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Public review announced for digital preservation standards
by Dr. Ramesh C Gaur 09 May '13

09 May '13

Best Practices & Guidelines for Production of Preservable e-Records The Best practices and Guidelines in this document are applicable for those e-records that need to be retained for long durations (e.g. 10 years, 25 years, 50 years and beyond) and the e-records that need to be preserved permanently. The core concepts of ‘preservability’ are based on the requirements specified in IT ACT, ISO/TR 15489-1 and 2 Information Documentation - Records Management and ISO 14721 Open Archival Information Systems (OAIS) Reference Model The draft digital preservation standards are now published by e-gov standards division for public review on its website. Please check the announcements section on top right corner at the URL below - http://egovstandards.gov.in/ http://egovstandards.gov.in/review-documents/public-review/Draft_Production… The last date for giving of feedback is May 31, 2013. Pl. feel free to circulate it to all concerned. Regards Ramesh ************************************** Dr. Ramesh C Gaur PGDCA, MLISc,Ph.D. Fulbright Scholar (Virginia Tech, USA) University Librarian Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) New Meharuli Road, New Delhi - 110067 Tele +91-11-26742605, 26704551 Fax : +91-11-26741603 Email: rcgaur(a)mail.jnu.ac.in ;rcgaur66(a)gmail.com URL: www.jnu.ac.in Brief Profile: http://www.jnu.ac.in/Library/RameshCGaur.htm -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Survey for LIS-Forum users
by anish g 09 May '13

09 May '13

Dear Friends, I request you to participate in this survey. The main objective of this survey is to know the engagement of LIS community in LIS-Forum. LIS-Forum is considered as the most popular professional communication platform for LIS community in India. It would be very interesting to know about the usage of LIS-Forum by LIS community in India.This survey is designed for the completion of my MLISc dissertation project. Your participation is greatly appreciated. Click on the following link to open the survey form, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1keJOFrIEijWA06-2s3OoBcIOD7EWG7Op75zMckDKZ0k With regards Anish G. Assistant Librarian P.A. Aziz College of Engineering & Technology Thiruvananthapuram anishg83 at gmail.com * *<http://www.indiacollegesearch.com/colleges/PA_Aziz_College_of_Engineering_&…> -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Register for Professional Development Programme at TERI
by Nihal Alam 08 May '13

08 May '13

TERI in collaboration with NASSDOC, ICSSR is organizing a workshop on “Professional Development Programme for Managerial Librarianship for Social Science Libraries” from 17-19 July, 2013 at TERI, India Habitat Center, New Delhi aimed at equipping the LIS (library and information science) professionals with state-of-the art skills and knowledge to meet current and recent challenges in this dynamic knowledge society. Some of the select objectives of this would be to: • Transform the informational professionals belonging to social science libraries knowledgeable in developing innovative information services. • Inculcate infopreneurial attitude among the LIS professionals towards sustainability. • Bridge the gap between what is preached and what is practiced in the Social Science Libraries. The workshop programme as well as course contents have been developed in guidance with eminent subject experts to promote continuous improvement of core competency skills of the participants. The resource persons will comprise of experts from within TERI as well as outside. The pedagogy of this programme will be lectures, presentations, exercises and case based discussion. The course has been developed content rich which primarily focuses on guidance to implementation of best practices. To allow such rich and useful interactions, the number of participants will be limited to 25 drawing participants from social science libraries. Each institute can nominate only one candidate to have appropriate blende of the experiences of the LIS professionals. While the registration for the nominated participants will be* free of charge*, the transportation and lodging cost will be borne by the participants. The select participants need to fill up a survey form to assess his/her current level of expertise. You are requested to kindly attend or nominate one candidate from your esteemed organization for the same before 31st May. 2013. For more information contact to: Dr Shantanu Ganguly Librarian and Area Convener Library and Information Centre TERI Phone: 011- 2468 2100 /41504900 extn 2762 For registration you may contact Ms Pallavi Shukla on 011- 2468 2100 /41504900 OR mailto: pallavis(a)teri.res.in Regards, Nihal Alam Research Associate Knowledge Management Division TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) Tel. +91 11 2468 2100, ext. 2758 Mobile: +91 9311305823 E-mail nihal.alam(a)teri.res.in -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Presentation on “Linked In: Enhance Your Social Media Presence” on Wednesday, 15th May 2013 at 6.00 p.m
by Mohan Hr 08 May '13

