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

New Age Navigation: Innovative e-Journal Interfaces
by Gerry Mckiernan 04 Dec '03

04 Dec '03

_New Age Navigation: Innovative E-Journal Interfaces_ I am pleased to announce the formal publication of my latest Magnus Opus [:-) "New Age Navigation: Innovative Information Interfaces for Electronic Journals" _The Serials Librarian_ 45(2)(2003): 87-123 ABSTRACT. While it is typical for electronic journals to offer conventional search features similar to those provided by electronic databases, a select number of e-journals have also made available higher-level access options as well. In this article, we review several novel technologies and implementations that creatively exploit the inherent potential of the digital environment to further facilitate use of e-collections. We conclude with speculation on the functionalities of a next-generation e-journal interface that are likely to emerge in the near future. A offprint/preprint copy of the article is available at [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/NewAge.pdf ] The article served as the basis of a presentation I gave at the _Internet Librarian 2003 Conference_ [ http://www.infotoday.com/il2003/] in Monterey, California in early November. [BTW: A *Most* Excellent Conference] [ http://www.infotoday.com/il2003/presentations/default.htm ] The conference version of my presentation is available at [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/NewAgeIL.ppt ] [*********1.6 MB FILE****************************] and the Director's Cut [:-) at [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/NewAge.ppt ] **********[LARGE FILE 3.4 MB]****************** As Aways, I'd appreciate Any and All comments, queries, critiques, questions, or Cosmic Insights relating to the themes of Such Musings {:-) . Regards, /Gerry Gerry McKiernan New Age Librarian Iowa State University Ames AI 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know. Donald Rumsfeld -Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing [http://slate.msn.com/id/2081042/ ]

1 0

FASTER, BETTER, CHEAPER: OPEN-SOURCE PRACTICES MAY HELP IMPROVE S OFTWARE ENGINEERING
by Mailing List Manager 04 Dec '03

04 Dec '03

Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 14:02:38 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA 22230 "Where discoveries begin" For Immediate Release December 3, 2003 NSF Media Contact: David Hart, 703-292-7737, <mailto:dhart@nsf.gov> dhart(a)nsf.gov FASTER, BETTER, CHEAPER: OPEN-SOURCE PRACTICES MAY HELP IMPROVE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ARLINGTON, Va.-Walt Scacchi of the University of California, Irvine, and his colleagues are conducting formal studies of the informal world of open-source software development, in which a distributed community of developers produces software source code that is freely available to share, study, modify and redistribute. They're finding that, in many ways, open-source development can be faster, better and cheaper than the "textbook" software engineering often used in corporate settings. In a series of reports posted online (see <http://www.isr.uci.edu> www.isr.uci.edu) Scacchi is documenting how open-source development breaks many of the software engineering rules formulated during 30 years of academic research. Far from finding that open-source development is just software engineering poorly done, Scacchi and colleagues show that it represents a new approach based on community building and other socio-technical mechanisms that might benefit traditional software engineering. "Free and open-source software development is faster, better and cheaper in building a community and at reinforcing and institutionalizing a culture for how to develop software," said Scacchi, a senior research scientist at UC Irvine's Institute for Software Research who has taught software engineering for two decades. "We're not ready to assert that open-source development is the be-all end-all for software engineering practice, but there's something going on in open-source development that is different from what we see in the textbooks." Scacchi and his colleagues are studying open-source projects to understand when the processes and practices work and when they don't. These findings may help businesses understand the implications of adopting open-source methods internally or investing in external open-source communities. The studies are supported by several Information Technology Research awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. Three projects-one by Les Gasser at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Scacchi, one by Scacchi and John Noll of Santa Clara University and one led by UC Irvine's Richard Taylor-are applying the lessons learned from open-source practices to create new design, process-management and knowledge- management tools for large-scale, multi-organization development projects. "In many ways, open-source development projects are treasure troves of information for how large software systems get developed in the wild, if you will," Scacchi said. Open-source project databases, for example, record hundreds of thousands of bug reports. Gasser and Scacchi are mining those databases to try to understand how bug reporting relates to software quality or if it has other implications. "These are unprecedented data sets in software engineering research," he said. "We're thinking of these databases in a 'national treasure' sense. We're never going to get this from a corporate source." Not all open-source projects are alike, however. A small number of open-source projects have become well known, but the vast majority never get off the ground, according to Scacchi. He and his colleagues are trying to understand how successful projects, such as the Linux Kernel, grow from a few individuals to a community of a thousand developers. Similarly, they are trying to determine whether or not opensource software is appropriate for complex, fixed requirements projects of interest only to a limited community (for example, air defense radar software). It is unclear whether such systems can or will ever be developed in an open manner, or whether open-source approaches would falter, while traditional software engineering approaches would succeed. To explore the breadth of open-source activity, Scacchi and colleagues are looking at more than a hundred projects in several categories: network games, Internet and Web infrastructure, academic and scientific software and industry-sponsored activities. The network games include PlaneShift, Crystal Space, and game "mods" for Epic Games' Unreal or id Software's Quake game engines. Internet and Web infrastructure projects range from Linux Kernel, Apache and Mozilla to GNU Enterprise. In another project, Mark Ackerman at the University of Michigan and Scacchi are examining how scientists working in fields like X-ray astronomy and deep-space imaging are using opensource software to support basic scientific research. More recent efforts are examining industry-sponsored open-source projects including NetBeans from Sun Microsystems and Eclipse from IBM. "The software-intensive systems in today's world have become so complex that we need every available design tool at our disposal," said Suzanne Iacono, NSF program director. "Open source development has achieved some remarkable successes, and we need to learn from these successes as our systems become increasingly distributed, complex and heterogeneous. Traditional software engineering methods were originally developed for single- system design and development." The researchers have so far identified a number of ways in which open-source development surpasses traditional software engineering. In successful projects, open-source development is faster in the pace of evolution and the rate of software growth. Expertise also spreads faster through the community. The researchers also report that open-source development is better because of, among other features, its informality, which enables continuous system design and more agile development processes. And open-source is cheaper because the development tools are often open-source themselves and because other costs are often subsidized by corporate donations, volunteer efforts and "gifts" for the collective good. "Open-source is not a poor version of software engineering, but a private-collective approach to large-software systems," Scacchi said. "This is perhaps a new fertile ground between software engineering and the world of opensource and may be what the open- source community can contribute to new academic and commercial development efforts." ### NSF PR03-132 NSF Program Officer: Suzanne Iacono, 703-292-8930, <mailto:siacono@nsf.gov> siacono(a)nsf.gov Principal Investigator: Walt Scacchi, 949-824-4130, <mailto:wscacchi@ics.uci.edu> wscacchi(a)ics.uci.edu ISR Open-Source Software Development Research at UC Irvine: <http://www.isr.uci.edu/research-open-source.html> http://www.isr.uci.edu/research-open-source.html

