02nd October 2023: Library celebrated the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. A dice portrait was also created in his honour, in association with CCL. Library also celebrated the life and legacy of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
15th September 2023: Library celebrated the makers of the nation on Engineer’s Day
14th September 2023: Library celebrated Hindi Diwas
05th September 2023: Library paid tribute to the teachers with book exhibition
28th Feb 2023: Library celebrated National Science Day with a book exhibit.
21st Feb 2023: Library celebrated International Mother Language Day.
4th Feb 2023: Library put up a book display to spread awareness on World Cancer Day.
26th Jan 2023: Library celebrated Republic Day with a book exhibit and virtual exhibit of the Indian Constitution.
12th Jan 2023: Celebrated as National Youth Day, the library team observed the birthday of Swami Vivekananda with his books to inspire the youth of today.
22nd Dec 2022: Srinivas Ramanujan’s birthday was celebrated as National Mathematics Day with our grand collection of books on mathematics for display.
10th Dec 2022: Human Rights Day was observed in the Library.
4th Dec 2022: Indian Navy Day was observed in the Library.
13th & 14th November 2022: Library joined hands with Centre for Creative Learning and Art@IITGN to organise a fun-filled day on Sunday, 13th November for the little ones on the campus, in celebration of Children’s Day. Library also had displayed books on Jawaharlal Nehru on the day.
On 14th November, Library team met the kids at Nyasa and spent some time with them and distributed gifts to the children.
31st October: Library team celebrated Unity Day with a book exhibition on Sardar Patel and his extraordinary life.
02nd October: Library celebrated Gandhi Jayanti with the autobiography, biographies, memoir, collection of writings and more by Mahatma Gandhi.
29th August 2022: Books on sports were exhibited to commemorate the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand, celebrating the National Youth Day.
15th August 2022: 75 years of Independence was celebrated with pomp and glory in the Library, befitting the occasion. Although the library was closed on the day, a book exhibit on the freedom fighters and wee hours of India was put on display for a week long, as the tricolour waived high within the library premises.
12th August 2022: Library celebrated the birth anniversary of Vikram Sarabhai with a book and resource exhibit. The author of the week was also dedicated to the pioneer.
2nd August 2022: Library celebrated the IIT Gandhinagar Foundation Day with an exhibit of all the books written by authors affiliated with the institution.
11th July 2022: Library celebrated the International Population Day with the usual exhibits of books and other resources, flyers and quotes. An interesting video on growth of population over the past century garnered a lot of attention from the users.
21st June 2022: Library celebrated the spiritual awakening of International Yoga Day and the nourishment of soul with World Music Day with a beautiful display of books, quotes, posters and social media presence.
11th - 18th May 2022: Library at IIT Gandhinagar proudly will be displaying the beautiful artworks gifted by Ms. Janvi Thakkar, BTech 2018-22, Computer Science and Engineering from 11th to 18th May 2022. We also have carved out a space called “Your Creative Corner”. So if you have any artwork, poetry, short stories to showcase, we have the platform for you. Walk-in with your artworks and submit at the counter.
23rd April: World Book and Copyright Day was celebrated to promote reading habits among the community, as well as spread awareness about plagiarism. The day also marks the birth and death anniversary of the iconic British playwright William Shakespeare.
22nd April: The importance of saving our home planet was reiterated with a book exhibit and powerful messages on Earth Day.
18th April: Being near the historic city of Ahmedabad, it was the moral duty of the Library at IIT Gandhinagar to celebrate the World Heritage Day, which was done with a book exhibition.
14th April: To celebrate the 130th birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Library organized a book exhibit. That week the ‘Library Team wants you to know’ was also dedicated to the teachings of the great Babasaheb. An entire collection of books on his writings and speeches were also added to our collection in the same week.
8th April: Library believes in the age old saying “Health is Wealth”. Thus, the World Health Day was celebrated with an exhibition of books on awareness of health and promotion of healthy habits.
17th - 25th March: Library celebrated the birthday of Albert Einstein by creating the Author of the Week in his honour. A book exhibit has also been displayed.
8th March: Library team celebrated the power of women on 8th March with a book exhibit on the stories of, by and for women.
12th January: Celebrated as National Youth Day, the library team observed the birthday of Swami Vivekananda with his books to inspire the youth of today.
25th December: The merry season of Christmas was celebrated in the library with the chocolates, decorations and of course, books!
22nd December: Srinivas Ramanujan’s birthday was celebrated as National Mathematics Day with our grand collection of books on mathematics for display. The exhibition drew a lot of interests among the users, particularly the young students.
26th November: Library proudly celebrated Constitution Day. Books on the Indian constitution and the beautiful replica of our Constitution were put up on display among many things.
14th November: Library became a playground for the young users of our children collection on 14th November 2021 as Children’s Day was celebrated with the kids from the IITGN community. Events like quiz, design a bookmark/book cover, vote for your favourite books were organized. The day ended with exciting prizes and delicious treats.
Diwali (04th November): Library Team celebrated Diwali with beautiful Rangoli at the very entrance and a sweet treat for all our users
31st October: Sardar Patel Jayanti was observed in the library with great enthusiasm. Books on Iron Man of India were put on exhibition for the users. His great sayings and teachings were highlighted with posters and display materials.
