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

Robot Librarians
by Mailing List Manager 03 Aug '04

03 Aug '04

Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 11:12:56 +0530 (IST) From: Poornima Narayan <poornima(a)css.nal.res.in> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 14:36:38 +0530 (IST) From: Poornima Narayan <poornima(a)css.nal.res.in> To: lis-forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Subject: Robot Librarians Dear Professionals Came across an interesting article which has appeared in today's (30th July 2004) Indian Express (Youth Express). If Robots are going to manage the future libraries, what is the future of L & IS Professionals? Robot Librarians ******* A group of robotics researchers at University Jaume I in Spain is working on a robot librarian. The prototype has cameras, sensors and grippers so it can locate and collect a book. The hope is that one day, teams of service robots could work in libraries. The question of safety is what has been deterring the use of robots outside of the factory to work in domains surrounded by people, explains Professor Angel del Pobil. Mixing robots and humans in an unstructured, uncontrolled environment, where there are all manner of obstacles to negotiate, could have unpredictable results. Professor Pobil thinks libraries are the best place to start introducing robots into public spaces, or at least to start showing that the technology is possible and works. The robot is a mobile manipulator which means that it is a vehicle with three wheels, Professor Pobil says. It has an arm with seven joints, two fingers which form a gripper, and two micro cameras on its wrist. Four sensors built into its gripper senses the force it is applying. When it receives a request for a book, its voice recognition software matches the titles with the book's classification code in the database. It can then search the database to identify which bookshelf to go to. Because the database will only give an approximate location, the robot will navigate its way to the bookshelf, using its infrared and laser guidance system, and scan books within a four-metre radius. Once it is in there, it starts using its cameras, says the professor. By moving the arm with the cameras, it takes an image of the bookshelf. It can read the labels and the position of the book using its image processing and optical recognition software. Once the book is located, it has to grasp it and take it off the bookshelf. For this, the team had to develop special fingertips like nails, with one nail longer than the other. Professor Pobil says there is quite a possibility that teams of robots could, in about five years' time, realistically perform searching and fetching tasks. They could even mill around doing their work at night, working on library inventories, or identifying missing books, or mapping libraries. However, he does not imagine that at any stage they will be replacing librarians and demanding payment for overdue books. A separate team in Japan is working on a similar robotic librarian automat, but their project is more concerned with developing robots that can be controlled remotely over the web in order to scan and read books. -Courtesy BBC Online -- Poornima Narayana Contact: 080-5086083 (O) Dy Head, ICAST 080-6682781 (R) N.A.L E mail: poornima(a)css.nal.res.in Airport Road prn_1_in(a)yahoo.com Bangalore 560 017 Fax: 080-5268072

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need information
by Mailing List Manager 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

Date: 31 Jul 2004 19:22:53 -0000 From: salman haider <salman_38h(a)rediffmail.com> � Dear All, I like to know if there is any other website like "www.inforlibrarian.com" which has more information for LIS professionals. Thanks & Regards Salman Haider Consultant Indian School of Business Library Hydrerabad

