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

Open access
by Swapan Patra 14 Mar '08

14 Mar '08

Harvard University recently made open electronic publishing compulsory for students, faculty & scientific staff. The basic argument behind this initiative is to secure open access to research that is funded by the government, and to ensure that commercial journal publishers cannot put unreasonable restrictions on the use and spreading of research results. In wake of Harvard's recent move to adopt an institutional open access policy, University of Bergen, Norway is also among one of few institutions around the world taking initiatives to make their R&D output openly accessible. (Source: http://nyheter.uib.no/?modus=vis_engelsk&id=39535) Swapan kumar Patra Research Scholar Center for Studies in Science Policy School of Social Science Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi-110067 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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A Lonely Librarian's Battle against Gay Professors!
by Sulochan 13 Mar '08

13 Mar '08

Dear Professional Friends, You might have already heard or yet to be heard an interesting but equally daring news item: A LONELY LIBRARIAN'S BATTLE AGAINST HOMOSEXUAL PROFESSORS The only alleged sin/ evil committed by the Librarian was that he promoted a best seller book, 'Marketing the Evil' in the University Library. Please do read the full story on the following links: http://bridgetdgms.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/christian-librarian-takes-gay-p… or http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58629 with best regards, Sulochan, Bangalore -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Detailed report of the National Workshop on Quality Indicators held at Punjabi University, Patiala, 4-6 March 2008 (fwd)
by Mailing List Admin 12 Mar '08

