LIRC@SFIT

Empowering Students with Easy Access to Learning Resources The Learning and Information Resource Centre (LIRC), St. Francis Institute of Technology (Engineering College) is pleased to announce the Book Bank Facility for Academic Year 2026–2027 . The Book Bank Scheme enables students to borrow prescribed textbooks for the semester, ensuring access to essential learning resources while reducing the cost of purchasing textbooks. We encourage all eligible students to take advantage of this valuable facility and begin the semester well-prepared. 📚 Types of Book Bank The Learning and Information Resource Centre offers the following Book Bank facilities to support the academic and career aspirations of SFIT students: 1. 📘 SFIT Book Bank Open to all SFIT students . Provides prescribed textbooks for the current academic year/semester . Helps students access essential course material without the need to purchase textbooks. 2. 🎓 University of Mumbai Book Bank Open to SC/ST/DT/NT students of S...

  The Learning and Information Resource Centre (LIRC) at St. Francis Institute of Technology welcomes everyone to another exciting month filled with valuable resources, research support, and engaging activities. This month's Book of the Month , Atomic Habits by James Clear, offers practical strategies for building positive habits and achieving long-term success through small, consistent improvements. Our Database of the Month is Elsevier ScienceDirect , one of the world's leading collections of peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings. Students and faculty are encouraged to explore high-quality engineering and technology literature using effective search techniques. Research Tip Make your searches smarter by using: Exact phrase searching (" ") Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) Filters such as publication year, subject area, and document type Example: "finite element method" AND "composite materials" NOT biomedical ...

 When the Library Became More Than a Library There are two ways to enter a library: to look for a book, or to look for an answer. During 2025–26 , our students did both. But this time, they were not simply coming to the Library to read, borrow or prepare. They were coming to think, explore, connect and demonstrate what they had learned . The Library became the setting for a series of Open Book Tests (OBTs) conducted across a remarkable range of subjects. And somewhere between the bookshelves and the examination papers, something important happened—the Library began to look less like a support facility and more like an extension of the classroom . An Open Book Test is, after all, not a test of how much a student can remember. It is a test of how well a student can think with knowledge . Students had to locate relevant information, interpret it, connect concepts and apply what they found. The book was not a shortcut to the answer; it was a partner in the learning process . Across th...

  Digital Transformation and Society (DTS) is a high-impact, peer-reviewed, diamond open-access journal published by Emerald Publishing on behalf of Chengdu University . This journal bridges the gap between technology, business, and social domains, serving as an exceptional platform for research scholars. 🌟 Key Highlights & Performance Metrics Indexation: Scopus, UGC-CARE, DOAJ Publication Fees (APC): ₹0 / $0 (Fully Free / Diamond Open Access) — Fully sponsored by Chengdu University, making it completely free for authors to publish open-access articles. Scopus CiteScore: 2.5 SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 0.353 (Q2 Best Quartile - Library & Information Sciences) Average Review Speed: First decision in just 28 days . Acceptance to Publication: Only 33 days on average. Acceptance Rate: 9% (Highly competitive, ensuring elite peer recognition). 🔬 Core Research Focus Areas The journal welcomes interdisciplinary empirical research, conceptual frameworks, an...

  "Artificial Intelligence can answer our questions, but only reading can shape the way we think." This powerful message echoed throughout the National Reading Day webinar, "Prompting the Mind: Reading in the Age of AI," organized by the Learning and Information Resource Centre (LIRC), St. Francis Institute of Technology (SFIT) on 19 June 2026 . The session was led by Dr. Sonali Karekar , Librarian at MKES Nagindas Khandwala College (Empowered Autonomous), who shared a refreshing perspective on how libraries can nurture reading habits in today's AI-driven world. Rather than debating whether AI will replace books, she encouraged participants to explore how libraries can make reading more engaging, collaborative, and meaningful. What made the session particularly inspiring was its focus on simple yet impactful activities that any academic library can implement to transform readers into active participants. Growing a Tree of Knowledge Imagine walking into a libr...

  Bilateral Collaborative Research in Social Sciences & Humanities An initiative to strengthen academic cooperation between India and Taiwan by supporting joint, high-quality research projects on new and emerging mutual themes. 📅 Key Timelines & Important Dates Application Opens: June 01, 2026 Application Deadline: August 03, 2026 Completion of Peer-Review: October 14, 2026 Result Announcement: December 2026 Project Commencement: January 01, 2027 Project End Date: December 31, 2028 (2-Year Duration) 💰 Funding & Grant Breakdown Total Supported Projects: Maximum of 5 joint research projects. Maximum Funding Limit: Up to ₹12,00,000 (Twelve Lakh INR) per project. Primary Expense Intent: Mobility of researchers (travel, lodging, and ground hospitality). Travel Split: The visiting side bears international & domestic inter-city air travel. The receiving side bears boarding, local lodging, and ground transportation expenses. 🔬 Core Supported Themes & Disciplines Prop...

The rapidly changing landscapes of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data demand global forums where cutting-edge discovery intersects with real-world application. To bridge this space, Jio Institute has announced its flagship international forum: Intelligent Data Engineering and AI (IDEA 2026) . Scheduled to take place from December 03–05, 2026 , at Jio Institute's state-of-the-art campus in Navi Mumbai, India, this highly anticipated conference brings together international researchers, academicians, industry executives, and policymakers. The technical program focuses heavily on methodological reproducibility, technical soundness, and the ethical deployment of scalable smart technologies. Accepted and presented papers will achieve elite academic dissemination, with proceedings officially published by Springer . 🔬 Core Conference Tracks The research tracks for IDEA 2026 address both foundational methodologies and future-forward paradigms: Intelligent Data Engineering & Bi...