Corridor to success

The UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) examination is known for its wide and deep syllabus, requiring aspirants to adopt a well structured approach to preparation.

One of the important factors contributing to successful UPSC preparation is the use of libraries and reference material. Libraries serve as valuable assets that facilitate gaining knowledge of, research, and a surgical strike at a particular topic. They support three core missions: promoting reading, offering access to information and anchoring communities.

For the sake of convenience, libraries when referred to in this article, refer to hybrid libraries (that combine benefits of both physical and digital resources)

Here is how library serves as an effective corridor for your UPSC preparation:

Make use of the comprehensive resource

The library serves as a rich treasure trove of comprehensive information under one roof. This wealth of resources allows you access to authoritative content that makes you feel confident about the information you have gathered on various topics.

Single source of truth for all Information

One area where a library, whether a physical one or online, has an edge over other channels of information is that it provides authentic information. Other sources of information may be algorithmically slanted to confirm with your existing biases. Without a critical framework to evaluate the reliability of all this information and to assess its underlying agenda, it’s easy to get disoriented and to reach mistaken, even dangerous conclusions. There’s no gatekeeper on the web vetting what shows up on your news feed for accuracy or objectivity. Many libraries have curated content especially for UPSC where you can refer to already shortlisted content/study material that has been referred by the aspirants who have been preparing earlier.

 Longitudinally track news by reading the newspapers

In most of the libraries, the newspapers are stacked datewise. If you visit the library regularly, you would be able to longitudinally track a single piece of news and develop perspective. You can also read the editorials and news related to government policies, international relations, and environmental issues which would be a catalyst for your preparation for both GS Paper I (General Studies) and Paper II (CSAT) for the Prelims.

Use online platforms

You may access online platforms like Shodhganga, hosted by INFLIBNET,  that provides access to a vast collection of PhD theses and dissertations from Indian universities, offering in-depth insights into various subjects. By exploring these theses, as a UPSC aspirant, you  can gain a better understanding of the current state of research in your areas of interest, which can be useful for essay writing and answering questions in the Mains exam. Besides, these platforms also allow access to research from different universities and researchers, providing diverse perspectives on various topics thus developing  a deeper understanding of the concept.

INFLIBNET also hosts Shodhgangotri, a platform for research synopsis, which can be helpful for understanding research in progress

Explore open access resources like:

• DOAJ ( Directory of Open Access Journals) - This platform provides a comprehensive list of open access journals, allowing you to access research articles on various topics relevant to the UPSC syllabus.
• PLoS (Public Library of Science)- offers free access to a wide range of scientific and medical publications, which can be valuable for understanding complex issues and current affairs.
• Unpaywall - Unpaywall is a plug in that points you to legal, author-posted manuscripts that are hosted on university and government web servers. These free, author-posted manuscripts are often called "Green Open Access" and are a longstanding and completely legal part of the scholarly communications ecosystem. The majority of scholarly journals permit authors to "self-archive" their papers on university and government web servers. It's these legally self-archived papers that Unpaywall helps users find.
• HathiTrust, and Project Gutenberg also can be helpful in supplementing your studies and saving time.

To sum up, libraries and other online platforms can serve as a constructive  corridor to your preparation for UPSC.