12 Mar '08

Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 18:44:59 +0530 From: Jagtar Singh <jagtar.kindu(a)gmail.com> *Library Should be the Second Home of Library Users* Presiding over the Valedictory Function of the three-day National Workshop on Quality Indicators and Best Practices for Academic Libraries, organized by the Department of Library and Information Science, Punjabi University, Patiala during 04-06 March 2008, Dr. G.S. Kang, Dean, Faculty of Education and Information Sciences, Punjabi University Patiala underlined the need for providing quality resources and services in college and university libraries. He also said that libraries are integral parts of any academic institution; hence they should strive to provide value-added library services. Speaking on this occasion, the Guest of Honour Mr. Mohammad Ahsan Tahami, President of the Punjab Branch of Pakistan Library Association, said that the workshop has provided an opportunity to him develop professional relationship with India and other South Asian countries. He further said that in this era of rapid change and obsolescence, continuous professional education and training is essential to come up to the expectations of library users. Such workshops provide an opportunity to the Library and Information Professionals (LIPs) to share their experiences, expertise, and professional problems. This workshop has been a great success and I congratulate the organizers. Prof. Jagtar Singh, the Workshop Coordinator, said that in this workshop about 100 LIPs from India and Pakistan have interacted very seriously to identify quality indicators and best practices for academic libraries. This workshop was conceived with the objectives of (a) sensitizing the stakeholders about quality issues in libraries, (b) updating them with the latest in library and information work; (c) exchanging experience, expertise, and issues facing the profession; (d) developing partnerships; (e) managing feedback from the professionals; (f) identifying quality indicators and best practices; and (g) finding out possibility of establishing a federation of library association for South Asian countries. The workshop was organized into eight technical sessions which included the inaugural, valedictory, and open session, besides five technical sessions. Though there was tremendous response to this workshop, yet only top 25 presentations could be made in five technical sessions. These included presentations from the experts, such as Dr HK Kaul, Director, DELNET on ICT Literacy for* *library educators and practitioners; Prof. RL Raina, Director, Lal Bahdur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi on University-Industry partnership; Dr Harish Chandra, Librarian, IIT Madras on Quality indicators and best practices in the digital context; Dr. CR Karisiddappa, President, Indian Association of Teachers of Library and Information Science on Quality indicators for college libraries; Dr. DV Singh, Senior Vice President, Indian Library Association on change management; Dr M. Koganuramath, Librarian, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai on managing learning resources in academic libraries; Dr W. Senewiratne, Librarian, Open University of Sri Lanka on Criteria for Quality Assurance; Prof MP Satija of Guru Nanak Ddev University (GNDU) on Knowledge organization; Prof. IV Malhan on NAAC accreditation and academic libraries; SK Arora of Indira Gandhi National Open University on Quality management for open and distance learners; Prof. Manorama Srinath from Madras University on TQM in academic libraries; Mr PV Rao of MG state Institute of Public Administartion Punjab, Chandigarh on Open source software for empowerment of information poor; Dr HS Chopra of GNDU on Impact of ICTs on academic libraries; Prof. Jagtar Singh on Quality collection development in academic libraries; Dr Trishanjit Kaur on Quality in context of library users; Dr HPS Kalra on Quality indicators for information services; Kuvir Kaur and Dr. Kulwinder Singh on Copyright concerns for academic libraries; and Mr Kadsam Mashroowala of National Institute of Fashion technology (NIFT) Resource Centre, Gandhinagar on Best practices at NIFT Resource Centre. Earlier, while inaugurating this workshop organized by the Department of Library & Information Science, Punjabi University, Patiala on 4 March 2008, Prof. R.G. Prasher, Former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Sagar University, Sagar forcefully concerned that Academic Libraries should not be starved of funds and quality manpower. Mr. M. Moni, Deputy Director General of National Informatics Centre (NIC), Govt. of India, said in his keynote address that ICT must be used to spread education and support library outreach, particularly in the rural areas. Mrs. Kalpana Dasgupta, Library Advisor, National Knowledge Commission (NKC), informed the workshop participants about the recommendations of NKC to facilitate access to quality information at grassroots level. Mr. DV Singh, Senior Vice President of Indian Library Association stressed upon developing learning resources in local languages and promoting quality consciousness among the LIPs for strategic professional learning and change management. Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice Chancellor, Punjabi University said in his presidential address that library should be a second home for the library users. He further said that from the next financial year, special grant will be made available to the Punjabi University Library to preserve valuable manuscripts and make it a model university library. Delegates at the workshop represented various institutions such as National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR), New Delhi; National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Resource Centre, Gandhinagar; Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; MG State Institute of Public Administration, Punjab, Chandigarh; various management institutions; and Jammu, Guru Nanak Dev, Panjab, Kurukshetra, and Delhi universities. The workshop was also represented from cross section of library networks and associations at international, national, and local levels, e.g. from International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, (IFLA), International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), Developing Library Network (DELNET), Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), Pakistan Library Association (PLA), Indian Library Association (ILA), Indian Association of Teachers of Library and Information Science (IATLIS), Confederation of Library Associations of North India (COLANI), Punjab Library Association (PLA), Haryana Library Association (HLA), Chandigarh Librarians Association (CLA), and Punjab Govt. College Librarians Association (GCLA). Various facets of academic libraries were discussed in the context of quality issues from the broader context of quality in academic libraries, changing context and change management, quality criteria, TQM, users perspectives, industry expectations and best practices, collection development, processing, preservation, dissemination and use, information services, digital context and the impact of ICTs, open source software, resource sharing and library networks, LIS education, research and training, open and distance education, etc. Mrs. Jaspal Kaur, Chairperson, COLANI and General Secretary, CLA; and Mr Kuldip Singh, Librarian, Government College, Tanda represented the delegates of the workshop in echoing their concerns regarding need for balancing theory and practice through more such workshops, conferences, seminars, and refresher courses. They also suggested that for future such programmes, recent developments and trends, practical demonstrations and library visits should respectively be arranged. Authors, presenters, delegates and dignitaries at the workshop said in one voice that LIPs should focus on strategic professional learning and quality assurance for staying ahead of change and competition in the emerging knowledge society. -- Dr. Jagtar Singh, Workshop Coordinator & Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Punjabi University, Patiala Pin - 147 002 (India) & Standing Committee Member, IFLA Information Technology Section Email: jagtar.kindu(a)gmail.com Tel: +91 (0)175 304 6179 (Work) +91 (0)175 228 2727 (Home) Fax: +91 (0)175 228 3073

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Workshop on Machine Learning, April 21-25, 2008, Bangalore - Call for participation
by Angrosh 12 Mar '08