2nd October: Gandhi Jayanti or International Day of Non-violence was observed in the library by highlighting the works of Mahatma Gandhi from the library collection. Apart from the usual display of books and graphic materials, ‘Library Team wants you to know…’ was also dedicated to fit the occasion.
21st September: International Day of Peace was celebrated in the library with a display of books, posters, digital display and quotations.
15th September: The birth anniversary of Sir M. Visvesvaraya, celebrated as “Engineers’ Day” was observed with book exhibit of books by the man himself, as well as some books celebrating the joy and beauty in engineering in general.
14th September: Library kept up the spirit of “Hindi Diwas”. The beauty of Hindi Literature was showcased in its full glory, as some selected popular titles made their way into the book exhibit, along with other promotional and decorative accompaniments.
8th September: “International Literacy Day” was celebrated with a book exhibition that consisted of books on and by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, as well as teaching and teachers in general.
Campus Kids Experience a Dive into Ocean Science - A Session at the Library, IIT Gandhinagar: The campus kids with their parents gathered for an engaging session "Ocean Expeditions: Voyage to Understand Past Climate" organized by the Library at IIT Gandhinagar making the Sunday June 30th cooler along with the refreshing rains. The event, led by Prof. Pankaj Khanna, from the Department of Earth Science provided an in-depth peek into the life of a marine geoscientist, the study of the past climates through coral reefs, and cutting-edge seafloor research technologies. The session was lively and interactive as Prof. Khanna wore his uniform and showed video clips of him and other researchers on an expedition ship, demonstrating how he lived on the ship and how he carried out his research for 64 days along with a team of marine geoscientists. The session included insights from two major expeditions in Hawaii (2023) and Texas (2012). Over 40 campus kids and residents attended the session, making it a fantastic experience of exploration of oceans and their mysteries! Overall, the session left attendees inspired by the wonders of ocean science. Prof. Khanna also shared his career journey and insights into his research work inspiring kids into marine geoscience.
Library & NYASA Collaboratively Organized Sessions for School Children: As a part of NYASA Summer Camp held on the campus for children from a nearby Government school in Borij, Gandhinagar, the Library hosted an engaging two-hour sessions in four batches on June 3rd and 4th, May 2024. These sessions were designed to raise awareness about libraries, familiarize students with various types of books, teach the anatomy of a book, and provide essential information skills.
These sessions had some exciting and interesting activities, which included a comprehensive library tour, where students explored different sections, and an introduction to reference books, covering dictionaries, encyclopedias, yearbooks, books of records, atlases and maps, magazines, and newspapers. The sessions also featured digital literacy training, focusing on navigating the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) website, conducting effective Google searches, and identifying fake news. Additionally, children wrote about their career aspirations and participated in a biographical book exhibition. As a takeaway, each child received a brochure on useful resources for school children and a book titled “Simple Machines.”
The impact of these sessions was significant, with feedback indicating that over 50% of the children had never visited a library before. The students found the experience highly enjoyable, actively engaging and asking numerous questions throughout the sessions.
The Library Team extended our heartfelt gratitude to NYASA@IITGN for including the library sessions in their summer camp. This opportunity allowed the Library Team to interact with the students and facilitate a meaningful and educational experience.
Writing Quality Technical Papers for IEEE: On 5th April 2024, Dr. Dhanukumar Pattanashetti addressed the IEEE community, discussing the essential parameters, tools, and techniques necessary for successful publication in IEEE Xplore. His engaging session included audience interaction, where he inquired about their publishing cycles and emphasized key do's and don'ts in the publishing process.
IEEE Xplore Digital Library: Delivering Research Better Than Ever: On 4th April 2024, In an online workshop, Dr. Dhanukumar Pattanashetti, Senior IEEE Client Services at IEEE India, showcased valuable tips and tricks for utilizing IEEE Xplore to enhance contemporary research, find inspiration, and conduct comprehensive literature surveys in specific engineering fields.
Power your research with Scopus and Mendeley: On 12th March 2024, The Library hosted a refresher workshop on March 12, 2024, for the IITGN community, focusing on the effective use of Scopus and Mendeley. Dr. Shubhra Datta, the resource person, highlighted how Scopus can support researchers throughout the research process, from identifying trending topics in a discipline to getting indexed in the database. The session also covered the management of references using Mendeley, including its tips and tricks.
Effective use of 'Web of Science' & 'EndNote' : Taking your research to a next level: On 06th March 2024, a workshop was held to explore the tips and tricks for navigating Web of Science to search for articles, potential publishers, research collaborators, and institutes for higher education. The session also included a demonstration on how to collect and manage citations from various sources using EndNote.
Seminar on Nobel Prize 2023: A series of lectures were organised by Prof. Sudipta Sarkar and Library Team on the winners and the ideas that won them the honour.
