[LIS-Forum] Friday Talk by Dr. M.S. Sridhar at MyDLIS

[T. Shahab]

The brief information about the lecture by Dr. Sridhar and the
subsequent interaction with students reveal that the session would have
been very fruitful and lively. To me the crux of the problem lies in the
decreasing reading habit among youths and students. Why so? The problem
lies in the methodology of education and teaching. Low interest on
creativity, lack of originality in presentation, development of a mind
set which seek ready made & quick results; we don't feel shy of
rehashing things; etc & etc.
Regards.
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-forum-bounces at ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
[mailto:lis-forum-bounces at ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of N.S.
Harinarayana
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 11:16 AM
To: Listforum
Subject: [LIS-Forum] Friday Talk by Dr. M.S. Sridhar at MyDLIS

Mysore University Library and Information Science Student Association
(MULISSA) of the Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Mysore, Mysore organised a Friday lecture by Dr. M.S.
Sridhar, Head, Library and Documentation, ISRO Satellite Centre,
Bangalore on the topic 'Librarianship as a profession' on November 30,
2007.  A summary of the lecture and the student interaction which
followed is given below.

Libraries are under utilized.  Only 1.5% of the population have access
to the libraries.  The myth that evolution of Internet has made
libraries redundant contributes further to the less use of libraries.
Dr. Sridhar counter argued that in spite of invasion of technology
number of printed books and journals has not reduced.  On the other hand
it has increased.  He said one in five books published and one out of
three books borrowed from libraries are related to IT.  If IT eliminates
the printed books, why this trend he questioned.  Dr.
Sridhar presented some of the quality issues that need to be taken note
of by the Internet users.  Authenticity and accuracy are the major ones.
Libraries are more reliable source for a common man.
Filtering mechanism adopted in libraries ensures the quality and
accuracy.  On the other hand, Internet is increasingly becoming more
popular creating the impression that libraries are no more required.
Dr. Sridhar trying to rationalise this trend said accessibility, ease of
use and perceived utility are the major factors for popularity of
Internet.  He opined that Internet and IT are supplement to the
libraries and in real perspectives they are not threats.
Giving some tips for students Dr. Sridhar said that domain knowledge
(library based skills), communication, research bent of mind, reading
habit and ICT skills are the expected core competencies by the
employers.  He said that competition for job is increasing as number of
qualified professionals coming out of library schools has increasing
drastically.  A huge chunk of graduates are coming out of library
schools from open universities.  This has created an imbalance between
supply and demand as for as library professionals are concerned.  In
this context Dr. Sridhar gave advice to the students that they should go
for specialization and be ready when the opportunity arises.

Dr. Sridhar's lecture was followed by an interesting and elaborate
interactive session.  Students asked varieties of questions and sought
clarifications on various intriguing issues.  Some of the questions
asked/issues discussed are as follows:
-  Can Internet substitute a library?
- Whether the present university syllabus enough for developing a good
librarian?
- How can one encourage young people to read?
- How to ascertain needs/wants of remote readers in the context of
digital libraries?
- How one should equip to get good job?
- What are the core competencies of librarians?
- Whether classification and cataloguing are redundant in Internet era?
- How to improve social status of libraries?
- Libraries have been changing their names over the years from
'Libraries' to 'Knowledge centres', 'Information Centres' to
'Information Kiosks' etc.  Whether this change in name inevitable?

--
N.S. Harinarayana,  Ph.D
Department of Library and Information Science University of Mysore,
Manasagangtori Mysore 570 006 Off. Ph: (0821) 2419399

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