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Sad Demise of Dr. Cholin
by N.S. Harinarayana 16 Jan '06

16 Jan '06

It is indeed a very shocking news. It is even more sad that the person who has been working hard for the forthcoming CALIBER 2006 conference has died on the eve of the event. I have not had the opportunity of meeting Dr. Cholin in person. However, I have heard about him and known him through his good deeds. It is cruel for the nature to take away a very young professional from us. I pray the almighty to rest his soul in peace. -- N.S.Harinarayana Ph.D Department of Library and Information Science University of Mysore Manasagangotri, Mysore 570 006 Ph: 2419393 !DSPAM:43cb1afb313379635377687!

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Conference on Digital Libraries
by Subbiah Arunachalam 16 Jan '06

16 Jan '06

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Joint Conference on Digital Libraries - Opening Information Horizons (JCDL 2006) ======================================================================== June 11-15, 2006 - Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA http://www.jcdl2006.org/ The Joint Conference on Digital Libraries is a major international forum focusing on digital libraries and associated technical, practical, and social issues. JCDL encompasses the many meanings of the term "digital libraries," including (but not limited to) new forms of information institutions; operational information systems with all manner of digital content; new means of selecting, collecting, organizing, and distributing digital content; digital preservation and archiving; and theoretical models of information media, including document genres and electronic publishing. Call for Papers --------------- Submissions for papers, panels, workshops, tutorials, demonstrations, and posters are now being accepted. Read Paper Submission for more information. Keynotes -------- Getting Books Online: Practices and Strategies - Daniel Clancy, Engineer Director for Google Print David Ferriero - Andrew W. Mellon, Director and Chief Executive The Research Libraries New York Public Library - Daniel Greenstein, University Librarian, California Digital Library Open Information: Redaction, Restriction, and Removal - Jonathan Zittrain, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School and Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford Important Dates ---------------- January 20, 2006 Full papers, panels, workshops and tutorial proposals due February 3, 2006 Short papers, posters and demonstrations due March 3, 2006 Acceptance notices emailed out April 7, 2006 Final versions due Organizing Committee -------------------- Conference Chair - Gary Marchionini (march(a)ils.unc.edu) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Treasurer - Barbara Wildemuth (wildem(a)ils.unc.edu) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Program Co-Chairs - Michael L. Nelson (mln(a)cs.odu.edu) Old Dominion University - Cathy Marshall (cathymar(a)microsoft.com) Microsoft Local Arrangements Chair - Elizabeth A. Evans (uevans(a)email.unc.edu) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Publicity Chairs - Wanda Monroe (wmonroe(a)email.unc.edu) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Jose Borbinha (jlb(a)ist.utl.pt) IST - Lisbon Technical University, Portugal - Ee-Peng Lim (aseplim(a)ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Registration Chair - Marianne Afifi (marianne.afifi(a)csun.edu) California State University, Northridge Sponsorship Chair - Ron Larsen (rlarsen(a)pitt.edu) University of Pittsburgh Workshop Chair - Javed Mostafa (jm(a)indiana.edu) Indiana University Poster Chairs - Richard Furuta (furuta(a)cs.tamu.edu) Texas A&M University Tutorial Chair - Herbert Van de Sompel (herbertv(a)lanl.gov) Los Alamos National Laboratory Demos Chair - Xia Lin (xlin(a)cis.drexel.edu) Drexel University Student Volunteers Chair - Jeff Pomerantz (jpom(a)email.unc.edu) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Doctoral Consortium Chair - Christine Borgman (borgman(a)gseis.ucla.edu) UCLA Conference webmaster - Jackson Fox (jacksonfox(a)gmail.com) Lulu.com Program Committee ------------------ Ghaleb Abdulla, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Robert Allen, Drexel University William Y. Arms, Cornell University Thomas Baker, Goettingen State and University Library, Germany Bruce Barkstrom, NASA Langley Research Center Marcia Bates, University of California, Los Angeles Kurt Bollacker, Long Now Foundation Johan Bollen, Old Dominion University Jose Borbinha, Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Portugal Christine Borgman, University of California, Los Angeles George Buchanan, University College London, UK Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto, Canada Lillian Cassel, Villanova University Donatella Castelli, Institute of Information Science and Technologies, Italy Jose H. Canos Cerda, Technical University of Valencia, Spain Ching-chih Chen, Simmons College Patrick Chiu, FX Palo Alto Laboratory Mike Christel, Carnegie-Mellon University Paul L Conway, Duke University Gregory Crane, Tufts University Sally Jo Cunningham, University of Waikato, New Zealand Beth Davis-Brown, Library of Congress Tim DiLauro, Johns Hopkins University Schubert Foo, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Edward Fox, Virginia Tech Norbert Fuhr, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany Dave Fulker, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Richard Furuta, Texas A&M University Geri Gay, Cornell University Gary Geisler, University of Texas Sarah Giersch, Association of Research Libraries Lee Giles, Pennsylvania State University Gene Golovchinsky, FX Palo Alto Laboratory Jane Greenberg, University of North Carolina Kenneth Hamma, J Paul Getty Center Bradley Hemminger, University of North Carolina Geneva Henry, Rice University Carol Hutchins, New York University Lee Iverson, University of British Columbia, Canada Greg Janée, University of California, Santa Barbara Christopher Jermaine, University of Florida William Jones, University of Washington Min-Yen Kan, National University of Singapore, Singapore Jaewoo Kang, North Carolina State University Nancy Kaplan, University of Baltimore Diane Kelly, University of North Carolina Mick Khoo, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Traugott Koch, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK Alberto H. F. Laender, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil Carl Lagoze, Cornell University Ray R. Larson, University of California, Berkeley Dongwon Lee, Pennsylvania State University John Leggett, Texas A&M University Ee Peng Lim, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Joan K. Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information Xiaoming Liu, Los Alamos National Laboratory Russanne Low, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Clifford Lynch, Coalition for Networked Information Jim Martin, University of Colorado Cliff McKnight, Loughborough University, UK Reagan Moore, San Diego Supercomputing Center Adrienne Muir, Loughborough University, UK Erich Neuhold, Fraunhofer-IPSI, Germany Jeffrey Pomerantz, University of North Carolina Edie Rasmussen, University of British Columbia, Canada Andreas Rauber, Vienna University of Technology, Austria Joyce Ray, Institute of Museum and Library Services Mimi Recker, Utah State University J. Alfredo Sanchez, Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico Rudi Schmiede, Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany Frank Shipman, Texas A&M University Wes Shumar, Drexel University Ingeborg Solvberg, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Lisa M. Spiro, Rice University Shigeo Sugimoto, University of Tsukuba, Japan Hussein Suleman, University of Cape Town, South Africa Tamara Sumner, University of Colorado Josie Taylor, Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, UK Constantino Thanos, Institute of Information Science and Technologies, Italy Helen Tibbo, University of North Carolina Herbert Van de Sompel, Los Alamos National Laboratory Eric Van de Velde, California Institute of Technology Ian H Witten, University of Waikato, New Zealand Mike Wright, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research ____________________________________ Prof. José Borbinha (jlb(a)ist.utl.pt) http://www.dei.ist.utl.pt/~jlb DEI/IST/UTL - Departamento de Engenharia Informática (Department of Information Systems and Computer Engineering) INESC-ID - Grupo de Sistemas de Informação (Information Systems Group)