10th February 2024: "The Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin and her 'detective' work of bringing Women into the Economic discourse" - Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023 by Prof. Deepak Singhania
10th February 2024: "Jon Fosse and the Afterlife of Modernism" - The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 by Prof. Arka Chattopadhyay
27th January 2024: "Nobel Peace Prize 2023: A Glimpse into the Courage of Narges Mohammadi" - Nobel Peace Prize 2023 by Prof. Chelva Kumar
20th January 2024: "From Shambhunath ki Jadibooti to mRNA based vaccine - the way to ultimately limit covid19 pandemic" - Physiology or Medicine Nobel Prize 2023 by Prof. Dhiraj Bhatia
06th January 2024: "Experimental realization of attosecond pulses for probing electron dynamics in matter"- Physics Nobel Prize 2023 by Prof. Rupak Banerjee
06th January 2024: "Quantum dots: A fascinating world of tiny materials whose properties are determined by their size" - Chemistry Nobel Prize 2023 by Prof. Saumyakanti Khatua
Visit to the 9th Amdavad National Book Fair 2024: On January 7, 2024, the Library team of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) organised a visit to the 9th Amdavad National Book Fair 2024 at GMDC Ground, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad. The excursion commenced at 2:00 PM and included more than 70+ book enthusiasts. The book fair featured over 120 stalls from various publishers and distributors, offering a diverse range of books in fiction, non-fiction, spirituality, science, children, healthcare, astronomy, sports, and more. The event also included engaging activities such as Author talks, musical programs, and speeches by notable figures, providing a well-rounded literary experience.
‘Fun With Words and Visuals: Stories and Activities’: The first Sunday of this year started of with vibrant stories and curious questions as we hosted Ms. Mamata Pandya for storytelling sessions with our community kids. The event started at 10 am with the younger batch of standard 1-4 hearing stories of monkeys and crocodiles, owls and elephants. The second batch of standard 5-8 was a smaller group but definitely no less enthusiastic. They read aloud “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. Ms. Pandya also narrated her everyday visuals on a coral tree, which she observed right from her office desk.
Chai Time: On the lovely evening of 5th December 2023, Library welcomed 75+ colleagues to the new library building for “Chai Time”, organized by SDC. The event started with a brief walkthrough of the new library, followed by games like crossword, quiz and Look for the book. After 75 minutes, the session ended with taking selfies with favourite books and drinking the eponymous chai.
Fun with SDGs: Library, IITGn and Dr Kiran C Patel Centre for Sustainable Development (KPCSD) together organized an event for IITGN kids Community on Children’s Day 2023 celebration on 26th November 2023 with aim of spreading awareness of 17 Sustainable Development Goals through with fun-filled activities! The program was vibrant and attended by 33 enthusiastic children from the IITGN residential community. Ms Falguni Tailor and Ms Divya R gave concise introductions to the significance of sustainable development in our life and narrated a story, interwoven with sustainability themes. Library staff engaged kids with more fun activities including challenging crossword puzzles, coloring SDG-themed paintings and oaths that were taken for a sustainable future. The event successfully blended awareness with enjoyment, leaving the children inspired, and informed, with their commitment to sustainable development.
Improving academic & research writing using Grammarly: On 16th November 2023, Ms. Panna Chaudhary, Assistant Librarian, IITGN conducted a session on Grammarly and the various benefits of the software unlocked using the premium version that library subscribes to. The session covered steps like account creation, profile modification and effective use of the tool.
Predatory Publishing: How to Spot and Avoid: On 08th November 2023, Dr. T.S. Kumbar conducted a workshop on predatory publishing. In the attempt to spread awareness of publishing malpractice, Dr. Kumbar narrated the history, identifiable characteristics and guidance to avoid the predatory publishers and conferences.
Creating and Managing Your Scholarly Identity: Continuing the workshop series, on 19th October 2022, Ms. Panna Chaudhary illustrated the role of research identity in a researcher’s life and how the researchers of IITGN can immensely benefit from the same. The various researcher ids were then discussed like ORCiD, Google Scholar, Scopus ID, which helps build an unique identity, as well as creates a one-stop profile of every researcher, making them easily searchable and present in the academic community
Power your research with Scopus and Mendeley : On 15th September 2023, Library organised a refresher workshop for the IITGN community on using Scopus and Mendeley. Resource person, Dr. Shubhra Datta, spoke how Scopus could assist a researcher in the entire research cycle - from finding the trending topic in a discipline to getting indexed in the database. The session progressed with management of various references required throughout the researcher’s life with Mendeley, its tips and tricks.
Effective use of 'Web of Science' & 'EndNote' : Taking your research to a next level: On 11th September 2023, a workshop was conducted on the tips and tricks to navigate through Web Of Science to search for not just articles, but also potential publisher, research collaborator and even institute to pursue higher education. Later, it was demonstrated how to collect and manage citations from various sources using EndNote.
Managing your references using Zotero - a Reference Management Software: On 29th August 2023, Mr. Tapas Kumar Das spoke about the importance of a reference management system in the research and demonstrated how Zotero can be used effectively for the same. The session included its installation, account setup, creation of library and creating bibliography, among others.
Domino Marvels: Design, Patterns, and Kinetic Fun!: Library & CCL IIT Gandhinagar organized yet another event - this time focusing on design and dominoes. On 27 August 2023, 18+ kids had a gala time identifying how our brain perceives a design, using Gestalt principles, creating a logo for their names and understanding of logic gates with domino tiles.
Visitors from University of Jammu: A delegation consisting of 19 students, two faculty members, and one staff member from the University of Jammu visited the library on 24th August 2023.
‘‘CAS SciFinder-n’ for Academic Research: On 23rd August 2023, Library organized a session on SciFinder-n in another in-person workshop. Students, especially from the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering discipline, attended the session to learn navigation through one of the most comprehensive databases for chemistry and related sciences.