1 0

Sepcial Lecture
by DRTC General 04 Dec '03

04 Dec '03

INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE Documentation Research and Training Centre 8th Mile, Mysore Road, Bangalore 560059 CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO THE Special Lecture on Term Frequency for Information Retrieval By Dr. Carolyn Watters Professor Faculty of Computer Science Dalhousie University, Canada B3H 1W5 On 5th December, 2003, 2.30 PM At DRTC Class Room Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore 560059 I.K RAVICHANDRA RAO Professor and Head, DRTC

1 0

RE: [LIS-Forum] UGC-Net Question
by Mailing List Manager 03 Dec '03

03 Dec '03

Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 17:30:41 +0530 From: manish mankad <Manish.Mankad(a)unilever.com> For the q.1, I shall assume following dimensions as the standard one: 1 rack of 6 ft height, 2 ft depth and 3 ft width and is back to back. Each side will accomodate 6 shelves and thus both will have 12 shelves for storage. Each shelf will accomodate around 30 bks of average size and thus one rack can accomodate 360 books. With the same calculation, it will require 28 shelves to accomodate all the 10000 bk. Regards. -Manish Mankad Information Executive Hindustan Lever Research Centre, BD Sawant Marg Andheri (E), Mumbai, 400 099 INDIA ext. 208/330 (022) 28276 208 28276 330

2 1

Forwarded mail....
by Mailing List Manager 03 Dec '03

03 Dec '03

Here is a press release on a meeting to be held in Geneva on 11 December 2003. "A growing number of scientists worldwide are actively promoting 'open access' to the scientific literature. This means toll-free online access to the full-texts of all refereed research articles. At present, except the fraction of articles for which a suitable open-access journal already exists today (<5%), research is only accessible if the researcher's institution can afford to pay for the toll-access journal in which it is published (>95%). As a result, most of the potential users of research -- and especially those in developing countries -- are unable to access most research. This represents a great loss to both research-providers and research-users, and hence to the progress and benefits of research itself. Fortunately, the Internet and Web technologies have at last opened up the possibility for those researchers whose institutions cannot afford the toll-access version of any article to use instead the open-access version, self-archived on the author's own institutional website. The provision of open access to their own refereed research output by researchers and their institutions needs systematic worldwide promotion. We are holding a three-hour meeting on open-access provision at Geneva as a side event at WSIS. Please publicise the meeting. More important, read and write about the substantial benefits of open access for the progress and benefits of science." (For some useful information: http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/ )

1 0

Archives set up by funding agencies!
by Mailing List Manager 03 Dec '03

03 Dec '03

Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 17:58:44 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Here is some model DST, DBT, UGC, CSIR, ICMR and other funding agencies can follow! I think this will be the best way for promoting open access in India. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] "Funding agencies should appreciate that they can host their own archives. Last month, for example, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched its own archive, Science Inventory, to hold EPA-funded data and research papers. Even if all these files could be archived in various institutional and disciplinary repositories outside the EPA, using its own archive lets EPA monitor compliance with its OA requirement, facilitate discovery and retrieval, assure long-term preservation, and of course guarantee the sufficiency of the infrastructure."

1 0

Digital Libraries Program at IIM Kozhikode (January 19-21, 2004)
by Sree Kumar 02 Dec '03

02 Dec '03

Dear Colleagues: I am happy to inform you that IIM Kozhikode is organizing a three-day programme on <big>Digital Libraries</big> at IIM Kozhikode during January 19-21, 2004. The details of the programme is available at "http://www.iimk.ac.in/programs/diglib.htm". Programme brochures are available on request from the MDP office of IIMK. The programme will impart the latest trends in digital library technologies. Eminent faculty from the fields of information science and information technology are handling the sessions. Hands on labs will be conducted at IIMK. For any further information please feel free to contact me or our MDP Office (E-Mail : mdp(a)iimk.ac.in) With regards, M.G. Sreekumar Co-ordinator, MDP on Digital Libraries M G Sreekumar Librarian & Head, Center for Development of Digital Libraries (CDDL) Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode Kunnamangalam P.O Kozhikode, Kerala, India-673 571 ----------------------------------------- Phone : +91 495 2803001/2 Ext. 140 Fax : +91 495 2803010/11 Email : mgsree(a)iimk.ac.in Web : www.iimk.ac.in =========================================

1 0

Need Information regarding RFID
by Mailing List Manager 02 Dec '03

02 Dec '03

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 09:54:31 +0530 From: VYASAMOORTHY /IKP/HYD <Vyasamoorthy(a)icicikp.com> Dear Mr Babu Further to your enquiry there were some responses/answers. can you kindly send me those replies? I am unable to locate them in NCSI LIs-Forum archives. Another friend of mine is interested in the same topic. Is there anyone using RFID labels in India right now? Implemented? Thanks. Vyasamoorthy, P

1 0

Special lecture at DRTC
by DRTC General 02 Dec '03

02 Dec '03

INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE Documentation Research and Training Centre 8th Mile, Mysore Road, Bangalore 560059 CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO THE Special Lecture on Architecture for Dynamic Aggregation and Reuse of Learning Objects By Professor. Michael Shepherd Director of Health Informatics Faculty of Computer Science Dalhousie University, Canada B3H 1W5 On 3rd December, 2003, 2.30 PM At DRTC Class Room Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore 560059 I.K RAVICHANDRA RAO Professor and Head, DRTC

1 0

UGC-Net Question
by Neetu Bharti 02 Dec '03

02 Dec '03

Dear Professionals We are unable to find out answers for these questions. If anyone of u know please help us. Thanks in advance Questions 1. If a new library wants to provide 10,000 books . How many double sided standard size racks are required? 2. If a library wants to provide 10,000 books , how many catalogue trays should it plan Regards Pandian.B

2 1

Some interesting articles
by Mailing List Manager 02 Dec '03

02 Dec '03

Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 08:54:38 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: You may find these three articles useful. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] Execs Agree that Customers Are Key By Dick Kaser Dick Kaser returned to his roots in September and interviewed the CEOs of three industry companies based in Ohio: CAS's Bob Massie, LexisNexis' Bill Pardue, and OCLC's Jay Jordan. --> <http://www.infotoday.com/IT/dec03/kaser1.shtml> ONLINE Magazine The Information Industry Revolution: Implications for Librarians By George R. Plosker Does the word "library" adequately convey the utility and value of what librarians contribute to their organizations? George R. Plosker discusses the key factors influencing the work of the information content profession today. --> <http://www.infotoday.com/online/nov03/plosker.shtml> COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES Building a Home for Library News with a Blog By Doug Goans and Teri M. Vogel Have you decided to join the blogging craze? You can buy software packages to start Web logs, or rent server space, but you can also build your own if you want something customized. Like choosing a new house, you'll want to explore all your options-renting, buying, or building-before you decide. If you prefer the latter, as these authors did, use their experience to guide your building plan. --> <http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/nov03/goans_vogel.shtml>