12 Mar '08

The International School of Information Management (ISiM), University of Mysore is organizing a Workshop on Machine Learning - its second Executive Education Programme during April 21-25 in Bangalore. (www.isim.ac.in/mlw) The Workshop faculty is Prof. Sargur Srihari, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA and Visiting Faculty at ISiM. Professor Srihari, author of more than 300 research papers including 6 US patents, is the founding director of CEDAR (Centre of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition) and a well-known expert in pattern recognition and Machine Learning. Registration fee: Rs. 15000/-* per participant (Earn yourself 3 credits from this Executive Education Programme) Limited seats available. Registration on first come, first serve basis. Focus of the Workshop: Balancing theory and practice, this Workshop, will focus on the following applications: · Information Retrieval, · Language Processing, · Document Analysis · Speech Recognition Objectives of the workshop: · Introduce participants to concepts of ML including concepts of clustering, Gaussian mixtures and dimensionality reduction · Enable the use of the state of the art methods and tools in ML techniques · Provide an overview of the major areas of applications of ML · An in depth understanding of ML applications in the four focus areas - Information Retrieval; Language Processing; Document Analysis and Speech Recognition · Provide hands on training on the key techniques Course Outline Module 1. Introduction: What is ML; Discriminative vs Generative ; Regression Example Module 2: Probability Theory ; Decision Theory ; Information Theory ; Probability Distributions ; Linear Regression Models ; Linear Basis Functions ; Bias-Variance Trade-off ; Bayesian Linear Regression Module 3. Neural Networks and Kernel Machines: Biological Motivation; Perceptrons ; Multilayer Networks and Backpropagation ; Representational Power; Applications ; Support Vector Machines Module 4. Graphical Models and EM: Bayesian Networks; Conditional Independence; Markov Random Fields ; Inference in Graphical Models ; K-means Clustering ; Mixtures of Gaussians Module 5. Sampling Methods: Basic Sampling Methods; Monte Carlo Methods, Gibbs Sampling Module 6: Sequential Data : Markov Models ; Hidden Markov Models ; Extensions to HMMs ; Linear Dynamical Systems ; Conditional Random Fields Module 7. ML Applications with focus on Information Retrieval, Document Analysis and Recognition, Natural Language Processing, Data Mining Participant Profile This Workshop is designed for academicians and professionals in Computer Science and Engineering, Statistics and Social Sciences. The workshop is mainly targeted for: · Academicians and industry practitioners of ML · Professionals working in the areas of Information Retrieval, Language Processing, Document Analysis and Speech Recognition · Researchers working in the application areas but new to ML · Students pursuing projects in ML Workshop Highlights and Benefits to Participants · Get a panoramic view of ML · Understand the basics of ML · Learn the latest tools and techniques used in ML · Get hands on experience on developing basic biometric, character and image recognition modules · Gain knowledge of implementing advanced classifiers and boosting · Get exposure to new arenas of research and projects Workshop Venue Informatics (India) Ltd. No. 194, R.V. Road Basavanagudi, P.B. No. 400 Bangalore 560 004 For more details Please contact Angrosh at 9886970411 or mail to office(a)isim.ac.in *Registration fee includes workshop material, lunch and refreshments ************************************************ 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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Model Library for Library Professionals
by Sanjeev Kumar Jain 12 Mar '08

12 Mar '08

Dear LIS Professional Please visit DAIICT (Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information Communicaton and Technology) Resource Centre. Make a web tour, I am providing a link http://resourcecentre.daiict.ac.in/ This can make out view of a model Library. If you got opportunity to vist DAIICT its wonderful for iibrary and information professional. Sanjeev Kumar Jain C/o Anministration Dept. GH-0, Behind Infocity National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gandhinagar-382 007 Email: infolibrarian(a)gmail.com -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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On RTI Act
by Rajan 12 Mar '08

12 Mar '08

Dear Shri P Vyasamoorty, As a person with very good knowledge about RTI act and its requirements, I would suggest that librarians are not very suitable for working as State Public Information Officers(SPIO) in the Institutions they work. The job requirements of SPIO are to receive applications, ensure access to information and dispose of applications after careful examination of merit of each one. Under the RTI Act. the cataloging, arrangement and retrieval of information need to be done by the concerned officer and not by anyone else including the SPIO. As well, an officer in sufficient command and authority in that office is the right choice for the position of SPIO so as to ensure easy access to information through the subordinate officers. The job of SPIO involves a lot of quasi-judicial decision making on which librarians are ill-equipped unlike the administrative personnel. As RTI involves a lot of administrative re-arrangement of records, the librarians can do a lot in that area, particularly in numbering and cataloguing of them. Best Regards, K Rajasekharan Librarian, Kerala Institute of Local Administration(KILA) Mulagunnathukavu, Thrissur - 680581 , India ----- Original Message ----- From: "Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy" <vyasamoorthy(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Right to Information Act -Jobs should be given to Information Professionals To: "vasanth raj" I am sorry to reply this message after such a long gap. Vasanth has raised an important issue. He states that Librarians are better suited to work as Information Officers and that they are neglected. I would like to ask a few questions and elicit views of LIS personnel on these: How many librarians know what is this monster RTI all about? What is the role of RTI officer in a govt institution? What type of information is the scope of RTI Officer? How is the librarian better suited? What do we librarians learn or know about Govt way of files (& records) organization - numbering, generation, storing, retrieving, archiving, rules governing files & documents & records preservation and conservation etc? How about confidentiality coding and providing restricted access? How about documents relating to public -- say birth certificates. With absolutely no theoretical or practical knowledge of any of these things how do librarians claim that they are better suited? The RTI was talked about for a number of years before becoming law. Why did not LIS schools provide changes in the curriculam to mould librarians into RTI officers? Well I have a lot of doubts. Any comments? -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Mr D K Singhs comments on NewGenLib services at CALIBER
by L J Haravu 12 Mar '08

