FID4SA – Specialised Information Service South Asia

Since 2022, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has been funding the FID4SA - Specialised Information Service South Asia as part of the funding programme "Subject Information Services for Science". Heidelberg University Library and the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University with the CATS Library / South Asia Department are thus continuing the development and expansion of information services for German South Asia-related sciences, which began in 2016 and are oriented towards peak scientific demand. From 2016 to 2021, these were established in the FID Asia in cooperation with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

In the project phase 2022-2024, the following fields of action will be implemented in close cooperation with the scientific community:

1. Provision of Information Resources
   FID4SA's collection of printed and electronic media focuses on inter- and transdisciplinary as well as transregional issues relating to the South Asian region. Due to the linguistic diversity of the South Asian region and the small print runs of publications, proactive collection building is undertaken in addition to demand-driven acquisitions. The existing portfolio of databases and subject bibliographies is complemented by an extensive e-book collection from various academic publishers.
    
2. Implementation of the FID4SA portal with country-specific views
   All services of the FID4SA will be brought together under one interface. The aim of the portal is on the one hand to structure the FID4SA's offerings in a functional, material and service-oriented way, and on the other hand to make country-specific content more visible. In order to implement regional access to the FID4SA's offerings, holdings will be made accessible using georeferencing methods and users will be offered new access to materials provided, such as images or historical printed works, via interactive maps.


3. Electronic Publishing in Open Access - Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing (HASP)
   The previously separate publication platforms for e-books and e-journals will be merged under one interface as Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing (HASP) and a comprehensive search will be implemented. This will allow a comprehensive search within the OA publications of HASP, including full-text search. Double-blind peer review will be offered for quality assurance and open peer review procedures will be tested in selected pilot projects


4. Excellent Information Sustainability
   The aim of FID4SA is to ensure that selected projects in the field of South Asian studies are kept up to date with the latest technology, to network them with other resources and to develop them further in collaboration with the project leaders. In addition to the long-term archiving of research data, this also includes the creation of added value through the provision of searchable full texts of original language literature.


5. Communication / Public Relations / Network
   Communication with the academic community and public outreach is an essential part of our work. The training courses offered in previous years - both on-site and online - will be expanded and new topics will be added.