1 0

AICTE-ISTE STTP ON IT APPLICATIONS IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (March,
by Mailing List Manager 02 Dec '03

02 Dec '03

1-10, 2004) Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 03:14:41 -0800 (PST) From: Kishor Satpathy <kishor_satpathy(a)yahoo.com> Dear Sir/Madam, We are pleased to inform you that an AICTE-ISTE Short Term Training Program on ^Information Technology Applications in Information Management^ is being organized by Central Library, NIT Silchar from 01.03.04 to 10.03.04. A brochure containing details of the program is enclosed herewith. Applications for attending the programme are invited from person interested in the related field from AICTE recognized institutions/ R&D organizations/Industry. You are requested kindly to give it wide publicity and encourage interested persons to attend the course. Dear Sir/Madam, Thanking you and with warm regards, Yours sincerely Sri Kishor Chandra Satpathy Coordinator, STTP on IT Applications in Information Management National Institute of Technology, Silchar- 788010 Phone No : (03842) 233841/42*5123-24 (O) 240906 (R) Fax: 03842-233797 E-mail: kishor_satpathy(a)yahoo.com http//: geocities.com/kishor_satpathy

1 0

How much information? 2003
by Shyam Prasad pujar 01 Dec '03

01 Dec '03

Dear Members, A report of the study undertaken by the researchers of University of California at Berkeley is available at the following URL address. http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/ It attempts to estimate how much new information is created each year. Newly created information is distributed in four storage media print, film, magnetic, and optical and seen or heard in four information flows telephone, radio and TV, and the Internet. Regards, S.M. Pujar ********************************************************************** Shamprasad M. Pujar Assistant Librarian Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Gen. Vaidya Marg, Film City Road Goregaon (East) MUMBAI-400 065 India %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% * Phone: (022) 28400919-21 Extn: 514 * * Fax: (022) 28402752 * * E-mail: pujar(a)igidr.ac.in * * URL: http://www.igidr.ac.in * %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

1 0

Reminder for INTERNATIONAL CALIBER-2004
by JK Vijayakumar 01 Dec '03

01 Dec '03

Sorry for cross postings....... Dear All, Here is a Reminder for INTERNATIONAL CALIBER-2004 to be held at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India during February 11-13, 2004. We solicit international and national level participation in terms of technical papers and delegates. Welcome to New Delhi, INDIA. IMPORTANT DATES Receipt of full papers December 15, 2003 Intimation to Author(s) January 1, 2004 Last date for Registration January 15, 2004 Convention Dates February 11-13, 2004 ----------------------------------- DETAILS INFLIBNET Centre has been organizing CALIBER [Convention on Automation of Libraries in Education and Research Institutions] every year in different parts of the country in collaboration with different universities, since 1993. This is the premier convention in India which provides a unique forum to the library and information professionals, teachers, IT professionals, consultants and users involved in automation and networking of libraries as well as information providers to come together and interact on the subjects of mutual interest. The eleventh CALIBER in the series, for the year 2004, has been themed as �Road Map to New Generation of Libraries using Emerging Technologies� and will be hosted by Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi during February 11-13, 2004. The official language of the convention will be English. DELIBERATIONS � Visions/Policies for Strategic Planning and Catalysts (Social Issues, User Requirements) for New Generation of Libraries. � Infrastructure, Standards, Archiving for Digital/Virtual/E-Libraries. � Emerging Technologies like Wireless LAN, Digital Services, Distributed databases, E-education and WBT. � Web content mapping, classification, management, Data warehousing, security aspects. CALL FOR PAPERS Programme committee solicits high quality technical papers related to the themes and sub-themes listed below. Main Theme: Road Map to New Generation of Libraries using Emerging Technologies Sub theme 1 Strategic Planning and Catalysts for New Generation of Libraries Visions/Policies, Social Issues, Intellectual Property Rights, User Requirements and Satisfaction, Models and framework for change management, Consortia: Success and Reality, Free and equal access to digital information Sub theme 2 Digital/Virtual/E-Libraries Infrastructure, Standards and Protocols, E-Publishing, Digital Archiving, Personalization, New Type Resources, Open Digital Libraries and Interoperability Sub theme 3 Emerging Technologies Networking (including WLAN), Digital Services, E-Education / WBT: Reality and Myths, Distributed database access and management � mirror sites, Online Reference Sub theme 4 Web content Management Cataloguing and Classification, Metadata / XML, Searching and Retrieval, Web content mapping, Data warehousing/hosting, Managing access to Web Content, Security Issues, Reliability and QA of Web content, Reference Linking, Ontology and Semantic Web Papers typed in MS-Word can be sent as attachment to INFLIBNET directly through E-Mail or in a floppy by post. The length of the paper should normally be within 5000 words. Papers should contain full name and affiliations with e-mail of author(s), an abstract, author biography and references properly cited in the text of article. The paper should neither be published anywhere nor should have been kept under consideration for publication elsewhere and the author should agree to transfer the copyright to the conference organisers. A passport size photograph(s) of author(s) has to be submitted with the paper. Detailed Guidelines and Editorial Policy for CALIBER 2004 is available in the conference website at http://www.inflibnet.ac.in IMPORTANT DATES Receipt of full papers December 15, 2003 Intimation to Author(s) January 1, 2004 Last date for Registration January 15, 2004 Convention Dates February 11-13, 2004 About INFLIBNET Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) is a major mission of the UGC initiated in 1991 with an objective to automate and network libraries in Academic and R & D system to facilitate resource sharing at different levels and promote scholarly communication among academicians and researchers in the country. Till now, 142 universities have been funded by the UGC under this programme for automation and networking. Creation of national union databases, development of an integrated library management software, human resource development, on-site training, providing bibliographic information services, extending technical help and guidance from time to time to academic libraries in automation and networking are some of the major activities of the INFLIBNET Centre. Very soon centre is going to play major role in E-learning. A number of modules are under development on different subjects, which will be mounted on centre�s web site for facilitating distance education through e-learning. UGC has signed on MOU with ERNET India for establishing UGC Network linking about 170 universities, UGC Regional Centres and IUC�s. This network will also have connectivity to Internet. INFLIBNET will play a major role in content creation for this network. It is trying to create awareness about library automation and spread IT culture among library professionals. About Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia, an institution originally established at Aligarh in United Provinces, India in 1920, was declared as a deemed to be University in 1962 and became a Central University by an act of the Indian Parliament in 1988. In Urdu language, Jamia means �University� and Millia means �National�. In 1936,all institutions of Jamia, except Jamia Press, the Maktaba and the library, were shifted to the new campus. The history of Dr. Zakir Husain Library is closely linked with the history of Jamia Millia Islamia. It was established during 1920-23 in Aligarh and was named as Jamia Millia Islamia Library. In 1925, Jamia Millia moved from Aligarh to Delhi, the Library also shifted.In 1972, Library moved to its new building and it was rechristened as �Dr. Zakir Husain Library� in the memory of late President of India Dr. Zakir Husain. This library is the Central Library of the University Library System, which includes the faculty and Central libraries,It is having collection of about 3.00 lac books & bound volumes of periodicals, about 3000 manuscripts, 200 microforms, 17 special collections and subscribes to 440 journals.The library has fully computerized its most actively used collections, which is searchded through OPAC.Circulation Counter is computerized, using barcode scanners.The library is providing range of databases available in electronic form on the Campus Network and from remote hosts via WWW. The library provides Internet and electronic database services for the registered users. Contact Details Paper Submission Dr T A V Murthy Editor-in-Chief Director INFLIBNET Centre[An IUC of UGC] Gujarat University Campus PB 4116, Navrangpura Ahmedabad � 380 009, India Phone: +91-79-6304695/5971/8528/0002 Fax:+91-79-6300990 E-Mail: tav(a)inflibnet.ac.in copied to salgar(a)inflibnet.ac.in Registration Dr. Gayas Makhdumi Organising Secretary CALIBER-2004 University Librarian Jamia Millia Islamia, Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar Marg, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi � 110 025, India Phone:+91-11-26984910/26981717(Ext. 472) Fax:+91-11-26982360 E-mail:zhl@jmi.ernet.in Queries can also be sent to Mr S M Salgar Chairman, CALIBER-2004 Scientist-G INFLIBNET Centre[An IUC of UGC] Gujarat University Campus PB 4116, Navrangpura Ahmedabad � 380 009, India Phone: +91-79-6304695/5971/8528/0002 (Ext 33) Fax:+91-79-6300990 E-Mail: salgar(a)inflibnet.ac.in More details is available in the conference website http://caliber2004.inflibnet.ac.in/ *********************************** Posted by J K VIJAYAKUMAR STO, INFLIBNET Centre and Joint-Convenor Internatrional CALIBER-2004 vijayakumarjk(a)yahoo.com / vijay(a)inflibnet.ac.in ****************************** __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/