08 May '13

Dear all, Pl. find an invite for the presentation on “Linked In: Enhance Your Social Media Presence” on Wednesday, 15th May 2013 at 6.00 p.m The pdf invite is available at http://ieeecs-madras.managedbiz.com/pgms/2013/mm-130515.pdf While the entry to this pgm is free, PRIOR REGISTRATION IS A MUST Pl. register at http://goo.gl/GTzKg and attend the presentation. With regards HR Mohan INVITATION ===================================================== Computer Society of India, Chennai Chapter IEEE Computer Society, Madras Chapter IEEE Professional Communication Society, Madras Chapter IEEE Technology Management Council, Madras Chapter Cordially invite you for a presentation on “Linked In: Enhance Your Social Media Presence And Get Found For Your Needs” by Mr. Raghunath Ramaswamy Founder & CEO, Spectrum Consulting, Chennai on Wednesday, 15th May 2013 at 6.00 p.m. at CSI Education Directorate, Taramani, Chennai – 600113 (Situated in the opposite lane to Indira Nagar MRTS Railway Station. About 100 meters away from the Dharmambal Women’s Polytechnic & Opposite to the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Institute of Hotel Management) Mr. P. Kumar, Chairman, CSI Chennai Chapter Mr. H.R. Mohan, Chairman, IEEE CS & IEEE PCS Madras Chapter Mr. K.V. Rupchand, Chairman, IEEE TMC, Madras Chapter Programme ========= 6.00 p.m. : Tea & Fellowship 6.30 p.m. : Presentation & Demonstrations 7.45 p.m. : Dinner About the Presentation ================= Linked In emphasizes the concept of Getting Found for your needs. The presentation will touch upon the seven building blocks of Social Media and map the features of Linked In. The talk will focus primarily on two core aspects of Linked In, the importance of building an Ideal Linked In profile and follow that up with a strategy to Network. It is critical to build a Linked In profile as this is central to your Linked In experience. Traffic to your Linked In page is a function of key words. Hence the profile needs to be built since this will determine the traffic to your page. Search in Linked In is a function of your network. Unless you nurture a proper network, you may never get found for your needs. All the other features in Linked In are designed to encourage nurturing a network, so that you can get found for your needs. The speaker will also briefly touch upon the other features of Linked In. While the entry to this pgm is free, PRIOR REGISTRATION IS A MUST Pl. register at http://goo.gl/GTzKg and attend the presentation. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Require Library Professionals@DRIEMS, Tangi, Cuttack, Odisha
by Gouranga Padhy 08 May '13

08 May '13

DRIEMS central library (Knowledge Garden) requires library professionals. Candidates must have MLISc with 1yr working experience. Those having experience in Libsys software will be given preference. Interested candidates should send their application and resume by e-mail to: knowledgegarden(a)driems.ac.in latest by 15th May, 2013 mentioning the subject line as “Resume for Library professional”. Shortlisted candidates will be called for interview. -- *Regards* *Gouranga Kumar Padhy* *BLISc, MLISc(Gold Medal), Mphil(LIS), PGDCA* -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Article request
by Shabu Allijan 08 May '13

08 May '13

Dear Professionals,  One of our research scholar needs the following article, if your library have access to this kindly send me the same. Dengue Virus Capsid Protein Binding to Lipid Droplets and its Inhibition. towards a New Drug Target Biophysical Journal, Volume 104, Issue 2, Supplement 1, 29 January 2013, Page 415a Filomena A. Carvalho, Ivo C. Martins, Fabiana A. Carneiro, Iranaia Assunção-Miranda, André F. Faustino, Miguel Castanho, Ronaldo Mohana-Borges, Fabio C.L. Almeida, Andrea T. Da Poian, Nuno C. Santos   With Regards   Shabu M. A Junior Professional Assistant Central University of Kerala -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Fwd: The Elsevier Foundation Calls for 2013 New Scholars and Innovative Libraries Projects
by Shamprasad Pujar 08 May '13