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Europe should adopt OA!
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Jan '06

15 Jan '06

Letter to the Editor ----------------------- Dear Editor of InfoWorld: I read the article "Europe's 'Google killer' goes into hiding" by James Niccolai. It is all very well to talk about Airbus and Quero as rivals to Boeing and Google (or Yahoo!). What actually matters for Europe is their science, where the USA is the undisputed leader for the past several decades. And if Europe were to match, let alone overtake the United States, in science then they should go whole hog for OPEN ACCESS. Every paper published by an European scientist should be available free on an interoperable institutional open access archive. Only then many others will see what European scientists publish and will have a chance to cite European research in their own papers. [Remember already Europe suffers because the world of science English centric and many Europeans write their research papers in other European languages.] Many studies have shown that research papers available on open access channels are cited far more often than those which are available only through subscribtion journals. Fortunately for Europe, institutions such as the Wellcome Trust, CERN, the Open Society Institute, the Electronic Publishing Trust, Bioline International, etc, are proactively promoting open access in Europe. Unfortunately, many commercial publishing firms in Europe are putting forward spurious arguments to stall the open access movement, and even venerable institutions such as the Royal Society has fallen prey to these arguments! The European leaders should make a call for mandating all publicly funded research to be made accessible through open access channels. They should also encourage the rest of the world to adopt OA. That is the only way Europe can break US hegomony in science and scholarship. Best wishes. Subbiah Arunachalam Distinguished Fellow M S Swaminathan Research Foundation Chennai 600 113 India