1 0

C. R. Reddy on Free Software (The Hindu 22/11/2003)
by Mailing List Manager 01 Dec '03

01 Dec '03

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 09:16:17 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: Here is an article from The Hindu, one of India's leading English language dailies, that must be of interest to all of us working in the area of ICT enabled development. Best wishes. Arun Reddy, C. Rammanohar. "The free software option." The Hindu (22 Nov 2003). <http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/22/stories/2003112200721000.htm> The UNCTAD report suggests that there are many advantages to be had if the developing countries seriously explore the use of free or open source software as against the proprietary licence-to-use software. INDIA AS the back office capital of the world is the new mantra that is being chanted for the country's entry into the league of developed countries. The rapid growth of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contracts to India is behind this mantra. The more perceptive observers point out that while there are many high-profile BPO activities that have moved to India, only a very small proportion of the businesses that can be out-sourced have been contracted out, and, of that, an even smaller fraction has come to India. The larger question, however, is if India can really ignore manufacturing altogether and pin its future hopes so much on servicing the rest of the world. The answer is "no"; services like BPO can make an important contribution to India's GDP but they cannot replace the potential of manufacturing. The obsession with software exports in general and increasingly with the BPO segment, has had an unfortunate side-effect. "Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for development," which was much talked about in the late 1990s, has now been reduced to an empty slogan. There are no doubt a number of e-governance initiatives in the States, but if we are talking about a serious attempt at using IT for development, then that effort is largely absent. Of course, the fundamental problem is that the basic infrastructure necessary for this purpose is not yet in place. In spite of a rapid increase in tele-density over the past 18 months, the telecom infrastructure is woefully inadequate. And while internet use keeps growing rapidly, the population of internet users (estimated at 7 million in 2001) in India is far too small to speak about using phones, computers and the Net for development. Any serious attempt at harnessing the power of the new technologies must begin with expanding the infrastructure. Here, while there is at least an awareness of the gaps in telecom and the cost of computer hardware, there is very little acknowledgement of the demands that software in its various forms can make on users. A new United Nations publication, "E-commerce and Development Report 2003" of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development offers important insights into the kind of software that developing countries can use if they are serious about bridging the "digital divide". The UNCTAD report suggests that there are many advantages to be had if the developing countries seriously explore the use of free or open source software (FOSS, also referred to as FLOSS, or Free Libre or Open Source Software) as against the proprietary licence-to-use software that now dominates the IT sector in the developing countries. Free software, as a popular slogan of the FOSS community describes it, is "`free' as in `free' speech and not as in `free' beer". What marks out FOSS is that because the code - the hundreds of thousands of lines of instructions that make up the software - is available to the larger computer programmer community, it is constantly improved upon, modified, tested and the problems removed. This is not possible in the use of proprietary software, where users are dependent on the licensors of the product. Users have no choice but to turn to the software "proprietors" for correcting the smallest flaws. Worldwide, the growth of open source software has been remarkable in recent years. But in spite of the fact that India is home to perhaps thousands of programmers who have contributed to the development of FOSS, whose best-known product is the Linux/GNU operating system, it is yet to be taken very seriously by either the Government or the corporates. Universities do use FOSS on a fairly widespread basis and the odd State Government has explored the possibility of using open source software, but this software is still not considered a reliable mainstream product. But reliable and mainstream FOSS already is. UNCTAD reports some statistics, which establish how deeply entrenched FOSS products have become in many areas. One, Apache, the open source software which runs on web servers, now has a market share of 63 per cent, more than twice that of Microsoft products. Two, GNU/Linux has a 30 per cent share in the operating system used on web servers, while the proprietary Windows has a 50 per cent market share. Three, 40 per cent of large U.S. corporations and 65 per cent of comparable Japanese firms are reported to use GNU/Linux in some form or the other. FOSS products have also proved themselves in the market. In a survey last August, the 20 web servers which had the longest uninterrupted uptime (without a breakdown) in the world were, in all but one case, running on FOSS operating systems. Since FOSS is non-proprietary software, the initial cost of acquisition is considerably less than proprietary software. However, while the saving on upfront costs can be a major incentive in developing countries, this is not the only cost to be taken into account. What is relevant is the total cost of ownership (TCO), which consists of the cost of acquisition, training, deployment, maintenance, repair and upgradation. UNCTAD's cautious assessment is that the "jury is out" on where FOSS stands on the total cost of ownership for, while the upfront costs are considerably less the training and deployment outlays can be as high as in proprietary software. Yet with FOSS suffering from fewer bugs and less downtime, the savings on maintenance costs will be considerable. For governments in developing countries with limited IT budgets, savings on costs - even just on upfront costs - can be a significant factor in aiding the spread of ICT. However, as the UNCTAD report points out there are a number of other advantages of special relevance in developing countries. The availability of the source code of FOSS facilitates involvement of a large domestic programmer community in repair and maintenance activity. This contributes to skill development at home. Overall, to quote the UNCTAD report, "The availability of source code makes it possible to use in-house expertise to fix bugs or change configurations, as well as to hire external support from a competitive market that anyone can enter. What seems clear is that FOSS can help a business or a public institution avoid getting into a vicious circle of hardware and software upgrades, and changes in data formats that require investing in new licence fees and significant retraining and can provoke major down time." And "the use of free software means that installation, training, support, and maintenance can be flexibly contracted out to a range of local suppliers competing on quality and price." Governments of a number of developing countries have already decided in greater or lesser degree to turn to FOSS. China, Brazil and South Africa are the most well-known examples. In addition to the advantages of cost and reliability, the increased security provided by the use of FOSS is a factor that has prompted a growing number of developing countries to turn to this software. No Government has as yet decided to make a 100 per cent shift, but the explicit policy directions given in national and regional governments to use open source software is a pointer to which way the wind is blowing. Governments in the advanced countries - including the U.S. - are also increasingly using FOSS because of its advantages in costs, reliability and security. In the developed countries, FOSS is close to replacing proprietary software in the "back offices", but on the desktop it is still the latter which has almost a complete dominance. The non-availability of a wide range of applications for the individual user and a perceived difficulty in initial installation of the FOSS operating system have held back the spread of open source software in homes. However, it is just a question of time before the spreading use in offices leads to adoption at home. A new problem that has emerged is that a few U.S.-based companies selling FOSS operating system software have been slapped with suits for alleged infringement of intellectual property rights. This has created some uncertainty about the future of the core operating system. With commercial interests having a strong stake in arresting the development of FOSS, it is inevitable that every possible attempt will be made to halt the spreading use of open source software. This, however, need not come in the way of developing country governments switching to FOSS. Next month, the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society will discuss the many options possible to use ICT for development. The use of FOSS as an option to save costs, develop IT skills and facilitate the adoption of open standards will hopefully figure prominently on the WSIS agenda.

