Dear Friends, NCSI-Net, an informal association comprising of NCSI staff, trainees, and its alumni, cordially invites you to the II Dr. T.B. Rajashekar Memorial Lecture. The details of the Memorial Lecture are given below: Title: "Librarians' need for readiness for alternate careers that need Information Specialists" Speaker: MS. Vasumathi Sriganesh, Director, Q Med Services Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai Date: 9th June, 2007 Time: 5.00 PM Venue: Choksi Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Choksi Hall is located on the right side, just after the main gate of IISc.) Abstract of the Talk : "Librarians are a dying breed". "We don't need libraries - everything is available on the Internet". These are some typical statements that we get to hear, and sometimes more often than we like. Whether these are true or not, the time is ripe for Library and Information Specialists to look at alternate careers too. Alternate careers may be those that supplement the role of a librarian in an organization or may be very different; yet needing the skills of an Information Specialist. Some of the possible options are Content management, Intranets management, Research, Information consulting etc. To break away from tradition and inculcate change, we need Knowledge, Skills and Desire. The last is possibly the most difficult element to handle. This talk will focus on why librarians need to be prepared for change, and also touch upon how to develop Knowledge, Skills and Desire to change. The challenges go beyond those needed from Information Professionals. For such professionals to make their mark in the job market, there is a lot of awareness promotion, marketing and relationship building that will be needed. About the Speaker : Vasumathi Sriganesh got her B.Sc degree in Home-Science in 1977. Married immediately, she was a homemaker for 12 years after which she did her BLIS from the Bombay University in 1989-90. Later she did her MLIS through IGNOU in the years 1997-99. She has worked in three libraries - Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, The Hinduja Hospital and HELP (Health Education Library for People), all in Mumbai. In both medical libraries she was instrumental in the entire computerization, as well as starting off literature search services and Internet based activities. Medicine was always her passion and she found deep satisfaction in Medical Librarianship. In April 1997, wanting to reach out to a much wider medical community of users, Vasumathi became a free-lance consultant and in 1999, she set up her own company Q Med, ( http://www.qmedin.com/) which will soon become a registered Non-profit organization. The event will end with high-Tea. Please confirm your presence to pandiyan.m@advinus.com or umpradeep@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Regards Maruthu Pandian, B NCSI-NET Co-ordinator -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.