How Similarity Checking is done: Refresher Course on Turnitin: On 16th August 2023, Library organized a session on understanding how Turnitin works. The session focused on analysing results, deciphering the similarity index and understanding the reports generated. AI detection was also discussed in the session, followed by interactive Q & A.
Foundation Program 2023: On 3rd, 4th & 7th August 2023, 360 fresh undergraduate students came in 6 batches for 3 hours each to learn about their library, its resources and services.
Aarohaan 2023: The Library orientation for the postgraduate students (Masters & Ph.D.) newly joined in July 2023, took place on 26th of July, with orientation in 5 batches for 90 minutes each.
Splash to Soar: with water rockets: The Library and the CCL at IIT Gandhinagar organized an exhilarating event, the Water Rocket Launch, on Sunday 30.07.2023. During the 2-hour program, the kids were introduced to the principles of rocketry and the basic science behind water rockets. They were provided with plastic water bottles and were guided by the resource person Ms Rashmi Sheoran from CCL, to build their own water rockets using simple materials like water, air pressure, molding clay and paper fins.
Pages of Possibility: Enriching Lives At IITGN Library Through Nyasa Kids: On the serene Thursday morning of 20.07.2023, amidst the pitter-patter of raindrops, the IITGN library team organised a magical event for the little faces of Nyasa, lovingly entitled “Pages of Possibility: Enriching Lives At IITGN Library Through Nyasa Kids”. As the clock struck 11, the joyful gathering commenced, welcoming 14 kids, their caring teacher Ms Falgunibahen Solanki, and the supportive student coordinator of IITGN.
Bubbly Balloons: The Library and Centre for Creative Learning (CCL) jointly organized a captivating program, "Bubbly Balloons: Exploring Fun Science Toys" exclusively for campus children on 2nd July (Sunday) from 10.00 AM to 12.00 PM. This engaging initiative reflects our commitment to serving the campus community and enriches the learning journey. The program showed some fun scientific balloon activities, inviting participants to embark on an exciting journey of creation and exploration. The program was held at the New Library space in Academic Block 13, with a vibrant group of 45+ energetic kids. The session was guided by Mr. Nihar Pandya from the Centre for Creative Learning, serving as the knowledgeable resource person.
The ABCs of Systematic Reviews: A Workshop for Librarians Getting Started: Library, IIT Gandhinagar and University of Victoria organised a webinar on 20th June 2023 for LIS professionals across the country on the intriguing topic on systematic review. The workshop commenced with Dr. T S Kumbar, Advisor at IITGN, welcoming the 127 participants from across India and introducing the speakers, Dr. Zahra Premji and Mrs. Aditi Gupta from the University of Victoria Libraries, Canada. Dr. Premji delved into a comprehensive explanation of systematic reviews. She emphasised that these reviews are structured literature reviews that follow predefined protocols to search, select, appraise, synthesise, and report relevant studies on a specific topic.
Silly Machines: The Library and Centre for Creative Learning (CCL) at IITGN organised the program called "Silly Machines" for campus children on 27th May (Saturday) from 11.00 AM to 1.00 PM. This program aimed to engage children in active and enjoyable learning experiences. Inspired by Rube Goldberg, Charlie Chaplin, and Kevin from the 'Home Alone' movies, the children were encouraged to build a chain reaction contraption using books from the library and materials from the CCL lab. The program was designed for children aged eight years and above and was held at the New Library space in Academic Block 13. Twenty-two cheerful and energetic youngsters joined in. Ms. Swati Shelar from the Centre for Creative Learning served as the resource person for the session.
Web of Science & EndNote: Taking your research to a next level: On April 17, 2023, Mr. Vishav Sharma, Senior Customer Success Manager, from Clarivate Analytics conducted a session on the ‘Web of Science & EndNote: Taking your research to a next level’. In the session, Mr. Sharma discussed how Web of Science can be used to find relevant information quickly and easily, as well as how it can be used to track citations and build bibliographies for research papers. He also explained the benefits of using EndNote and EndNote Click.
Predatory Publishing: How to Spot and Avoid: On 13th April 2023, a workshop on predatory publishing was conducted by Dr. T.S. Kumbar. The main aim of the workshop was to give awareness of predatory publishing or sources and how we can identify them. Dr. Kumbar emphasised on factors involving for the rise of predatory publishing and also highlighted the tips to identify predatory journals or publishers like Grammatical mistakes in their website / unsolicited mail, unreliable metrics or indexing claims, dubious peer review, false editorial board members, the vast scope of journals etc.
Enhance your research with Scopus & Mendeley: On April 11, 2023, Dr. Shubhra Dutta, from Elsevier, conducted an in-person workshop regarding “Enhance your research with Scopus & Mendeley”. The workshop was aimed at helping researchers and students to get the most out of their research by using both tools effectively. Dr. Dutta discussed how Scopus can become a research assistant and helps researchers to find the trending topics in their discipline, and provides access to a vast database of scholarly content. She also explained how it enables researchers to track their citations, analyse the impact of their work, and get indexed in the database. During the session, she briefly explained the importance of using ‘Mendeley, Reference Management Software’. She also highlighted how it provides a comprehensive range of features like plugins, which help researchers to manage and organise references throughout the research process. The workshop ended with a Q&A session.