1 0

MSSRF Policy Makers Workshop on ICT for D - Recommendations
by Mailing List Manager 01 Dec '03

01 Dec '03

Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 11:06:38 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Rural Knowledge Centres: Harnessing Local Knowledge via Interactive Media Policy Makers Workshop, 8-9 October 2003 M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai 600 113, India Recommendations for policy makers in India 1. Regional priorities: The North East region was identified as a priority area for launching a science and technology based poverty eradication programme using ICT in a significant way. 2. Information, knowledge and skill empowerment of self-help groups (SHGs): The microcredit supported microenterprise revolution triggered by SHGs has provided hope that a new deal can be extended to the self-employed. For SHGs to become sustainable SHGs, it is essential that forward linkages with markets and backward linkages with research institutions and data management centres are established. ICT has a major role in sustaining and extending this self-help revolution. 3. Every village a knowledge centre: There is a need for developing a master plan coupled with a business plan for extending the benefits of ICT to all the 600,000 villages in India by 2007, which marks the 60th anniversary of our independence. The master plan should help to link technology-knowledge-rural women and men in a symbiotic manner. The investment needs will have to be estimated and business plans prepared. A National Alliance for ICT for Poverty Eradication may be established for launching the Every Village a Knowledge Centre movement. Such an alliance should include the private sector, cooperatives, NGOs, R&D institutions, women's associations, mass media and appropriate government agencies. 4. Domestic software development and application: Learning from past experience in rural areas, there is a need for increasing India's competitiveness in domestic software applications. Government projects mainly provide static information. What is needed by rural families is dynamic information relating to weather, markets, health and other day-to-day information needs. 5. Community radio: Along with the internet, cable TV, local vernacular press and the All India Radio, community radio stations and ham radio will be of immense help in communicating up-to-date information to those who will benefit from it, as for example, fishermen in catamarans in the ocean. Government of India should liberalise policies for the operation of community and ham radio stations. This will help to confer the benefits of the knowledge age to every woman and man in a village. Reaching the unreached and including the excluded will be possible only through an integrated ICT system. 6. Technology upgradation in villages: NABARD has been operating a programme in Himachal Pradesh with support from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). This programme has helped to promote both e-governance and e-commerce. There is a similar initiative in Uttaranchal with the help of IIT, Roorkee. Scope for using RIDF in other States should be explored. This will help to convert the concept of every village a knowledge centre into reality. 7. Content creation: The usefulness of a computer-aided knowledge centre in villages will be directly proportional to the social, ecological and economic significance of the static and dynamic information being provided. Hence, a consortium of content providers will have to be developed for each agro-ecological zone. Leading industries could participate actively in such a knowledge and skill empowerment revolution by adopting specific villages where they could provide, in addition to monetary support, marketing and management information. There is need for a regionally differentiated approach to content creation. Both environmental audit and gender audit should be integrated in the procedures for monitoring and evaluation. 8. Women and ICT: The available experience indicates that rural women, whether literate or semi-literate, are able to take to new technologies like fish to water. It is therefore important that women managers and operators are trained in large numbers. There is also a gender dimension to the information needed. For example, quite often women require specific health information. Therefore, the participation of women both as managers and users of ICT should receive specific attention. Also, a gender audit procedure should be built into the final ICT programmes. 9. Participatory knowledge system: E-governance is invariably a passive system of information empowerment. There is need for promoting participatory methodologies of content creation and knowledge management. The approach to rural women and men should be one of partnership and not patronage. In the field of agriculture, a Farmer Participatory Knowledge System (FPKS) could replace the existing beneficiary and patronage approach to knowledge dissemination. The information should be demand driven and should be relevant in terms of time and space. 10. Sustainability and replicability - Role of Panchayati Raj institutions: Unless the local communities have a sense of ownership of the knowledge management centres, it will be difficult to sustain them. It is only a user driven and managed system that will be replicable and capable of developing a self-propelling momentum. Women's groups should be fully involved it the management and also enabled to operate distance education courses. The programme should be people oriented and not just project-centred. Affordable methods of cost sharing should be introduced in consultation with local communities. Sustainability and replicability should be the bottomline in the development of the National Action Plan for the "every village a knowledge centre" movement. In this context Panchayati Raj institutions, in which one-third of the members are women, could provide the needed space for the location of the rural knowledge centre. The Gram Sabha and the Gram Panchayats could both play a key role in ensuring that the knowledge centres become instruments for triggering a prosperity revolution based on gender and social equity. 11. Promoting job-led economic growth: Increasing rural unemployment is resulting in the unplanned expansion of urban slums. There is need for more on-farm and non-farm employment opportunities in villages. This will be possible only if there is diversification of farming systems and value addition to primary products through improved post-harvest technology. Training should be with reference to market-driven skills. Small scale industries and Khadi and village industries should receive particular attention from the point of view of the upgradation of both technology and marketing skills. There is also need for synergy between the private sector and public and cooperative sectors in promoting more avenues for skilled jobs in villages. 12. Servicing and maintenance: Servicing facilities at the local level should be improved through appropriate training and capacity building measures. This will also provide additional employment opportunities for rural youth in villages. 13. Wake up call: In a country of over 1 billion, there are hardly about 5 million computers. 