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A carrot, an egg & a cup pf coffee
by Dr.P.V.Konnur 15 Jan '06

15 Jan '06

Dear Friends, It seems that this was too good of a life lesson not to pass on! A carrot, an egg and a cup of coffee... You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?" Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?" Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches. "It's easier to build a child than repair an adult." You might want to send this message to those people who mean something to you (I JUST DID); to those who have touched your life in one way or another; to those who make you smile when you really need it; to those who make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down; to those whose friendship you appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your life. May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. Let us all pray God to give courage and make Mrs.Hema Cholin to face the Life. Our entire profession will be behind her. Konnur Dr.P.V.Konnur, University Librarian, Bangalore University Library, Jnana Bharathi, Bangalore-560 056 Phone: o8o-22961131, 080-23215510 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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India's participation in OCA
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Jan '06

15 Jan '06

The following organizations have donated services, facilities, tools, or funding to the Open Content Alliance (OCA), in order to help build a digital archive of global content for universal access. [To inquire about becoming a contributor, please e-mail us at <oca.archive.org>]. Adobe Systems Incorporated Biodiversity Heritage Library, a cooperative project of: American Museum of Natural History Harvard University Botany Libraries Harvard University, Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology Missouri Botanical Garden Natural History Museum, London The New York Botanical Garden Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Smithsonian Institution Libraries Boston Public Library Columbia University Emory University European Archive HP Labs Internet Archive Johns Hopkins University Libraries McMaster University Memorial University of Newfoundland Missouri Botanical Garden MSN National Archives (United Kingdom) National Library of Australia O'Reilly Media Prelinger Archives Research Libraries Group (RLG) Rice University Simon Fraser University Smithsonian Institution Libraries University of British Columbia University of California University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Information and Library Science University of Ottawa University of Pittsburgh University of Texas University of Toronto University of Virginia Washington University William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Xerox Corporation Yahoo! York University ------ Should not India's leading libraries join OCA? I urge Directors and librarians of IISc, IITs, NITs and Vice Chancellors of leading Indian universities to have a look at the OCA website. Subbiah Arunachalam

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Open Content Alliance
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Jan '06

15 Jan '06

Friends: Many institutions - with large library collections - have joined the Open Content Alliance in order to help build a digital archive of global content for universal access. Please see <http://www.opencontentalliance.org/contributors.html>, As far as I know, no Indian institution has joined OCA so far. It is time that we become part of this worldwide initiative of great importance. Our leading academic institutions, publicly funded laboratories, research institutions in the fields of arts, humanities, culture and public policy can all join Open Content Alliance and gain great visibility for their work. Subbiah Arunachalam

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The role of librarians in today's world
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Jan '06

15 Jan '06

Friends: A few days ago I spoke at a conference at DRTC about the need for LIS professionals to ACT and also find a role in these fast changing times. This morning I found the following article summary in Peter Suber's blog. -------------- Librarians in the age of digitization and OA Barbara Quint, The Home Guard, The Searcher, January 2006. Excerpt: What would you do if you had a personal home library numbering in the thousands or even hundreds of thousands of books? Hire a librarian, right?! Well, thats just what every Web user has as the mammoth book digitization projects by Google, the Open Content Alliance (OCA), Microsoft, Yahoo!, et al., open up their public domain collections. Project Gutenberg has offered tens of thousands of such texts for years. The U.S. Government Printing Office continues to load documents born in public domain, promising eternal archives for them. The open access movement has put masses of scholarly content, similar to what one would expect to find in an academic librarys periodical collection, into the line of sight of Yahoo! Search, Google Scholar, Scirus, and other free Web search engines. And thats only the material that resembles the traditional content formats that people expect librarians to handle books and magazines. Then theres all the content out there on the open Web from authoritative or semi-authoritative or hit-or-miss Web sites. How is a user to tell the wheat from the chaff, the plums from the prunes, the true from the false? Hire an information professional, right?! Well, we know they need us, but do they?...If we information professionals, we librarians, want to serve users, we have to bring our services to where and when the user needs us....Lets start with three basic principles and one overall goal. Principle One: Our solutions operate on Web time and in Web calendars, i.e., 24/7/365 (366 in leap year). Principle Two: Our solutions conserve our time, energy, and expertise by solving problems as Web-wide as possible. Principle Three: Moving a vendor to provide a solution constitutes a successful solution for us. Goal One: We need to get credit for our solutions, if only in order to get enough influence and resources to make more. Time to roll up our virtual sleeves and get to work. ---- Best wishes. Subbiah Arunachalam