08 May '13

Dear Members, This may be of interest to you. Please go through the forwarded message. Regards, S M Pujar Dy. Librarian, IGIDR, Mumbai ============= ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Schemm, Ylann (ELS-AMS) <Y.Schemm(a)elsevier.com> Date: Tue, May 7, 2013 at 5:23 PM Subject: [IFLA-L] The Elsevier Foundation Calls for 2013 New Scholars and Innovative Libraries Projects To: "ifla-l(a)infoserv.inist.fr" <ifla-l(a)infoserv.inist.fr> We’d like to share the following call for library grant proposals. Best regards, Ylann Schemm The Elsevier Foundation Calls for 2013 New Scholars and Innovative Libraries Projects * * *June 24th deadline for 1 page applications to promote gender equality in academia and build capacity in developing world libraries* * * *Boston, May 6, 2013* – The Elsevier Foundation<http://www.elsevierfoundation.org/>is seeking new grant proposals for the 2013 New Scholars <http://www.elsevierfoundation.org/new-scholars/> and Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries<http://www.elsevierfoundation.org/innovative-libraries/>programs. The deadline for applications is June 24th 2013. Grants will be awarded in December 2013 and provide* *one, two and three year awards between US$ 5,000 to US$ 50,000 per year for a total of US$ 100,000. The Elsevier Foundation will accept 1 page applications from May 6th through June 24thvia www.elsevierfoundation.org. Forty shortlisted applications will be invited to submit full proposals by September 3rd. The Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries program provides grants to libraries in the developing world to improve access to scientific, technical and medical information. The 2013 program priorities include: professional librarian training enabling librarians to serve as pivotal advocates in their research ecosystems and projects which demonstrate the link between research access, training, usage and health impact. Priorities will also include projects which demonstrate a strong outcomes evaluation and have the potential for a strong model or multiplier effect. The New Scholars Program supports projects to help early- to mid-career women scientists balance family responsibilities with demanding academic careers and addresses the attrition rate of talented women scientists. Recent grants have promoted institutional research, advocacy, and policy development to retain, recruit and develop women in science and have enabled researchers to attend conferences critical to their careers by assisting with childcare, mentorship and networking. Since 2010, the New Scholars program has also focused on the developing world through support of recognition awards and national gender-benchmarking research mapping the opportunities and obstacles faced by women in science, technology and innovation. “Since 2007, we have been able to fund and partner with an impressive and diverse range of projects to build capacity in developing world libraries and advance women in science”, said David Ruth, Executive Director of The Elsevier Foundation. “The Elsevier Foundation grant often serves as critical seed funding to get innovative projects off the ground. “We can’t wait to see what great new ideas have emerged over the past year.” # # # *About the Elsevier Foundation *** The Elsevier Foundation <http://www.elsevierfoundation.org/> ( www.elsevierfoundation.org) provides grants to institutions around the world, with a focus on support for the world’s libraries and for scholars in the early stages of their careers. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 60 grants worth millions dollars to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. The Elsevier Foundation is funded by Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. *About Elsevier *Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including *The Lancet* <http://www.thelancet.com> and *Cell*<http://www.cell.com>, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier’s online solutions include ScienceDirect<http://www.sciencedirect.com/>, Scopus <http://www.scopus.com/>, Reaxys <http://www.elsevier.com/reaxys>, ClinicalKey <https://www.clinicalkey.com/> and Mosby’s Suite<http://www.confidenceconnected.com>, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite <http://www.scival.com> and MEDai’s Pinpoint Review<http://www.medai.com>, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively. A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier<http://www.elsevier.com>employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc <http://www.reedelsevier.com/Pages/Home.aspx>, a world leading provider of professional information solutions. The group employs more than 30,000 people, including more than 15,000 in North America. Reed Elsevier Group plc is owned equally by two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. Their shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL. *Media contact* Ylann Schemm The Elsevier Foundation +31 (0)6 23982359 newsroom(a)elsevier.com ------------------------------ Elsevier B.V. Registered Office: Radarweg 29, 1043 NX Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Registration No. 33156677, Registered in The Netherlands. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Central University of Bihar requires Library Officer (on contract) and Library Trainee
by sanjeev sunny 08 May '13

