December 2007 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

Protecting Olive Tree from the Lexus
by vasanth raj 06 Dec '07

06 Dec '07

Dear Sir/Madam, This is in response to some of the issues that raised by the respected information Profs. The topics that we have been discussing for the past few days have been completely driven by the notion of globalization. Technology should be a part of the curriculum and every new entrant should be in a position to upgrade his knowledge to stay in the competition. The question is, should we completely embrace the technology or is there nothing to study in the library domain except few facets. As Dillon points out that technology has permeated all we do in this field; it is a foundational for the discipline in the twenty-first century, not a component that can be ignored or taught separately. But Dillons above verbatim emphasizes is that we do need technology to thrive in the 21st century but not to the extent that we should wear the mask of the technologists or software designers. Even the modern technologies that we have been using over the years in one or the other way have molded and designed based on the traditional concept of information organization. It is note worthy here to mention the classic work of Lickliders Libraries of the future, where Licklider talks so eloquently about the contribution that library science dsicpline brought into shape the procognitive systems of the 60s. He went on to emphasize the inter-disciplinary collaboration by putting the library science as a core, which could contribute immensely for the enhancement of the human-computer interactions in the future. What all these shows is that library science domain is as relevant as forever. But we do change according to the needs of the present environment. It is not that we should completely forget the library domain and embrace technology. Education is a life long process and every day we have to learn new things and upgrade our knowledge. One of the participants have mentioned that he has lost is job simple because of that he is from different stream. MNCs run with the profit motives and they recruit who best suit to their work environment. That is altogether different context. Another aspects is that libraries in India especially Govt schools and colleges are in very bad condition, whenever we get a chance to work in that environment., librarians are not respected, so the need is the quality of the libraries and creating the awareness among others about the importance of the library. In England and America parents always take their children to book store and cultivate reading habits in a early age, but this is not the case in our country. Why this aspects I have mentioned here is that the discussion is completely driven by the motto of train young minds to be an employee of the MNCs not to make them to see the problems that we Indians are facing. Over the years 117000 farmers have committed suicide in India- one of the reason for this is the lack of information. So here comes the role of the librarians and information professionals. I conclude this by quoting the Dillions words the organization and management of information, the digital divide, the level of literacy in our society, and freedom of access to published information have become mainstream issues for our culture. This may be a once in a century opportunity to convince those in the power that the field has a real contribution to make. Ref: Dillon, A. and Norris, A. (2005) Crying Wolf: an examination and reconsideration of the perception of crisis in LIS education. Journal of Education in Library and Information Science, 46,4 280-298. Your Sincerely Vasantha Raju N Mysore --------------------------------- Save all your chat conversations. Find them online. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Exposure to the world of information
by Mailing List Admin 05 Dec '07

05 Dec '07

Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 19:45:20 +0530 (IST) From: Vijay Deshabag <vijaydeshabag(a)yahoo.co.in> Hi this is Vijay Deshabag presently working as Libaray trainee in Advanced centre for Treatement Research and Education in Cancer, Mumbai. I wanted to comment on the issue of adding the syllabus what i think and what i suggest is that during the final year of mlisc the students must be given an exposure to work with various libraries free of cost a sort of internship progaramme of one month, so that they will get exposed to various tools and tecnologies of librarianship.This will make them more confident enough to face the interviews, perhaps some of the university have such programes but with collaboration with various research centres, information centres etc it can be done more systematically as the practical knowledge will be very usefull to the students rather than giving them theorotical exposure. Vijay J Deshabag Library Trainee Advance Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer(ACTREC) Tata Memorial Centre Kharghar, Navi Mumbai-410208 E-mail:deshabag@gmail.com

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Census of India Data online
by Shamprasad Pujar 05 Dec '07

