March 2006 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

Carolyn Watters Lecture at DLIS Mysore - MULISSA Lecture Series
by N.S. Harinarayana 04 Mar '06

04 Mar '06

Prof. Carolyn Watters, faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Canada addressed the students and staff of Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore on the topic �Design considerations for web access on PDAs� on the Friday, March 3, 2006. Summary of the Lecture: Personal digital assistant (also called PDA) is a small handheld device that could be used as mobile phones, web browsers or media players. It was initially developed as personal organizers. Today, is being used for varieties of purposes including Internet access. Prof. Watters discussed the issues involved in display and input in a small screen devices. Browsing, Reading, Finding, and Comparison activities needs to be handled differently in a small screen devices. She demonstrated various methods available for these activities. The four common approaches to displaying web pages on small screen devices: Direct Migration, Linear, Overview and Overview were explained with examples. Overview method and the Gateway use the user�s familiarity of a web page to allow us to reduce a web page to fit within one screen on the PDA with a zooming capacity to expand sections of the page. She gave the details of some of the user study results about the effectiveness of these approaches. The lecture was attended by students, faculty members and researchers. Prof. Michael Shepherd of Dalhousie University was also present during the lecture. The program was organised as a part of MULISSA (Mysore University Library and Information Science Students Association) activity. -- N.S.Harinarayana Ph.D Department of Library and Information Science University of Mysore Manasagangotri, Mysore 570 006 Ph: 2419393 !DSPAM:44092f6b137171673113986!

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LIBRI: CALL FOR BEST STUDENT PAPER, 2006
by Shyam Prasad pujar 04 Mar '06

04 Mar '06

** Sorry for cross postings, if any ** > Announces the 2006 annual award for > > Best Libri Student Paper > > Since 1950, through 56 volumes, Libri: International Journal of > Libraries and Information Services has been a leader among scholarly > journals in the international library world. As part of its strategy > to remain one of the premier library journals, Libri is issuing a call > for "Best Student Paper of 2006." This competition supports Libri's > goal of publishing the best articles from the next generation of > library and information science professionals. We are proud once again > to recognize the very best article with this special award. > > Students at all levels* are invited to submit articles with clarity > and authority. There is no stated theme. Research papers should > address one of the significant issues facing today's librarians and > information professionals. Case studies, best practices, and pure > research papers are all welcome. > > Length: approx. 5,000-7,000 words > Language: English > Deadline: May 31, 2006 > > The best paper will be selected by an independent panel consisting of > selected members of the Editorial Board, the Advisory Board and other > international experts. Submissions will be judged on the basis of > > * originality of thought and observation > * depth of research and scholarship > * topicality of problems addressed > * the international readership of the journal > > The article will be published in the 2006:3 issue. The author of the > winning article will be honoured with an award of 500.00 USD and with > a complementary subscription to Libri for 2007. If the quality of > competition warrants, some papers may be designated as honourable > mention and the authors will receive complementary subscriptions to > Libri for 2007. The normal provision to the author of 10 offprints and > one complete issue applies to all winners. > > Manuscripts should be sent to the LIBRI Editorial Office, > Statsbiblioteket, Universitetsparken, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. > Electronic submissions are encouraged and may be submitted to > libri(a)statsbiblioteket.dk. Author instructions and further indications > of the scope of papers suitable for publication in Libri are available > at the LIBRI site at http://www.librijournal.org/authorinst.html. > > All submissions should include a cover sheet confirming: > * the name of the institution where the student is or was enrolled > > * the dates when the student is or was enrolled > * the date when the paper was written and the course for which it > was prepared if no longer a student > > > * Exception: Senior information scholars returning to school for > additional degrees outside the field of library and information > science are not eligible for this award. > ********************************************************************** Shamprasad M. Pujar Assistant Librarian Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Gen. Vaidya Marg, Film City Road Santosh Nagar, Goregaon (East) MUMBAI-400 065 India %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% * Phone: +91-22-2841 6514 * * Fax: +91-22-2840 2752 * * E-mail: pujar(a)igidr.ac.in * * URL: http://www.igidr.ac.in * %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

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Reading Behavior in the digital enviornment
by Dr. N.J.Deshpande(Reader＠Jaykar Library) 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

Reading Behavior in the digital enviornment The advent of digital media & the growing collection of digital documents have had profound impact on reading.with the growing amount of digital information available &increasing amount spend reading electronic media,the digiatl environment has begun to affect reading behivior. Digital media contribute to a transformative shift in reading. they introduce number of advantages, such asinterreactivity,non-linearity,immediacy of accessing information...etc

