Improving Visibility of Libraries through SRU

Library users nowadays expect digital libraries to be searchable through a single search form. The ultimate goal is to provide a high ranking search quality to enable access to documents containing relevant information from all participating libraries. The Information Centre and Library at the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Deemed University (DU), at Pune, aims to ensure wide dissemination of knowledge, through an innovative pilot project and achieve a gradual change towards indigenous knowledge storage. The present work is intended to develop a client gateway using search and retrieval via URL (SRU) protocol for searching SRU-compliant databases, keeping in mind trials done in information retrieval in the 1980s and 90s. The client has been developed, tested and implemented successfully with some limitations. Efforts are on to extend the facility for searching DSpace that conforms to industry standard for developing IR's. We are in the process of developing and implementing a server for DSpace to make it SRU compliant. The client part however, has been developed, and tested successfully, though with some limitations.