05 Dec '07

Dear Members, Census of India has released their new website starting from Sept, 2007. The new site provides comprehensive data up to State level free of cost for registered members. Registration is free for every one. The comprehensive district and village data is not available from the website, it needs to be purchased from Census offices. More than that the site is also available in few foreign languages viz French, German, Italian, Portugese and few more languages are in beta mode. More details can be had from the site at: http://www.censusindia.gov.in Regards, Dr. S.M. Pujar University Librarian Shivaji University Vidyanagar KOLHAPUR-416 004 Phone: 0231-2609204 E-mail: smp_lib(a)unishivaji.ac.in -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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LIS Departments need Accreditation System and New Courses
by J. K. Vijayakumar 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

Dear Colleagues, It is good to see the ongoing discussion about integration of ICT technologies to LIS Courses in India. I agree that we need to incorporate ICT in LIS Syllabus, and most of the Departments have done that already. I doubt about the quantity practical orientation provided by them, it varies from one to another. A good IT lab with latest hardware and software is still a dream for many of the Departments. Few of them have collaboration with IT / Computer Science departments. This is the era or Globalisation and Specialisation. India is trying to become a developed nation, and we have to think from this background. In this regards, I have two points to discuss. 1. Our main problem is that, we do not have a "National Accreditation Process for Library Science Programmes" in India. NAAC accredits the Universities as a total. There are national library associations bearing this responsibility in developed nations, like ALA for USA, CILIP for UK etc. The accreditation process is carried out regularly and Departments will get accreditation for 5 /6 years. The course, syllabus, teaching methods, ability of faculty, facilities etc are standardised or regularised through this process. Departments failing in accreditation can not attract students, because the employers always prefer to appoint candidates with an accredited degree. If we implement this system in India, we can set standards for LIS Departments and its courses. We can approach associations from other countries to get our Courses recognised, may be in developed countries like USA and UK. Indian Library Association should take up this issue and find out the ways to start accreditation process in India. This will help us in making our candidates globally accepted. With my experience, I know that it is not simple as I wrote here, but we should start somewhere. 2. Second point is about starting new (specialised) courses. If you watch LIS Departments in developed countries, you can see atleast two or three master level courses are offered by them. Those are specialised courses, but clearly fits in our area of services, like Knowledge Management, Information Science, Medical/Helath librarianship, Information Systems, Electronic Information Management, Digital Libraries, School Librarianship etc apart from pure Library and Information Science. In India, our tendency is that, we compress all these subjects in to a 2 year course and call it as MLISc. Along with MLISc, why can't we think of starting few more Masters from any of the above mentioned areas. We also need specialisation in our Courses to supply specialised library professionals to the present vibrant job market. Market needs Knowledge Managers, Digital Librarians, Medical Librarians, Information Analysts etc. For this, along with the present faculty members, we may need new members or collaboration with other departments. I hope our teachers, practitioners and celebreties in Indian LIS will give importance to these two points. Thanks for reading. Dr. J. K. Vijayakumar --------------------------------- Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Infolibrarian is back!!!
by moumita dey 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

Dear All, one of our favourite site Infolibrarian, now can be accessed at http://www.infolibrarian.com/index.htm. We missed it for long days!! Search through Google still results in portlandX, means some more problems are still there. But the desired page is accessible directly using the above mentioned link. rgrds, Moumita Dey -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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InfoVision 2007-the Knowledge Summit - Round the Corner-Hurry Up!
by Angrosh 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

