Dear Professionals, Following news item which appeared in The Times of India (12-08-2004) needs attention of LIS Community: We have to be very cautious even if we plan to destroy print books and journals after buying e-version/digitising of concerned documents. In this case reason mentioned is not digitising. ICSSR `transforms' itself: Dumps burns journals, books By Akshaya Mukul/TNN New Delhi: Prospective researchers beware: Do not venture anywhere near the documentation centre and library of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), for it has dumped - some say even burnt - thousands of Indian and foreign academic journals, books, dissertations, census reports and gazettes from its priceless collection. Also, a piece of advice to President APJ. Abdul Kalam, who on Thursday delivers the ICSSR's prestigious Vikram Sarabhai memorial lecture on 'Dynamics of Societal Transformation'. Pause for a while and ask ICSSR if transformation means cutting off old ties. For ICSSR has done precisely that. Rationale: Its National Social Science Documentation Centre (NASSDOC) has been transformed and moved to an ultra-modern building which presumably had no space for these works. In real terms, insiders in NASSDOC say, the loss has been immense. It had a collection of nearly two lakh Indian and foreign periodicals/journals of which barely 15,000 to 20,000 have survived. NASSDOC also had a collection of nearly 40,000 books of which barely 10,000 are left. From its collection of thousands of PhD dissertations collected from all over the country, barely 800 have made it to the new building. A large number were burnt and the remaining are in an advanced state of decay in ICSSR's godown. How has it affected ICSSR's standing as a repository of all knowledge in social science? From its collection of journals/periodicals, it used to cater to researchers all over the world. Any researcher could ask for a photocopy of articles which ICSSR used to send on a small payment. Similarly, dissertations were bought from all over the country by ICSSR after paying a small amount to the researcher. In turn, these dissertations became reference material for others. But for the past few months, scholars from India and abroad have been doing the rounds of NASSDOC only to be told to come later. ICSSR has even stopped buying dissertations. ICSSR chairman VR. Panchamukhi who, despite having a questionnaire from this reporter, dwelt for more than an hour on how he has changed everything for good, is an acquaintance of PM Manmohan Singh. He was unsure about the crucial question and asked ICSSR's directors, in front of this reporter, on what had happened. Panchamukhi then repeated what they told him: "Nothing has been burnt. There was very little space ... so may be books, journals and dissertations were dumped here ... Some even gifted to our institutions in Allahabad and Mhow." But he added: "I will set up an inquiry to find out who did it." The answer came from one of his senior associates who opposed the dumping move and drew the parallel from the burning of the library of Alexandria: "The mystery would exist not for lack of suspects but from an excess of them." -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I.R.N. Goudar Tel: 91-80-5086081 Head, Information Centre for 91-80-5235315 Aerospace Science and Technology Fax: 91-80-5268072 National Aerospace Laboratories E-mail:goudar@css.nal.res.in Airport Road http://www.icast.org.in/staff1.htm BANGALORE-560 017 India