Brief report on plenary talk organized by JRD Tata Memorial Library & KALA on June 8, 2018 J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library, IISc. in collaboration with the Karnataka State Library Association (KALA) organised a plenary talk on "Innovations in academic libraries: an Indian perspective" by Dr. H. Anil Kumar, Librarian, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. The talk was followed by a panel discussion on "Innovations in Libraries". It was moderated by Mr. N.V. Sathyanarayana, Chairman & Managing Director, Informatics (India) Limited, Bengaluru. Venue: Chokshi Hall, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru -560012 Date & Time: Friday, 08 June 2018, 6 - 7.30 P.M. The talk was well attended with about 45 guests including both working professionals and students of LIS. Dr. P Y Rajendra Kumar, President, Karnataka State Library Association welcomed the guests and briefed about the speaker (Dr. H Anil Kumar) and session chair (Prof. S L Sangam). Dr. Francis Jayakanth briefly explained the aim of organising the plenary talk and anchored the program. Dr. H Anil Kumar gave a talk on "Innovations in academic libraries: an Indian perspective" He talked at length how Libraries can do 'simple' innovations which benefit the users. He gave several examples which were experimented and used at IIM Ahmedabad Library. He lamented that today's generation is forgetting the basic concepts of reading while embracing the digital technologies. LIS professionals have a big task cut out in this aspect and can come out with several innovations in inculcating reading habits and providing better services to users. How the libraries can be innovative with the new services like makerspaces, innovation labs and discussion rooms. He expressed in his talk how reading will improve the memory and writing will improve the vocabulary and spelling errors. This was followed by a panel discussion. The panelists were : 1. Prof. Devika Madalli, Professor, DRTC, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore 2. Dr. H Anil Kumar, Librarian, IIM Ahmedabad 3. Dr. T S Kumbar, Librarian, IIT Gandhinagar 4. Mr. Satyanarayana, MD, Informatics Pvt Ltd. Bangalore (Moderator) Mr. Satyanarayana began the panel discussion by introducing the other panel members. He stressed that we need a champion among the LIS profession to develop innovations in the LIS field. Prof. Devika Madalli explained about data and how it is managed, how to access the data through data.gov.in and how often data will be uploaded. Dr. T S Kumbar gave complete overview of the IIT Gandhinagar Library facilities and services and the software’s they are using. There was a question and answer session and the panel members answered them. Dr. Suresh Balutagi, Dy Librarian, J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library, IISc presented vote of thanks. ==================================== Pradeep P. Kavi Assistant Librarian JRD Tata Memorial Library Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru 560012, Karnataka -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.