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

McGraw-Hill - Free Digital Dictionary
by ++ Mukesh Anand ++ 29 Dec '05

29 Dec '05

Dear All Now you can download the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Engineering FREE! Derived from the world-renowned McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th Ed., this engineering reference software offers a wealth of essential information in a convenient, quick-find format. The Digital Edition brings you thousands of terms from all major engineering disciplines, from construction. to chemical engineering. to telecommunications. Click on the url below (or paste the url in your browser), register yourself and download in few minutes http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/getpage.php?page=engarch_dictionary_of_enginee… Best Wishes for the New Year 2006 ++ Mukesh ++ - - Mukesh Anand Director - Marketing MONITOR INFORMATION SERVICES - books + cd-rom's + e-books - Head Office: 203, Moghal Marc Ratan Complex Opp. Deepak Theatre, Narayanguda Hyderabad - 500 029 Telephone: 040-55787065 / 27552390 Facsimile: +91-40-27552390 Branches At : New Delhi & IIT- Kharagpur http://www.monitorinfo.com Library Suppliers of Science, Technology & Management Publications Dear All Now you can download the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Engineering FREE! Derived from the world-renowned McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th Ed. , this engineering reference software offers a wealth of essential information in a convenient, quick-find format. The Digital Edition brings you thousands of terms from all major engineering disciplines, from construction to chemical engineering to telecommunications. Click on the url below (or paste the url in your browser), register yourself and download in few minutes http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/getpage.php?page=engarch_dictionary_of_enginee… http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/getpage.php?page=engarch_dictionary_of_enginee… Best Wishes for the New Year 2006 ++ Mukesh ++ - - Mukesh Anand Director - Marketing MONITOR INFORMATION SERVICES - books + cd-rom's + e-books - Head Office: 203, Moghal Marc Ratan Complex Opp. Deepak Theatre, Narayanguda Hyderabad - 500 029 Telephone: 040-55787065 / 27552390 Facsimile: +91-40-27552390 Branches At : New Delhi & IIT- Kharagpur http://www.monitorinfo.com http://www.monitorinfo.com Library Suppliers of Science, Technology & Management Publications

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Koha Windows version
by Mailing List Manager 29 Dec '05

29 Dec '05

Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 22:00:04 -0800 (PST) From: vimal kumar <vimal0212(a)yahoo.com> New Windows�s version of Koha ( V2.2.4) now available. Rob Weir developed Windows version of this popular open source ILMS. Koha installation in Windows is comparatively easier than in Linux environment. Z39.50 feature is not available in Windows and this is not a stable version. Installation manual is also available in the web site. For more information visit, http://www.koha.rwjr.com/ . Vimal kumar Asian School of Business Trivandrum vimal0212(a)yahoo.com

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Fw: Mission 2007 and 'Open Access' sessions at Science Congress, Hyderabad
by Subbiah Arunachalam 29 Dec '05

