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Introduction
A Brief Report on South Asia Foundation
Documentation and Information Centre
(SAFDIC)
The South Asia Foundation Documentation and Information
Centre (SAFDIC) was inaugurated in 2001 by Dr. Manmohan
Singh, the current Prime Minister of India. The aim of SAFDIC
is to collect, catalogue and provide easy access to a vast
repository of regional knowledge, both in academic and nonacademic
fields.
SAFDIC houses over 7500 selected volumes on the social and
natural sciences, international relations, security, literature,
culture, human rights, environment, gender education, health,
science and technology, peace studies etc.
Karan Khosla,
Secretary (SAF-India)
The journal and print media section consists of material mostly
published in and relevant to South Asia. SAFDIC is a member
of the DELNET library network and in order to make
information easily accessible, these journals are being gradually
digitized.
SAFDIC is located within the SAF-India compound at A-33,
Vasant Marg, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi – 110057. The library
is open from 9:30 a.m till 6:00 p.m, Monday through Friday
(except National Indian holidays). A reading room with Internet
and photocopying facilities provides research scholars with a
valuable resource; students from local Universities make good
use of SAFDIC resources throughout the year.
Content
Books
The “Thematic Bibliography” section provides a comprehensive
list of major South Asian issues along with the names of
institutions working in these fields. In addition, for each of the
7500 books currently available, the SAFDIC website provides
relevant data such as the list of contents, publisher and author
details as well ISBN numbers for public information.
In 2007, Ambassador Madanjeet Singh presented 455 books
to the SAARC Secretariat Library in Nepal; as many of these
books had contemporary relevance to South Asian culture
and development studies, SAFDIC purchased copies of the
same for its holdings in New Delhi. Currently these books are
being catalogued and relevant data is being uploaded onto
the website.
Members of the SAF community, including the Founder,
Chairpersons, and various staff are known to be prolific writers;
SAFDIC is currently building a collection of material published
or endorsed by Ambassador Singh and others.
A glimpse of students and researchers utilizing the facilities at
SAFDIC
Journals
Subscriptions to the fourteen leading journals dealing with
matters of art and culture are renewed annually. SAFDIC is
a strong supporter of civil society oriented publications such
as the “Indian Journal of Youth Affairs” which compiles
academic papers dealing in, for example, “Immunization
coverage in India: Younger Mothers’ Perspective”, or “Exploring
the Indian Student Youth”, subjects which are of relevance to
the entire South Asian region.
A more recent publication added to the journal repository is
the “Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies”
in which the latest issue presents formal case studies on the
“Expansion of SAARC: Implications for South Asia” and other
extremely important development related topics.
Newspapers, Magazines
No library or documentation centre is complete without an
up to date selection of newspapers magazines and other current
publications. SAFDIC subscribes to and archives over 16
magazines and 7 newspapers.
The Future
As SAF Institutions of Excellence develop across South Asia,
so will documentation and information centers that focus on
each institution’s core values and strengths. Discussions are
currently underway to determine how to possibly network
these institutions and to make digital contents effective,
functional and accessible to the masses.
For more information contact: karankhosla@safmail.org
SAF - Quarterly
7