November 2005 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

What is "Web 2.0"
by Sukhdev Singh 16 Nov '05

16 Nov '05

"The term "Web 2.0" refers to a transition of the perception of numerous aspects of the World Wide Web, including its architecture and its applications. However, a consensus upon its exact meaning has not yet been reached. Currently, the phrase refers to one or more of the below : * a transition of websites from isolated information silos to sources of content and functionality, thus becoming a computing platform serving web applications to end users * a social phenomenon referring to an approach to creating and distributing Web content itself, characterised by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and "the market as a conversation" * a shift in economic value of the web, potentially equalling that of the dot com boom of the late 1990s Many recently developed concepts and technologies are seen as contributing to Web 2.0, including weblogs, wikis, podcasts, web feeds and other forms of many to many publishing; social software, web APIs, web standards, web services, AJAX, and others. As such, the term is often conflated with the ongoing maturation of the Web's architecture, rather than a separate event in and of itself." Extract from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 Let us prepare ourselves for the Next Generation WEB!!! --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. http://openmed.nic.in

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Geochemical Transactions moves to open access with BioMed Central
by Rupak Chakravarty 16 Nov '05

16 Nov '05

Dear All, BioMed Central is pleased to announce that it will publish Geochemical Transactions, the online journal of the Geochemistry Division of the American Chemical Society, from January 1, 2006. Geochemical Transactions ranks third in impact factor among geochemistry journals and will become the first open access journal in the field. MORE......................... : http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/bc-gtm111405.php -- Rupak Chakravarty Assistant Librarian Panjab University Library Chandigarh 160014 INDIA Dear All, BioMed Central is pleased to announce that it will publish Geochemical Transactions, the online journal of the Geochemistry Division of the American Chemical Society, from January 1, 2006. Geochemical Transactions ranks third in impact factor among geochemistry journals and will become the first open access journal in the field. MORE......................... : http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/bc-gtm111405.php http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/bc-gtm111405.php -- Rupak Chakravarty Assistant Librarian Panjab University Library Chandigarh 160014 INDIA

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Re: [LIS-Forum] International Survey Shows ...Established Publishing System
by Sukhdev Singh 16 Nov '05

16 Nov '05

The findings can not be taken at its face value as the study has been funded by "Established Publishers" who unfortunately takes "Open Access" as a challenge to their very profitable bussiness. Open Access Publishing model as adopted by BioMed Centre and PLoS, obiously does not find favour with authors. It requires authors to pay for publication of articles. But despite all this, Why are they able find authors with high quality articles to publish in their journals? The reason is simple, the authors want to have maximum impact of their research. No wonder, journals published by BioMed Centre and PLoS has high Impact Factors some ranging between 4 - 6. Funding agencies, especially in developing countries, are right in mandating Open Access to research results. RESEARCH DONE OUT OF PUBLIC MONEY MUST BE PUBLIC. I wonder, if they had done a Survey on how Scientist would like to access articles - Free or By Paying" Awareness to Open Access is growing. Yes, more efforts would be required to make scientists aware of it. Here is the Opportunity for Librarians to grab to conduct awareness programmes about Open Access and take leadership positions in developing Institutional Archives and Supporting Open Access. --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. http://indmed.nic.in > Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 14:43:42 +0530 > From: Rupak Chakravarty <rupak2811(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [LIS-Forum] Latest Independent International Survey Shows > Strong Support Among Senior Research Authors for Many Aspects of the > Established Publishing System > To: LIS-Forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in > Message-ID: > <b9cfd48e0511150113n169b918cm2b65cb9fc8f93f68(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Dear All, > A comprehensive new global survey of 5,513 senior researchers who publish > in scholarly journals shows strong support for many aspects of the current > publishing model. In selecting where to publish, the key factor for authors > is the prestige of the publishing outlet, as indicated by the journal's > reputation, readership or its impact factor. In contrast, the research > community attaches the least importance to retaining copyright to the > published article or to the ability to deposit pre- or post-prints in > repositories. > > Peer review remains the cornerstone of scholarly publishing for most > research authors. They give overwhelming emphasis (96.2%) to the value of > peer review in regulating the quality of what is published and in > underpinning the vitality and integrity of the scientific discovery process. > Recent experiences are highly positive - 77% found referees' comments > helpful. One author commented: "[Peer review] is one of the most important > safeguards we have to the quality of published work. With the expansion of > the Internet and the explosion of junk information on the web it is > absolutely essential to have a strong system of checks and balances. ... The > degree of misinformation ... is astronomical and perverse." > > Highlighting the challenge to the role of libraries in scientific discovery, > researchers have become very dependent on, and supportive of, the > convenience and speed of electronic research tools, including following up > references by 'chaining' from one document to another, through abstracting > services and publishers' websites. > > Awareness of open access issues has increased, the survey shows, although as > a publishing model it has not been widely embraced. Authors knowing "a lot" > or "quite a lot" about open access publishing has risen from 18% to 30% > since last year's survey. However, 69% of authors still know only "a little" > or "nothing at all" about the issue. The vast majority of authors still do > not publish in an open access journal, or do not view publishing in an Open > Access journal as a major issue for them. The researchers point out that the > increase in those who claim to publish in an open access journal may arise > from confusion between true open access journals and those more numerous > titles that, although subscription-based, are freely available to > researchers at the point of use, e.g. via library subscriptions. Other > research suggests that 65% of authors who claimed to have last published in > an open access journal had in fact published in a "traditional" journal. > > A clear majority of authors believe that a major shift to open access would > undermine the current model of scholarly publishing. 43% of authors view > open access as being "very" or "quite" disruptive. While many believe that > open access publishing would make it easier to access articles, they do not > believe that it would improve the quality of the articles. Not surprisingly, > few authors voiced enthusiasm for author-pays models - not least, perhaps, > because almost a third of respondents had in fact published most of their > recent work without external funding (i.e. with none, or fewer than 50%, of > their papers being funded). > > Overall, the new survey casts "real doubt" (says the report) "on the > feasibility of author pays business models across the board." > > Depositing published articles in an institutional repository, recently > mandated by some funding bodies, remains an unfamiliar experience for most > authors. Fewer than 16% had actual experience of posting articles to a > repository and 38% of those responding declared an unwillingness to place > their articles in a repository. > The research surveyed author opinion in all global regions and was carried > out by CIBER with support from The Publishers Association and the > International Association of STM Publishers, as a basis for evidence-based > policy-making. All respondents were recent authors, and a high proportion > had also acted as referees, editorial board members and journal editors. > Details : http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=158235 > > -- > Rupak Chakravarty > Assistant Librarian > Panjab University Library > Chandigarh 160014 > INDIA