75-80% of these computers are used in offices. Hardly 20% is available for use in development. Therefore, there is no time to relax on the ICT front. We will be left far behind China and other South and Southeast Asian countries if we do not launch a National ICT for Economic Prosperity and Employment Programme. The penetration level will then increase. There is also need to review the customs duty procedures, which are mostly obsolete and obstructive. Needlessly inelastic rules should be dispensed with. Donations of new computers to NGOs working in rural and backward areas should be encouraged. Branding of projects should also be facilitated. 14. Virtual Academy for Food Security and Rural Prosperity: The Virtual Academy approach coupled with a hub and spokes model of the kind spearheaded by MSSRF is ideal for rural India. The Virtual Academy can help to mobilise the power of partnership and establish beneficial linkages with national challenge programmes like drought management. MSSRF Virtual Academy could develop linkages with other organisations devoted to the knowledge and skill empowerment of the rural poor in different parts of the country so that it becomes a National Academy supporting the "every village a knowledge centre" programme. There is need for standardisation of local language websites and also names in Indian languages. Dissemination of information should be in the local language. 15. Political commitment, public action and investment priorities: A Sub-Committee for E-Governance has been set up by the National Development Council under the leadership of the Deputy Prime Minister. The recommendations of this workshop could be forwarded to both the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Information and Technology for appropriate action. Recommendations for policy makers at WSIS Policymakers should pay special attention to leveraging the full benefits of ICTs for rural communities in conjunction with existing development imperatives. At a crucial juncture in human history, when the benefits of revolutionary new technologies seem within the grasp of urban and rural communities, care must be taken by policymakers to accommodate the needs and aspirations of the neediest and marginalised communities within the unfolding of the knowledge age. The following recommendations constitute a modest step in this regard. 1. Infrastructure Developing nations should pursue near-universal and affordable access strategies via low cost devices, open source or shareware software platforms, reasonable tariff levels, and level playing fields between telecom and datacom operators. Associated infrastructure -like reliable sources of electricity - should also be ensured. Where necessary, access discounts and tax breaks should be given on a priority basis to needy sectors like education and healthcare. Shared access models should be actively pursued for rural communities, via cybercafes, kiosks and rural telecentres. New access methods like VoIP and wireless (WLL, WLAN) have tremendous potential especially for remote areas or dense urban clusters and should be actively explored. 2. Content and Online Services Access should be promoted to global content via the Net as well as generation and promotion of locally relevant content in local languages. This includes local language tools, digital libraries, e-learning, archives of local cultural resources, and needs assessment of rural communities. Government agencies need to play a bigger role as online content providers by publishing citizen information for rural communities on the Web and promoting online services for applications like downloading and submitting tax forms, land records, import/export documents and pension claims. Standardisation of fonts and keyboards by private sector and government agencies is an urgent priority. 3. Grounding in Community ICT4D policy initiatives should have a strong grounding in local communities of villages. Online and offline forums should be promoted for communities of interest and communities of practice to exchange knowledge on harnessing and creating ICTs in the rural context. Exposure to similar ICT4D initiatives in other rural communities can enable benchmarking and sharing of expertise. Many developing countries have extensive diaspora communities, which should be tapped as a source of ideas, development partnerships and capital for rural ICT4D. 4. Commerce Legal infrastructure to nurture and promote e-commerce and m-commerce must be spellt out, taking into considerations the special constraints and circumstances of rural communities. Online services (eg. e-government) should be designed with a mix of free and fee-based services so as to ensure commercial sustainability of rural ICT4D initiatives in the long run. As major consumers of ICT products and services, governments in developing countries can also lead by way of example in the use of ICT, implementing best organisational practices and spurring local markets in rural areas. 5. Progressive Attitudes towards Change A culture of change, knowledge and lifelong learning should be encouraged by rural communities and the government agencies serving them, along with an openness to a wide spectrum of ideas in the knowledge age. Policymakers should have the wisdom, conviction and commitment to change when and where necessary. Efficiency and innovation should become the hallmarks of national culture. Cultures of merit, analysis, professionalism and evidence-based decision-making should be embraced in rural ICT4D initiatives. Commitment to mainstreaming of gender parity issues should be incorporated at all levels. 6. Human Resources Measures should be implemented to increase ICT literacy in rural areas; private sector training institutes will play a major role here. Technical, managerial and design capacity should be built up in the adoption of ICT for rural communities, creation and maintenance of secure ICT infrastructure, and scaling up of rural ICT initiatives across dimensions of depth and breadth. Capacities should be built up not just in adoption of ICTs in rural areas, but in creativity with regard to devising new applications, R&D focus areas, and harvesting of local knowledge. Self-help groups and volunteer initiatives should be actively harnessed in this regard. 7. Alliancing Stakeholders in private, educational, government, donor and multilateral sectors must pro-actively form partnerships to ensure ethical and economic use of ICTs in rural communities. Multi-actor alliances targeting rural ICT4D initiatives should be encouraged and nurtured. 8. Investment Creating funding options for rural ICT4D initiatives should be explored, including venture capital, corporate foundations, donor grants, and revenue-sharing based on projected use. Special financing should be set aside for ICT initiatives involving marginalised communities, the disabled, refugees, migrant populations and youth. Financial sustainability of such rural infocentres should be a key focus, but not at the cost of social sustainability. 9. Regulatory Environment The optimum regulatory environment for the proliferation of successful rural ICT4D initiatives includes removal of restrictive import duties on ICTs, promotion of wireless communication channels, opening up of community media like radio, free flow of content, and funds for near-universal access to infrastructure and services in rural areas. 10. Alignment with Millenium Development Goals The desired targets enshrined in the Millenium Development Goals should be correspondingly incorporated in the form of relevant and appropriate metrics in the design of rural ICT4D initiatives. A clear focus on quantitative and qualitative metrics at the macro and micro level, for urban and rural communities should be incorporated at the level of traditional and new media initiatives.