InfoVision 2007 The Knowledge Summit, Dec 17-18, 2007, The ITC Maratha, Mumbai ----------- Come to InfoVision 2007. Listen to... Inaugural Speaker · Dr. F C Kohli, Father of Indian Software Industry (Former Vice-Chairman, Tata Consultancy Services) Other Keynote Speakers: · Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder Chairman and CEO, Rediff.com · Mr. John Blossom, President & Senior Analyst, Shore Communications Inc., USA · Mr. Sriram Bharatam, iridiumInteractive Ltd. · Prof. Hsinchun Chen, University of Arizona, USA · Dr. Jayanta Chatterjee, Professor, IME Dept., Kanpur · Prof. Noshir Contractor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA · Mr. Ashok Krish, TCS · Dr. Kris Kumar, Professor, PESIT, Bangalore · Dr. Kavi Mahesh, Knowledge Management Consultant, Infosys & Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, PESIT, Bangalore · Dr. Pandu Nayak, Google, USA · Dr. Bino Paul G.D., Associate Professor, TISS, Mumbai · Dr. Prabhakar Raghavan, Head, Yahoo! Research, USA · Prof. Vijay V. Raghavan, Distinguished Professor, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, USA · Mr. A.S. Rao, Advisor, DSIR, Govt. of India · Dr. Madanmohan Rao, AMICC · Mr. Satya Rao, CEO, Axiom Consulting, Bangalore · Ms. Waltraut Ritter, Knowledge Enterprises, HK · Mr. Arun Ramanujapuram, Director of Advanced Technology, Yahoo! · Prof. Rohini Srihari, CEO, Janya Inc. and Faculty Member, State University of New York, Buffalo · Dr. L. Venkata Subramaniam, Research Staff Member, IBM India Research Lab (IRL) · Mr. Rohit Agarwal, Founder and CEO, techTribe Networks, USA & India · Mr. Bob Stembridge, Thomson Scientific, UK · Dr. G.S. Singh, TCS Session Themes: · Small World, Network Theories and Models · Web 2.0 and Mashups · Social Networking and the Semantic Web · Weblogs and the Wisdom of the Crowds · Organizational Communication and Group Dynamics · Networks, Creativity and Innovation · Innovation and Knowledge Assets Special Attraction 2007 Thomson Innovation Award, 17th Dec, 2007 evening during the gala dinner Registration Fee: Corporate and Industry: INR 8000.00 per delegate Academic Institutions: INR 6000.00 per delegate Students: INR 4000.00 per delegate 3 or more delegates from same organization 10% discount 10 % special discount for CSE, BCIC & K-Community Members For online registration and updates: www.infovision2007.org Register online, tell your friends, come and participate in the stimulating discussions. For more details, contact: International School of Information Management University of Mysore, Manasagangotri Mysore 570 006 Tel: +91-821-2514699; +91-821-2411417 Fax: +91-821-2519209 Angrosh - 9886970411 Email: office(a)infovision.org.in; office(a)isim.ac.in See you at InfoVision 2007! -------- ************************************* M. A. Angrosh Project Manager International School of Information Management University of Mysore, Manasagangotri Mysore - 570 006 Tel: +91-821-2514699; Fax: +91-821-2519209 Email: angrosh(a)isim.ac.in website: www.isim.ac.in ******************************************** -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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IT now happens in India!!!!: Library NEXT
by Sukhdev Singh 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

Dear Friends, Fully functional Next Generation libraries now becoming reality in India. This I realized only last Saturday (1st December 2007). I happened to visit NATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE DOCUMENTATION CENTRE-NASSDOC (ICSSR) at 35, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi 110 001. They hosted a meeting of "Ranganathan Research Circle". After the meeting, the hosts took us for a visit of their library. Well I was fascinated to see latest technology working for their library. An ordinary library user needs to have his / her RFID embedded library card to get hold and carry home a book of his/her choice. That too without having to come in personal contact with library staff. The reader would be able to enter the library by swiping one's card at a special entry / exit automated gate. Once in the library, the user can search library catalogue. It is computerised and available in the form of an online database commonly known as OPAC - Online Public Access Catalogue. I found three terminal aesthetically placed in front of large banner depicting the utility of catalogue. Searching OPAC could be useful. But as we know, most users would browse through the stacks. This comes naturally to human mind. One can easily browse the library stack area with help of guides. These guides are full of colours with well thought out background and labels. Book stakes are made of wood that matches with the lovely atmosphere of the library. The shelves are made of think glass slabs. Not wonder sliding books to withdraw give a silky touch and hence protect book edges. All books have a RFID tag pasted below the accession slip. The tag is in the shape of a white small square patch that is noticed only when observed. After getting a document of choice, one can choose to sit in a well lighted reading area. Few computer workstations are also available. So internet and electronic databases are are also available to readers. Taking a book home is easy. Keep it with library card on the Automated Issue / Return Kiosk. Issue it and take it away. The automated security exit would not make any fuss. I hope Indian Libraries would soon witness adoption of such innovative technologies. The library staff would be spared from routine issue / return activities. Now they can devote their time and energy in some better activities. The 'stereo typed public perception' about librarians would also change. So can we call such libraries as ATM Libraries? I have blogged the above message with few photographs. You may like to see the photographs. You may also leave you comments there. http://sukhdev.blogspot.com/2007/12/it-now-happens-in-india-library-next.ht… or http://snipurl.com/1ulrs Regards --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Re: [LIS-Forum] Library education
by Aman Jha 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