08 May '13

Central Univeristy of Bihar requires Library Officer (on contract) and Library Trainee *Advertisement No.: CUB/Advt./18/2013 dated 06.05.2013* http://lislinks.com *URL: http://www.cub.ac.in* *Last Date: 23rd May, 2013* The Central University of Bihar intends to appoint Library Officer (Gr. Asst. Librarian) and Library Trainee purely on contract basis for its libraries at Gaya and Patna Campuses for maintaining various library housekeeping operations, technical processing, digital library, and other activities. The detailed terms & conditions of appointment are stated below. *Nature of Appointment* The nature of appointment is purely contractual and initially for 11 months. However, the tenure may be extended based on need and performance. Selected candidates may be placed at Gaya or Patna campus as and when required. *Library Officer (Gr. Assistant Librarian) - 01* *Essential Qualifications**:* Masters of Library & Information Science /Documentation/Associateship in Information Science from recognized university/ institution with minimum 55% marks (Relaxation in minimum marks is admissible to social categories as per Govt. of India norms). Candidates must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) in Library and Information Science conducted by UGC or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET. Exemption from requirement of NET may be considered as per UGC Norms. * **Desirable**:* Two year working experience in a reputed college/ university/ research library and diploma in computer applications. Preference may be given to the candidates having sound knowledge of information handling in digital environment. * * *Library Trainee -* *03** * * Essential Qualifications**:* Master of Library & Information Science/Documentation/ Associateship in Information Science from recognized university/ institution with minimum 55% marks. * **Desirable**:* One year working experience in a reputed college/ university/ research library. Preference may be given to the candidates having sound knowledge of computer applications in library. *For Details visit Recruitment Page at http://www.cub.ac.in* *Last Date: 23rd May, 2013* -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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KOHA: Success Story of Mysore University Library
by Ishwar Goudar 08 May '13

