Dear Members, This is a final reminder that the Dr. T.B. Rajashekar Memorial Lecture 2025 will be held this afternoon, Wednesday, August 13, 2025, at 3.30 PM. We warmly invite you to join us for this insightful session delivered by Dr. Madhan Muthu on the topic of Building Open Access Infrastructure Using Interoperable Technologies. Event Details: Date & Time: Today, Wednesday, 13 August 2025 at 3:30 PM (IST) Platform: Microsoft Teams (Online) Meeting Link: http://bit.ly/4l9lh71 For more details, please see the trail the email trail below. We look forward to your presence for what promises to be an engaging and valuable discussion. Warm regards, Francis Jayakanth (On behalf of the NCSI-NET Organising Team) ---------------------------- [Reminder] New Announcement: T.B. Rajashekar Memorial Lecture 2025 (Rescheduled Online Event) From: Francis Jayakanth francis@iisc.ac.in August 10, 2025 Dear Members, We're pleased to announce the rescheduled details for The Dr. T.B. Rajashekar Memorial Lecture 2025. This annual event commemorates the late Dr. T.B. Rajashekar's lasting contributions to the library and information science field, particularly in advancing India's open access and digital library infrastructure. This year's memorial lecture will be delivered by Dr. Madhan Muthu, Director of the Library at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat. The topic is: Building Open Access Infrastructure Using Interoperable Technologies and Capacity Building: The Idea Behind T.B. Rajashekar’s Initiatives About the Lecture: The lecture will revisit Dr. Rajashekar’s pioneering work promoting interoperable institutional repositories and empowering LIS professionals through open-source technologies and nationwide training programs. It will reflect on the relevance of his vision in today’s global push for open, accessible, and interoperable scholarly infrastructure and discuss how Indian library professionals can continue to build on this legacy. Interoperable institutional repositories came to India as early as the open access movement began gaining momentum worldwide, thanks to the pioneering initiatives of T.B. Rajasekar and his colleagues at NCSI in the early 2000s. They established India's first such repository and made significant efforts to empower librarians nationwide by conducting workshops to share their expertise on open-source platforms. Indian librarians had valuable opportunities and support, such as tools and training, to promote open access in India. However, have they truly taken advantage of those opportunities? Dr Madhan's talk will explore Rajasekar's emphasis on interoperable, institutionally-defined repositories that enable easy, web-wide access and visibility of research papers through seamless metadata sharing. He will also discuss why Rajasekar’s foundational work remains essential, why it must be continued, and what librarians in India can do to carry forward his legacy, particularly now (though belatedly), when there is growing global recognition of the value of interoperable repositories. Madhan will further highlight recent developments in metadata aggregation and improvements in secondary information services. Event Details: Platform: Microsoft Teams Mode: Online only Date & Time: Wednesday, 13 August 2025 at 3:30 PM (IST) Meeting Link: http://bit.ly/4l9lh71 We warmly invite you to join us for this insightful session as Dr. Madhan Muthu reflects on the past achievements and looks ahead to the future of open access. Warm regards, Francis Jayakanth (On behalf of the NCSI-NET Organising Team)