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What is new at Google - Google Analytics
by Sukhdev Singh 16 Nov '05

16 Nov '05

What is new at Google - Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/ Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. http://openmed.nic.in

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Fwd: JDIM Special Issue - Web Information Retrieval
by JK Vijayakumar 16 Nov '05

16 Nov '05

Dear Colleagues, Journal of Digital Information Management (ISSN 0972-7272) is a peer reviewed journal in the area of digital information science, sponsored by the Digital Information Research Foundation. It is a quarterly journal in digital information science and technology, concentrates on all aspects of digital information management. It broadly covers digital information processing, digital content management, digital world structuring, digital libraries, metadata, information management and other related fields. It is an international peer reviewed journal contains original research papers, ongoing research, technology, reviews, reports of progress, short notes and forthcoming events. It would act as a portal to the digital information world. Visit http://www.dirf.org/jdim/ Please see the CFP for its special issue on Web Information Retrieval Regards, J K Vijayakumar P Pichappan <ppichappan(a)gmail.com> wrote: Call For Papers Web Information Retrieval Special Issue - Journal of Digital Information Management - 2006 Issue Editors: Keith van Rijsbergen (keith(a)dcs.gla.ac.uk) Iadh Ounis (ounis(a)dcs.gla.ac.uk) Pit.Pichappan (pichappan(a)dirf.org or ppichappan(a)gmail.com) Scope of the Issue/Significance of Web information retrieval The amount of available information on the Web is continuously increasing. Web search techniques were initially based on the analysis of the Web structure, as well as the documents textual content. Recent applications, such as the retrieval from blogs, enterprise and intranet searching, or context-dependent searching, require new retrieval techniques. This special issue of the Journal of Digital Information Management will address recent and original developments in the Web information retrieval field, including those described above. We welcome high-quality papers addressing the theoretical and/or the practical issues underlying the retrieval of information from the Web. Submissions to the special issue should not be under consideration in any other journal or conference and will be evaluated according to the Journal of Digital Information Management reviewing criteria and appropriateness to the special issue. Papers will be reviewed based on their originality, theoretical/technical strength, methodology, and results. Themes: Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following areas: Adversarial search (anti-spamming techniques) Blog and online-community search Building Web test collections Clustering and categorization Context-dependent Web search Data fusion and metasearch engines Distributed and P2P retrieval techniques Enterprise/Intranet search Evaluation Formal Web retrieval models Machine learning Natural language processing techniques New Web search applications News search and filtering Open source architectures and systems Performance, compression and scalability Personalisation and information filtering Question answering Semi-structured data Summarisation Types of web search User interfaces and visualization User behaviour Web mining and Web usage mining Web structure analysis Submission of Papers: The papers can be submitted to any of the editors electronically either in pdf or doc format. Important Dates: Paper Submission Due: 20 March 2006 Review and notification: 20 May 2006 Camera Ready Papers: 20 July 2006 Publication: Sep. - Dec. 2006 --------------------------------- Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click. Dear Colleagues, Journal of Digital Information Management (ISSN 0972-7272) is a peer reviewed journal in the area of digital information science, sponsored by the Digital Information Research Foundation. It is a quarterly journal in digital information science and technology, concentrates on all aspects of digital information management. It broadly covers digital information processing, digital content management, digital world structuring, digital libraries, metadata, information management and other related fields. It is an international peer reviewed journal contains original research papers, ongoing research, technology, reviews, reports of progress, short notes and forthcoming events. It would act as a portal to the digital information world. Visit http://www.dirf.org/jdim/ http://www.dirf.org/jdim/ Please see the CFP for its special issue on Web Information Retrieval Regards, J K Vijayakumar P Pichappan <ppichappan(a)gmail.com> wrote: Call For Papers Web Information Retrieval Special Issue - Journal of Digital Information Management - 2006 Issue Editors: Keith van