DELNET proposes to get Knowledge Centres established in India with the support of the Government of India and the State Governments. The computer and communication technologies can help in networking knowledge and people in complex permutations and combinations provided we have the desired content and the requirements of users available with us in machine readable form. We also will have to use the Knowledge Technology to make best use of the resources of knowledge in the country. The Knowledge Technology does not merely help in matching users needs with knowledge resources, but also helps in taking decisions in global and futuristic perspectives.

Keeping in view the importance of Knowledge Centres, DELNET proposes that Knowledge Centres should be established in public libraries and the centres of learning in each state. Also, it is planning to establish the National Knowledge Centre at DELNET.

The National Knowledge Centre would make knowledge accessible through the Knowledge Gateway  www.knowledgegateway.org  It will also promote the creation of suitable content at the Knowledge Centres and make it available to the public in the country. It will add links to every useful information that is already existing and make all knowledge available to the public, including researchers, students and teachers.

 

The main objectives of DELNET in promoting Knowledge Centres would be to:
 

  1. Coordinate with Knowledge Centres in different States in the country;
     

  2. Serve the National Knowledge Centre;
     

  3. Develop collections on important subjects;
     

  4. Create databases, develop an Intranet and maintain information on important knowledge repositories;
     

  5. Develop catalogues and indexes in machine readable form using international standards of physical and electronic resources;
     

  6. Give integrated access to information available with DELNET on the subjects and collect relevant information on the subjects from other sources. (DELNET offers more than 70 lakh records of books etc. today and promotes sharing of information available with more than 1100 libraries in India and 6 other countries.)
     

  7. Connect each component of knowledge with a set of experts and develop an active database of such experts;
     

  8. Develop links with resources both physical such as institutions and individuals, and, electronic such as electronic resources available through the Internet,
     

  9. Capture knowledge from projects, assignments, gray literature, case studies, experts etc. on given subjects and makes them accessible in database form;
     

  10. Give as much information to the users as the users need to complete their assignments,
     

  11. Make each Knowledge Centres as a one-stop centre for accessing knowledge on different subjects or topics of interest to users in the public libraries; and
     

  12. Train every user in accessing information and guide the users to appropriate resource.

Knowledge Centres will have to cull out knowledge from a variety of sources including printed sources such as newspapers, books, journals, gray literature etc.; digital resources including CD's, Internet, databases, metadata etc. and adopt research methodologies to collect information on the issues of particular interest to each Knowledge Centre. Eventually a full text library on topics in digital form will get developed with links and in-house resources all ready for use of the users 24 hours throughout the year.