The National Digital Library of India (NDLI) is a platform that provides learning resources to make e-learning and education accessible to all. It is aimed to offer content to users of all demographics, digital repositories from India and the world. The Library integrates contents from Institutional Digital Repositories of a large number of Indian Educational and Research institutions.
NDLI has a 24X7 open digital library which anyone can access anytime, anywhere. In addition, it can be accessed on mobile apps with Android and iOS platforms. It is developed, operated and maintained by Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
The integration platform is meant for every type of institution or learner. This will include schools, colleges, universities, teachers, students, lecturers, differently-abled pupils. Further, it is sponsored and mentored by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. This is done by its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT).
How does National Digital Library help?
The library aims that it facilitates focused searching. With this, anyone can find the right resource with the least effort and in minimum time. Additionally, user group-specific services are also provided by NDLI. This can include Examination Preparatory for School and College students and job aspirants. The platform is aimed at covering all educational fields like Science, Arts, Humanities, Engineering, Medical, Law etc. It provides interface support for the 10 most widely used Indian languages.
At the moment, NDLI’s provides interface support for the 10 most widely used Indian languages. This include English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Telegu etc. Moreover, the platform aims to include other languages soon so that each learner can use the information in their preferred language.
Is it Free for All?
Access to the National Digital Library system is free of charge for everyone. They can do general browsing and view full-text contents available in the library. To use the library, a user has to first register on the website. The registration is open to all the users from around the world. After registration, one can log in with a user id and Password for accessing the full-text contents of any item under National Licensing.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic across the globe for the last two years, the National Digital Library has introduced three new features for online learning for its users:
- Study at Home: The Study at Home section is for all the students and researchers who want to gain more information during the pandemic situation. Students from school as well as graduation level can get all the information from books and learning resources. There are seven subjects in this section which include Engineering, Humanities, Law, Management etc.
- Covid-19 Research Repository: This section is specially meant for all those users who want all the information related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, this section also has a collection of journals and scholarly publications available in this section on the Covid – 19 issue.
- Featured Collections: This section is dedicated to popular topics and renowned figures on a weekly basis. Users interested in lectures and webinars on digital library and associated technology can also find them in this section.
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How can students benefit from National Digital Library?
The platform is really beneficial for students from every field. The library has a huge volume of Educational materials authored by a large number of authors. One can find the educational materials from Primary to Postgraduate levels in the library. The content is available for all subject areas like Technology, Social Science, Literature, Law, Medical, etc. In addition, the NDLI contents are available in various forms like text, audio, video etc.
For school students, textbooks of NCERT and 20 other school boards are available. Moreover question papers, video lectures, exam preparation materials, questions of JEE Main and JEE Advanced solution and several other study materials are also available in the library.
Further, there is a specially curated collection for Class-X and Class-XII students. This collection offers books, notes, questions, solutions, video lectures etc. on all subjects for Class-X and Class-XII students.
One can get the contents in their preferred language in three ways mentioned below:
By Source: Use this if you are looking for content from a known body like NCERT, CBSE Board, Diksha, Kendriya Vidyalayas, ExamFear etc. When you try to get content by Source, you can further select contents of your preferred content type or subject.
By Content Type: This can be used when you are looking for specific types of content. This can include Questions, Solutions, Video Lectures, Books and more.
By Subject: Use this if you are looking for content on a subject of your syllabus, such as Mathematics, Biology, English, Sanskrit. Here also, you can further select contents of your preferred content type or source.
Science Students
Undergraduate science students can avail lecture videos and notes of NPTEL/SWAYAM courses. Further, online class lectures, some books and questions/solutions across all science disciplines are also available.
Engineering Students
For engineering students, there are lecture videos and notes of NPTEL/SWAYAM courses. In addition, presentations used by faculties in classes, online class lectures, and questions/solutions of common subjects for students of all engineering disciplines are available.
Humanities Students
Humanities Students can avail books, questions/solutions, video lectures articles and notes for undergraduate courses.
Literature Students
Undergraduate and postgraduate students of language and literature can avail study materials on English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Bengali languages.
Law & Management Students
The “Law” section is for law students and practitioners. It contains lecture videos, acts, judgments, articles and notices. The “Management” section contains management and accounting questions and solutions, video lectures and some books, notes, articles and thesis relevant for accounting, commerce and management students.