Rijsbergen (keith(a)dcs.gla.ac.uk) Iadh Ounis (ounis(a)dcs.gla.ac.uk) Pit.Pichappan (pichappan(a)dirf.org or ppichappan(a)gmail.com) Scope of the Issue/Significance of Web information retrieval The amount of available information on the Web is continuously increasing. Web search techniques were initially based on the analysis of the Web structure, as well as the documents textual content. Recent applications, such as the retrieval from blogs, enterprise and intranet searching, or context-dependent searching, require new retrieval techniques. This special issue of the Journal of Digital Information Management will address recent and original developments in the Web information retrieval field, including those described above. We welcome high-quality papers addressing the theoretical and/or the practical issues underlying the retrieval of information from the Web. Submissions to the special issue should not be under consideration in any other journal or conference and will be evaluated according to the Journal of Digital Information Management reviewing criteria and appropriateness to the special issue. Papers will be reviewed based on their originality, theoretical/technical strength, methodology, and results. Themes: Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following areas: Adversarial search (anti-spamming techniques) Blog and online-community search Building Web test collections Clustering and categorization Context-dependent Web search Data fusion and metasearch engines Distributed and P2P retrieval techniques Enterprise/Intranet search Evaluation Formal Web retrieval models Machine learning Natural language processing techniques New Web search applications News search and filtering Open source architectures and systems Performance, compression and scalability Personalisation and information filtering Question answering Semi-structured data Summarisation Types of web search User interfaces and visualization User behaviour Web mining and Web usage mining Web structure analysis Submission of Papers: The papers can be submitted to any of the editors electronically either in pdf or doc format. Important Dates: Paper Submission Due: 20 March 2006 Review and notification: 20 May 2006 Camera Ready Papers: 20 July 2006 Publication: Sep. - Dec. 2006 http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylc=X3oDMTFqODRtdXQ4BF9TAzMyOTc1MDIEX3MDOTY2ODgxNj… Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.

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The New Study - Happiness
by ++ Mukesh Anand ++ 15 Nov '05

15 Nov '05

The 10 steps to happiness In an unusual three-month experiment, six specialists from a variety of disciplines worked to improve the happiness levels of a typical UK town. The happiness team includes psychologist Dr Richard Stevens, psychotherapist Brett Kahr, work place specialists Jessica Pryce-Jones and Philippa Chapman, social entrepreneur Andrew Mawson OBE and Richard Reeves, whose expertise spans philosophy, public policy and economics. Here are the suggested steps: Plant something and nurture it Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up Give yourself a treat every day and take the time to really enjoy it Have a good laugh at least once a day Get physical - exercise for half an hour three times a week Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once each day Cut your TV viewing by half Spread some kindness - do a good turn for someone every day Thanks ++ Mukesh ++ - - Mukesh Anand Director - Marketing Monitor Information Services 203, Moghal Marc Ratan Complex Narayanguda, Opp. Deepak Theatre, Hyderabad - 500 029, India Telephone: 040-55787065 Fax: +91-40-27552390 http://www.monitorinfo.com Importers n Distributors of Technical Publications The 10 steps to happiness In an unusual three-month experiment, six specialists from a variety of disciplines worked to improve the happiness levels of a typical UK town. The happiness team includes psychologist Dr Richard Stevens, psychotherapist Brett Kahr, work place specialists Jessica Pryce-Jones and Philippa Chapman, social entrepreneur Andrew Mawson OBE and Richard Reeves, whose expertise spans philosophy, public policy and economics. Here are the suggested steps: Plant something and nurture it Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up Give yourself a treat every day and take the time to really enjoy it Have a good laugh at least once a day Get physical - exercise for half an hour three times a week Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once each day Cut your TV viewing by half Spread some kindness - do a good turn for someone every day Thanks ++ Mukesh ++ - - Mukesh Anand Director - Marketing Monitor Information Services 203, Moghal Marc Ratan Complex Narayanguda, Opp. Deepak Theatre, Hyderabad - 500 029, India Telephone: 040-55787065 Fax: +91-40-27552390 http://www.monitorinfo.com http://www.monitorinfo.com Importers n Distributors of Technical Publications