Creating and Managing Your Scholarly Identity: Continuing the workshop series, on 28th March 2023, Ms. Panna Chaudhary illustrated the role of research identity in a researcher’s life and how the researchers of IITGN can immensely benefit from the same. The various researcher ids were then discussed like ORCiD, Google Scholar, Scopus ID, which helps build a unique identity, as well as creates a one-stop profile of every researcher, making them easily searchable and present in the academic community.
Managing your references using Zotero - a Reference Management Software: On 16th March 2022, Mr. Tapas Kumar Das took a refresh course on reference management system in the research and demonstrated how Zotero can be used effectively for the same. The session included its installation, account setup, creation of library and creating bibliography, among others.
Joy of Reading for the reading-deprived: Library at IIT Gandhinagar, jointly with Advanced Information Network of Libraries in Gujarat (ADINET), organised a virtual talk on Saturday, 4th March 2023. Around 60 LIS professionals from across the country participated to listen to the fascinating tales of Shri Sathyanarayanan Mundayoor and how the reading movement in Arunachal Pradesh empowered the new generation of readers and helped spread the joy of reading. The session started with Ms.Rhoda Bharucha, Director, ADINET, welcoming the speaker and stressing on the importance of such sessions for Library professionals.
Books are fun: Library at IIT Gandhinagar was in an imaginative mood, as printed words transformed into articulate narration with storytelling, Bahailu didi and Uncle Moosa. “Books are fun” was attended by 25 kids in two batches and story reading, poem recitation, song and dance livened up the atmosphere from 10 AM - 1 PM.
Sports & Science: Our recent program for campus kids on the intersection of sports and science was a success! Held on Saturday 25.02.2023 at the library with collaboration of CCL, the program was packed with fun and engaging activities that helped kids understand some of the basic scientific principles behind their favourite sports like badminton, cricket, football etc. Fourteen cheerful and energetic youngsters joined in, making for a lively and exciting gathering inside the library premise. Mrs. Nisha Pandey from the Centre for Creative Learning was the resource person for conducting the full session.
CAS SciFinder-n for Scientific Research: On February 17, 2023, the Library team led an interactive session on SciFinder-n for Academic Research. Mr. Milland Wagh, Principal Account Manager–Scientific Solutions ACS India, described the various features through presentation and hands-on practice. Students from the disciplines of Chemistry, Material Science, Biological Science, and Chemical Engineering, in particular, attended the session to learn how to navigate one of the most extensive databases for chemistry and related sciences. There were a total of 17 students who asked various questions during 1.5 hours.
The Value of Scientific Reviews: On 15th February 2023, Dr. Richard Gallagher, President and Editor-in-Chief of Annual Reviews, visited IIT Gandhinagar and Library IITGN and Biological Engineering IITGN organised an event on “The Value of Scientific Reviews”. Dr. Gallagher interacted with 40+ students, staff and faculty members about Annual Reviews and the importance of review articles in any discipline. He went on to explain how Annual Reviews was the brainchild of scientists and how the publication continuously works towards betterment of the scientific community. Dr. Gallagher also shared their plans to make Annual Reviews completely open access. The session was quite interactive with attendees putting forth their doubts and comments to Dr. Gallagher.
Game day: The Library and Centre for Creative Learning (CCL) have been jointly conducting a series of programs for campus children. The idea was to connect with the campus kids by promoting the fun and the learning behind the Board games. This time we organised the board games and combinatorial games session that started at 4pm and ended at 6pm. 35 enthusiastic kids from the campus attended the session named game day! The Game day ended with the facilitating Dr. Jyoti Krishnan for conducting the session and thanking CCL for their support.
Visit by students of Indian Army Gandhinagar: IITGN Library was visited by 60 students of Indian Army School from class 6 to 10 along with their teachers and parents on Saturday, 28.01.2023. The event was organised by Indian Army Camp Gandhinagar. The students were given a tour of the library resources and facilities. Lieutenant Colonel Saurabh S. Bisht of Army Camp Gandhinagar concurred that this library is well-stocked with good resources and well-maintained.
Visitors from Science Teachers` Association Mizoram: On 26th January 2023, visitors from Science Teachers` Association Mizoram visited the Library.
Math Made Visual: Every year, Library at IIT Gandhinagar celebrates National Mathematics Day on December 22, to commemorate the genius of Indian mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan. This year, we took the celebration up a notch with “Math Made Visual” - a string art session to unveil the beauty of mathematics, in association with the Center for Creative Learning (CCL). The session started with a beautiful video, featuring the string arts spread across the campus, followed by a storytelling session, depicting the life of Ramanujan and magic number 1729. Next, on cardboard cutouts, tables of 2 and 3 were followed to wrap around thread and bring patterns to life.
Seminar on Nobel Prize 2022: : A series of lectures were organised by Prof. Sudipta Sarkar and Library Team on the winners and the ideas that won them the honour.
○ 19th November 2022: Entanglement Unleashed - Physics Nobel Prize 2022 by Prof. B Prasanna Venkatesh.
○ 12th November 2022: The “Click” that revolutionised the chemistry of complex molecules- Chemistry Nobel Prize 2022 by Prof. Sivapriya Kirubakaran.
○ 5th November 2022: Exclusive humans with inclusive DNA - Physiology Nobel Prize 2022 by Prof. Umashankar Singh.