Dear All This is a very good write up. Those who are new to the Lis-Forum would like to adhere to the standard of writing on the forum like this. I find here much more clarity on the topic, original & balanced thoughts, simple expression and moreover, there is no junk in the body. We must focus on these issues while sending a message on this Forum or any other discussion forum. I request moderator to encourage such write up and invite original intellectual contribution. Note: Please do not relate this message to the ongoing discussion on Library science education. Regards, Aman Jha -----Original Message----- From: lis-forum-bounces(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in [mailto:lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of Rajan Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 4:03 PM To: Lis forum Subject: [LIS-Forum] Library education Dear All, This refers to the ongoing discussion on library training or subject specialisation of the grooming librarians. Librarians should emerge as knowledge managers in their institution, on their specific subject and in the community around them particularly because we live in a knowledge society. For that we should learn the specific subjects, our library handles, with the eagerness of a Professor and keep in touch with the information technologies like an enthusiastic computer man. He should not ignore the core library subjects and his role in the knowledge generation-supply-use chain. It is the duty of the enterprising library school student or young professionals to learn themselves all these by continuous efforts. It is better if the library schools provide a basic frame and motivation rather than teaching all necessary subjects. It is impossible too as the library schools may have that much subject expertise. The situation of most of our library schools are far from satisfactory to groom capable library professionals. If some professionals coming out from the schools are performing good. it may be because they hav put in extra efforts and have used their common sense well. I think it is high time to look at the deficiencies in our profession and use the excellent opportunities offered by the emergent knowledge society, computers, information technologies, Internet, focus on knowledge management etc. Now ample opportunities are there for self learning anything from swiming to driving to creating bombs using self -instructonal manuals available in Internet. Library professionals should use such opportunities..Learning any computer application is not at all a difficult thing as in the past. There was a time when even installing our cds-isis was a herculean task. If any library school or teacher claims that all is well, it shows the lack of his exposure or his disinterest in making his students as good peformers.It is a difficult to remain as a good teacher in a library school, when everything is changing so fast. Any library professional should have a good knowledge on library science, the specific subject he deals with and information technologies. We can go ahead only when we learn that we know less and there exist a lot more to learn. Regards,. K Rajasekharan Librarian, Kerala Institute of Local Administration(KILA) Mulagunnathukavu, Thrissur - 680581 , India Ph 0487 - 2200244+208 (O) 2201428 (R) -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum DISCLAIMER:The information in this message may be privileged. If you have received it by mistake please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete the message from your system. Any unauthorised use or dissemination of this message in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. Any information in this message that does not relate to official business shall be understood to be neither given nor endorsed by the Confederation of Indian Industry. Reach us via our unique Membership Helpline: 00-91-11-435 46244 / 00-99104 46244 (Monday-Saturday: 0900-1700 hrs) -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Know about HINARI project to access to 3500 journals of major publishers
by Binod Yadav 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

Dear friends, The Health Internetwork Access to Research Initiative( HINARI) project set up by WHO with collaboration of major publishers. This project provides free or very low cost online access to about 3500 journals and databases in biomedical and related fields. For more details, open the given website. http://www.who.int/hinari/en/ URL http://www.healthinternetwork.net Binod Yadav MLISc Student Dept. of Library & Information Science University of Mysore Manasagangotri, Mysore-06 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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DRTC Seminar
by samiksha yadav 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

Topic: RFID and its Application with Emphasis on Libraries Date: 5th Dec 2007, 2:00 PM Venue: DRTC Classroom Speaker: Radha Rani --------------------------------- Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make Yahoo! your homepage. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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