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FW: On RTI Act
by MP Tapaswi 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear Professional colleagues, I have been reading the views whether a Librarian should be PIO (Public Information Officer) or not with interest. It is always a business of Lib & Info Professional (LIP) when it comes to dealing with information. However, in current scenario note that everything is information and it is wise not to place our hands in every information that exists. RTI act was introduced in 2005 with a very broad interest to promote transparency and accountability in the offices where the Government funding is received. Any citizen of India now using this act can ask information from any office (designated as public authority) and the office is bound to give it. Providing information is close to the hearts of LIPs. The PIO is a very "powerful" person in the public authority and seek information from other colleagues in the organization. Having given this authority to the PIO, very large responsibility has also been bestowed on him/her. The Central Information Commission (CIC) views it very seriously if the information is not provided within the stipulated time (30 days) and also if the information is not provided if it is proved to exist (of course, there are certain items of disclosure and the definition of information itself indicates what all could be provided). As such it is, no doubt, an interesting process something beyond books for LIPs to handle. But not all roses! I am a PIO for our institute since the act came into force and so far answered 75 queries (note that each query has several paragraphs ranging from 10 to 250 nos!). Over 95% of the queries that have been answered are to satisfy personal interests (seem to be) and not public interests for which the act has been introduced. Moreover, with whatever sincerity you dispose off the requests, the querying person hardly gets satisfied with the replies and the process, at times, continues up to the level of two appeals. Lot of time is 'invested' (if some one does not like to use a word 'wasted') for an unproductive (in my opinion) work leaving aside the normal professional duties that take away peace of mind. I would sum up saying it is an interesting job for those having a temperament like an advocate, who can read through the words and play with the words and arguments. Let me also indicate that who so ever the PIOs I came across so far (either LIPs or from other profession), are doing this job because it has been 'assigned' to them. Of course, a human mind always feels someone else's job is better than theirs! With warm regards, Dr Murari P Tapaswi Natl Info Centre for Marine Sciences (NICMAS) National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) Dona Paula 403 004 Goa, India Phone: 91-832-2450275; Fax: 91-832-2450602 Visit websites: http://www.nio.org; http://www.mangroveindia.org -----Original Message----- From: lis-forum-bounces(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in [mailto:lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of Kshipra Sardesai Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 8:14 PM To: rajankila(a)hotmail.com Cc: Lis forum Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] On RTI Act Dear LIS Professionals, I also agree with K Rajashekharan views about RTI Act professionals as Librarians.I would like to add some more points to that. 1. Librarians have approach of solving the problems. 2. They are good listeners and ability to know the subject. 3. Librarians are polite and servicing attitudes 4. Cataloguing and classification experts 5. They are expert in preservation, retrieval and dissemination . 6. To get the best implemtation of RTI Act among the common people they are the proper persons to guide in a correct fashion. 7. Reagrding Govt Procedures and regulations these things are to be trained to every professionals and once this type of training and knowledge is given then LIS professionals will definately give best outputs. 8. The Information Technology updates are being accepted by this profession 9. If such officer fron LIS is in this field and if he is in rural region, definately there will be more coordination from rural people to Librarian than a govt professional or other IPS professional.Rural people have fear and complex about Govt employees but they respect and listen to their librarians. 10. This will give status and Yes the job satisfaction too. Regards Mrs Kshipra Sardesai Librarian, RBI, DESACS Bandra sOn 3/11/08, Rajan <rajankila(a)hotmail.com> wrote: Dear Shri P Vyasamoorty, As a person with very good knowledge about RTI act and its requirements, I would suggest that librarians are not very suitable for working as State Public Information Officers(SPIO) in the Institutions they work. The job requirements of SPIO are to receive applications, ensure access to information and dispose of applications after careful examination of merit of each one. Under the RTI Act. the cataloging, arrangement and retrieval of information need to be done by the concerned officer and not by anyone else including the SPIO. As well, an officer in sufficient command and authority in that office is the right choice for the position of SPIO so as to ensure easy access to information through the subordinate officers. The job of SPIO involves a lot of quasi-judicial decision making on which librarians are ill-equipped unlike the administrative personnel. As RTI involves a lot of administrative re-arrangement of records, the librarians can do a lot in that area, particularly in numbering and cataloguing of them. Best Regards, K Rajasekharan Librarian, Kerala Institute of Local Administration(KILA) Mulagunnathukavu, Thrissur - 680581 , India ----- Original Message ----- From: "Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy" <vyasamoorthy(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Right to Information Act -Jobs should be given to Information Professionals To: "vasanth raj" I am sorry to reply this message after such a long gap. Vasanth has raised an important issue. He states that Librarians are better suited to work as Information Officers and that they are neglected. I would like to ask a few questions and elicit views of LIS