There has to be very good reason for a library to index articles whenNational / International Service is available. Moreover such servicemay not be necessarily commercial, we have good examples when it isavailable free, for example - PubMed [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi ], IndMED [http://indmed.nic.in ] or Open Index Initiative [http://oii.igidr.ac.in ] . The reason for a library to do indexing could be following: 1 - The requirement of the library users is such that subscription tocommercial databases is not justified because it is very expensive andonly a fraction of it is of use. 2 - Institute has number of in-house publications / staff members'publications and all of them are not available in indexing services. 3. The subject area of the parent institute is such diversified /specialized that no single database is sufficient. However, if the point 2 is applicable for a library, then it would bebetter to have a Institutional Repository that is OAI-PMH compliant[EPrints for example] rather then indexing the in-house publicationthrough Library automation packages. If resources for IR are notavailable then Librarians should collaborate and input InstitutionalOut Put to central repositories like OpenMED@NIC ,http://openmed.nic.in . --Sukhdev Singh, NIC.http://openmed.nic.in On 12/29/05, G. K. Manjunath <gkm@igidr.ac.in> wrote:> Dear All,>> It is nice that our friend Mr.Amin has initiated a debate on Article> indexing.>> Our experience at IGIDR library tells us that the job of indexing journal> articles will be more expensive than subscribing commercial> indexing/abstracting journal. Inspite of having required human resource,> it would be difficult to have wide coverarge and to maintain quality par> with international indexing/abstracting journals.>> The cost has been calculated considering the total cost to the> institution, which includes salary and other perks such as CPF,> accomodation, medical allowance, Gratuity, bonus, LTC, etc paid to one> full-time LIS professional.>> More over, the features provided in search interface such as SPIRS and> OVID are are so wonderful, which our inhouse indexing system may not be> able to provide.>> However, it is worth indexing such Indian journals not covered in> International indexing journals either individually or as a cooperative> venture.>> IndMed has launched free online service to provide index to Indian> medical journals. (http://indmed.nic.in)>> IGIDR library during Sept, 2005, has launched a free online index service> titled 'Open Index Initiative', which is a cooperative effort to index> Indian social science journals consisting of index to articles, books> reviews and conference papers. This is based on RePEc and DOIS models> ( http://oii.igidr.ac.in)>> This email does not intend to suggest any library to stop indexing work,> rather intends to just share our experience.>>> thanks>> g.k.manjunath> CHIEF LIBRARIAN> INDIRA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH> FILM CITY ROAD ( GEN.VAIDYA MARG )> SANTOSH NAGAR> GOREGAON ( EAST )> MUMBAI - 400 065> INDIA>>> e-mail : gkm@igidr.ac.in> http:// www.igidr.ac.in/lib/library.htm>> phone 022-28490653> fax 022-28402752>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________> LIS-Forum mailing list> LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in> http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum>