Historical Background

Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre (DESIDOC) started functioning in 1958 as Scientific Information Bureau (SIB), as a division of the Defence Science Laboratory (DSL), which is now known as Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC). On May 4, 1967, the SIB was named as Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre (DESIDOC) under the administrative control of DSL. It became a self-accounting establishment of DRDO on 29 July 1970 and started functioning as a central information resource centre for DRDO. The Centre was functioning in the main building of Metcalfe House, a landmark in Delhi and a national monument. In August 1988, it moved to its newly built five-storeyed building in the same Metcalfe House complex. Since it became a self-accounting unit, DESIDOC provides S&T information, based on its library and other information resources, to the DRDO headquarters, and DRDO laboratories all over India.