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FW: [IFLA-L] Intern. Training Program on INFORMATION; grants available
by Tomas Allen 15 Nov '05

15 Nov '05

Dear Friends, I thought this might be an interesting opportunity for many on the listserv. Tomas Allen Please excuse any cross postings. >From: Paul Nieuwenhuysen <pnieuwen(a)vub.ac.be> >To: Paul.Nieuwenhuysen(a)vub.ac.be >Subject: [IFLA-L] Intern. Training Program on INFORMATION; grants available >Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:51:49 +0100 > >An International Training Program on "INFORMATION": > > >STIMULATE >= Scientific and Technological Information Management in Universities and >Libraries: >an Active Training Environment >(Edition 6) > > >Announcement > > >Information about this training program can be found on the WWW starting >from: >http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/itp/ >The program is planned to take place mainly in Brussels, Belgium, >from Monday morning October 2 to Thursday evening December 21, 2006. >Language used is English. > > >Context and evolution of the program: > >The initiative has been approved by the Flemish Interuniversity Council >(VLIR) and is sponsored by the Belgian Government (the directorate named >DGOS since December 2002). This fits in a series of similar international >training activities that have been organized since 1991, named MIST 1, 2, >3, KNOW-HOW, and STIMULATE 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. >This initiative is aimed primarily at persons with a university degree >(Bachelor or Master), who work in universities, information and >documentation centers, and libraries, including of course university >libraries, and who have a few years of practical experience. >The term Active Training Environment in the title of the training program >reflects our wish to create an environment in which each participant is >stimulated to get involved actively, supported by the lecturers and the >infrastructure provided by the training program. This fits well into the >general, worldwide trend away from "teaching" to "learning management". > > >Aim / goal of the training program: > >The main aim and goal of this International Training Program is to offer a >stimulating learning environment to the participants. These are young >scientists and professionals who have a function as information >intermediary in the area of science and technology, so as to sharpen their >skills in collecting, storing, retrieving, presenting and managing >information. This can be of great benefit to the teaching and research >activities going on in their institute and to the further development of >their organisation and region. >This initiative corresponds well with the basic, general aim of all VLIR >the International Training Programs: to train young scientists and >professionals from developing countries in a domain that is relevant for >the further development of the country, and to stimulate the participants >to transfer their increased knowledge and skills to their colleagues and >other stakeholders in their home country. > > >More specific objectives of the training program: > >-- to provide participants with a clearer view on the importance of >information in general and for their environment in particular, and on how >to manage information: >summarised: Management in libraries and information centers >-- to learn the participants to cope with modern technology, in view of the >increasing importance of ICT; >summarised: Information and communication technology for libraries and >information centers >-- to guide them in retrieving information that is publicly accessible on >an international scale: >summarised: Information retrieval/searching >and >-- to learn them to store, organise, present, manage, publish information >resources at personal, institutional, regional or national level: >summarised: Information architecture > >After being actively involved in this International Training Program, every >participant will have improved the ability >-- to appreciate and explain the importance of access to information for >their organisation >-- to present information to users and potential users, using appropriate >information technology >-- to train interested persons in the use and management of information, >using appropriate presentation techniques >-- to contribute to the planning of the (further) development of an >information service >-- to communicate through the Internet with users of information, >information providers, colleagues, >-- to apply quantitative methods in decision making related to information >systems and services >-- to retrieve information from the Internet >-- to store information for later retrieval and access by potential users, >using information technology > > > >Contents of the program: > >The sessions are organised in such a way that >--the first month = introduction level, >--the second month = intermediate level, and >--the third month = more advanced level. >Thanks to this approach and organisation, it may make sense to participate >exceptionally during only one or two of the three months, depending on >expertise. However, the available scholarships are granted only to persons >who will participate for the full three months. >To start with, the participants are offered an orientation tour of the >University and the Library. Then some of the following subjects are >covered. Of course, due to the limited available time, not all the >mentioned subjects can be discussed in each training program, but a >SELECTION will be made by the organisers. The concrete content of each >training program depends on the availability of suitable expert lecturers >from Belgium and from abroad during the period of the training program. As >soon as possible, the concrete schedule is made available through the WWW >site of the program. > > >1. Management in libraries and information centers: > >Statistics to support decision making for