Dear All As most of you must be knowing that Tolani College of Commerce, Mumbai has successfully organised a Two- Days National Conference on Digital Libraries: Reshaping Traditional Libraries into Next Generation Libraries during 16th to 17th January 2014. The Brief Report of the same is being available herewith for your reference and information. CONFERENCE REPORT: 1. INTRODUCTION: Tolani College of Commerce,Mumbai in collaboration with Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, (Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India) organized a Two days National Conference on Digital Libraries: Reshaping Traditional Libraries into next Generation Libraries (NCDL-2014) at Mumbai during 16th and 17th January 2014. The conference was planned with an aim to provide a platform to enable interaction among the participants to discuss on the topic of digital libraries and all other available related emerging technologies, their future implications towards shaping information paradigm to bridge the digital divide through knowledge sharing and to provide an opportunity to identify the strength and gaps in the library system to suggest new models, policies and mechanisms for reshaping the traditional Libraries into next generation libraries. The Conference was structured into Keynote Address; Invited Talks followed by five thematic Sessions and one Panel discussion on the theme “Reshaping Traditional Libraries into Next Generation Libraries”. More than eighty participants from different parts of the country have participated in the event. 2 INAUGURAL SESSION The inaugural function of the conference was blessed with the lighting of lamp by the dignitaries. Prof. S. Parthasarathy, Formerly Director and Scientist-In charge, INSDOC, New Delhi as Chief Guest, Prof. S.C. Powdwal, HOD, SHPT School of Library Science, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, as Guest of Honor , Dr. Daulat Jotwani, Librarian, IIT Bombay as Key note speaker, Dr. Ranjit Kumar Das, Asst. Librarian, IIT Bombay as Rapporteur General and Dr. A. A. Rashid, Principal, Tolani College of Commerce has graced the occasion. 2.1 Welcome Address: Dr. A. A Rashid, Principal, Tolani College of Commerce delivered the Welcome address in which he emphasized that “technology has so advanced that almost everything is available on internet and this is the google generation. So the potentiality of the libraries has to be proved by the librarians by keeping themselves and their libraries up to date.” 2.2 Briefing of the Conference: Ms. Rasmita Mohanty, Organizing Secretary briefed about the National Conference. In her briefings she highlighted “Library plays a crucial role in fostering knowledge for the development of the society. They are the major role players in the threshold of information dissemination activity dealing with organization, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information thus satisfying user expectations. But the information explosion and ICT revolution has created a major challenge for the library system to deal with the changing expectation of the user mass and availability of information in several places in several forms. To keep pace with this phenomenon ICT application into library services has emerged and the emergence of ICT and its application in Library and Information Centers has revamped library services. Digital Libraries are the outcome of extensive research and development in the field of ICT and its application into library and information centers for enhanced services because in a technology driven world the libraries have to switch themselves from Traditional Libraries to Next Generation Libraries based on the need of the hour philosophy. 2.3 Address by Guest of Honor: Prof. S.C. Powdwal Guest of Honor has addressed the Library professionals as the trustee of knowledge in digital era. She has strongly recommended for sharing of knowledge through library automation. Library must collect the good ideas and suggestions from the users in shape of feedback to make the library more useful for the potential users. 2.4 Presidential Address: Prof. S. Parthasarathy Formerly Director and Scientist-In charge, INSDOC, New Delhi, delivered the presidential address as the CHIEF GUEST. He spoke about “Role of ICT in modernizing the library services in digital era” which has really enlightened the participants to a large extent.. In his thought provoking speech, he emphasized Access to Knowledge and the Importance of Reshaping Traditional Libraries into Next Generation Libraries for the user community in the digital era and the theme of the conference is very well suited to the present day situations. Ms. Rasmita Mohanty proposed the Vote of thanks. 2.5 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Dr Daulat Jotwani, Libraian of IIT Bombay delivered the Key Note address in which he discussed about the Guttenberg project, IPR and copy right, Licensing agreement for electronic resources, plagiarism software etc. 3. Plenary Session: There were a plenary session on the 2nd day of the conference and the theme of the plenary session was “Reshaping Traditional Libraries into Next Generation Libraries”. Prof. S. Parthsarathy, Prof. S. C. Podwal, Prof. Pratibha Gokhale, Mr. Shriram Pandey and Dr. Ranjit Kumar Das were the panelist. Two recommendations were emerged out of the discussion viz. the LIS professionals needs to equip themselves with the emerging technologies and secondly the LIS curriculum should be redesigned by keeping in mind the cutting edge technologies and changing environments in which UGC should take up the charge to promulgate an unified syllabus for all the Indian Universities imparting LIS education. 4 VALEDICTORY Dr. A. A Rashid, Principal Tolani College of Commerce, Mumbai delivered the concluding remarks. He felt that the whole two days deliberations, Panel discussion would enhance the awareness, enthusiasm and knowledge of the audience in implementing digital libraries and new technologies. Prof. S. Parthasarathy delivered the presidential address and Dr. Ranjit Kumar Das had given the Rapporteur General’s presentation of the Conference. After two days-long successful deliberation, the event concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Ms. Rasmita Mohanty, the Organizing Secretary. She profusely thanked the co-host, RRRLF to extend their support to organize the event and all other stakeholders of the event. She also thanked her team, management and authorities of the Tolani College of Commerce, experts, and participants. 5 CONCLUSIONS The National Conference on Digital Libraries: Reshaping Traditional Libraries into Next Generation Libraries (NCDL-2014) provided a unique platform to discuss on the pertinent issues associated with setting up Digital Libraries, convergence of traditional libraries into next generation libraries. The experts and the participants focused on the various aspects of the themes and related areas in detail. The event also gave a chance to address the growing issues like resistance to change by the professionals as well as users, unwillingness of the authorities, core professional competencies, IPR, and devising training modules and user awareness programs for all the stakeholders. All the participants appreciated and expressed their views that the two days event was well-planned, organized and given fruitful insight into the burning issues of Reshaping Traditional Libraries into Next Generation Libraries.-- With Best Regards ----------------------------------------------------------- Mrs. Rasmita Mohanty [MLISc(Gold Medal), UGC-NET, PGDLAN, PGDCA] Librarian Tolani College of Commerce (Re-accredited by NAAC with Grade-A) Mumbai Phone:022-61535442 E-mail: rasmita06@gmail.com, rashmitam@tcc.tolani.edu URL: http://ncdl-2014.hpage.com -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.