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NIH research to be open access - What about India?
by Mailing List Manager 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 18:18:17 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> > Friends: > > Here is an article (from The Scientist) on a hot topic. In the USA soon > all research funded by NIH will be available free on the Internet. When > will Indian funding agencies start insisting on such open access to > research funded by them? Best wishes. > > Arun > [Subbiah Arunachalam] > > > > July 29, 2004 > NIH research to be open access > > Publishers and editors meet Zerhouni plans for publicly available papers > with exasperation | By Paula Park <paulapark52(a)hotmail.com> > > > WASHINGTON, DC-National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Elias Zerhouni > indicated at a gathering of 43 scientific journal publishers and editors > Wednesday (July 28) that eventually all NIH-financed research will be > freely available to the public. > > Zerhouni stopped short of setting deadlines for depositing full-text > materials in the searchable PubMed database, as recommended in a House > Appropriations Committee report > <http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040721/01> released earlier this > month. Instead, he asked the publishing executives to inform him how best > to manage material so that the public can freely use it. > > "The public needs to have access to what they've paid for," Zerhouni told > commercial and nonprofit publishing executives at a meeting he called on > the NIH campus. Congress, he said, also demanded evidence of the agency's > productivity. "I need to manage the portfolio," he said. "The status quo > just can't stand." > > The executive conference was the first of several planned meetings that > will lead to the creation of an approach public access, which NIH will > publish in the Federal Register for comment before it becomes official > policy, Zerhouni said. He would not say when the policy-making would > begin, but the Appropriations Committee report requested that NIH produce > some language by December 1. > > That report recommended that papers resulting from NIH-funded research be > deposited jn PubMed 6 months after their publication in a journal. Papers > for which NIH pays publishing costs would be deposited immediately upon > publication. Last year, a member of Congress introduced a bill > <http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030716/04/> that would have banned > copyright on all publications based on federally funded research; that > bill has been in committee since last fall. > > Several meeting participants expressed exasperation with the House report, > which they termed a "government mandate." Paul W. Kincade, president of > the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology, told The > Scientist that he resented the "coercion." Others grumbled that the > government couldn't tell publishers what to do. > > "They were a little startled by the language," Pat Schroeder, president > and executive director of the Association of American Publishers, > explained diplomatically in the meeting. She likened the report's > recommendations to the "federal government putting down its thumb." > > But Zerhouni tried to assure participants that the government was not yet > creating a mandate and that their views would be taken into account before > the policy was finalized. He also distanced himself from the House report, > saying that NIH did not prepare it, even though the wording was "inspired" > by deliberations within the agency. > > Beyond the policy-making process, the executives fretted that if all > information is available in a government database, subscriptions will > fall. Many executives reported that they are trying some forms of open > access, making material available at no charge 6 months or a year after > publication. But setting a single date could be harmful to some and not > others, some said. > > Alan Leshner <http://www.aaas.org/press/leshner-bio.shtml>, chief > executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of > Science, which publishes Science, told Zerhouni that releasing articles 6 > months after publication didn't worry him. "But if any part of the > publication has been paid out of NIH grants... [it] must be given > immediate open access... most of us in the room are much more concerned > about that." > > Brian D. Crawford, vice president and publishing director of Life and > Medical Sciences for Wiley, predicted that under the proposed policy, > journal numbers would dwindle, and more material would be published solely > on the PubMed site. "This would lead to a constricted ability to publish," > he added. "The unintended consequence for NIH could be less access, not > more." > > Judith Bond, president of the American Society for Biochemistry and > Molecular Biology, questioned PubMed's reliability and suggested NIH use > multiple repositories. "PubMed Central has had a lot of technical > problems," she added, questioning whether NIH would be technically > prepared to meet the suggested mandate. > > Zerhouni said that individual repositories tend to fade out. He also told > participants that NIH had no intention of becoming a journal publisher and > the public is aware of the value of journals' peer reviews. > > Not all participating publishers were anxious about the proposed policy. > PNAS editor-in-chief Nicholas R. Cozzarelli > <http://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/BMB/cozzarellin.html> told Zerhouni that > depositing material would be "no problem." "We would endorse it and see it > as an advancement of science, and education," he added. "We can do it, > other journals can do it. It will just take time." > > Links for this article > A. McCook, "Open access to US govt work urged," The Scientist, July 21, > 2004. > <http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040721/01> > > C. Zandonella, "Sabo bill assessed," The Scientist, July 16, 2003. > <http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030716/04/> > > Alan I. Leshner > <http://www.aaas.org/press/leshner-bio.shtml> > > Nicholas R. Cozzarelli > <http://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/BMB/cozzarellin.html> > > > >

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Re: Norms of AICTE for selection as Librarian, Dep.Librarian And Asst.Libn
by Mailing List Manager 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 11:57:13 +0100 (BST) From: "[iso-8859-1] vijaykumar nayak" <vijay_vtulib(a)yahoo.co.in> Dear Colleagues, I need infn on Norms of AICTE for selection as a LIBN,DEPUTYLIBN,And ASSTLIBN.in UNiversitues and Engg.colleges. Reply soon Thanking u Vijay Nayak