information science and for >library management. >Business plans for libraries and information centers. >Using spreadsheets in the management of libraries and information centers. >Collection development. >Consortia of libraries for the acquisition of electronic journals and >databases. >Scientific writing methods. >ISBD = International Standard Bibliographic Description. >Formats for computer-based cataloguing; MARC formats. >National libraries and national bibliographies. >Knowledge organisation: subject classification schemes; thesaurus systems, >ontologies. >Citation analysis. >Assessing the influence of scientific journals; citations and impact >factors. >The bibliometric laws. >Scientometrics. >Architecture of libraries and information centers. >Orientation of information users; relations with information users. >Interlibrary lending and co-operation; document delivery. >Development of a national or regional information network. >The information society. >Cultural aspects of the information society and information technology >transfer. >Copyright; information security; trans-border data flow. >Writing a project proposal (for instance related to the establishment of an >information network). >Conservation/preservation of printed documents. >Conservation/preservation of digital documents. >Informetric aspects of the Internet. >Artificial intelligence and knowledge representation in information >science. >Electronic journals: implementation in a library. >Integration of e-learning environments and library services. >Libraries involvement in scientific publishing. >International co-operation projects. > > >2. Information and communication technology for libraries and information >centers: > >Microcomputer systems: evolution of hardware. >Disks for computers. >CD-ROM. >CD-ROM in a local area network. >CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW. >Microcomputer operating systems. >Microcomputer systems: applications software. >Text editing; word processing; desktop publishing. >Presentation of data, using a microcomputer. >Creating charts to present information. >Image processing; graphics file formats; photo/image editing. >Multimedia / Hypermedia. >Data communication; computer networks; Internet. >Internet services. >Client-server systems. >Electronic mail. >World-Wide Web; hypertext and hypermedia. >Data-communications networks and librarians. >Selecting and procuring a computer system; writing a proposal for a >computer implementation. >Providing access to information through public Internet workstations. >Methods for access to databases through Internet: telnet, http/WWW, Z39.50 >and ISO239.50, Open Archives Initiative - Metadata Harvesting Protocol. > > >3. Information retrieval/searching: > >Introductory concepts about information. >Internet-based information resources: introduction. >Bibliographic databases. >The information industry and the information market. >Online information retrieval and database searching; search tactics and >strategies. >Internet search engines. >Information available free of charge; open access. >Online access databases about journal articles. >Electronic newsletters and journals. >Computer-network based interest groups. >Patent information. >Online systems versus CD-ROM. >Citation searching. >Theoretical and quantitative aspects of information retrieval. >Evaluating the quality of information sources. >Evaluation of information retrieval strategies and systems. > > >4. Information architecture: > >Basic, fundamental, theoretical concepts. >Software packages for local storage and retrieval of bibliographic >information. >Introduction to the ISIS software package family for information storage >and retrieval. >The application of ISIS: searching, editing data in a database, output of >selected data to file or printer; developing a database structure; indexing >data for fast retrieval; ISIS for Windows; WINISIS; history and future of >ISIS; programming in ISIS. >Formats: MARC; application of MARC in ISIS. >Databases (and ISIS in particular) through the WWW. >Downloading of information and record format conversion. >Relational databases. >Library automation. >Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs). >Archives and records management. >Archives in the domain of science and technology. >Geographic Information Systems (GIS): an introduction. >Developing a web site; HTML, CSS, XML, XSL; intranets; developing an >intranet. >Evaluating web sites. >Dynamic web pages. >Developing co-operative community WWW sites; Web contents management >systems. >Setting up an electronic newsletter. >Extensions of the classical WWW. (Client-based and server-based). > > >Study visits: > >In addition to the courses taking place at the university campus, study >visits are organised. >A selection from the following possible visits is made: >--to the Royal (National) Library, in Brussels, Belgium >--to the European Patent Office in Brussels, Belgium >--to the Information Service of the Geology Department of the Royal Museum >on Africa, in Tervuren near Brussels, Belgium >--to the inter-university postgraduate school on information and library >science at the University of Antwerp, Belgium >--to the library of the University of Antwerp in Wilrijk, Belgium >--to the human sciences library of the University of Antwerp in old Antwerp >city, Belgium >--to the old central library and to the modern science and technology >library of the KUL (university) in Leuven, Belgium >--to the VLIZ marine science information and documentation center near the >sea coast in Oostende / Ostend, Belgium >--to the library of the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerpen >/ Antwerp, Belgium >--to the central library of the University of Gent / Ghent, Belgium >--to the Documentation Department of the KIT (the Royal Tropical >Institute), and to the high school on libraries, documentation and >information, both in Amsterdam, Nederland / The Netherlands >--to