Network Infrastructure Facilities: A Case Study of NIT Libraries in India

Abstract

Libraries of higher education system use Network Infrastructure (NI) facilities to store disseminate and retrieve information and extract the maximum outcome. In this study, the paper mainly focuses the NI facilities consist of connectivity, cables, bandwidth and spread etc available at National Institute of Technology (NIT) libraries in India. The survey finds that, majority of library’s local network is a part of campus network. In use of network cables, both optical fiber and CAT5/enhanced cables hold an equal share of percentage. All libraries have internet connections, in which majority of them (60%) use leased connections. Fifty percent of institutions have the network bandwidth of 6.0 Mbps and above. Invariably, all institutions have campus-wide network connections to various units including departments, in which 75% of them have connections to student’s halls/hostels and very few them (25%) have connections to faculty’s and officer’s residences. This study also indicates South zone (78%) libraries have more NI facilities than the other zones.