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postponement of national conference
by Mailing List Manager 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 13:57:50 +0530 From: Aditya Tripathi <aditya.tripath(a)gmail.com> This is to inform that due to some unavoidable circumstances the proposed "National Conference on Community Information Service: Challenges & Opportunities for Libraries", 2nd � 4th March 2006, jointly organized by Department of Library and Information Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, United States Educational Foundation in India (USEFI) and Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) has been rescheduled and now will be held from 20th � 22nd March 2006. -- Dr. Aditya Tripathi Lecturer and Co-ordinator Department of Library & Information Science Banaras Hindu University Varanasi-221005 ---------------------------------------------------- 1. Contribute to DRTC LIS Open Digital Library https://drtc.isibang.ac.in 2. Join today Digital Library Discussion Forum http://drtc.isibang.ac.in/dlrg

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Discrimination to Asst. Librarians
by Mailing List Manager 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

From: Veerankutty Chelatayakkot <veerankutty(a)cusat.ac.in> To: lis-forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Dear Professionals, I invite your attention to the discrimination to Assistant University librarians in the qualification prescribed by the UGC to the post of University Librarian. Minimum qualification to University Librarian : (i) Master's degree in Library Science / Information Science / Documentation with at least 55% of the marks or its equivalent grade of B in the UGC Seven point scale and consistently good academic record; (ii) At least thirteen years as a Deputy Librarian in a University Library or eighteen years as experience as a college librarian (iii) Evidence of innovative library service and organization of published work. As per this qualification, 18 years experienced College librarian can become a University Librarian. At the same time, an Assistant University Librarian with same experience cant apply to the post of University Librarian. Assistant University Librarian is equivalent to the College librarian. This can be easily understood by comparing the qualification prescribed to Deputy Librarian. Qualification to Deputy Librarian: (i) Master's degree in Library Science / Information Science / Documentation with at least 55% of the marks or its equivalent grade of B in the UGC Seven point scale and Consistently good academic record; (ii) At least five years as a Assistant University Librarian / College Librarian (iii) Evidence of innovative library service and organization of published work If five years experienced Assistant University Librarians/ College librarians can apply to the post of Deputy librarian, why 18 years experienced Assistant University Librarian cant apply to the post of University Librarian. This is the discrimination. Veerankutty Chelatayakkot

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Re: [LIS-Forum] request for an article
by Mailing List Manager 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

Dear Member: I would like to thank the members who have expressed their views/comments on the subject "whether requests for full text articles coming from members working for commercial organizations should be entertained on this list or not". I have consolidated the replies received till 03 Mar, 2.30 pm and have appended it to this message. Let's wait for couple of more days before we take a final decision on the matter. Meanwhile, I would like to stress the point that this forum should be used only as a last resort to seek help from fellow members. Many a times the members just shoot off their queries to the forum without doing any homework themselves. I return at lease one or two mails every other day because the expectations of such mails is that the fellow members have to refer to the resources to answer the queries, which very well could have been done by the requesters themselves. Please ensure that you append full signature to your messages, especially when you are seeking help/response from fellow members. Thanks for your cooperation With warm regards, - moderator ------------------------------- I. I think there is no harm in providing reference service - availability related information or referral information - if tracking of full text article is really a problem for a member working for a commercial organisation. Let the requstee then collect the orginal article from the referrals. Many a times even an expert searcher experience lack of information regarding availability of articles, etc. Think about those who really need our help. Completely ignoring or not entertaining the request will be a negative approach for the profession. It also does not match to our ethical standards. Regards, Aman Jha Librarian Confederation of Indian Industry ------------------ II. I agree with you. Krishna Yeri Librarian,IRMA, Anand ------------- III. I beg to offer a slightly different view. As far as copyright infringement is concerned, supplying one copy for personal use of a researcher is OK. It is immaterial whether the end user or his organisation is carrying out research in academic institution or is attached to an industrial research unit, whether fully commercial (say ranbaxy) or industrial research establishment funded by public funds (CDRI, for example). Research is research and the benefits of research go to all. Copyright laws pose no threat either, as per my understanding. However, if a company say Ranbaxy in private sector or IDPL in public sector wants to use the information for commercial purposes (marketing, publicity, beating down competition etc) then copyright fee or licensing fee for each copy must be paid for. Librarians who are a party to this kind of infringement must be aware of their limitations. The best thing would be to avoid ALL requests for photocopies being distributed via Lis-forum. Let us encourage large libraries and library networks funded by govt funds to be more responsive and co-operative in this matter. Regards Dr P vyasamoorthy ---------------------- 1V. I agree. We are an organization that procures and supplies articles to BOTH non-profit/academic, as well as commercial organizations. For the latter, we procure copyright fee paid copies and provide it to them. We have even procured from local libraries and then paid the copyright fee to the US Copyright Clearance Centre, and charged commercial clients for the same. (We discontinued this, because very often we got poor quality copies and the client was unhappy about that, specially after paying a high fee) Our experience has been that many Indian commercial companies are "conveniently unaware" of copyright fee for articles, and many libraries still do provide articles to commercial organizations, charging only a membership fee for services. The libraries do not take care of paying the copyright fee to the publisher/CCC So these commercial organizations take advantage and take copies from the libraries. They come to us if they cannot procure from a library, or if there is an urgency. I would urge that libraries either take on the onus of paying copyright fee on behalf of commercial organizations, or request such organizations to approach us, or any other agency that does similar work. Just as an additional information........We have been a Private Limited company, but are now running as a non-profit organization. Our legal status is in the process of change (taking much longer than I hoped it would), but we have been operating as a not for profit entity since Apr 2005 Vasumathi Sriganesh Director, QMed Services

