Dear friends, I completely agree with the opinion of all three that is, Dr.Sahib, Shri.Rajashekaran and Shri. Koteshwara Rao 1. Collection development of a particular library has to take place by the participation of all stake holders concerned. ie., faculty, students and librarian. 2. An innovative and dynamic librarian with working experience in a big library is definately capable of making good selections. He can choose quality publishers and select only in areas of study at the institution keeping in mind institutional goals and aspirations provoided required freedom is given. 3. to add one copy of each book in relevant subject areas should not be withheld from the responsibilities of librarian. At least that much freedom he should be given. Reason for poor collections of books in many institutions is, librarian does not have the authority to add, teachers do not have the time or interest. It is the student who suffers to the maximum extent. Institution never progresses academically because of poor collection. Information when wanted is not available. 4. 50% of the budgeted amount can be utilised for faculty selection, 25% for student request and 25% for librarian's choice 5.The % can also change depending on institutions policy. 6. NBA, NAAC, AICTE, UGC etc from top level and the Library associations together has to ensure that proper freedom and working environments has to be provoded for librarians to acheive and proove themselves. 7. I have noticed that in most cases, it is due to lack of freedom and support that librarians cannot achieve. It may be automation, good collection development etc. etc. 8. I have also noticed many new comers to the profession, especially those who qualify through correspondence, do not have an idea of how a library should run. 9. Institutions, especially private managements want to hire people giving the least possible salaries. naturally, the quality of work force is equally bad. This creates a very bad impression about all librarians. 10. Not many from science background are taking up this profession and as my esteem collegue pointed out they just to not have idea about science or engineering subjects, either for book selection or classification. Who will bell the cat is the question?(or how to solve this problem) Regards, Gayathri Sen PESIT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.