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Dr Cholin
by Shyam Prasad pujar 14 Jan '06

14 Jan '06

Dear Members, It is very sad, the unfortunate and untimely demise of Dr Veeranna Cholin, Scientist-B, INFLIBNET on Jan 12th, 2006 at Ahmedabad. He was just 37 years old. He was a wonderful person, rising star and born leader always ready to face any kind of challenges with a smile. Started his career with INFLIBNET in 1994-95 after his MLISC and one year training at NCSI, Bangalore. As I know, he worked at different sections of INFLIBNET and finally, before his demise, he was in-charge of Informatics Division and looking after UGC-Infonet consortium of e-journals. His contributions made UGC-INFONET consortium of e-journals a very successful programme of INFLIBNET. He contributed lot towards modernization of University Libraries in India under Inflibnet programme of UGC. He visited USA under Fulbright scholarship in 2005 and worked with OhioLink under the guidance of Mr Tom Sanville, Executive Director, OhioLink. He studied various consortia models of e-journals in USA and compared these with Inflibnet's UGC-Infonet consortium. It is a great loss to the profession and it is an irreplaceable loss for his family, who has left with a wife and two sons, mother, brother and sisters. As a friend, I had an opportunity to spend some time with him, know his works during his career spanning around 12 years. Regards, S.M. Pujar Asst Librarian IGIDR, Mumbai

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Sad news for Library Professionals
by akhtar hussain 14 Jan '06

14 Jan '06

When checked lis forum,i see news about Dr.V.S. Cholin,scientist B INFLIBNET,i deeply schocked about him,GOD give peace his memory. Akhtar Hussain Research Scholar, Depptt.Lib.& Information Science AMU,Aligarh-202002. When checked lis forum,i see news about Dr.V.S. Cholin,scientist B INFLIBNET,i deeply schocked about him,GOD give peace his memory. Akhtar Hussain Research Scholar, Depptt.Lib.& Information Science AMU,Aligarh-202002. http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigclick.cgi/www.rediff.com/signa… http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigimpress.cgi/www.rediff.com/sig…

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Sad Demise of Dr. Cholin, INFLIBNET, UGC
by Dr. R M Vatnal 13 Jan '06

13 Jan '06

We are shocked to know the sudden and untimely demise of Dr. V S Cholin at the INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad yesterday forenoon. Dr. Cholin was a illustrious and model student of the department whose disciplined life and dedicated services are worth emulating by all the professionals. He came up in the profession very fast and exhibited the talent, skill and ability much beyond his age. He was instrumental in promoting INFLIBNET by propagating the UGC-INFLIBNET-INFONET movement all over the country. Through his well attended and well soughtafter lectures on Use of E-Journals Awareness Programmes, he has attracted the attention of active academic research and teaching community and has carved a niche in the profession for himself. During his Fulbright Fellowship Programme in USA Ohio link and Ohio State University, he has utilized each and every second and minute for the benefit of the INFLIBNET and has given a visibility to the INFONET Programme. Dr. Cholin was a broad hearted everloving professional friend who was always eager to help the fresh graduates for placement. He has served the cause of researchers to speedup their research by making access to information beyond the four walls of the library and across the borders of the country. In a very short span of 5 years, Dr. Cholin has emerged as a champion of the INFONET Consortia and by his death the country and LIS profession in general and Karnatak University in particular has lost a noble son of the land. We are all aware of the grave situation the young family of Dr. Cholin is facing in the days to come. The loss is irreparable and unbearable. We all sincerely pray Almighty to grace the strength and cool mind to the family of the departed soul. We all are with Mrs. Hema Cholin and their 2 sons and also with the entire family of Dr. Cholin to share their sorrow. We offer our condolences to Mrs. Hema Cholin and pray in lord that "May his soul rest in peace." DHARWAD 13.01.2006 Students, Teachers Department of Library and Information Science And Staff of the University Library Karnatak University, Dharwad. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dr. R M VATNAL Head, Computer Section, University Library, Karnatak University, Dharwad - 580 003 INDIA Ph: 0836-2747121 Ext: 313(O) 2770907(R) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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