Re: [LIS-Forum] Are we able to maintain the quality of International Conference in LIS?

I completely agree with you what you have said as far as KM is concerned. Recently, I have developed and implemented a KM model in my institution. It was an extremely difficult and nail biting task for me to do so. I started with reading several articles from several journals and books. But there were several fundamental issues which were unanswered. Probably people had the similar experience, but not ready to share. Around 50 case studies from several international MNCs I had to swallow. For developing the execution plan (in real sense) it has taken 1 1/2 years to develop a document. I had a heaps of paper in the form of drafts before giving it a final shape. While developing the document, I came across several components of my own institution, which I was not aware till date. Isn't it very surprising for me? It was a real research work...while developing the roadmap...several time plans and important components changed their positions. Only one thing I would like to say as far as KM is concerned.... 1. PPT (people process and technology) -- here technology is just a facilitator but major components are people (very difficult to understand especially the cognitive psychology and the process involved or depended on the people) 2. KM means whole organisation and library is a minuscule part of it. 3. before talking about KM people should understand OB (organisational behaviour), OD (organisational design) and HR (human resource) and psychology (behaviour analysis). 4. How do you measure the effectiveness of KM? Regards Shantanu On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 1:57 PM, Mailing List Admin < mailman@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in> wrote:

It is good to see that a debate has been opened up on this issue, though to my mind it has been long overdue. I would, however, like to go deep and would like to understand the reason for such a spate of seminars and conferences. There are two aspects of this issue - one is the frequency of seminars and the other is the quality of papers.

Regarding the frequency of seminar happenings I have a question. That is, by organizing seminars/conferences does one get extra points in her/his CV? If, during assessment and promotion, one can earn extra points by showing that s/he has organized a seminar/conference, then the driving force of such seminars/conferences is not entirely professional.

Regarding the quality of paper - quality of papers rises when such papers are empirical research driven. Unless theories are tested in practice, knowledge cannot expand and without such tested knowledge, most papers would look same. It need not be a research at doctoral study level. One can do small research in her/his library. Instead, most of the time, we find papers which are mini-text books - on topics such as RFID, knowledge management. Very few try to experiment how the concept of knowledge management can be tested in libraries and the benefit out of it.

Regards, Swati Bhattacharyya -------------------------------------------------- Librarian Indian Institute of Management Joka Diamond Harbor Road Calcutta - 700104 Phone: 091-33-24678300 Extn: 416 FAX: 091-33-2467-8062 Email: swati @iimcal.ac.in --------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Mr.Susanta Kumar Pathy and Thaty dada,

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I am also of the same opinion that we are, now, organizing so many seminars that the next is knocking the door hardly the proceedings of preceding seminar is read or digested. One can encounter many librarian-presenters of last seminars with papers on library organization, but in their own library the self-professed phenomenon is absent; rather it is disheveled.

D R Meher

Librarian, OUAT, Bhubaneswar

On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 5:39 PM, Rajendra Kumar Thaty wrote:

Dear All,

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A pinching arrow rightly sent forth from some one who is quality conscious like many of us. I have a similar opinion for National Conferences too. It is so easy to write a paper for a conference now-a-days. one of the causes is the 'publish or perish' rule of the organizations. Even periodicals are facing the same problem. Some of the periodicals will close their shops if they start looking for really qualitative articles. This needs a debate.

Let me invite a very honest answer from all of you. How many of us, who send papers regulaly to journals and conferences and get them published profusely, have the guts to get the paper circulated in lis-forum and other fora like this seeking comments from all so that it can be improved? I do not remember anyone to have done so at least in India. But that would be a great practice - perhaps most of you will agree with me - for enhancing the quality of our publications.

Can we do so for PhD theses also? Is Prof Kapil Sibal listening?

If we have open access journals and open access archives, why not open access seminars, symposia and conferences? What about teleconferencing? If sight-seeing is important, may be we can demand for more frequent LTC so that the money earmarked for attending seminars can go to the LTC account to make it more enjyable for the family.

Well I think I have given enough food for thought.

Thanks

Rajendra Thaty University Librarian, Sambalpur University

On 12/8/10, sushanta kumar pathy wrote:

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Dear Professional(s),It is seen that for the last 4/5 years we in

India

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organised so many International Conference in the field of Library

&

...

Information Science, many more are coming and more will come in

future. In

...

this regard I would like to discuss few points as mentioned below:1. Although this kind of international conference promotes many

activities

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including interaction, debate, resource sharing, exchange of ideas,

writing

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articles etc. Is it the right time to organise this many international conference?2. Is it justified to have International Conference by the

same

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institutes/body every year? Don't we degrading the value of

International

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conference?3. If so, why don't we regulating the system through our associations, body etc? Why not in 3/4yrs on rotation?4. Are the

quality of

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papers accepted for the international conferences are of high

standard?I

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think this is the right time that we should discuss the above topic

and I

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invite all the great professionals to con! tribute their ideas/ pros and cons.Thanking youSushanta Kumar PathyCentral Library,Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), BhubaneswarSamantapuri (Rear-side of Hotel Swosti Plaza)Bhubaneswar-

751013,

...

ODISHAEmail: spathy@iitbbs.ac.inOffice:0674-2306292www.iitbbs.ac.inwww.iitbbs.gov.in -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.