Dear All, It has become a common practice among the decision-making agencies/organizations in our country - be it UGC or AICTE or Pay Commissions or their implementing Committees in various Universities, IIMs, IITs, etc.- to bracket Librarians along with Physical Education Directors. By default ( or by 'mercy' ?) the LIS Professionals are put under this common umbrella ! Sometimes our fraternity feels it even as a 'great privilege' to have been 'granted' such an 'enviable (!) status' ! One has absolutely no intention to belittle the Physical Education Profession . But what is of serious concern is : Are the LIS Professionals such an insignificant species of professionals, always to be bracketed (at the tail end) with a group whose activity domain is totally different? Are we aware of the possible dangers of the 'chain action' of such a concept in various activity environments? Do we not have an identity of our own vis-a-vis the main stream academic & research pursuits ? Are we not playing a participatory / contributory / catalytic role in the academic and research programmes of the main stream - unlike the Physical Education Profession? Are we not better identifiable with the scholarly / learning groups in the Campuses ? Are we satisfied with the plea for 'academic status' by just getting salaries & scales alone ? My decades of experience with a couple of national R&D organizations in the country had helped me to observe / conclude that such institutions/organizations and serious scientists always recognized, acknowledged and appreciated the contributions made by Libraries & Librarians. They have understood the proximity and bondage of our activities with their research programmes. I am sure, our fraternity in the R&D sector, by and large, will subscribe to this view. Registrar of a University is not clubbed with DPE. Why not Librarians too? Is not the Librarian's status/role thus unique, if not closer to the academic community? Are we prepared to digest anything in the name of 'parity' ? This is a matter of deeper impact, interpretations and inferences in the backdrop of the professional image and identity of LIS. Our esteemed LIS Forum readers may comment. SADASIVAN KP Former Head, Library & Informatics NIIST (CSIR) , Trivandrum Tel. 919447903282 (Mob) E-Mail: kps31147@yahoo.com -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.