Very happy that National Digital Library of India lists both of my books (ebook version) stored in World eBook Library
Firstly, what is National Digital Library of India?
From https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/faq, "National Digital Library of India (NDL India) is an all-digital library that stores information (metadata) about different types of digital contents including books, articles, videos, audios, thesis and other educational materials relevant for users from varying educational levels and capabilities. It provides a single-window search facility to access digital contents currently existing in India as well as other digital sources under a single umbrella."
"NDL India has been designed to benefit all kinds of users like students (of all levels), teachers, researchers, librarians, library users, professionals, differently abled users and all other lifelong learners."
The sponsor for NDL India: "Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), has sponsored and funded the National Digital Library of India (NDL India) pilot project."
So NDL India is funded by Indian government. IIT Kharagpur (http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/) seems to be having the responsibility (and funding) for hosting the facility, as of now at least.
Note that NDL India does not seem to take on the burden of storing the actual ebooks. It only stores some data (metadata) about the ebook including where the ebook is stored (elsewhere).
Last year itself when I self-published my first book (Who am I? I am I ...), I explored the possibility of adding the book to NDL India. I wrote email(s) to them but got no response. I tried some other digital library associated sites in India and failed to get any response from them on listing my book.
I had felt rather sad that I could not contribute my free ebook to my country's digital library/libraries. But I realized that NDL India and other noted digital libraries in India will not accept books directly from an individual author (especially a nobody-author like me). Some library/librarian would have to list my book for NDL India to list it.
Today I decided to explore again whether I could do something about contributing my (now) 2 books to NDL India or getting it listed there. I was pleasantly surprised that searching NDL INDIA, https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/ for
a) Autobiography of an Indian Software Techie
listed my part autobio book from the "World eBook Library", http://community.ebooklibrary.org/.
b) Who am I? I am I - Ultimate Existential Reality Answer
listed my 'Who am I? I am I ...' book, from the "World eBook Library", http://community.ebooklibrary.org/.
The author is listed as "Iyer, RaviS." It should have been: "Iyer, Ravi S." (as they put the last name first in some searches). But...
Search for: Vedanta, god and science
also lists my 'Who am I? I am I ..' book (as the first result, as of now)! That's really nice! See screenshot below.
[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]
Hmm. I knew that World eBook Library had picked up my books from http://self.gutenberg.org where I had uploaded them. But I did not know that through World eBook Library, my books would get listed in NDL India! So what I, an Indian citizen and resident, failed to do through direct emails to NDL India, got accomplished via self.gutenberg.org and World eBook Library both of which seem to be based in USA!
But I see the logic. World eBook Library is an institution with possibly significant level of funding whereas I am just a nobody-individual who can just vanish into the blue anytime.
http://community.ebooklibrary.org/view/about-us.aspx states, "The World Library Foundation is the world's largest collection of Books and Articles in electronic format. Founded in 1996, the World Library Foundation is a global coordinated effort to preserve and disseminate digital facsimiles of historical books, classic works of literature, serials, bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other heritage works in a number of languages and countries around the world. World Library Foundation is a IRC 501(c)(4) Organization, organized Not for profit, but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare. Our mission is to serve and aid the public, students, and educators, by providing the world's most complete collection of electronic books, documents, and articles online, as well as offer a variety of services and resources that support and strengthen the instructional programs of education, elementary through post-baccalaureate studies."
It is a global not-for-profit institution! So it makes eminent sense for NDL India to list books stored in World (eBook) Library.
There is one catch though. World eBook Library needs an eLibrary Card for access to its books which costs individuals slightly less than 10 US Dollars per year.
Perhaps as I am the author of the books, my self.gutenberg.org id works on World eBook Library. So I don't have to pay anything to view my books on World eBook Library.
But how about other Indians finding my ebooks on NDL India which directs them to World eBook Library and also any other country's citizens getting directed to World eBook Library for my books?
My books are also available on archive.org which is free use for anybody (as of now, at least). I think I will write to NDL India giving my ebooks' links on archive.org and asking them to list those links in addition to World eBook Library links.
Also, those users who find my book titles on NDL India but cannot access the ebook on World eBook Library as they do not have an eLibrary card, may then do suitable Google searches. Google search for free pdf for those titles gives, as some of the top result(s), link(s) that will lead them to free ebook view/download site(s) for those books.
In any case, I now have the happiness (ananda) of seeing both my books listed on NDL India, a top digital library of India, funded by the union (federal) government. I thought of sharing that happiness (ananda) with readers through this post.