the headquarters of IFLA and to the National, Royal Library in Den >Haag / The Hague, in Nederland / The Netherlands >--to the Institute for Social Studies (ISS) in Den Haag / The Hague, in >Nederland / The Netherlands >More culturally oriented guided visits are also organised; these may >include trips to the old cities of Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Amsterdam, >Paris, and to the North Sea coast. >Short after the start of the program, each participant presents to the >other participants and to interested lecturers his/her interests, working >environment, planning, tasks, experience. This is organised with printed >posters in a small poster exhibition with time allotted for stimulating and >ice-breaking discussions. >At the end of the course, each participant completes a presentation >supported by slides managed on computer, with constructive comments on the >training program experienced and with concrete recommendations to the >organisers of this training program and to the director of their own >organisation. > >About half of the time, the participants are guided by experts who are >invited to the university. They use the other half time to solve problems, >to make exercises, to use microcomputers and the Internet, to prepare >discussions, for self study... >Besides the formal, guided course activities, the participants have access >like any regular student at our university >--to several rooms equipped with microcomputers connected to the Internet, >--to the university library which offers printed material, CD-ROMs and PCs >with Internet access, >--to the university restaurant and to sport facilities at low student >prices. > >At the end of the program all participants obtain a certificate stating >that they have indeed participated, with a reference to the full detailed >overview of the program contents on the WWW site of the program. >Several substantial parts of the program are followed by an evaluation by >the responsible expert of the knowledge and skills acquired by each >participant; this can lead to a certificate of active and successful >participation. > >Participants should of course bring a notebook or laptop computer, if they >have one available. >Ideally they should buy or rent a personal notebook computer as soon as >they arrive, assisted by the program organisers. > > >Social activities planned: > >-- Welcome reception with drinks and appetizers. >-- Evening with the possibility to taste some of the world famous Belgian >beers and some Belgian food. >-- Farewell gathering with drinks and snacks. > > >Participation and registration; tuition fee and costs: > > >Grants: > >Participation is free of charge (!) for 12 to 15 participants from >developing countries, who are selected by the organisers, VL.I.R. (the >Flemish Inter-university Council) and DGOS. They also receive a grant to >cover the costs of accommodation and an airplane return ticket. The >detailed grant application form is available as a PDF file through the >Internet from http://www.vlir.be/ There you can also find an explanation of >the procedures to apply for the grant. That PDF file can be printed with >the suitable program provided free of charge by Adobe through the WWW: >http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html >Grant applications must be received by VLIR before the end of January! (and >NOT before the end of February as in previous years) Official and formal >requests for a grant or any other correspondence about the grants should be >sent to VLIR in Brussels, and NOT to the organizers of this specific >program. >If this procedure is not suitable for you, >you can ask your local Belgian embassy for a printed version of the >application form for the grant, or you can ask further information from >VLIR: please contact >Mrs. Kristel Wijshof, tel. +32 2 289 05 57 or kristel.wijshof(a)vlir.be >at the VLIR-UDC Secretariat; the general e-mail address is >scholarships(a)vlir.be. >The ideal participant applying for a grant is younger than 40 years, and >will be able to apply what has been learned directly in a professional >scientific or technical environment afterwards. > > >Normal registration: > >Besides the persons who receive a grant from the Belgian Government through >VLIR, 5 to 8 persons can participate after paying a tuition fee that is >small in comparison with similar programs. >The costs mentioned do NOT include air travel, meals and accommodation, but >do include transport from the airport upon arrival, course materials, study >visits and social activities. The cost of living in Belgium is not >exceptional. >-To participate during the full period: 2400 Euro >-Exceptionally, persons who cannot participate for the whole period can >nevertheless participate during 2 months only (1800 Euro) or during 1 month >only (1000 Euro). It makes sense to attend for instance the first month or >the first two months only. It makes less sense to participate only during >the second or the third month, as introductions to some activities or >topics may be missed. >-To participate to particular items selected from the program: 30 Euro per >half day. >To register and pay the tuition fee, send the form (see below) by classical >mail together with an international bank transfer / bank cheque / bank >draft, payable to >University Library V.U.B., Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 BRUSSEL, Belgium, >with no need for any bank account numbers. >If however this simple procedure is NOT suitable for you, then you can >transfer the required sum of money to the following bank account of the >V.U.B.: >Fortis Bank located at Warandeberg 3 in B-1000 Brussel, Belgium, >account number 001-0686459-66 or IBAN = BE07 0010 6864 5966 >and do not forget (!) to mention as a remark: for WD006240 BIBL WER3 >The money received by the VUB must be transferred internally to this >account. >(Without your remark, the money may be not retraceable and lost.) > >We recommend you