12 Mar '08

Dear Dr Singh I was very saddened to learn that Dr Singh of BHU library made disparaging remarks about NewGenLib and its services at the recent INFLIBNET's CALIBER meeting. You are of course completely free to express your views in public and private and I am not questioning this freedom. However, as a dispassionate third party (I have no commercial interests) involved in NewGenLib's development and support, I will be failing in my duty if I do not set the record straight. * The development company (Verus Solutions Pvt. Ltd. or VSPL) dedicated one of its staff members exclusively for BHU for 6 months to sit with your library staff. Although you paid for the staff's stay at Varanasi, kindly do not forget that this person was not available for other training and support work at all to VSPL. This did put a lot of pressure on this front. I wonder if any other vendor would have agreed to put one of its staff exclusively for BHU use for 6 months. * VSPL customized the software at BHU request for a number of things. All customizations were done free of charge. Some examples of the customization which was very specific to your needs: 1. We created easy-to-use data entry templates so that data entry operators that you appointed could enter data into the database.. 2. We developed routines for you to print 5 x 3 inch catalogue cards, a requirement that is no longer needed by other libraries, nor provided by most ILMS vendors. * VSPL conducted three training programmes at BHU library at various times (two of these were at VSPL cost) during the last two years because we wanted your staff to become as comfortable with the functional modules as possible. Unfortunately, not all of your staff took interest and many of them did not participate wholeheartedly. * Whenever VSPL received a phone call from you/colleagues or when one of your colleagues was on chat, the support staff attended to you patiently and attempted to help solve problems. * On several occasions, VSPL supported via customizations of the software, the capability for you to continue with old practices that are not necessarily considered best practices today. * VSPL helped your barcode printer vendor to use output from NewGenLib to print barcode labels. * Whenever you telephoned me, you expressed your disappointment that you yourself could not participate in the training programmes. Kindly recall that I invited you several times to come to Hyderabad and spend a few days with developers and trainers. However, your busy schedule apparently did not allow this to happen. I am the last person to claim that NewGenLib is bug free, etc., etc. But I can claim quite proudly that we (VSPL and KIIKM) are constantly testing and improving the software and new versions with new features will always be on our road map. Very soon we will release a z39.50 client which will be well integrated with NewGenLib. It is more than a year since VSPL installed the software, trained your staff, gave you email, chat and telephone support without getting an Annual Maintenance fee which incidentally BHU library has not paid. I hope you will realize why I was saddened when I heard that you spoke rather disparagingly about NewGenLib which is now open source. I am happy to let you know that it has been welcomed by many current and potentially new users. In the final analysis, neither your criticism nor my defense is important. What is enduring long after we have passed into oblivion is that the extremely valuable collection at BHU, built painstakingly by erstwhile librarians and scholars should become known and accessible to your students, faculty, researchers and indeed worldwide. If indeed you can do this with NewGenLib or any other software, good luck and God Speed to you. Best regards. L J Haravu -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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National Symposium on Recent Advances in Information Science
by Mailing List Admin 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 13:26:23 +0530 From: madaiah krishnamurthy <mkrishna_murthy(a)hotmail.com> Dear Professional Friends, Mysore University Library in association with Society for Information Science (SIS) Bangalore chapter plans to organise a sympoium on Recent Adances in Information Science during 28-29 March, 2008 . Objectives of the Symposium: The main objective of the sympoium is to share experiences and knowledge on the recent advances in information science field. Particularly, the discussions in the symposium will be centered on: Electronic Information sources and services Open Access and Open (Source)Wares Library Consortia and Networking E-Learning Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 Inviteds Experts: Learned Experts in the field of Library and Information Science are invited to deliver lectrues on the theme of the symposium. Participants: Librarians, Information Scientists, Researchers and School of Library and Informaton Science. Registration fee: The Registration fee for the sympoisum is Rs. 600/= (Rupees six hundred only).This includes working lunch, tea and resource kit. Accommodation: Accommodation at a nominal cost could be arranged for a limtied number of participants on a first - cum-first serve basis in the guest house attached to the University of Mysore. Registration Form: 1. Name......... 2. Designation ..... 3. Institution ...... 4. Address....... 5. Phone.... 6. Email ..... 7. Accommodation Requried Yes No 8. Registration Fee: Rs 600/= D.D No Date Date Signature Registration form and Broucher of the symposium theme have been sent to the different organisation. Dr. M.Krishnamurthy Organising Secretary NSRAIS-2008 Dr.M.Krishnamurthy,M.A.,M.L.I.Sc., PhD. University Librarian University of Mysore Manasagangothri, Mysore 570006 Ph: 91-0821-2514808/2419388 Fax: 91-0821-2419335

