Dear All,
I agree with the views expressed by Dr Vyasamoorthy. He has
thrown up a major agenda item for Indian LIS teachers to think
about and take up urgent remedial steps: ENGLISH FOR
LIBRARIANS!
The logic is simple: A CONFIDENT LIBRARIAN IS A BETTER
LIBRARIAN. One of the major reasons for lack of confidence and
low self-esteem is poor communication and language skills. For
twenty-five years, I have witnessed emotions of annoyance, dismay,
frustration, anger, disgust, etc. on the faces of thousands of library
users when they couldn't comprehend what the LIS professional at
the issue counter was communicating. It's not that LIS professional
was unwilling to help; he (including myself) just couldn't
communicate properly.
I feel that adequate competency in spoken and written English is an
essential skill which Indian LIS professionals may find worthwhile to
acquire.
I do not know whether I like the tone of Mr Hiremath's email. Do we
need to be rude and impolite to express our point of view?
In our Company, every propective LIS professional has to appear
for a test in LIS as well as in English Language.
While I was pursuing Master of Communication and Journalism
course at Osmania Univ, my teacher Prof Bashiruddin used to
deduct half a mark for every speller in our test papers. He used to
say, "If you can't spell a word right, how you are going to be a good
editor?" Now, after twenty five years, while correcting the Master's
answer scripts of journalism students of Indian students, I find most
of them unable to construct sentences correctly and there are lot of
spellers. In fact, I found those students who were answering in their
mother tongue (Telugu) writing in beautiful, idiomatic language with
very few errors. The point I wish to make is that lack of English
competency skills is a problem which is not just limited to LIS
students but it is widespread in other disciplines as well.
There is no harm in offering a full Paper on Communication and
Social Skills for CLSc/BLISc students including topics like
communication concepts, organisational communication, public
relations, English for Librarians, presentation skills, conflict
management, ethical values, etc.
The question is not whether teaching of English falls within the
scope of LIS teachers' responsbility. The crucial point is to provide
the LIS manpower which is highly skilled and articulate.
Shall we recollect the beautiful examples of dialogues between a
reference librarian and the user provided by Dr S.R. Ranganathan in
his classic work titled "Reference Service". If we are to have such
professionally satisfying interactions with our users, then language
skills are an essential requirement. I feel that in the present days of
globalisation and market-driven economy, an Indian LIS
professional who is competent in spoken and written English is
likely to have better career options and growth.
Thank you
Sincerely
T.V. Prafulla Chandra
Senior Editor
Date sent: <color><param>0000,0000,8000</param>Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:50:38 +0300</color>
From: <color><param>0000,0000,8000</param>Jayadev P Hiremath <
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at the lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language among many librarians. I wonder how one could pass t
hrough some 17 years of schooling and even after that m </color>anage not to learn basics of English Language. It is regrettable that our present system of Educati on does not emphasize the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians promotin g their own agendas at the cost of the nation and becau se of a tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere -- the necessity for striving for exce llence is once in a way heard from our president, though -- students do not look at Language skills with any concern. <color><param>7F00,0000,0000</param>>
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of about fifteen persons we co nsidered, hardly two or three could measure up as far as basic English Language skills are concerne d.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be prolific writers - even an ent ry level resume mentions two or three 'papers' published and on the other hand we find that their p resentation and communication skills at horribly very l
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you are just lazy - not that yo u do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it ha
</color>ow levels. What are reasons? How can this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are? What do LIS teachers have to say? <color><param>7F00,0000,0000</param>> ppens to everyone), unheard of abbreviations being thru </color>st on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture and the like. I am concerned with basic English La nguage skills expected of a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same eve rywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argume nt. <color><param>7F00,0000,0000</param>>
Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre,
ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal,
RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA
Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631
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