Re: [LIS-Forum] Does Introduction of LIS Syllabus in Undergraduate Course Curriculum Change the Libraries/Librarians image?

Dear friends, I am glad that once again an important problem faced by our LIS profession has come for discussion on this forum. The issues raised by my colleagues Dr. Moorthy, Manjunath, Meera, Vasumathi and Vasantharaju are very pertinent and should be taken very seriously. On earlier occasion, I too had posted serious objections on this forum about 'mushrooming growth' of new LIS schools and lack of standards in LIS education; and as usual a few LIS faculty were angry at me and even questioned my 'professionalism' about the issue. I think instead of pointing again and again to the problem we should identify the actual people or the 'bodies' responsible for this situation and nail them. I strongly feel that wherever a librarian's post is vacant for a long time and/or a non-librarian is posted, the internal staff as well as the LIS Associations should lodge a complaint to the VC and also to the UGC & MHRD. Regarding LIS syllabus in undergraduate course, I strongly feel that there is no need for such a thing because it will have no impact or improve the image of the LIS profession. Remember the UGC's 2010 regulations which maintained parity among LIS teachers and librarians. And now, why we are we crying foul about the API scores? I personally feel that there is no need for parity because the nature of job differs. For example, the Govt. of AP had re-designated all library officers as Professor, Associate/Assistant professor, but in reality they superannuate at 58 or 60 and are not eligible for undertaking UGC research projects! By now we all should know why the image of our profession has gone down?. Firstly, too many students (with very little practical training) are passing out from so many ill-equipped LIS schools every year; let alone thousands of them obtaining degrees 'just like that' including PhD's under distance education from universities such as Annamalai, Madurai Kamaraj, Alagappa, etc? If you remember, earlier BLSc and MLSc were taught in universities with PG as entry qualification. Secondly, why don't we protest instead of keeping silent when a non-librarian is posted as a Librarian or a member of a library-related committee? I feel sad to say that the present LIS professionals lack the required standards, performance & management qualities to head a university library in spite of having many publications and PhD, etc. I think this is one of the main reasons for so many vacant positions of Librarians across the country. This is my personal experience and I am sure many of my senior colleagues would agree. In essence, the problems faced by our profession is due to a mismatch between 'supply and demand'. It is surprising to know that why other professions do not face such problems? It is time that all of us including the LIS associations should address this issue head on with the VCs, and higher education authorities like UGC and MHRD. Dr. M. Koteswara Rao Former Librarian, Univ. of Hyderabad

Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:57:35 +0530 From: gkm@igidr.ac.in To: meera@rri.res.in CC: almoorthy52@gmail.com; lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Does Introduction of LIS Syllabus in Undergraduate Course Curriculum Change the Libraries/Librarians image?

Some one should file a RTI questioning how long the post of qualified librarian been kept vacant in various institutions and the reasons behind it.

Can library associations do that and also take up this issue with MHRD ? Raising this issue only in discussion forum, now and then, will yield no result.

Secondly, do we need so many library science schools in the country ? Over production affects quality, leads to unemployment and exploitation in the market ( in terms of Wages ).

thanks,

G.K.Manjunath, PhD Chief Librarian Indira Gandhi Inst of Development Research Film City Road Santosh Nagar Goregaon(East ) MUMBAI - 400 065 India Phone: 022-28416528 email: gkm@igidr.ac.in

On Wed, 12 Nov 2014, Meera B. M. wrote:

...

Dear Professional friends,

The situation is appalling to note that Non-librarians are made in-charge of Libraries. This is true with premier institutes like IISc, ISI etc. These are few additions to the list given by Dr Murthy.

In spite of having so many Library schools across country producing Post graduates, Phd's in good number and having so many active library associations, this issue is being left unaddressed. Very recently I happened to meet a Non-professional - a library In-charge of a reputed university library attending a professional meeting. The person was most of the time dis-interested and I am sure this was a forced responsibility.

This high time WE (Professional Friends) wake up and do something concrete to fill up these voids.

Regards

Meera

-- Dr B M Meera Librarian Raman Research Institute C V Raman Avenue, Sadashivanagar P O Bangalore 560 080

Ph: 09480836045

----- Original Message ----- From: "Aragonda L Moorthy" To: "Vasumathi Sriganesh (QMed)" Cc: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 11:09:02 AM Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Does Introduction of LIS Syllabus in Undergraduate Course Curriculum Change the Libraries/Librarians image?