08 May '13

Dear Professional Friends, This posting is in the light of lot of interest generated on OSS for Library Management through Lis-forum. Many thanks to Dr. M.V. Sunil, who'sposting prompted me toshare the " Success Story of Mysore University Library Automation using OS Library Management Software KOHA". Two and half years back we chose KOHA after a considerable brainstorming and consultation with fellow librarians from different organisations using different ILMSs, both commercial and open source.Earlier our negotiations and discussions with NewGenLib marketing personnel failed due to some reasons. Our earlier automation attempts for the last 15 years with LIBSYS, TLMS and SLIM did not yield expected results due to various reasons, except creating few thousand OPAC records . We struggled a lot in migrating these records to KOHA that too in MARC-21 format. The UoM, almost a century old institution has got about 57 libraries including the main library and those of 5 constituent colleges, 3 PG centres, 13 Institutes and 36 departmental libraries. *I. Our Best Practices/**Special/Unique Features of Library Automation:* - Library database is hosted on Amazon EC-II cloud ( http://libcat.mysore-univ.org/) - No expenditure on Server - S/W related expenditure: KOHA being OSS no charge for software. We have spent < Rs. 4 Lacs together for the last 3 years covering service toall our participating libraries towards KOHA installation, configuration, training, migration of existing records, basic customisation, maintenance, etc. - 50% of this 4 Lacs goes towards cloud hosting of our combined database, which is less than a daily wage sweeper salary. - The model adopted: Centralized database with decentralized housekeeping activities including retrospective conversion, circulation, acquisition, serials control, etc. by all participating libraries under UoM and Open Access OPAC. - As of now the main library and 8 other libraries under UoM have done considerable work. - So far more than four lakh records have been added to our OPAC. - Adherence to MARC-21 standard. - Copy cataloging facility through Z39.50 protocol facilitates other libraries to import records to their OPACs. - Our OPAC is accessible through mobile [ http://mopac.mysore-univ.org] - Connection reliability of database is 100% without any break even for a single minute for the last 30 months as evaluated by IRSpy [http://irspy.indexdata.com] - Regional language records through Unicode for Kannada, Hindi and Urdu. Other language records to follow. - Modules implemented in the main library include acquisition, OPAC, circulation and serials control (underway). - The circulation module is being implemented in PG Centres and other colleges very soon. - No two documents have same accession number [barcode] in spite of database being common for all the participating libraries and the same is the case with patron ID numbers. - Blood group details in patron records as a step towards societal measure. - MARC records of more than 18000 e-books licensed from four well-known publishers with single search facility across publishers and hyperlink to concerned full-texts from OPAC. - OPAC records of all Ph.D. Thesis submitted to UOM and received in the library have been completed. - OPAC records for Journals are halfway through. - Attempts are being made to download useful OA books and create concerned OPAC records. - Additional features like browse by Subject collections/Specialcollections on Homepage. - Number of useful reports (for acquisition and circulation) are being generated. - The number of hits to our OPAC has crossed 93000 in about a year. - On an average >1000 patrons visit our library per day. - We have trained most of our regular staff and all trainees to handle atleast two modules of our KOHA system. - All our staff including trainees participate during technical discussions among ourselves and with software supporter. - KOHA's OPAC is very user friendly and has classic features like automatic link to Google books, Browse shelf, pre/post search selection for limiting hits to select participating library, various filter options, etc. *II. Few Innovative Services, Infrastructure, Special Centres and Recognitions:* - E-Resources Portal as a starting point for accessing thousands of journals and Lacs of e-books both licensed and OA. ( http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in/campus-wide-access-main-campus-pg-centres-const… ) - Visitors to this portal for the last 11 months : Campus - About 25,000, Off Campus - About 20,000 each visit resulting in N number searches and downloads from various e-resources. - Both Campus Wide (including WiFi) and Off Campus access to E-resources - Usage statistics of UGC-INFLIBNET resources increased by 350% on an average in about two years. - We have added thousands of e-books of commercial publishers and will strengthen the collection further. - Digital Information Resource Centre (DIRC) with 120 systems, 600 visitors/day on an average. - A separate floor has been built with 12000 SFT and 250 additional systems have been procured for DIRC-II to be operational in about a months time. - A separate Career Information Resource Centre (CIRC) meant for competitive exams, about 150 visitors on an average/day. - Career Information Service Portal has been setup, needs little more updating. - A Learning Resource Centre for Visually/Physically Challenged with world class Assistive Technologies costing >50 lakhs. - UOM Institutional Repository has been setup just two weeks back with nearly 3200 documents uploaded so far, still we have along way cross for this venture (http://eprints.uni-mysore.ac.in/) - Extensive E-resources awareness and training programs at every departments, participation of even Chairpersons. - Research output reports (Citations count, h-index, etc) for Departments, Individuals, etc. - We took the initiative to make available all presentations of Refresher Courses and Orientation Programs of UGC Academic Staff College at UoM on Web (http://www.ugcascmysore.ac.in/) - The NAAC Peer Committee and AAAC rated our Library and its services as one of the best in the country. - Once even the Syndicate Meeting was held in library in recognition of our services with 45 minutes slot for our presentation. - Wide publicity by Local Media both print and electronic covering ourservices on their own, few with one/half page story. The well known UoM library had nose drive with its lowest web for the last 10-15 years due to various reasons. Thanks to Prof. V.G. Talawar, ex-VC, UoM, who took initiative to rejuvenate the library system 3 years back. The credit for our success goes to my colleagues specially Dr. C.P. Ramasesh the I/C Librarian, all our trainees and above all our user community of faculty members, research scholars and students, who supported, guided, shared my responsibility and participated in our endeavor. The present VC too is keen in supporting our activities to raise our library status to further heights. Our attempts will continue to make our system still more perfect, which is a lifelong process. You are welcome to give your opinion and comments about our services. I shall be glad to answer any related questions. Regards, -- -------------------------- Dr. I.R.N. Goudar Visiting Professor and Library Adviser Mysore University Library University of Mysore Manasagangotri, MYSORE - 570 006 Formerly Scientist 'G' and Head, Information Centre, NAL, Bangalore Tel: 0821-2419283 mob: 09611165781 E-mail: goudarishwar(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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A glimpse into Guantánamo Bay's library
by Jayadev P Hiremath 07 May '13