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Open Content and Access for Digital Scholarship
by Mailing List Manager 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:07:07 -0500 From: Gerry Mckiernan <gerrymck(a)iastate.edu> Colleagues/ I am pleased to announce the availability of the revised version of my PowerPoint presentation from the recently concluded WiLSWorld 2004 Conference [ http://www.wils.wisc.edu/events/wworld04/ ] _Open Content and Access for Digital Scholarship_ "The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) provides an application-independent interoperability framework based on metadata harvesting. There are two classes of participants in the OAI-PMH framework: Data Providers and Service Providers. Data Providers administer systems that support the OAI-PMH as a means of exposing metadata from digital collections or repositories; while Service Providers use metadata harvested via the OAI-PMH as a basis for building value-added services. In this presentation we will profile several major OAI-PMH Data and Service Providers, and describe and discuss their innovative content, features, and functionalities." The REVISED and CORRECTED presentation has been self-archived at: [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/OpenContent.ppt ] BTW:This is a LARGE file [11MB] and Long Presentation [130+ Slides] For your Late-Friday-Afternoon, Late-July Reading-and -Viewing-Pleasure! Enjoy! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan OAI-Compliant Librarian Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu "The Revolution Will NOT be Blogged"

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info on santhal tribes
by Mailing List Manager 30 Jul '04

30 Jul '04

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 10:54:36 +0530 From: sumita panse <sumita_panse(a)hotmail.com> Does any library have information on present status of SANTHAL tribes? It might be in the form of journal article or social case study. I would like to know at the earliest. sumita Content researcher Bhartiya vidya bhavan Mumbai

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RE: [LIS-Forum] Autonomous Institutions : Position of Librarians
by Mailing List Manager 30 Jul '04

30 Jul '04

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 11:09:42 +0100 (BST) From: "[iso-8859-1] suresh kumar" <nsureshfcri(a)yahoo.co.in> Dear sir, In the best of my knowledge,in many autonomous organisations- situation is very pathetic.There are no formal rule of law and procedure/regulations for anything . The administrave ministry become a silent spectator to the activities of these organisations. Head of organisation will look forward to get guidelines form Ministry. Service Rules are mixure of Both FRSR and CSIR or similar organisations.In order to implement any Govt. of Inidia ofer,clearence from Governing council/Body required.The members of these Governing bodies are Top officers from Ministry and other Govt. organisations- least bothered about the autonomous bodies/its activities/employees.The failure is not marginal.But I agree that in the case of Hard work, the said advantage?/pressure is there in every autonomous organisation than Govt.since it functions like a private organisation.Similarly there are many autonomous organisations free from all these evils also. thanks Sureshkumar, Librarian,Fluid Control Research Institute(Govt. of India) Palakkad -kerala. nsureshfcri(a)yahoo.co.in --- Mailing List Manager <mailman(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in> wrote: > Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:05:57 +0530 > From: Vyasamoorthy(a)icicikp.com > > Dear Friends: > > There is a plea from some quarters for help / > protection/ standardization > of pay scales, stream-lining promotion policy etc in > Autonomous > Institutions, especially for Librarians. > > Those in Autonomous institutions are at an advantage > over regular > government departments. Only those who are contended > with doing the > routine, collecting salary + perks etc at the end of > the month would enter > govt service. Those who desire to show their > competency, work hard, > improve themselves and the organization they serve > will choose private > organizations. Autonomous institutions under govt > give you the advantage > of both worlds. In an autonomous unit you need to > convince only one or two > bosses at the most and your line is clear for moving > up. In govt set ups > all employees are same; there is not much scope for > merit, intelligence or > hard work. Promotion is ensured by sitting in the > same seat for some years > at a stretch. Whether one deserves or not he would > get increments, salary > revision along with others. > > If you are capable you can move faster than the rest > in an autonomous > unit. If you just want to be mediocre, nobody > prevents you from being so > nor or you sacked for that. Why then crib? I do not > understand. > > Vyasamoorthy, P > _______________________________________________