1 0

World's First Global ICT Ranking
by Mailing List Manager 01 Dec '03

01 Dec '03

Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 16:59:39 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: I received this in my mail and thought it might be of interest to you all. Arun ITU Digital Access Index: World's First Global ICT Ranking Education and Affordability Key to Boosting New Technology Adoption Geneva, 19 November 2003 - The first global index to rank Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access has turned up some surprises. Slovenia ties France; and the Republic of Korea, usually not among the top ten in international ICT rankings, comes in fourth. Apart from Canada, ranked 10th, the top ten economies are exclusively Asian and European. The Digital Access Index (DAI) distinguishes itself from other indices by including a number of new variables, such as education and affordability. It also covers a total of 178 economies, which makes it the first truly global ICT ranking. Countries are classified into one of four digital access categories: high, upper, medium and low. Those in the upper category include mainly nations from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Gulf States and emerging Latin American nations. Many have used ICTs as a development enabler and government policies have helped them reach an impressive level of ICT access. This includes major ICT projects such as the Dubai Internet City in the United Arab Emirates (the highest ranked Arab nation in the DAI), the Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia (the highest ranked developing Asian nation) and the Cyber City in Mauritius (along with Seychelles, the highest ranked African nation). The DAI will be a useful tool for tracking the future advancement of these ambitious emerging economies. ...................... *** Full Article at: http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2003/30.html

1 0

Invisible Hand(s): Quality Assurance in the Age of Author Self-Archiving
by Gerry Mckiernan 29 Nov '03

29 Nov '03

Invisible Hand(s) Quality Assurance in the Age of Author Self-Archiving I am pleased to announce the publication of my recent contribution to Jekyll.comm: International Journal of Science Communication [ http://jekyll.sissa.it/jekyll_comm/home_eng.htm ] titled : "Invisible Hand(s) Quality Assurance in the Age of Author Self-Archiving," Jekyll.comm: International Journal of Science Communication no. 6 (September 2003) [ http://jekyll.sissa.it/jekyll_comm/commenti/foc06_01.ppt ] OR [http://jekyll.sissa.it/jekyll_comm/commenti/foc06_01.pdf ] [I am most grateful to Nico Pitrell for his kind invitation to submit to Jekyll.comm!] "Invisible Hand(s)" is one of four articles from the Focus section of Jekyll.comm devoted to Peer Review that also include contributions from Stevan Harnad, Marco Fabbrichesi, and Andrea Cerroni [ http://jekyll.sissa.it/jekyll_comm/focus_eng.htm ] The articles are extensions/continuations/elaborations of presentations made at the Peer Review in the Age of Open Archives held in Trieste, Italy, May 23-24, 2003 at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) (Gerry McKiernan, Stevan Harnad, Marco Fabbrichesi) or written for the Jekyll.comm feature (Andrea Cerroni). "Invisible Hand(s)" explores one of many issues related to Peer Reviewthat I address in the presentation prepared for the Trieste Workshop titled "Alternative Peer Review: Quality Management for 21st Century Scholarship" [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/APR-1.ppt ] [This is a LARGE file; please be patient] I would be Most Grateful for Any and All Comments, Queries, Critiques, Questions, or Cosmic Insights, about My World View(s) as presented in "Invisible Hand(s)" and/or "Alternative Peer Review." Regards, /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Invisible Librarian Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu

1 0

OSS: libData - subject pathfinders authoring application (fwd)
by Shyam Prasad pujar 29 Nov '03

29 Nov '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:10:22 -0500 From: Terry Kuny <terry.kuny(a)sympatico.ca> To: DIGLIB <diglib(a)infoserv.inist.fr> Subject: [DIGLIB] OSS: libData - subject pathfinders authoring application LibData LibData is a library oriented web based application which provides authoring environments for subject pathfinders (Research QuickStart), course related pages (CourseLib) and general purpose web pages (PageScribe). LibData encompasses all of these applications, but a typical installation need only take advantage of one or two of them -- great local variation and emphasis is possible. LibData was built with open source components ( Apache ,mySQL , and PHP ) and moved into production at the University of Minnesota for Fall Semester 2003. Our production instance at the University of Minnesota uses a different security mechanism (campus-wide x500), and has some additional development work for enterprise portal connectivity. Having and controlling easily-understood source code greatly enables this sort of localized integration. The project is approximately 34,000 lines of programming code, strongly function based (with a few objects thrown in), and is well documented internally. It was written in a fairly simple and consistent style which should be easily understood by Perl/c programmers wishing to make further contributions or customization. LibData is best approached as an application delivered over the web, rather than as a series of web pages with database components. More information at: URL: http://plato.lib.umn.edu/

1 0

Report on "An Economic Analysis of Scientific Research Publishing"
by HR Mohan 27 Nov '03

27 Nov '03

Dear friends, An interesting report on "An Economic Analysis of Scientific Research Publishing" from wellcome trust is available at: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/1/awtpubrepeas.html HR Mohan Chief Systems Manager, The Hindu, 859 Anna Salai, Madras 600002, INDIA Phone: 91-44-28413344 :: Fax : 91-44-28415325 Email: hrmohan(a)vsnl.com Web : http://www.hinduonline.com ============================================================================ The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge. -- Sir William Arthur Lewis. About the report ================ An Economic Analysis of Scientific Research Publishing This report provides a comprehensive analysis of an industry that generates some £22 billion annually. Most research findings are published in journals, generally run either by commercial publishers or learned societies. The growth of the web has created new opportunities for the dissemination of scientific information, but although scientific information is made available on the web, its use is restricted by the access policies of publishers. Journal subscriptions are a significant financial burden on institutional libraries and individual researchers, and present a major obstacle to the timely and comprehensive sharing and use of scientific information. The report has been published to support constructive dialogue between key players in the scientific publishing field - publishers, researchers, academic institutions and funders. The ultimate aim of this dialogue would be to develop a publishing system that meets the needs of all groups, and best promotes the public good of scientific work - that is, disseminates research outputs to all who have an interest in them. The findings of this report contributed to the Trust's position statement in support of Open Access Publishing.