07 May '13

>From the well-thumbed – Danielle Steele – to the untouched classics, pictures posted by US journalists show the reading matter permitted in the world's most controversial prison. The Pentagon doesn't let journalists talk to prisoners in the Guantánamo Bay<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/guantanamo-bay>detention camp, where more than half of the 166 detainees are currently on hunger strike<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/29/guantanamo-bay-hunger-strike-re…>, but reporters are granted access to the prison library – inspiring a blog from the New York Times reporter Charlie Savage<http://gitmobooks.tumblr.com/>that collects pictures of books uploaded by journalists reporting on Gitmo. Prisoners aren't allowed to go the library, but they can put in requests for books they want to read. The books are thoroughly checked in case they are being used to exchange messages – any attempts to do so are punished with a suspension of the library facility. The few thousand titles offer a strange mix of books ranging from the pulpy – Danielle Steele's The Kiss (in Arabic) – to the classic – six copies of David Copperfield – to the canonical – seven copies of Homer's Odyssey. The Steele book looks pretty well-thumbed but it's doubtful if anyone has borrowed Homer to pass the time, although some detainees have been there 11 years – longer than it took Odysseus to return to Ithaca via a perilous journey that included more than a spot of waterboarding at the hands of Poseidon. Other books include seven copies of Pearl S Buck's The Good Earth, CS Lewis's Narnia series, Tolkien, Stieg Larsson's trilogy, Naguib Mahfouz, a Pashto-to-English dictionary, Captain America comic books, puzzle books, a Russian edition of a National Geographic magazine, Alice in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Khaled Hosseini's maudlin hit The Kite Runner. Watership Down and Star Wars share shelf space with Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Apart from the books, the video game Angry Birds is also available. Earlier reports have said that the most popular books are Agatha Christie's mysteries, Kahlil Gibran and the Harry Potter novels. Harry Potter has also been used an in interrogation tactic. According to Fox News<http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/06/27/pols-gitmo-conditions-have-improved>, members of Congress visiting the prison in 2005 observed how one interrogator tried to break down a prisoner by reading aloud from a Harry Potter novel for hours – the detainee turned his back and covered his ears to block out the sound. Among the spy novels is a paperback copy of The Tailor of Panama, John le Carré's hilarious but stinging indictment of fraudulent intelligence gathering – a subject that cuts close to home in a prison of this kind. The 1996 novel was seen as a prescient foretelling of the weapons of mass destruction intelligence scam that paved the way for the US invasion of Iraq. President George Bush opened Guantánamo in 2002 as a important plank of his "war on terror". The 81-year-old le Carré, who has been scathing in his criticism of "Bush and his junta", recently told the New York Times<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/magazine/john-le-carre-has-not-mellowed-w…>that he keeps a rubber cartoon figure of the former president in his bathroom. He also said he was disappointed in Obama for not closing Guantánamo as he promised to do when he ran for office in 2008. Obama did sign an executive order to close the prison in 2009<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/22/hillary-clinton-diplomatic-fore…>– it was one of the first things he did on entering office – but Congress remains implacably opposed to doing so. With the hunger strike making international headlines, Obama has renewed his call for closure<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/30/obama-guantanamo-hunger-strike-…>, saying that "the notion that we're going to keep 100 individuals in no man's land in perpetuity" was not "sustainable". Miami Herald journalist Carol Rosenberg posted a picture of an Arabic translation of Gabriel García Márquez's News of a Kidnapping. She said the book looked "well read". Incidentally, two years ago, this non-fiction<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/fiction>book on how the Medellín cartel kidnapped a group of Colombians in the 1990s at the height of the drug war became a bestseller in Iran, after opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi told his compatriots that if they wanted to know what it was like for him to be under house arrest, they should read this book. One of the most borrowed titles is the Arabic self-help book Don't Be Sad, published by the International Islamic Publishing House in Saudi Arabia. It advocates patience, hard work and keeping one's faith in Allah. In the foreword, the publisher states that the book is for everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims, though the solutions are offered from an Islamic perspective. Chapters have titles such as "Extract the honey but do not break the hive", "Isolation and its positive effects", and the quintessentially American "Convert a lemon into a sweet drink". According to Wikipedia, Christian anarchist Elbert Hubbard coined the phrase in 1915 and it was later popularised by Dale Carnegie. The religious section – inmates are given a copy of the Qur'an to keep with them in their cells – includes Fatwas of the Pillars of Islam<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/islam>and the biography of the Prophet (in French) and several copies, also in French, of Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi. The Hindu spiritual teacher, who helped popularise yoga in America, was a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi – the most famous hunger striker of the 20th century. -- Warm regards. Jayadev P Hiremath Independent Libraries Professional (Former Librarian - IBS,Kuwait) E-mail : jayadevh(a)hotmail.com LinkedIn : http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jayadev-p-hiremath/44/12a/2a0 Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/people/Jayadev-P-Hiremath/603802230 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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