29 Dec '05

Friends: Season's Greetings. MSSRF is organising, among other events, two half-day sessions at the forthcoming Science Congress at Hyderabad, one on Mission 2007 and another on Open Access (to scientific and scholarly literature). All are welcome. Best wishes. Subbiah Arunachalam Distinguished Fellow, MSSRF 29 December 2005 ----- 93rd Indian Science Congress, Hyderabad Session on Mission 2007: Every Village a knowledge Centre Date: 5 January 2006 Time: 14.30 - 17.30 Venue: APARD Chairman: Prof. M S Swaminathan, MSSRF Speakers: Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IITM, Chennai Dr V Balaji, ICRISAT, Hyderabad Ms Namrata Bali, SEWA, Ahmedabad Dr B H Shadrach, OneWorld South Asia, New Delhi Prof. G Palanithurai, Gandhigram Mr R Chandrashekhar, Ministry of Information Technology, New Delhi Session coordinator: Subbiah Arunachalam --------------------- 93rd Indian Science Congress, Hyderabad Session on Open Access Date: 6 January 2006 Time: 10.00 - 12.45 Venue: MANAGE Chairman: Prof. N Balakrishnan, IISc, Bangalore Keynote: Dr Alma Swan, Key Perspectives, UK Speakers: Dr V Balaji, ICRISAT, Hyderabad Dr Abhijit Lahiri, DSIR, New Delhi Dr D K Sahu, MedKnow Publications, Bombay Ms Naina Pandita, NIC, New Delhi Dr A R D Prasad, DRTC, ISI, Bangalore Friends: Season's Greetings. MSSRF is organising, among other events, two half-day sessions at the forthcoming Science Congress at Hyderabad, one on Mission 2007 and another on Open Access (to scientific and scholarly literature). All are welcome. Best wishes. Subbiah Arunachalam Distinguished Fellow, MSSRF 29 December 2005 ----- 93 rd Indian Science Congress, Hyderabad Session on Mission 2007: Every Village a knowledge Centre Date: 5 January 2006 Time: 14.30 17.30 Venue: APARD Chairman: Prof. M S Swaminathan, MSSRF Speakers: Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IITM, Chennai Dr V Balaji, ICRISAT, Hyderabad Ms Namrata Bali, SEWA, Ahmedabad Dr B H Shadrach, OneWorld South Asia, New Delhi Prof. G Palanithurai, Gandhigram Mr R Chandrashekhar, Ministry of Information Technology, New Delhi Session coordinator: Subbiah Arunachalam --------------------- 93 rd Indian Science Congress, Hyderabad Session on Open Access Date: 6 January 2006 Time: 10.00 12.45 Venue: MANAGE Chairman: Prof. N Balakrishnan, IISc, Bangalore Keynote: Dr Alma Swan, Key Perspectives, UK Speakers: Dr V Balaji, ICRISAT, Hyderabad Dr Abhijit Lahiri, DSIR, New Delhi Dr D K Sahu, MedKnow Publications, Bombay Ms Naina Pandita, NIC, New Delhi Dr A R D Prasad, DRTC, ISI, Bangalore

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Academic excellence and heads of universities
by Subbiah Arunachalam 29 Dec '05

29 Dec '05

Friends: Here is a brief article on heads of universities and their academic achievements as reflected by citations to their scholarly writings. In the West there is a good correlation. It will be interesting to see how many of our vice chancellors and directors of higher educational institutions (in India) have a good academic record. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] --- Citations make the president By Adam Marcus Amanda Goodall, a doctoral student in strategic management at Warwick Business School, UK, had a hunch, based on her experience working for college officials in both the United States and the United Kingdom: The world's elite research universities put a premium on naming elite researchers as their presidents. So she tallied all the citations amassed by presidents of the world's top 100 universities, as judged by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University "probably the most reliable league table available," according to Goodall. Since university heads come from different disciplines with inherently different levels of expected output economics papers can take years to come out, while a productive microbiologist can easily have her name on a dozen papers in a year or more Goodall assigned each president a "normalized" citation score. That meant the Nobelist David Baltimore, president of sixth-ranked Caltech, who garnered 28,000-odd citations, earned a "president score" of 32.48. Lawyer Lee Bollinger of Columbia nee the University of Michigan, with a relatively modest list of 398, got a bit of a boost to a president score of 3.4. Among the top 20 schools in Shanghai rankings, Harvard University was first, and president Lawrence Summers also had the highest president score (36.02) with 6,088 citations. After that, the president score didn't predict placement precisely: Second was Stanford University, where president John Hennessy, a computer scientist, had 1986 citations and a president score of 23.64, far behind Caltech's Baltimore, who had the second-best president score. And while the University of California, San Francisco, placed 17th in the rankings, its chancellor J. Michael Bishop had the third-highest president score of 24.1. Rounding out the top 20 is the University of Washington's Mark A. Emmert, a social scientist, with 92 citations, which gave him a president score of 0.78. The overall findings, to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Documentation, showed a correlation between the number of citations racked up by university heads and the standing of the schools they lead but only in the United States. When the 51 US schools on the list of top 100 universities are excluded, "the correlation doesn't exist," says Goodall. Still, says Bruce Weinberg, a labor economist at Ohio State University, the finding is "unquestionably true." However, Weinberg says, "It is harder to show that the scholarly standing of the president affects the quality of the university." So if Harvard decided to hire a lightweight scholar, it's unlikely that the Crimson's reputation would bleed out. "Similarly, if an undistinguished university somehow hired a top researcher as a president, it probably would not immediately vault its way into the top ranks of universities," says Weinberg. Goodall acknowledges that her study doesn't say anything about why universities choose their leaders. They may pick top scientists as presidents as much as for their ability to separate big donors from their money as for their skill at splitting atoms. It's equally possible that great researchers are simply good at everything, including running a university, or that having papers with high impact is a proxy for crucial academic leadership skills. Then there's the matter of selection bias. Top-flight scholars probably avoid chiefships at schools they consider beneath them, says Charles Oppenheim, a professor of information sciences at the UK's Loughborough University, who has seen Goodall's research. And "as universities increasingly value business and entrepreneurial skills over research skills," Oppenheim adds, "This implies that in, say, 10 years' time, similar research would not produce as strong a correlation." For her part, Goodall doesn't believe being a heavily cited and therefore presumably skilled researcher is a proxy for being a strong leader; she's known too many lab heads who treated their underlings poorly. Hiring the former to head your institution, however, is a signal from the trustees to the faculty that research is the core concern, she says. "My extensive background in research contributes significantly both to my effectiveness as the president of a major research university and to my credibility as a leader in higher education," says Amy Guttmann (1388 citations, for a president score of 11.86), president of the University of Pennsylvania, which the Shanghai rankings had at number 15. "Having a scholar-teacher as president sends a signal that even fundraising is inseparable from academic content from knowing what the university actually doesand is not just about donor cultivation cultivation's for sake," she adds. Goodall is now looking at 55 UK schools and their leaders over a period of 15 to 20 years, focusing on institutions that have moved up or down in the rankings, and whether their heads have been strong or weak researchers. The point, she says, is to see whether "the research history of university presidents impacted the performance of the universities over time." She also plans to do a case study on the California university system. After learning so much about academic leadership, would Goodall ever want to take the reins of a school? Not a chance. "It's a pretty crappy job. I would not want to do it."