Predatory Publishing: How to Spot and Avoid: On 18th November 2022, the concluding workshop of the semester was conducted by Dr. T.S. Kumbar on predatory publishing. In the attempt to spread awareness of publishing malpractice, Dr. Kumbar narrated the history, identifiable characteristics and guidance to avoid the predatory publishers and conferences.
Managing your references using Zotero - a Reference Management Software: On 14th November 2022, Mr. Tapas Kumar Das spoke about the importance of a reference management system in the research and demonstrated how Zotero can be used effectively for the same. The session included its installation, account setup, creation of library and creating bibliography, among others.
Creating and Managing Your Scholarly Identity: Continuing the workshop series, on 9th November 2022, Ms. Panna Chaudhary illustrated the role of research identity in a researcher’s life and how the researchers of IITGN can immensely benefit from the same. The various researcher ids were then discussed like ORCiD, Google Scholar, Scopus ID, which helps build an unique identity, as well as creates a one-stop profile of every researcher, making them easily searchable and present in the academic community.
Writing and Publishing A Quality Research/Technical Paper by IEEE Xplore: On 4th November 2022, Dr. Dhanukumar Pattanashetti spoke to the IEEE community about the parameters and tools, techniques to get published in IEEE Xplore. He made the session interesting by interacting with the audience, enquiring their publishing cycles and highlighting the do’s and don'ts while publishing.
Inspiring Research and Innovation Using IEEE Publications: On 3rd November 2022, Dr. Dhanukumar Pattanashetti, Senior IEEE Client Services, IEEE India, in an offline workshop after years, demonstrated the tips and tricks of using IEEE Xplore for contemporary research, inspiration and literature survey in a particular field of engineering.
The Scholarly Communication Ecosystem: Academic Integrity, Openness and Fairness: On 21st September 2022, Ms. Karrie Peterson, Department Head, Liaison and Instruction Services, MIT Libraries, USA, was invited to talk online to the IITGN community about ‘The Scholarly Communication Ecosystem: Academic Integrity, Openness and Fairness’. She addressed the substantial expectations we have for advancing human knowledge according to the range of research practices and publishing models that make up the scholarly information ecosystem. In particular, she spoke of some of the critical thinking that is developing globally about current models in that ecosystem and some of the ways that researchers and librarians are challenging these legacy models in support of fairness and openness.
Peer Review: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications: On 19th September 2022, Prof Shanmuganathan Raman, Associate Professor, Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering, IITGN, spoke on the topic of ‘Peer Review: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications’. He highlighted the importance of peer review process, especially in the field of Computer Science and gave a whole insight of tools and evaluation criteria used by reviewers. He went on to narrate his experience of being a reviewer for both journal publications and conferences.
Enhance your research with Scopus & Mendeley: On 15th September 2022, Library organised a refresher workshop for the IITGN community on using Scopus and Mendeley. Resource person, Dr. Shubhra Datta, spoke how Scopus could assist a researcher in the entire research cycle - from finding the trending topic in a discipline to getting indexed in the database. The session progressed with management of various references required throughout the researcher’s life with Mendeley, its tips and tricks.
Improving academic & research writing using Grammarly: On 6th September 2022, Library organised a session on Grammarly, one of the most used services provided by the Library. Mr. Ratish Iyer from Bridge People Technology Solutions spoke of the onboarding process in Grammarly, following the various writing tools and assistance features it offers.
Book Review Writing Competition (Aug - Oct 22): Library team, in association with Writing Studio, organised the second edition of Book Review Writing Competition.
The winners of the competition are:
● 1st place: Bidhan Kumar Sahu, PhD, Civil Engineering, with a delightful review of Vikram Sarabhai: a life.
● 2nd place: Mohit Singh, M.A.Sc., Humanities and Social Sciences, for a fresh take on the Life and times of Jaipal Singh Munda.
● 3rd place: Rahul Bishnoi, M.A.Sc., Humanities and Social Sciences, with his brilliant capture on the conflicted life in This life at play : memoirs.
‘CAS SciFinder-n’ for Academic Research: On 29th August, Mr. Sangram Gokhale conducted a session on SciFinder-n in another in-person workshop. Students, especially from the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering discipline, attended the session to learn navigation through one of the most comprehensive databases for chemistry and related sciences.
Effective use of 'Web of Science' & 'EndNote': Taking your research to a new level: Library organised a session for effective use of Web of Science and EndNote among the student community, with the in-person workshop on 26th August, 2022. Dr. Subhasree Nag demonstrated how effectively Web of Science can be used and even had volunteers from the student group for a specific query. The benefits of EndNote and EndNote Click were also discussed briefly.
What is new & happening in Academic & Research Libraries in Canada: On the evening of 23rd August, 2022, Library at IIT Gandhinagar organised an online webinar by Ms. Aditi Gupta, Engineering & Science Librarian, University of Victoria Libraries, Canada, on the library trends and best practices of the Canadian libraries. 193 library professionals across the country joined in to listen to the initiatives taken by University of Victoria Libraries to serve their user community. The talk started with understanding the strength of users in the institution and how the library strives to serve them. Services like orientation program, ebooks facility, systemic reviews, green room for podcasting, VR were discussed at length. The session ended with an enthusiastic question and answer session which were aptly answered by the speaker.
Advisor (Library & Institute Archives) felicitated with Long Service Award: Dr. T. S. Kumbar, Advisor (Library and Institute Archives), was felicitated for completing his decade long association with the institution. He was appointed the first librarian at the institute and contributed immensely in making the library the vibrant place it is today.
