TULIP: The universal list of Indian periodicals

Abstract

TULIP is the most exhaustive, systematic, and authentic repertoire of India's periodical publications--the embodiment of her cultural heritage, preserved and served in Major libraries of the world. These volumes are the result of a determined and unwavering commitment to an ideal, an ideal which is fundamental to the practice of librarianship. The creation of bibliographies and the subsequent improvement of access to information have been traditional concerns of the library field. Obviously, the more accurate and complete such listings are, the more useful they will be. The goal of Dr. and Mrs. Nagar in the volumes they have thus far completed is to develop as perfect a bibliography as possible. The project began as an attempt to systematize the bibliographic records of Indian periodicals held by American libraries. Because of the innate difficulty of tracking serial publications—difficulties caused by title changes, incorrect numbering, changes in the name of the issuing agency, etc., Dr. Nagar developed a “bio-biblio-data-recorder” (BBDR). This device is able to accommodate more than one hundred categories of bibliographic information. After it was thoroughly tested on a sample of 10,000 serial titles, the Nagars proposed to expand their efforts to encompass Indian serials held by libraries throughout the world. Each data element contained in the TULIP record has been checked and verified to the extent possible. Hindi and Sanskrit titles have been transliterated, and all of the data exists in machine-readable form.