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Free math textbooks
by Subbiah Arunachalam 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

More on OA textbooks Heather Morrison, Open Access Textbooks, Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics, December 27, 2005. Excerpt: There are many curious ironies about the open access movement, and indeed the shift from print to electronic in general. Not least of these is that while advocacy efforts focus on the peer-reviewed research article, progress towards open access is happening in areas where no advocacy efforts are directed at all, to my knowledge. One such area is open access textbooks. This came to my attention one day when searching for online math textbooks. I was not expecting to find free texts at all, on the assumption that textbooks were an area where the commercial sector would obviously prevail - after all, who would write an entire textbook without expectation of financial compensation? Imagine my surprise, then, to find the extensive list of Textbooks, Lecture Notes and Tutorials in Mathematics by Alexandre Stefanov. All resources are free, and are divided into topics such as general mathematics, number theory, algebra, algebraic geometry, topolisis, analysis, geometry, mathematical physics, probability theory, formatting documents (TEX, LATEX, etc.). Alexandre links to a number of other substantial lists, including the list of Online mathematics textbooks, including over 40 textbooks as of October 2005, maintained by George Cain, School of Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology.....The more I think about it, the more open textbooks make sense, particularly in mathematics. Printed textbooks are expensive - one cannot ask students to purchase more than one mathematics textbook. Yet it seems obvious that the student is much better off having access to the dozens of free textbooks that are already available. If a student is having difficulty understanding a concept explained one way, does it not make sense to provide an alternative explanation? (PS: There's a growing number of OA textbook sites, but as far as I know just one searchable portal that tries to be comprehensive: Jason Turgeon's Textbook Revolution. Check it out.)

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Library Trainee at CII-Central Library (Gurgaon)
by Aman Jha 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

Dear all There is a requirement of a Library Trainee at CII-Central Library (Gurgaon). Interested male candidates from Delhi/Gurgaon area, having good attitude and commitment towards work, may send their resume to <library(a)ciionline.org>. Qualification and Experience - B.Com., BLIS - Experience of working in a good corporate library Required skills - Good Computer/IT skills - Good communication skills in English - Good typing speed Job Responsibilities: - Technical & Physical processing of the books including shelving - Subscription and circulation work - Document sorting and filing - Data entry work - Visitors handling NOTE: Post is purely on contract basis for six months. Likely to be permanent. Thanks and regards, Aman Jha