From https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/faq, "National Digital Library of India (NDL India) is an all-digital library that stores information (metadata) about different types of digital contents including books, articles, videos, audios, thesis and other educational materials relevant for users from varying educational levels and capabilities. It provides a single-window search facility to access digital contents currently existing in India as well as other digital sources under a single umbrella."
"NDL India has been designed to benefit all kinds of users like students (of all levels), teachers, researchers, librarians, library users, professionals, differently abled users and all other lifelong learners."
The sponsor for NDL India: "Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), has sponsored and funded the National Digital Library of India (NDL India) pilot project."
So NDL India is funded by Indian government. IIT Kharagpur (http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/) seems to be having the responsibility (and funding) for hosting the facility, as of now at least.
Note that NDL India does not seem to take on the burden of storing the actual ebooks. It only stores some data (metadata) about the ebook including where the ebook is stored (elsewhere).
Last year itself when I self-published my first book (Who am I? I am I ...), I explored the possibility of adding the book to NDL India. I wrote email(s) to them but got no response. I tried some other digital library associated sites in India and failed to get any response from them on listing my book.
I had felt rather sad that I could not contribute my free ebook to my country's digital library/libraries. But I realized that NDL India and other noted digital libraries in India will not accept books directly from an individual author (especially a nobody-author like me). Some library/librarian would have to list my book for NDL India to list it.
Today I decided to explore again whether I could do something about contributing my (now) 2 books to NDL India or getting it listed there. I was pleasantly surprised that searching NDL INDIA, https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/ for
a) Autobiography of an Indian Software Techie
listed my part autobio book from the "World eBook Library", http://community.ebooklibrary.org/.
b) Who am I? I am I - Ultimate Existential Reality Answer
listed my 'Who am I? I am I ...' book, from the "World eBook Library", http://community.ebooklibrary.org/.
The author is listed as "Iyer, RaviS." It should have been: "Iyer, Ravi S." (as they put the last name first in some searches). But...
Search for: Vedanta, god and science
also lists my 'Who am I? I am I ..' book (as the first result, as of now)! That's really nice! See screenshot below.
[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]
Hmm. I knew that World eBook Library had picked up my books from http://self.gutenberg.org where I had uploaded them. But I did not know that through World eBook Library, my books would get listed in NDL India! So what I, an Indian citizen and resident, failed to do through direct emails to NDL India, got accomplished via self.gutenberg.org and World eBook Library both of which seem to be based in USA!
But I see the logic. World eBook Library is an institution with possibly significant level of funding whereas I am just a nobody-individual who can just vanish into the blue anytime.
http://community.ebooklibrary.org/view/about-us.aspx states, "The World Library Foundation is the world's largest collection of Books and Articles in electronic format. Founded in 1996, the World Library Foundation is a global coordinated effort to preserve and disseminate digital facsimiles of historical books, classic works of literature, serials, bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other heritage works in a number of languages and countries around the world. World Library Foundation is a IRC 501(c)(4) Organization, organized Not for profit, but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare. Our mission is to serve and aid the public, students, and educators, by providing the world's most complete collection of electronic books, documents, and articles online, as well as offer a variety of services and resources that support and strengthen the instructional programs of education, elementary through post-baccalaureate studies."
It is a global not-for-profit institution! So it makes eminent sense for NDL India to list books stored in World (eBook) Library.
There is one catch though. World eBook Library needs an eLibrary Card for access to its books which costs individuals slightly less than 10 US Dollars per year.
Perhaps as I am the author of the books, my self.gutenberg.org id works on World eBook Library. So I don't have to pay anything to view my books on World eBook Library.
But how about other Indians finding my ebooks on NDL India which directs them to World eBook Library and also any other country's citizens getting directed to World eBook Library for my books?
My books are also available on archive.org which is free use for anybody (as of now, at least). I think I will write to NDL India giving my ebooks' links on archive.org and asking them to list those links in addition to World eBook Library links.
Also, those users who find my book titles on NDL India but cannot access the ebook on World eBook Library as they do not have an eLibrary card, may then do suitable Google searches. Google search for free pdf for those titles gives, as some of the top result(s), link(s) that will lead them to free ebook view/download site(s) for those books.
In any case, I now have the happiness (ananda) of seeing both my books listed on NDL India, a top digital library of India, funded by the union (federal) government. I thought of sharing that happiness (ananda) with readers through this post.
Comments
Post a Comment