Evaluating information: Going beyond deceptive publishing, fake news, and bias in scientific literature: On Monday 8th August 2022, Library at IIT Gandhinagar hosted an offline talk on the current and relevant topic of fake news, bias, its impact on academia and evaluation methods of resources. Guest speaker, Ms. Aditi Gupta, Engineering & Science Librarian, University of Victoria Libraries, Canada, beautifully narrated the hassles of fake news, connecting them to real life, kinds of bias, news source and their varying credibility, and various evaluation techniques for choosing the right article for every researcher. The Q&A session turned interesting with intellectual questions from the participants that turned into a gripping discussion.
Aarohan 2022: Aarohan 2022: A Walk Through Library, the Library orientation for the postgraduate students (Masters & Ph.D.) newly joined in July 2022, took place on the 23rd & 24th of July. On 23rd July, Saturday, Dr. T.S. Kumbar, Advisor (Library & Institute Archives), gave a brief presentation on the library resources and facilities to the students. On 24th July, Sunday, the students visited the Library in 4 batches to connect the dots from the presentation the day before and firsthand experience the library ambience. The sessions were 90 minutes long, packed with activities that boosted the participants' knowledge about available library facilities.
Foundation Program 2021: Library at IIT Gandhinagar, as a part of Foundation Program for BTech 2021, interacted with the students in 4 different batches, throughout the entire day of 18th July 2022. The session was designed carefully to help the students get acquainted with everything they might require from the library over the course of their undergraduate journey and also brief about how they can use those resources to enrich their academic lives.
Similarity Checking using Turnitin: How the various features help in your academics: On Friday, 1st July, 2022, Library at IIT Gandhinagar collaborated with Turnitin to organize an online session for the IITGN community to familiarize with the Turnitin software, how it works, and other features offered by the software to avoid plagiarism. The approximately 55 minutes long session was informative and consisted of topics like creation of class, addition of students and assignment inbox, Feedback Studio, Gradescope, the interpretation of the similarity reports and source comparison, data insights for deliberate text manipulation and more.
Capturing the science around us: Summer Program for IITGN Kids [In association with Center for Creative Learning, IIT Gandhinagar]: Library turned into a fun tinkerer’s lab for the campus kids with 3 days summer program, designed to enhance the interest in science and mathematics among the young ones. The program started at 9.30 am, and after a super fun 2 hours, ended at 11.30 am with muffins and juice.
30th May 2022: Pipes and straws turned musical instruments with Vigyan Ka Sur Ya Shor.
3rd June 2022: Maths might be a feared subject on other days, but it turned out to be an interesting buddy to create toys with Art and Maths.
6th June 2022: On the last day during workshop A4 Paper and Paper Toys, regular, white, and boring A4 sheets of paper became shapeshifters and turned into hats, helicopters and so much more.
Liaison Librarianship – Bridging the Gap?: On 27th April, Library at IIT Gandhinagar hosted an online webinar for LIS professionals on the interesting topic of Liaison Library and the debate of whether it . Our guest speaker Ms. Maha Kumaran, Librarian of College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, spoke about her practices and models at her place of work. The talk garnered a series of questions from curious and enthusiastic participants, which were aptly answered by the speaker. A strong 125 participants.
Book Review Writing Competition: Library at IIT Gandhinagar hosted the first “Book Review Writing Competition'' from 10 March - 20 April for the IITGN student community. A total of 47 users registered for the competition, reviewing books of their choice in the genre of Biography, Autobiography & Memoir. A panel of judges reviewed the submission and on 21st April, the winners were declared.
Library Staff wins Long Service Award: Ms. Panna Chaudhary, Assistant Librarian at Library, IIT Gandhinagar, won the prestigious Long Service award for her service to the institute for more than 10 years. Ms Chaudhary, who heads the Information Resource Acquisitions and Technical Services, as well as Scholarly Communication division, is one of the first staff members of the library and has been with the institute for 11 years.
Creating and Managing Your Scholarly Identity: Library Team arranged a session on scholarly identity and how the researchers of IITGN can immensely benefit from the same. The various researcher ids were then discussed like Publons, ORCiD, Google Scholar etc. and how it helps build an unique identity, as well as creates a one-stop profile of every researcher, in order for their colleagues to view and assess their presence in the scholarly community.
Managing your references using Zotero: a Reference Management Software: : Library team collaborated with students on 24th March 2022 to talk about reference management with Zotero. Debasmita Ghosh, PhD scholar, HSS, talked about their experience of creating a library for HoMI project in the talk ‘Managing your references using Zotero - a Reference Management Software’. The talk initiated with library staff explaining the installation of the software followed by elaborating its use and utility.
Book Review Writing Workshop by Writing Studio: To complement the Book Review Writing Competition organized by Library, in association with Writing Studio, IITGN, a workshop on Book Review Writing was organized on 23rd March, 2022, for the registered participants of the competition. The session was conducted by Mr. Nivid Desai, Writing Instructor, Writing Studio and the basics of the art of review writing were discussed, focusing on the self reflective aspect of writing. The session concluded with reading two great examples of personal reviews.
