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National Digital Transformation: INFLIBNET and UGC-Infonet
Dr. Murthy's most nationally visible contribution is associated with the INFLIBNET Centre (UGC) and its large-scale programmes for academic library networking, scholarly access, and digital knowledge infrastructure. He played a visionary leadership role in establishing the UGC-Infonet e-Journal Consortium in 2005, which was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Indian President Dr. APJ Abdulkalam. This important project later evolved into the national-level signature project known as One Nation One Subscription under Hon'ble PM Modi's vision. Dr. Murthy's enormous contribution at INFLIBNET included the start of nationwide use of SOUL integrated library management software, an international conference called CALIBER, establishing regional-level librarian training programs such as IRTPLA, IT@AGRILIBNET, starting a regional conference called PLANNER for North-Eastern India, and initiating a digital library of doctoral theses that later became widely known as Shodhganga. His contributions can be described as;
• Digital access to scholarly journals and databases for Indian academia
• Resource sharing and document delivery systems through INFLIBNET
• Union catalogues and bibliographic standards for academic libraries
• Open access, electronic theses and dissertations, and institutional repository development
• Information literacy and professional training for librarians and academics
He played a key leading role in uplifting INFLIBNET services as a national research and academic enabler, improving access to knowledge, saving crores of rupees for the nation, promoting resource sharing, strengthening Indian higher education, and building an infrastructure that outlived an individual tenure.
Institution Builder and Library Modernizer
Dr. Murthy's is one of the very few library professionals who could modernize libraries and information centres across several government and higher education institutions. His contributions and impacts were not simply emphasisizing on management of libraries, but on transforming them into technology-enabled knowledge hubs. His professional modernization priorities included Library automation and integrated library management systems; Digital repositories and multimedia information systems; Networking among universities and research institutions; Training programmes for library professionals and academics; Digital literacy, access equity and support for underserved regions etc. This long institutional arc makes him an important national figure who contributed to nation building and institutional building with demonstrated continuity in his leadership abilities. He contributed, in addition to INFLIBNET, to the following organisations.
Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad
Institute of Defence Management, Secunderabad
University of Hyderabad
Small Industry Extension Training Institute, Hyderabad
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
National Library, Kolkata
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi
Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad
INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad
Professional networks and national training programmes
Pioneer of Cultural Informatics and Digital Heritage
At the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Dr. Murthy is credited on the website with establishing the Kalanidhi Reference Library and Manuscript Information System, leading the Multimedia Digital Library Project, and contributing to cultural informatics initiatives that integrated technology with Indian cultural heritage. The website also refers to the establishment of India's first Cultural Informatics Laboratory at IGNCA in 1994, focusing on digital technologies, multimedia, manuscripts, archives, preservation, documentation and public engagement. Dr. Murthy's career connects librarianship with cultural memory and national heritage, moves beyond conventional academic library administration and shows how information science methods can preserve, organize and disseminate India's artistic, manuscript and archival resources for scholars and the public. The cultural informatics contribution from him is a national heritage contribution: the application of information technology to preserve and communicate Indian knowledge traditions, in which Dr. Murthy took another visionary leadership role.
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