"Now it has become easier to locate books and we have access to journals as well. Books are up to date and all the latest literary criticism is readily available," says Shreyashi Chitrans, a final year student at Delhi University's Arts Faculty.

Shreyashi has to thank the Union Grants Commission (UGC), which in 2005 dolled out Rs 200 crore for the digitisation of libraries in Delhi University. Since then, the central library, the Law Faculty Library and the library at the Delhi School of Economics have seen many improvements in terms of infrastructure and technology. Computers have replaced the old catalogue system and Internet facilities have been made available inside the building to encourage e-learning.

What's more, the Delhi University Library System (DULS) is planning to digitalise 20,000 books in the next two years with grants from the Department of Information and Technology, Government of India.

Chief Librarian at DU, Dr S Majumdar, said the university has purchased 20 renowned databases in the past two years, which cover all disciplines at the university. "DU is a very old university and the infrastructure was decaying gradually. As part of maintenance and in an effort to be in sync with the changing times, we decided to upgrade the existing library system," he added.

Majumdar also said some of the older books were too precious for circulation. "If we give them out in the digital format, then more and more people will be able to access them," he added, pointing out that one of the biggest beneficiaries would be distance learners.

For this reason, the library has been giving presentations in various colleges on e-learning and how teachers can help their students in securing information using the Internet, since the beginning of this year. Titled "Information Literacy and Competency Programme", the last one was held in Hindu College on January 24.

"We (librarians), with the help of the Department of Information and Technology, GoI, have had presentations for about 70 teachers from all over north campus and the response was really good," said Sanjeev Dutt Sharma, the librarian at Hindu College.