Power of your research with Scopus & Mendeley: On 15th March 2022, Library organised a refresher workshop for IITGN community on using Scopus and Mendeley. Resource person, Dr. Shubhra Datta, spoke how Scopus could assist a researcher in the entire research cycle - from finding the trending topic in a discipline to getting indexed in the database. The session progressed with management of various references required throughout the researcher’s life with Mendeley, its tips and tricks.
Web of Science & EndNote: Taking your research to a next level: On 18th February 2022, Dr. Subhasree Nag conducted a session on the various features in the bibliographic database Web of Science and also talked about the reference management software Endnote. She briefly introduced Publons and how it helps researchers to gain visibility in their research network.
Getting Started with & Using PressReader: an E-Newspaper and Magazine Collection: On 15th February 2022, a session on the popular enewspaper collection and app PressReader took place. Joshua Doctorelo, from PressReader Philippines, walked the IITGN community through the account setup and login procedures, followed by search techniques and reading features. The event ended with a Q&A session.
Inspiring Research and Innovation Using IEEE Publications: On 9th February, the training session on IEEE Xplore was conducted by Mr. Dhanukumar Pattanashetti. He spoke to the participants about the various search techniques, the depth of collection, citation download, multi download, alert setting and other features to facilitate a search. The session was followed by a quiz that covered questions from the session.
Improving Academic Writing & Research using Grammarly: BridgePeople & Library at IIT Gandhinagar hosted the online workshop on the writing assistant tool Grammarly on 7th February. Mr. Ratish Iyer walked the 225 participants through the registration, account setup, various basic and premium features, and some of the advanced features, like plugins, offered by the tool.
Your Key to Unlocking R&D Productivity using ‘CAS SciFinder-n’: The session started at sharp 5:30 PM with an introduction to the session by the Advisor of Library and Institute Archive, Dr. T S Kumbar. Mr Vinit Kunte, the speaker/ trainer, delivered an overview of SciFindern . He gave a detailed insight of various features available in the database and then tried to solve queries using several case studies. While summing up the session, he addressed questions asked by the participants. The session closed at 07:18 PM following a concluding remark by Dr. Kumbar.
Scientific Writing by ACS: On the afternoon of 29th November 2021, Library and Scientific Writing, IIT Gandhinagar along with ACS publication organized Scientific Writing Workshop. The session essentially provided the attendees with a ‘recipe to publish’, breaking down the structure of a manuscript and elucidating on each fragment. The Do’s and Don'ts of scientific writing were covered along with suitable, interactive examples. Few of the publisher’s software like ACS Author Lab were also discussed that might come in handy for the researchers.
Managing your references using Zotero - a Reference Management Software
Library team collaborated with students on 10th Nov 2021 to talk about reference management with Zotero. Ms. Debasmita Ghosh and Ms.Poonam Meena talked about their experience of creating a library for HoMI project in the talk ‘Managing your references using Zotero - a Reference Management Software’. The talk initiated with library staff explaining the installation of the software with the students elaborating its use and utility.
Advancing Technology with IEEE Open Science Solutions: In continuation with the celebration of Open Access Week, Library once again joined hands with IEEE on 28th Oct 2021 to discuss the benefits of publishing in Open Access journals of IEEE with the webinar “Advancing Technology with IEEE Open Science Solutions”.
Advancing our scholarly publishing system that is open, sustainable and equitable
Library at IIT Gandhinagar celebrated the Open Access Week in 2021 from 25th - 31st October with a powerful talk by Ms. Colleen Campbelll on “Advancing our scholarly publishing system that is open, sustainable and equitable”. Ms. Campbell, who leads the external engagement in the OA transition at the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL), spoke extensively about the open access publishing, the India publishing scenario in Open access context, how the transformative agreements have improved the subscription systems in open access and the global scenario in open access publishing. The online event was open to all across the country and attended by many library professionals as well as researchers from the IITGn community.
Writing and Getting Published a Quality Research/Technical Paper: IEEE along with the Library at IIT Gandhinagar organized a talk on ‘Writing and Getting Published a Quality Research/Technical Paper’ on 20th Oct 2021. Experts from the IEEE team spoke about how to choose the perfect journal for publishing, why editors reject some papers, how to maintain ethics in writing and getting it published and some tools from IEEE to enhance authorship.
SciFinder-n- Database: Your Key to Unlocking R&D Productivity: On the festive evening of 13th Oct 2021, a workshop on ‘SciFinder-n- Database: Your Key to Unlocking R&D Productivity’ was held. The session elaborated on literature search, patent search, scaffold/scheme designing, and checking the novelty of a scaffold/scheme using the database.
Painless Peer Review: Navigating the process: Library at IIT Gandhinagar with ‘Scientific Writing’ initiative organized a talk on ‘Painless Peer Review: Navigating the Process’ by Prof. Karla P. Mercado-Shekhar on 23rd September 2021. The session demonstrated the concept, the benefits and best practices of Peer Review in detail. The session was held during the celebration of Peer Review Week (20 - 24th September 2021).
Power your research with Scopus and Mendeley: If you are a researcher, Scopus is probably one of your go-to abstract and citation databases. On 15th September, 2021, Dr. Shubhra Dutta, Customer Consultant, Elsevier, spoke at length about the various unique features of Scopus like how to create query for complex searches, Field-weighted Citation Impact and much more. Additionally, the session also covered Mendeley - the reference management software that let the users save and manage the resources referred.