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Request Project Proposals
by Sreedevi Ravindran, Scientist 'G' 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

Dear all DSIR under its Technology Information Programme will be establishing Incubation Centres on Content Development and Management. Attached please find the Project details. Interested universities, institututions are requested to forward the proposals( Format A, B and C) to DSIR by January 2006. Wish you all a very happy New Year. With Regards. Mrs.S.Ravindran DSIR Dear all DSIR under its Technology Information Programme will be establishing Incubation Centres on Content Development and Management. Attached please find the Project details. Interested universities, institututions are requested to forward the proposals( Format A, B and C) to DSIR by January 2006. Wish you all a very happy New Year. With Regards. Mrs.S.Ravindran DSIR

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Shorter Link : India Reads - Best of 2005
by ++ Mukesh Anand ++ 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

Please click on the shorter link to Best Books of 2005 http://del.icio.us/eMonitor/Best_Books_2005 compiled by - - MONITOR INFORMATION SERVICES - books + cd-rom's + e-books - Head Office: 203, Moghal Marc Ratan Complex Opp. Deepak Theatre, Narayanguda Hyderabad - 500 029 Telephone: 040-55787065 / 27552390 Facsimile: +91-40-27552390 Branches : New Delhi & IIT- Kharagpur http://www.monitorinfo.com Library Suppliers of Science, Technology & Management Publications - - Mukesh Anand Director - Marketing MONITOR INFORMATION SERVICES Please click on the shorter link to Best Books of 2005 http://del.icio.us/eMonitor/Best_Books_2005 http://del.icio.us/eMonitor/Best_Books_2005 compiled by - - MONITOR INFORMATION SERVICES - books + cd-rom's + e-books - Head Office: 203, Moghal Marc Ratan Complex Opp. Deepak Theatre, Narayanguda Hyderabad - 500 029 Telephone: 040-55787065 / 27552390 Facsimile: +91-40-27552390 Branches : New Delhi & IIT- Kharagpur http://www.monitorinfo.com http://www.monitorinfo.com Library Suppliers of Science, Technology & Management Publications - - Mukesh Anand Director - Marketing MONITOR INFORMATION SERVICES

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RE: [LIS-Forum] A new digital library in B'lore
by hemaa＠ingvysyabank.com 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

Hello all ! You can find some more details regarding the new digital library at the Bangalore Medical College at these links: http://www.bmcalumni.com/newsletter.htm http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=201685&n_date=20051226&c at=Health http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=73680 http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1583234,0087.htm Thanks & Regards Hema Amble Librarian ING Vysya Bank Competence Development Centre Bangalore - 4 PH:080-26507281 Ext:36 hemaa(a)ingvysyabank.com -----Original Message----- From: Subbiah Arunachalam [mailto:arun@mssrf.res.in] Sent: 27/12/2005 2:59 AM To: lis-forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in; oa-india(a)dgroups.org; c3net(a)dgroups.org Subject: [LIS-Forum] A new digital library in B'lore Friends: Here is a news story on a digital library initiative in Bangalore. Can anyone give a detailed account? Thanks and best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ----------------------- Digital library for Bangalore Medical College to launch this week Unique digital library opening on December 28, Deccan Herald, December 26, 2005. An unsigned news story. Excerpt: The soon to be inaugurated state-of-the-art digital library at Bangalore Medical College (BMC) is unique in scale and concept. A gift by the alumni of the college to mark its golden jubilee celebrations, users of the library can have access to full text articles from leading international and national journals, multimedia presentations by leading doctors and can also access materials in other libraries like the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and Nimhans. The information is catalogued using open sources database Dspace. BMC Alumni Association claims the facility is the "best and biggest" in any medical college in the country. Association President Dr H C Satya and Vice-President K M Srinivasa Gowda told reporters that the entire library was wi-fi-enabled. _______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum

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Indian Association of University Professors
by Aman Jha 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

Dear friends, Grateful if anyone could help me out with brief information about 'Indian Association of University Professors'. Contact details, literature, etc. Thanks and regards, Aman Jha Librarian Confederation of Indian Industry Plot No 249-F, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV Sector 18, Gurgaon - 122015 (Haryana) Tel: 0124-5014060-67 aman.jha(a)ciionline.org http://www.ciionline.org

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