personnel on these: How many librarians know what is this monster RTI all about? What is the role of RTI officer in a govt institution? What type of information is the scope of RTI Officer? How is the librarian better suited? What do we librarians learn or know about Govt way of files (& records) organization - numbering, generation, storing, retrieving, archiving, rules governing files & documents & records preservation and conservation etc? How about confidentiality coding and providing restricted access? How about documents relating to public -- say birth certificates. With absolutely no theoretical or practical knowledge of any of these things how do librarians claim that they are better suited? The RTI was talked about for a number of years before becoming law. Why did not LIS schools provide changes in the curriculam to mould librarians into RTI officers? Well I have a lot of doubts. Any comments? -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner <http://www.mailscanner.info/> , and is believed to be clean. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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National Seminar on Scope of Retrieval for Assimilation March 27 – 28, 2008 Organised by Department of Library and Information Science Vidyasagar University Medinipur (Sk Abdul Azim)
by Sk. Abdul Azim 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear Professionals Department of Library and Information Science ,Vidyasagar University ,Medinipur Organised a National Seminar on Scope of Retrieval for Assimilation March 27 – 28, 2008 Target Audience Apart from LIS professionals, teachers, researchers, and students; media personal, IT specialists, psychologists, linguistics, alongwith information users from different disciplines and activities are expected to participate and render their experiences and suggestions on the seminar topic. Call for Papers We invite articles on the aforementioned sub-themes. Full paper in MSWord, references following Indian Standard (IS:2381-1978) in CD or by e-mail and a hard copy of the same must reach us by 20th March, 2008. Venue Department of Library and Information Science Vidyasagar University Midnapore About the Place The weather is normally soothing cool during this time. Numerous historically important sites, forests are the added attractions of this place. How to Reach the Venue Nearest Rail Station: Medinipur (about 15 km. by road from Kharagpur). From Medinipur Rail Station/ Bus Terminus Autorickshaws, Buses and Rickshaws are available. Accommodation Accommodation of outstation participants may be arranged if request is sent at least ten days before the Seminar. Participants will have to bear the charges. Registration Fees Student (V. U.) Rs. 100.00 Others Rs. 200.00 Payment should be made by Cash / DD in favour of the Dept. of Library and Information Science, Vidyasagar University. Filled in Registration Form and Fees must reach on or before March 24, 2008. All Communication should Address: Dr. Goutam Maity Organizing Secretary National Seminar on Scope of Retrieval for Assimilation March 27 – 28, 2008 Dept. of Library and Information Science Medinipur - 721 102 West Bengal, India Ph. (03222) 267 554/555/557/558 Extn. 448 Mob: 9434991159 e-mail: dlisc(a)vu.ernet.in gmaity(a)vidyasagar.ac.in gm_vu(a)yahoo.co.in Sub Themes The following sub themes may be considered in this connection: I) Variables of psychological make up of user(s) and their influence on retrieval for assimilation; II) Cognitive models of existing knowledge generation process; III) Problems of intellectual access for assimilation; IV) Problems of interaction of non-users and potential users with formal retrieval systems; V) Media for Communication; the right choice for absorption; VI) Philosophy of existing IR models in terms of assimilation; VII) Traditional and emerging tools and techniques, and their impact in assimilation process; VIII) Evaluation of retrieval systems, keeping central focus on assimilation; IX) Trends of retrieval for assimilation Application Form National Seminar on Scope of Retrieval for Assimilation March 27 –28, 2008 Name ………………………………. (Block letter) Age ………………………………….. Designation ………………………….. Name of Employer / Institute: ………… .. ………………………………………. Address (Office): …………………… …………………………….………… ……………………………………….. E-mail: ………………………………. Whether Deputed (Yes / No): ……….. Educational Qualifications: ………..… Registration Fee: ……………..…….... Address for Communication: ……………..………...…………….. . …………………………….…………………………………………….…… ……………………………….……… Signature of the Applicant With Regards Sk Abdul Azim Project Fellow Department of Library and Information Science University of Calcutta Kolkata-73 email- azimmid(a)yahoo.co.in Mobile +91-9733960550 Now you can chat without downloading messenger. Go to http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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National Workshop on Newgenlib Software (May 17-19, 2008) - Call for participation
by ANIL SINGH 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear friends and Professional Colleagues, Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida is conducting three days Workshop on NewGenLib Open Source Library Automation Software from 17-19 May 2008. The detals of the workshop is given on the Institute's website (www.bimtech.ac.in) or you may also contact to organising secretary on the address given below. Rishi Tiwari Organizing Secretary & Librarian Birla Institute of Management Technology Plot No 5,Knowledge Park-II Greater Noida (NCR) 201306 Tele-0120-2323001-10(O) 09810583623(Mob.) Website : www.bimtech.ac.in, E-mail : newgenlib.workshop(a)gmail.com Kindly circulate this to all your professional colleagues and friends. Dr. ANIL SINGH Division of Library, Documentation and Information National Council of Educational Research and Training Sri Aurobindo Marg New Delhi - 110016 Mobile 09868167052 E-mail: dr_anilsingh(a)rediffmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Post free property ads on Yello Classifieds now! www.yello.in http://ss1.richmedia.in/recurl.asp?pid=221 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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DESIDOC Journal of Library and Information Technology now Open Access...