Dear All, The idea behind starting LIS course at UG level may be good. But what is required is to get the Librarians posts filled up in every school, college, university and R&D institutions. It is most appalling to know that in many universities (AP & Telangana are no exception) University librarians'post is vacant, or is managed by in-charge librarians. Till some time back, IIT Delhi had no librarian (after Jagdish Aroara left for INFLIBNET). Many R&D Organisations that had recruited library professionals in Scientific, Technical and Officer grades in the past are not recruiting now. This is true in DRDO, CSIR, ISRO, and so on. Even Labs like NISCAIR, DESIDOC were/are headed by non-library professionals. This is the new trend to appoint non professionals oin libraries. So many Professional Associations are there at national and state level, ILA, IASLIC, SIS, ALSD, APLA, TLA, KALA,WBLA, ASLA, KLA, MyLISA, and so on. There are specialised associations as well: College librariand Association, School Librarians, Management Librarians, Engg College Librarians, Agriculture Librarians, etc etc. Is any association fighting for the cause of Library profession or for recruitment of professionals? They want posts, and perks and make only lip service. If LIS profession is still vibrant I thank the Private Companies--MNCs and NCs-- who recruit more professionals. AICTE which made it mandatory to have a library and a librarian for recognition. Why UGC gives/extends grants and INFLIBNET provides online journals at cheaper rate when librarians are not there in the Universities. They should stop where no librarian is available and send stern message to recruit Librarians. Then only LIS profession and Librarians will be existing otherwise the former may be there (since Universities need students and their fees) but the latter would extinct and would become history

Reagards

Dr AL Moorthy, Former Director-DESIDOC & Chief Consultant (Inf Sci), BrahMos Aerospace, Hyderabad Centre, Adj: DRDL Rear Gate, Kanchanbagh PO, Hyderabad-500058 Ph: (O) 040-24087058; Mob: 09951212000

On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 8:45 AM, Vasumathi Sriganesh (QMed) < vasu@qmedkf.org.in> wrote:

...

I would offer my opinion that for our profession to be recognized we need the following:

1) Revamping of the school library system, where the librarians and teachers must work together to introduce students to the concept of

a) Extra reading on their subjects (introducing the principle that just mugging from textbooks is not knowledge) b) Extra reading out of their subjects - fiction / non fiction / reference sources etc to have a rounded off knowledge

Reading should be done from a combination of print and online - make students understand that everything is not available online, but some things are only available in print, some only online

2) In UG curriculum - have a paper on information literacy - compulsory for all

3) Librarian Science courses need to include options for specialization after the MLIS. Coming from a medical library background - I know how much there is to learn in this field; it is never ending. Obviously there will be the same amount of learning to do in Engineering, Law etc - fields of librarianship.

4) Continuous upgradation in respective fields - including general librarianship. Only excellent general librarians can work with special librarians to give their patrons any special help they may need from time to time

Upgradation of librarians should include the need for good teaching practices and excellent management skills. The librarian of today has to be able to teach academicians and students, and ensure that every resource is utilized 100%

It is all a vicious circle - and only when we present a proper picture to the right bodies and keep pushing for changes, will things happen. This should include - how we can create a new generation of librarians only if the bodies plan not only for equal status, but for promoting the library science courses with the attraction of well paid jobs. The current generation of librarians need to keep upgrading themselves to be as good as the best Professors, if not more.

Vasumathi Sriganesh QMed Knowledge Foundation (Trust - Reg No: E-24663) A-3, Shubham Centre, Cardinal Gracious Road Chakala, Andheri East, Mumbai 400099 Tel: 91-22-40054474 Mob: +919867292230 Web: www.qmed.org.in http://www.qmedkf.org.in/ www.indianmedicalsites.in

On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 3:18 PM, Vasanth wrote:

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Dear Sir/Madam,

It has been often deliberated in many professional forums that (at least in Karnataka) higher education department such as Department of Collegiate Education (DCE) should introduce LIS syllabus (information literacy) as a subsidiary paper in undergraduate course curriculum.

Karnataka State College Librarians Association (KSCLA) has been in the forefront on this issue for some time. In fact, in 2012 KSCLA organized one day conference on the theme “Information Literacy”. Then Karnataka Higher Education Minister Sri. C.T. Ravi was invited to inaugurate the conference. It was done mainly to place a request to introduce the LIS syllabus in under graduate course curriculum. Even after this as well, in many of the conferences our professionals have deliberated on this issue. Though this is an important issue, does merely introducing LIS syllabus in the curriculum change the image of the libraries and librarians?

Libraries even at the higher education level in India have not given enough importance. It has often been a neglected entity in college environment. At the behest of UGC, librarians are appointing for managing the library in higher education institutions mainly in undergraduate colleges. Otherwise, some secondary division clerk would have been put in place to run the show (there were/are cases of non-professionals managing college libraries).

Of late, professionals entering the LIS profession are demanding the equal status on par with teachers at the higher education level. Librarians are today on par with teachers in terms of financial benefits (eg., pay scale) but in terms of professional status librarians have not been seen as equal to teachers. Introducing a LIS curriculum in undergraduate colleges is not a solution for this.

We as professionals should demand for better infrastructure and human resource to manage libraries. Most of the college libraries (in Karanataka) even lack basic facilities such as proper buildings to store and organize books. Man power is a big problem librarians have to manage everything on their own. There is a no supportive man power to manage libraries. This has dented the image of the libraries.

Introduction of LIS curriculum in undergraduate courses would be an additional baggage rather a benefit to librarians. After teaching, librarians have to work again in the library. Who would there to manage it? Instead of this let us fight for our professional rights (for proper facilities) to be remain as library professionals. Let is once again remember the adage “librarians are the teacher’s teacher”. Merely having the designation of assistant professor of LIS would not change the image of the profession.

(Views are personal) ------------------------- With best wishes

Vasantha Raju N. GFGC-Periyapatna Mysore

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