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A case of sour grapes Re: RE: [LIS-Forum] Autonomous Institutions : Position of Librarians (fwd)
by Mailing List Manager 30 Jul '04

30 Jul '04

Date: 30 Jul 2004 08:22:48 -0000 From: Rajesh K Patil <rajeshbcd(a)rediffmail.com> Moderator's Note ---------------- Rajesh has a valid point. One shouldn't generalize things, especially when it comes to competency. We all have our own unique cracks and flaws. I request all the members to eschew such remarks in future. Let's not debate on it any further. Thanks for your cooperation, - Moderator -------Note ends here----------- � Hi, I don't think it is right to generalize that all Librarians in Government Service are incompetent. Even private sector has incompetent people. To be specific, my interaction with ICICI bank has been extremely disappointing. Hence, please avoid making such statements. Regards. Rajesh Thu, 29 Jul 2004 Mailing List Manager wrote : >Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:05:57 +0530 > From: Vyasamoorthy(a)icicikp.com > >Dear Friends: > >There is a plea from some quarters for help / protection/ standardization >of pay scales, stream-lining promotion policy etc in Autonomous >Institutions, especially for Librarians. > >Those in Autonomous institutions are at an advantage over regular >government departments. Only those who are contended with doing the >routine, collecting salary + perks etc at the end of the month would enter >govt service. Those who desire to show their competency, work hard, >improve themselves and the organization they serve will choose private >organizations. Autonomous institutions under govt give you the advantage >of both worlds. In an autonomous unit you need to convince only one or two >bosses at the most and your line is clear for moving up. In govt set ups >all employees are same; there is not much scope for merit, intelligence or >hard work. Promotion is ensured by sitting in the same seat for some years >at a stretch. Whether one deserves or not he would get increments, salary >revision along with others. > >If you are capable you can move faster than the rest in an autonomous >unit. If you just want to be mediocre, nobody prevents you from being so >nor or you sacked for that. Why then crib? I do not understand. > >Vyasamoorthy, P >_______________________________________________ >LIS-Forum mailing list >LIS-Forum(a)ncsi.iisc.ernet.in >http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum

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Electronic Library
by Mailing List Manager 29 Jul '04

29 Jul '04

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 10:40:26 +0100 (BST) From: "[iso-8859-1] narayan ghosh" <narayanghosh(a)yahoo.co.uk> This is to write an article titled "Electronic Library: a bare necessity for professional institutions". To establish my logic I require some live example of Libraries digitized their documents or subscribing resources in electronic forms. Please help urgently. N.Ghosh National Institute of Management Calcutta Kolkata

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RE: [LIS-Forum] Autonomous Institutions : Position of Librarians
by Mailing List Manager 29 Jul '04

29 Jul '04

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:05:57 +0530 From: Vyasamoorthy(a)icicikp.com Dear Friends: There is a plea from some quarters for help / protection/ standardization of pay scales, stream-lining promotion policy etc in Autonomous Institutions, especially for Librarians. Those in Autonomous institutions are at an advantage over regular government departments. Only those who are contended with doing the routine, collecting salary + perks etc at the end of the month would enter govt service. Those who desire to show their competency, work hard, improve themselves and the organization they serve will choose private organizations. Autonomous institutions under govt give you the advantage of both worlds. In an autonomous unit you need to convince only one or two bosses at the most and your line is clear for moving up. In govt set ups all employees are same; there is not much scope for merit, intelligence or hard work. Promotion is ensured by sitting in the same seat for some years at a stretch. Whether one deserves or not he would get increments, salary revision along with others. If you are capable you can move faster than the rest in an autonomous unit. If you just want to be mediocre, nobody prevents you from being so nor or you sacked for that. Why then crib? I do not understand. Vyasamoorthy, P

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