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Why can't Google Scholar be like Open J-Gate / OAIster
by Sukhdev Singh 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

This morning was frustating with Google Scholar. I just wanted to get hold of some scholary literature on "Methods forBenchmarking Organisations". So, opened up Google Scholar<http://scholar.google.com> and fired the first term - "benchmarking".Good - 149,000 hits to good quality looking literature. So, startedclicking by one by one to see the hits. But, what is this?!! Almostevery click was asking me to pay somewhere 20 to 40 Dollars to havethe access to full text. Obiously - this is the locked up knowledgefor me. What is the use of these wonderful hits to high qualityliterature when I can not view them. Next I opened up Open J-Gate <http://www.openj-gate.com/> and firedthe same term "benchmarking". Had to wait for the results. Ultimatelygot the result - 216 hits. This served my purpose. Not that thesepointed to high quality papers. But I got what I wanted in return forwhat I could afford to pay for. No wasting of time in clicking andwaiting to learn that I can't afford to buy the stuff. Later found that OAIster <http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/>gave 1674 hits for the same term. But then, all Open/Free Accessliterature may not be OAI compliant. Why can't Google creates a service for just Open/Free Access ScholaryLiterature and name it as OpenScholar?. Its better technology can helpsmall mortals like me. Sukhdev Singh, NIC.http://openmed.nic.in

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Message for Circulation on lis-forum
by ratnakar 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

Will be thankful if you kindly circulate the following important information on lis-forum A. Ratnakar New Delhi __________________________________________________________________________ World’s largest Open Access e-journals portal launched The placid and lackadaisical information infrastructure scenario of the country saw a momentous action on Monday the 27th of Feb, when world’s first e-journals portal Open J-Gate (www.openj-gate.com <http://www.openj-gate.com/> ) was launched by Bangalore based Informatics (India) Ltd as a free service for everyone across the globe. Informatics called the launch as India's contribution to the global research and the promotion of open access movement. Open Access to journals is what Open Source is for software. As the name suggests access to open j-gate is free for any one to access across the world. It has enhanced the information access of researchers not only in India but all over the world. The occasion for this historic launch was the 12th Annual Lecture on Informatics at Indian National Academy of Sciences (INSA), where over 200 senior professors, scientists, librarians and researchers from most of the top research and academic establishments of the country had gathered. Dr Jean-Claude Guedon, a global expert of open access movement and founder of Internet Society of Canada launched the Open J-Gate who was sent by the Open Society Institute (OSI), New York for this launch. There are hundreds of journals, which are available from various publishers and societies from across the globe free on the Internet. But all of them are widely scattered and searching the articles and getting to them is a very cumbersome job for researchers. Open J-Gate is the first portal in the world to index over 3000+ open access e-journals on one single searchable platform in the form of a standard database bridging the access gap. The nearest comparable initiative by Lund University, Sweden, covers less than 600 open access e-journals. UGC Vice Chairman Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai shared his ideas on open access issues that affect the most to the global scientific fraternity and lauded the efforts of Informatics immensely for launching open J-Gate; a portal direly needed by the resource starved Indian scientific community in particular. Dr. Guedon dwelled on the history of the open access movement and emphasized on the need of expanding the open access movement across the globe. He congratulated the CMD of Informatics Mr. N V sathyanaryana for his philanthropic venture and hailed Open J-Gate as a revolutionary step for the global scientific community at large. Open J-Gate has over a million articles published in 2,000 plus peer reviewed research journals in addition to articles from over 1,000 trade and professional journals. The data base can be accessed at the URL www.openj-gate.com <http://www.openj-gate.com/>

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Infringment of copyright
by Chitra P Rao 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

The Moderator According to my understanding if 1 copy is sent to anyone beit an academician or a Corporate it does not violate the law. If we give multiple copies and sell it then and only then it is an infringment. If there are too many requests from the same person or too many such requests then we can take a stand. However I have observed that the volume is not much. I may be wrong.. One another thing to consider is if it is a very rare or specialised request then we may consider the request. I can understnd it is difficult to route it to LIS but left to the individual they can sent it thru email etc..with price without is left to the individual Institute regulations. Chitra P Rao Sr Librarian and Head LIS NITIE Mumbai 400 087 ph: 28573371 extn 337

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India and US launch knowledge initiative in agricuture
by arun＠mssrf.res.in 03 Mar '06

03 Mar '06

An excerpt from Times of India, 3 March 2006: "The visit also saw the launch of the Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture with a three-year financial commitment of $100 million to link universities, technical institutions and businesses and build projects in biotechnology." Arun

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