to register as early as possible: first come, first >served: the arrival of your participation fee determines who can >participate. > >There is NO need to apply prior to the registration, to request >permission to participate from the organizers and their universities. The >decision if the program is suitable and appropriate for an interested >person is to be made by that person and not by the organizers. > > >Accommodation: > >The organisers of this program normally book a single, cheap, basic room in >advance as accommodation for each participant, unless a participant writes >us that he/she wants to take care of accommodation personally, for instance >by staying with a friend or by renting a room that offers more luxury. >Participants pay for their own accommodation. If we can book many weeks in >advance, then we can normally find basic accommodation for about 300 euro >per month; however, a late receipt of the tuition fee forces us to book a >more expensive room. > > >Medical insurance: > >It is recommended that participants are covered during their stay by a full >medical insurance. >In Belgium, this costs about 40 euro per month. The program organisers take >care of this. > > >How to contact the organizers? > >E-mail (Internet): stimulate at vub.ac.be (or in case that this does not >seem to work, to Paul.Nieuwenhuysen at vub.ac.be) >(change at in @ when you want to use an address) >Fax 32 2 629 2693 (or 2282) >Tel. 32 2 629 2629 or 32 2 629 2429 or 32 2 629 2609 >Telex 61051 vubco-b >Classical mail: >STIMULATE-ITP (or Paul NIEUWENHUYSEN), University Library, Vrije >Universiteit Brussel, >Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, BELGIUM > > >Location: > >The training is mainly organized at the University Library of the Vrije >Universiteit Brussel (V.U.B). The campus is located south of the older >centre of the city of Brussels, and can easily be reached by Metro >(subway), tram and bus. >Information about Brussels (and Belgium) can be found through the WWW; see >for instance: >http://www.agenda.be/ about events going on in Brussels (in French and in >Dutch) >http://www.disgruntled.ca/writings/brussels/ offers information on Brussels >and some photos, based on the experience of living there for some time >http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/brussels.shtml >http://www.ilotsacre.be/site/en/default_en.htm offers an interactive map >and photos of Brussels >http://www.interknowledge.com/belgium/ >http://www.jack-travel.com/ >http://www.sievers.nl/visitbrussels/ shows some photos made in Brussels >http://www.timeout.com/brussels/ >http://www.trabel.com/brussel/brussels-touristattractions.htm >http://www.virtourist.com/europe/brussels/index.html >http://www.visitbelgium.com/ > >Trips are perhaps organised to places in neighbouring countries like The >Netherlands and France. Therefore, participants should try to obtain also a >visa for those countries (a so called Schengen-visa). > > >Program and Steering Committee: > >The course director is Dr. Paul Nieuwenhuysen, professor at the Vrije >Universiteit Brussel and guest professor at Universiteit Antwerpen, Science >and technology librarian, and Head of the information and documentation >department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. >An official, formal Steering Committee is composed of members from the >co-operating universities in Flanders, >-Vrije Universiteit Brussel, >-Universiteit Antwerpen >-Katholieke Universiteit Leuven >This Steering Committee supervises the organisation, the program and the >budget; this committee reports formally to VLIR. > >Feel free to distribute this document; this version is dated 10 November >2005. > > >____________________REGISTRATION FORM_______________________ >to STIMULATE, University Library, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (V.U.B.), >Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 BRUSSEL, Belgium >I want to participate. Therefore I send this as a letter and pay the >registration fee as described in the announcement of the International >Training Program. >(So the following is NOT the form to apply for a grant. >Do not send this unless you pay the registration fee.) > a. Family name (surname): ............................... >(married female participants please fill in maiden-name as well as name of >husband) >b. First or given names (according to your official passport): >.............. > Personal address: ................................... > ..................................................... > Country:............................................. > Electronic mail address > Telephone, fax, telex: > >Date of birth: Place of birth: >Nationality: Sex: male / female > >Present employment: > a. Name and address of employer: ................. > ............................................... > ............................................... > b. Since: ../../.. > c. Position function - specialization > d. Telephone, fax, telex and/or e-mail of the employer: > >Education - studies: > Name of institute Degree Date > > > > > >Knowledge of English: writing: ........ speaking: ........ reading: ....... >Have you been abroad earlier? Please specify: > > >Duties that you will carry out after returning to your country: > ................................................................. > ................................................................. > >Please book a room for me OR >Do NOT book a room for me; I will take care myself of accommodation > >I take care of a medical insurance myself OR >Please see that I am covered by a medical insurance for my stay in Belgium >which will cost about 40 euro/month. > >Date and signature: > >Please include a recent photograph, as this will simplify identifying you >upon arrival. > _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! 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Librarians Blogs List
by Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy 15 Nov '05

