Working Hours
- A-block (Journal Section)
- Weekdays: 07:45 hrs. to 22:00 hrs, Saturdays: 9:30 hrs. to 22:00 hrs, and Sundays and holidays: 9:30 hrs. to 18.00 hrs.
- D-block (Book Section)
- Weekdays: 09:00 hrs. to 18:15 hrs, Saturdays: 9:30 hrs. to 18:00 hrs, and Sundays and holidays: 9:30 hrs. to 18:00 hrs.
Collections
SIRC presently has a collection of more than 65,000 books mainly covering the subjects as Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemical Physics, Theoretical Computer Science, Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Physics, Material Science, Mathematics, Molecular Biology, Nuclear and Atomic Physics and Theoretical Physics. It has received national acclaim for its quality. SIRC subscribes to around 650 foreign journals covering the above mentioned subject areas. It also has a large collection (74,000 approx.) of bound volumes of journals, some dating back to 1820s.
In addition to books, journals and electronic resources, SIRC has a collection of non-book materials such as theses, maps and audio-visual materials. SIRC has also maintained a special collection of the manuscripts of Prof. Harish Chandra and Prof. C.P. Ramanujan, and original drawings of Dr. Homi Bhabha. The Collection is housed mainly in three stack rooms: Journals Stack, Books Stack and Extension Area. The Extension Area stocks bound volumes of discontinued journals, some less used books and very old bound volumes of current journals.
Sections
Journals Section
It consists of Serials Control Unit, Processing Unit and Maintenance Unit. This section is responsible for acquisition of journals and their maintenance.
Book Section
It consists of Book Selection Unit, Book Ordering Unit, Processing Unit, Technical (Classification and Cataloguing) and Maintenance unit. The section is responsible for acquisition of books and their maintenance.
Readers' Service Section
This takes care of all reader services viz. Circulation of reading material, Inter-Library Loan, Photocopy Requests, Online and Offline database search, reference and referral services.
IT Unit
This Unit is responsible for maintaining hardware, databases and takes care of other IT related applications.
Administration Unit
This Unit takes care of the budget controls, coordination with other sections of the Institute, maintenance of other official records, etc.
Services
Online Public Access Catalogue
SIRC has Web OPAC
which is a powerful web based search engine for searching books and journal holdings database.
Issue of Books/Journal Volumes
Users may borrow books and bound volumes of journals for a stipulated period.
Reference Service/Assistance
Reference queries from users are answered over telephone, email or in person. While general queries are answered by the staff at the desk, specific queries regarding books or journals could be referred to with personnel of the concerned section.
Photocopy Service
Instant photocopy of limited number of pages from loose issues of journals is provided free of cost to users by the desk staff. Photocopies of journal articles from bound volumes are provided free of cost to academic/scientific staff of TIFR. Photocopying (journal articles only) services are also extended to users of other non profit academic institutions. For such users, a nominal fee of Re. 1 per page towards the cost of reproduction is charged. If the request for delivery of photocopies by post is made, one needs to bear mailing cost along with the cost of reproduction. No photocopying from books is done.
Inter-library Loan
SIRC has an inter-library loan arrangement with all important government and semi-government academic institutions of India. Books or journals which are not available with TIFR can be procured from these institutions for a short period.
On-line Databases
SIRC provides access to over 3000 on-line journals.
SIRC also has access to some of the back files, even to 1660s. SIRC has access to full text databases such as Springer LINK
, ACM Digital Library
and IEL Online
. It also has access to bibliographic databases, such as MathSciNet
.
CD-ROM Search
SIRC, for the use of TIFR Scientific Community, has installed a CD-Mirror Server. This sever contains various electronic information resources such as Encyclopedia Britannica, the National Geographic (1888-1999), and back files of various journals etc. SIRC also has some backfiles of INSPEC (Physics Abstracts) which could be searched on the library work station.
Multimedia resources
SIRC has a collection of audio-visual materials. Users can make use of these preferably after normal working hours.
