Page 21 - Informatics, October 2022

eGov Products & Services
eGov Products & Services

eGranthalaya

An Indigenous tool to modernise traditional
libraries to eLibraries

Edited by MOHAN DAS VISWAM

ibraries play a vital role in the overall The application was redesigned with input from
development of society by providing a variety library professionals, who helped in improving
Lof information services to citizens. In the the user interface and streamlining the workflow
modern era of information, they have become eGranthalaya is a digital platform of library functions so that it can be used in any
an integral part of both public and private type of library.
organisations, enabling their employees to satisfy developed for the automation
their information requirements and perform their Technology Overview
duties effectively. and networking of Government eGranthalaya was originally developed using
According to one estimate, only a few thousand Libraries. It helps in converting Microsoft Technologies and was using the same
libraries are fully automated, whereas the majority traditional libraries to eLibraries. till its third release. However, in consideration
of libraries are either partially automated or have of the utility, economy, and popularity of Open
not yet begun the automation process. When It provides a complete solution Source technologies, efforts are being made
presented with a challenge, NIC has taken the to migrate the application onto the same in a
initiative to computerise government libraries for Library Computerisation with phased manner.
by implementing eGranthalaya software. This Integrated Library Management In the first phase, the back-end component of
initiative has helped libraries to transform the application has been migrated from Microsoft
themselves and become eLibraries in order to Software, a Digital Library Module, SQL Server to PostgreSQL, an Open Source
meet the growing information needs of library and a Library Portal. Currently, it database management system.
members.
In subsequent phases, it is decided to migrate
has been implemented across 6000 the front-end components of the application to
libraries, including Rashtrapati an Open Source platform. Currently, the front-end
Bhawan and PMO Library. is built with ASP.NET 4.0 and runs in a Windows
environment using .NET Framework 4.7.
Table 7.1 shows the evolution of eGranthalaya
over a period of 18 years since its first release.
Manoj Kumar Mishra
Dy. Director General eGranthalaya 4.0
mk.mishra@nic.in eGranthalaya 4.0 is a web-based, cloud-ready
eGranthalaya application that can be used by member libraries
Introduction for live data entry, issue-return, and other
eGranthalaya first started as an internal project member services. It is hosted on NIC Cloud as a
at NIC Karnataka State Centre. The initial version SaaS application in cluster mode with a central
Ram Kumar Matoria was created for the Karnataka State Public database for a group of libraries.
Sr. Technical Director Libraries. Realising its immense potential, the The benefits of the cloud version include the
rkmatoria@nic.in project was subsequently given to the NIC Library avoidance of local application installation, thus
and Information Services Division, which assisted not requiring a server at the user’s end; not
the software in reaching its full potential. requiring maintenance or backup at the user’s

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