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Author asking for his own paper, this is why Open Access is required.
by Sukhdev Singh 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

Dear Friends, First of all, please do not take it personal. But this reminds me once again the serious problems with the conventional academic publishing model. Author is asking for his own paper and ready to pay. If the author himself is not able to see his own paper, what are the chances of his paper seen by his peers? Had the authors retained their (own) paper with (own) rights to self-achieve, this problem would not had occurred. No wonder few days back Harvard faculty voted to make their articles openly accessible. http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/02.14/99-fasvote.html "You Write The Papers, You Review the Papers.. Why Should You Pay to Read Them?" -- plos.org - http://www.plos.org/downloads/plos_cartoon001.jpg Time to think again? Isn't Open Access the answer? --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. > Dear Professionals, > > My self and my guide have sent a paper to the International Conference of > the International > Society for Scientometrics & Informatics, ( 5th ) Chicago 1995 entitled > > > > " Evaluation of Research Productivity of the Marine Scienctists in Annamalai > University: A Bibliometric Analysis. > .... > > The same had been published in the conference volume published by > Learnerd Information Inc., Medford ( NJ) , 1995, > ... > > Our paper is published in the pages: 545 to 554. > > Kindly if any one of you happened to have this volume, please let me know so > that I can have a xerox copy of it. > > > I assure you that i will send the money spent on the xerox taken by DD > before i receive the copy. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Workshop on Ontology
by DRTC General 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

Dear Colleague:The DRTC, Indian Statistical Institute has organized a 3-day Workshop on Ontologies from 19th to 21st March 2008 in association with the Department of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Canada and PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore. The workshop is intended for information professionals and knowledge managment professionals. The workshop will also be useful for tecahers and researchers in the area. The Workshop methodology will be:Presentations by eminent resource persons;Demonstration of Software and ProductsHands-on Besides members of faculty of the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore, the workshop faculty will include:Mr. P.J. Bhat, Managing Director, Parity Computing India, BangaloreDr. Raj Datta, Vice Presdient, Knowledge Management, MindTree Consulting Ltd, Bangalore Mr.Shahnawaz Khan, Associate Director - Knowledge Management, MindTree Consulting Ltd,Bangalore Ms. A. Latha, Associate Vice-President and Group Head, Knowledge Management, Infosys Technologies, Ltd., BangaloreDr. Kavi Mahesh, Professor, Dept.of Computer Science, PES Institute of Technology, BangaloreDr. Michael Shepherd, Dean, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, CanadaThe number of participants will be restricted to 20. Those interested in registering for the workshop may send the course fee of Rs. 1000/- in the form of a crossed demand draft payable at Bangalore drwan in favour of the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore. The course fee covers the cost of workshop kit, lunch and tea for 3 days. Accommodation in the Guesthouse on the campus of the Indian Statistical Institute could be arranged for a limited number of participants at a nominal cost. For any other information please write to Dr. K. S. Raghavan (raghavan(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in; raghavan(a)isibang.ac.in) or to Dr. Devika Madalli (devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in) Dr. K. S. Raghavan Professor, DRTC, Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore 560 059 Tel: +91-80-28483002 to 28483006 Ext. 492 Fax: +91-80-28484910 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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