1 0

SCI-based publication counts
by Mailing List Manager 27 Nov '03

27 Nov '03

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:14:28 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: I wish to alert you to a brief article I wrote for CURRENT SCIENCE on the use of publication indicators based on SCI. Please look up <http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/nov252003/1391.pdf>. Thanks and best wishes. Arun

1 0

Re: LIS-Forum Digest, Vol 8, Issue 18
by Mailing List Manager 25 Nov '03

25 Nov '03

Date: 25 Nov 2003 11:33:05 -0000 From: Subbiah Gunasekaran <gunasekaran_subbiah(a)rediffmail.com> Dear Members: I will be grateful if anyone could kindly send me the following reference in PDF. Nature Biotechnology, Volume 21, 01 Octber 2003, Page 1151-1152 Thanks S. Gunasekaran Library & Inf. Services CECRI Karaikudi 630 006 India.

1 0

Spiritual Literature
by prafulla＠nisc.co.in 25 Nov '03

25 Nov '03

Dear Mr Vijaya Kumara: You may find the following work by Prof Raju a good starting point. It is limited to South Indian states only. Documentary heritage of Indian libraries. Author: Raju, A. A. N. Source: New Delhi, Delhi: Ess Ess Publications, 2003; xviii, 328p. ISBN: 81-7000-358-X Abstract: The subject of this work is documentary heritage, which means "individual documents, collections, holdings and fonds which have intentionally or unintentionally been retained" by the libraries. Without these documentary resources our historical understanding of the world would have remained fragmentary. India, the country of ancient civilization and culture is dotted with famous libraries in various parts of the country. The growth and development of these libraries has been accelerated during the last three hundred years. Like other regions of India, South India too played a prominent role in the history of the country and its emergence as a nation. The southern states of India viz., Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka and Kerala have a rich tradition of existence of prominent and old libraries possessing very rare and valuable documentary sources. The present work Documentary Heritage of Indian Libraries deals with thirty two very old and famous libraries in the southern states of India. For the first time, an attempt has been made to study in depth, each of these libraries in respect of genesis and development, nature of collection, subject coverage, preservation and conservation, national and international level significance of documentary sources, organisation of the collection, accessibility of documentary heritage and an assessment of the library. This work is a small but a significant in the study of the state of our documentary heritage. It is hoped that this study will prompt and encourage the researchers and the others, interested in our documentary heritage to undertake similar study to know the state of our documentary heritage in other parts of the country and bring to the notice of the concerned authority at the state and national levels, the urgent need for initiating necessary measures to safeguard our rare and invaluable documentary heritage. Table of Contents: A. Introduction. B. Libraries surveyed. C. Profiles of libraries. I. Andhra Pradesh: 1. Oriental Research Institute Library, S. V. University, Tirupati. 2. State Central Library, Hyderabad. 3. A. P. Govt. Oriental Mss Library and Research Institute, Hyderabad. 4. Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute Library, Hyderabad. 5. Sri. Gowtami Regional Library, Rajahmundry. 6. Salarjung Museum Library, Hyderabad. 7. Bharat Gunvardhak Sanstha Library, Hyderabad. II. Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry: 8. Government Oriental Mss Library, Chennai. 9. The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute Library, Chennai. 10. Maraimalai Adigal Library, Chennai. 11. Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Iyer Library, Chennai. 12. The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Chennai. 13. Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswati Mahal Library, Thanjavur. 14. Connemera Public Library, Chennai. 15. Gopal Rao Public Library, Kumbakonam. 16. The Pennington Public Library, Srivilliputtur. 17. French Institute of Pondicherry Library, Pondicherry. III. Karnataka: 18. State Central Library, Bangalore. 19. Kannada Sahitya Parishat Library, Bangalore. 20. Karnataka Vidya Vardhaka Sangha Library, Dharwad. 21. Oriental Research Institute Library, University of Mysore, Mysore. 22. Kannada Research Institute Library, Karnataka University, Dharward. 23. The Mythic Society Library, Bangalore. 24. Archeological Survey of India, (epigraphy branch) Library, Mysore. IV. Kerala: 25. Sri Chithira Thirunal Grandhasala, Trivandrum. 26. Ernakulam Public Library, Kochi. 27. Trivandrum Public Library (State Central Library), Trivandrum. 28. Oriental Research Institute and Mss Library, University of Kerala, Trivandrum. 29. Trichur Public Library, Thrissur. 30. Kottayam Public Library, Kottayam. 31. Quilon Public Library, Kollam. 32. Kerala Sahitya Akademi Library, Thrissur. D. Analysis of data. E. Conclusions and suggestions. Appendices. Index. Language: English Thank you Sincerely TV Prafulla Chandra Senior Editor --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NISC Export Services Pvt. Ltd. (an affiliate of NISC International, Inc. USA) S-1 Ballad Estates, St.Ann's School Road, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500 017 Andhra Pradesh, India - Tel:+91 40 27001517 Tel/Fax:+91 40 27002538 WWW.NISC.COM A company in service to NISC worldwide. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Dr. Vinod Chachra, CEO VTLS Wins Ernst & Young Virginia Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2003 (fwd)
by Mailing List Manager 25 Nov '03

25 Nov '03

Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 14:55:26 -0500 From: Dr. Ramesh C. Gaur <rcgaur(a)tifr.res.in> Dear friends, Pl. join me in congratulating Dr. Vinod Chachra, CEO and Chairman, VTLS INC. ( An International company engaged in Digitization and Library Automation) on receiving the Ernst & Young Virginia Entrepreneur Award Of The Year� 2003. Regards Ramesh

1 0

Re: [LIS-Forum] Spiritual literatrue
by Mailing List Manager 25 Nov '03

25 Nov '03

Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 22:37:47 +0530 (IST) From: Hema Prem <hema(a)mgmt.iisc.ernet.in> see if this helps http://www.iisc.ernet.in/ssangha/ http://www.sudarshana.net/ regards hema On Mon, 24 Nov 2003, Mailing List Manager wrote: > Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 09:47:42 +0000 (GMT) > From: "[iso-8859-1] vijaya kumara" <vijayakumar71(a)yahoo.co.in> > > Dear professionals, > > Can any one of you will inform me the name & address of the librareis, > which are concentrated on on Spiritual literatrue and the collection like > "Nadi Shastra, Vedas, Brahma Suthra's and Yogavashita" > > Waiting for your kind response > > Regards > > Vijayakumar > > > ***************************************************************** > Vijayakumar M, Learning Resource Centre, Beams International > Education Institute, P O Box 31199, Dubai, United Arab Emirates > > > > _______________________________________________ > LIS-Forum mailing list > LIS-Forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in > http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum > -- Hema Prem Research Student Dept of Management Studies Indian Institute Of Science Bangalore - 12 Ph: 91-80-3604538,2933269 (Lab) 91-80-2932291 (hostel) Room # 34 Fax: 91-80- 3604534

1 0