15 Nov '05

http://www.pubsub.com/lists/librarian.php This URL lists several Librarians blogs along with ranking and statistics. Have a visit Dr P Vyasamoorthy, SENIORS (Society for Enriched Information of Relevance to Seniors), 30, Gruhalakshmi Colony, Secunderabad 500018 Phone 27846631

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Supporting views to Mr.Srinivasulu's opinion
by rupesh kumar 15 Nov '05

15 Nov '05

Dear All, I too strongly opine that the job of information retrieval could be best performed by LIS Professionals and given an opportunity, they may provide a new dimension to the hitherto neglected government services. There's also a possibility of adopting new techniques and methodologies of library and information science in providing timely and adequate information to the public. I hope there will be some more debate on this. Regards, RUPESH KUMAR.A. DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE BANGALORE UNIVERSITY --------------------------------- Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click. Dear All, I too strongly opine that the job of information retrieval could be best performed by LIS Professionals and given an opportunity, they may provide a new dimension to the hitherto neglected government services. There's also a possibility of adopting new techniques and methodologies of library and information science in providing timely and adequate information to the public. I hope there will be some more debate on this. Regards, http://www.bub.ac.in/buLogo.jpg RUPESH KUMAR.A. DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE BANGALORE UNIVERSITY http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylc=X3oDMTFqODRtdXQ4BF9TAzMyOTc1MDIEX3MDOTY2ODgxNj… Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.

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[Fwd: Fw: SciDev.Net publishes key paper on Open Access
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Nov '05

15 Nov '05

Friends: Look up SciDevNet for an article on OA and the developing world. Please spread the word. Arun ----- Original Message ----- From: Jemima Tonks To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM(a)LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 3:57 PM Subject: SciDev.Net publishes key paper on Open Access Archiving Dear colleague, Open Access Archiving: the fast track to building research capacity in developing countries www.scidev.net/ms/openaccess Increasing access to the global library of research findings will be central to strengthening the science base in developing countries. Currently, this is made difficult by the high costs of journal subscriptions. With the advent of Open Access archiving the outlook for building science capacity in developing countries has improved significantly. In a peer-reviewed paper published today by SciDev.Net, three of the world's leading open access experts, Leslie Chan, Barbara Kirsop and Subbiah Arunachalam, summarise the current state of play. In particular, they focus on the establishment of interoperable open access archives and their potential for true global knowledge exchange. The paper is freely available on the SciDev.Net website as well as in downloadable pdf, MS Word and text files. www.scidev.net/ms/openaccess The authors outline reasons why they consider that Open Access Archives (OAAs) offer the greatest and most immediate impact on science and development. It outlines the current status of science and technology in developing countries before reporting current progress in both developed and developing regions. Finally it recommends what needs to be done to achieve free access to all publicly-funded research publications. Register for our weekly E-newsletter Please pass this information onto your friends and colleagues who may find it useful. If they have not already done so, they might also like to register with SciDev.Net http://www.scidev.net/register-new for automatic updates on topics of interest and the free weekly email with all the latest news, views and notices about science, technology and development. Please accept our apologies if you have previously received this message through cross-posting. If you are already registered with us and would like to update your details, or cancel your registration please go to http://www.scidev.net/register Kind regards, Jemima Tonks Marketing officer SciDev.Net 97/99 Dean Street London W1D 3TE +44 (0) 20 7292 9910 / 9916 (direct) http://www.scidev.net The Science and Development Network is the world's leading electronic source of news, views and analysis about science, technology and the developing world.

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