Annals of Library and Information Studies Vol. 53, December 2006, pp. 184-197 Influence of Internet on library and information centres of National Institutes of Technology in India Suresh Jangeaand Lalitha K.Samib 'Assistant Librarian, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga - 585 106, Karnataka, India, Email: sureshjange@rediffmail.com bReader, Department of Library and Information Science, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga-585 106, Karnataka, India, Email: lalitha_sami@rediffmail.com The Internet has been described as the gateway to a world of seemingly inexhaustible information resources and a valuable information tool to the library and information centres that supplements existing library resources. The paper attempts to understand and evaluate the use of the Internet as an information source by libraries of National 'Institutes of Technology in India and aims to determine the utilization of Internet in library activities and services, search methods employed, problems encountered and associated factors. Introduction Internet has become an integral part of library and information centres that helps in meeting the information requirements of the users in a timely manner. The relevance of Internet to the library is well described by Rudenstine I, "In fact, the library and the Internet are being viewed increasingly as a versatile unified system, providing an enormous variety of materials in different formats ... The Internet and its successor technologies will have the essential features of a massive library system, where people can roam through the electronic equivalent of book stacks, with assistance from the electronic equivalent of reference librarians. In short, one major reason why characteristics of the Internet are so compatible with those of universities is that some of the Internet's most significant capabilities resemble, and dovetail with, the capabilities of university research libraries. Just as the research library is an extremely powerful instrument for learning, so too is the Internet ... " Internet is considered as a great information source to the academic and research community and also a great information tool to the library and information centres to supplement their information support to the user community. Technical education in India got the requisite impetus following the establishment of Regional Engineering Colleges in India, now elevated to the status of Deemed Universities and have been rechristened National Institutes of Technology to provide technical leadership, which aims to impart teaching and research in different branches of engineering, to maintain high standard in education and training, and to promote co-operation with industry and other technical institutions serving as an effective link between Indian Institutes of Technology and State Engineering Colleges. As on date, there are seventeen National Institutes of Technology in different states of India. No previous studies were reported on National Institutes of Technology pertaining to impact of information technology on library activities and services. An attempt has been made to understand and evaluate the use of the Internet as an information source and study the impact of Internet on libraries of National Institutes of Technology in India. Objectives of the study • To understand the perceptions of Internet technology by library professionals; • To identify the purpose of using Internet by library; • To explore the use of Internet services and its impact on library activities and services;