and library searches. I think you know more about this than me. Thanks for your valuable info. and views.
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In response to a comment, I wrote:
At least in libraries in India, it would be good if lit-survey on Sai's teachings using search facility, provides proper results. ... I really don't know much about how library systems do their searches. I guess they would use search engines and algorithms that are similar to that used on the Internet, but made available for use on private networks. I think SSSIHL (Sai university) used something like that in the latter part of my stint there.
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