by Shamprasad Pujar 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear Members, DESIDOC Journal of Library and Information Technology published by DESIDOC is now available as open access journal w.e.f. Jan 2008. Open Journal System of Public Knowledge Project, a open source journal management and publishing system has been used to make its contents available online. You can access DESIDOC Journal.... at: <http://publications.drdo.gov.in/ojs/index.php/djlit/index>http://publications.drdo.gov.in/ojs/index.php/djlit/index Regards, Dr Shamprasad M. Pujar Deputy Librarian Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Gen Vaidya Marg, Film City Road, Goregaon (East) MUMBAI-400 065, India Phone: 91-22-2841 6565 ; 2840 0919 Ext: 565 E-mail: pujar(a)igidr.ac.in URL: http://www.igidr.ac.in -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Mountain View Public Library with LibChip RFID
by DINESH SIDDAIAH 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear Friends, "Mountain View Public Library achieves 98% Patron Self-Checkout on First Day with RFID". The Mountain View Public Library has embarked on a new era of patron service and circulation efficiency with the reopening of its library, complete with a new and comprehensive LibChip RFID and Automated Materials Handling System from Libramation. More details on this achievement is available in "Library Technology Guide", http://www.librarytechnology.org/. Thanking You, Dinesh -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Need Information Urgently
by nandeesh nandu 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear professionals, Let me know, Any Indian Universities given Distance Education in Master of Hospital Management or MBA in Hospital Management. Thanks and regards, B. Nandeesha, Deputy Librarian, IIITB, Electronic City, Bangalore - 100. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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LIS Online Exam
by DINESH SIDDAIAH 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear Friends, "Information Society Today" http://www.infosciencetoday.org/exam.htm, providing Library and Information Science free online Examination. Its intention is to provide vast information about library and information science that may help for viva-voce, interviews and any other library and information science competitive exam. This site can be visted most frequently as new items will be added from time to time. *Two sets of online exams are available, * LIS Online Exam one contains 50 questions LIS Online Exam two contains 20 questions Thanking You, Dinesh K S -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Comment on NewGenLib - A.T. Francis, KAU
by Aloor Thomas Francis 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear Professionals, It is a great proud and pleasure for the Indian Library and Information Professionals that VSPL and KIIKM could develop a very good ILMS and made it free for all libraries. The leadership taken by Dr. Haravu and his team is painstaking and remarkable. Several LIS professionals have already appreciated these efforts. I think the comments made in the CALIBER 08 will not only affect the progress of the software but also give extra enthusiasm for the developers and users as well. A.T. FRANCIS KERALA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY A.T. FRANCIS HEAD, LIBRARY COLELGE OF HORTICULTURE KERALA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY THRISSUR - 680 656, INDIA francisaloor(a)yahoo.com francisaloor@gmailcom Why delete messages? Unlimited storage is just a click away. Go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Librarian Post of KV
by vijay kumar 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

Dear Library Professionals, Application are invited for special recruitment drive to fill up backlog reserved vacancy for SC and ST community for the year 2007-08 Post: Librarian 12 post(SC-7 ST -5) Pay Scale 5500-9000 Last Date: 15th April 2008 For details advertisement visit Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanganthan website http://www.kvsangathan.nic.in/ Thanks and with best wishes Vijay Kumar NCSI -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Lecture invitation
by SRELS 15 Mar '08

15 Mar '08

Dear Moderator, Kindly arrange to announce the following invitation for the benefit of lis-forum members. Thank you, Yours truly, K.N. Prasad Executive Officer, SRELS, Bangalore ******** The Chairman & members of the Board of Trustees of the Ranganathan Centre for Information Stuides in association with the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science cordially invite you to a Special Lecture on 'COLON' AS AN ONTOLOGY by Prof. Michael Shepherd Dean, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada on Thursday, 27th March 2008 at 6.00 p.m. at 702, 'Upstairs', 42nd Cross, III Block, Rajajinagar, Bangalore 560 010 RSVP: K.S. Raghavan Ph:9448041026 E-mail: ksragav(a)hotmail.com K.N. Prasad 23305109 srels(a)dataone.in -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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