You are Here: Home > About Us > NIMH Library

 

About NIMH Library:


The library was started in the Institute in 1984 to provide bibliographical and documentation support to the teaching and research programmes of the Institute. It has moved to its own building in 1986. The library located in the 1st floor of the administrative block has a stack area of 25, 000 volumes and the reading hall can accommodate 100 readers


Objectives of the Library:


  • To build a strong collection in the field of mental retardation and allied areas.


  • To keep abreast of the latest developments / techniques reported in literature on care, training and rehabilitation of persons with mental retardation by collecting, sifting, assimilating and disseminating tailor-made information to the professionals working in the private and public sectors in the country through different information & documentation services.


  • To disseminate information on Government policies pertaining to welfare legal and financial aspects in to the parents, self groups and voluntary organizations working in the field of mental retardation.


  • To create awareness among the common public and educate the parents of mentally retarded children by providing awareness material such as educational folders, pamphlets, posters, newsletters, video films, manuals and other booklets on identification, causes, prevention, training and rehabilitation aspects of mental retardation.


Library working hours:


The Working hours of the library are:


Monday  to Friday 9.00 AM to 9.00 PM

Saturday 9.00 AM to 5.30 PM

(Lunch break 1.00 – 1.30PM)


Clientele:


  • The NIMH library is a specialized library established to cater to the needs of different types of clientele. The library is being extensively used by the students of different courses numbering to about 140 faculty members and research staff of the institute (approximately, 160 No.s ). In addition the use of the library is extended to the professionals of NGO’s research scholars from univ. / colleges, parents and general public with prior permission.


  • Direct users: 300 include approximately 50 faculty members and 250 student from NIMH, Southern regional centre of AYJNIHH, Guest faculty and research scholars from other institutions/ Universities.


  • Indirect users 7000 include professionals working in the Government/ NGO’s in the country.


  • Average number of users visiting the library 75 members per day.


Holdings:


The NIMH Library has a variety of documents such as books, periodicals, dissertations reports, off-prints, video films and CDs etc., It has a specialized and representative collection of books in the area of Mental Retardation and allied areas.


The holdings are not limited to these areas alone. It has a substantial number of books on subjects like psychology, special education, child development, medical books (Pediatrics & Psychiatry), Social work, counseling the families of the Mentally retarded and so on in order to support research activities of inter-disciplinary nature. It has a well –balanced document collection.


I.)Reference Books:


There is a separate reference section at the NIMH Library containing documents like subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, general languages, dictionaries, year books, etc., Reference books are not issued our on loan.


II.)Periodicals:


The library is currently subscribing to 123 Indian and Foreign periodicals in English, Hindi and Telugu languages. It has an extensive back volume collection of periodicals.


III.)Textbooks:


There is a separate textbook section containing books prescribed for the courses conducted by the institute.


IV.)Dissertations:


The library has a comprehensive collection of dissertations submitted to the institute. In addition the library acquires facsimile copies of all-important dissertations submitted to different universities in the area of Mental Retardation and allied areas.


V.)Archives:


This section contains non-book materials such as reports, pamphlets, syllabuses, newsletters and microfilms required for the institute academic  and research programmes. News clippings containing information related to subjects such as Mental Retardation and education, hearing impairment and speech aspects, physically handicapped & Cerebral palsy and epilepsy and indexed and preserved.


Collection (As on January, 2010):

   

Books

9595

Periodicals

123

News papers 

(National and Local)

11

Reprints

1025

Audio visual materials

322

Bound volumes of journals                               

1926

Gray literature (Approx)*

15220


* Includes annual reports, bibliographies, subject folders, souvenirs, institute brochures and prospects of Universities etc.


Arrangement of Books:


The new books to the library are classified according to the UDC (Universal Decimal Classification)


  • Author Catalogue
  • Title Catalogue
  • Subject Catalogue

In addition to this a separate catalogue for back volumes of journals, reprints non-book materials and Hindi books is available


Information & Documentation Services:


1.Reference Service: Queries on general and multi disciplinary aspects of mental retardation received from the professionals, students, parents and public are provided with required information.


'

2.Current Awareness Service: To keep abreast of the latest developments and techniques in the field of mental retardation and allied areas to the professionals, geographically located in different parts of the country, a bi-monthly service called “MENTARD” was started in January 1986. This service includes abstracts of recent articles published in the journals received in the library, news items of interest, information on forthcoming conferences/ Seminars, professional placements and new additions to the library. Annual subscription of this service is Rs. 150/- and the current list includes about 300 subscribers.


3.Photocopy Service: NIMH Library believes in a strong back up service in support of the regular documentation services. Photocopies of the journal articles and chapters from books (not exceeding 50 pages) included in the MENTARD bulletin and subject bibliographies are supplied on nominal payment against specific request.


4.Newspaper Clipping Service: This Services started on July 1st , 1990 with an objective to project current scenario in the country in the field of disabilities, includes government policies/schemes for the welfare of the disabled persons, views of parents/public on legal, financial aspects and training programmes offered by the government institutes /voluntary organizations, events/activities of different institutes etc., About 12 national/local newspapers are scanned regularly and clippings pertaining to the disabilities are added to this service.


5.Literature Search Service:Requests for literature search on specific topics of interest in the field of mental retardation and allied areas are accepted from internal / external users and reading lists on the given topics are provided. Online literature searches on MEDLARS & ERIC databases are also conducted against the search requests received from the users of library.


6.Compilation of Subject Bibliographies: Bibliographies on given topics in the field of mental retardation and allied areas are compiled in the anticipation and on demand. The citations are taken only from the literature available in the library.


7.Select Contents Service:This is fortnightly service which includes photocopies of the content pages of a few important journals those are not received in NIMH Library. The objective of this service is to provide wider access of the journal literature to the users. The full text of the articles is supplied on request.


8.In-house Video Service:Users can view the video films that are available in the library. A colour TV set with VCR and head phone facility is accessible to the users to view the required film. Three users can simultaneously view a given film by using head phones.


9.Internet/ e-mail Services: Through the VSNL’s internet broadband connection, internet service is being provided exclusively to the student community with effect from 1st March 2005. Five systems have been deployed for this purpose in the internet search cabin in the library wherein the students can avail this service.


10.Content Alerts:This weekly service is being provided from February 2004 for the benefit of professionals working at the three regional centers of the Institute located at New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It includes content pages of professional journals received at NIMH library during the preceding week. The main objective of this service is to provide wider access to the scientific literature reported in different professional journals in the field of mental retardation and allied areas to the regional centers where these journals are not being subscribed. It is hoped that this service would meet academic endeavors of the professionals working in these regional centers.


11.Institutional Membership :To support NGO’s particularly those involed in HRD and R & D activities, institutional membership facility has been started in March 2005. Under this membership scheme, the intended NGO’s has to pay a refundable deposit of Rs. 10, 000/- and an annual membership fee of Rs. 5,000/- A maximum of six books can be borrowed at a time and six members are permitted to use the library. An Institutional Member can also avail photocopy facilities and other documentation services.

back to top