On Thursday , 16th Jan’ 2014, curtains came down and it was time to bid good bye to nearly 40 participants who attended the refresher course in LIS at the Academic Staff College, University of Mysore , Mysore. “When you are in love, awe and admiration it gets communicated” said Prof. Khaiser Nikam in her opening remarks while welcoming Prof. Shalini R Urs, who incidentally had reached a mile stone in her carrier by completing 38 years of service as a faculty at the University of Mysore on the 16th of Jan 2014. She was the key speaker and the chief guest for the valedictory of the 20th Refresher Course at MyDLIS-ASC-UoM, Mysore, which was jointly organized by Academic Staff College and MyDLIS (Department of Library and Information Science), University of Mysore, Mysore. Prof. Khaiser, the course coordinator & Chairperson MyDLIS, was a bit emotional and said the 20th refresher course would not have been complete and there would be a vacuum if she had not got Prof. Shalini R Urs, an internationally acclaimed academic, most sought after speaker in prestigious meets, conferences and a frequent flyer and a globe trotter, to address the participants. The participants were very lucky to hear her, give an appropriate message in her valedictory address. HERE IT GOES!!! Purpose of refresher course is to refresh: it is same as in digital world, where refresh button is clicked to get the updated content if it is NOT getting updated automatically. The libraries and profession of librarianship are in a perpetual state of flux for a variety of reasons said Prof. Shalini Urs while speaking at the valedictory function of 20th refresh course in Library and Information Science on the theme“Supporting Academic Best Practices by LIS Professionals”, Prof. Shalini Urs touched upon two major issues in her talk-- (i) to understand that Library as an Institution and LIS as a Profession are distinct and their future is also different and (ii) repositioning libraries and LIS to support academic best practices throughout the entire life cycle of information and move away from access focus. The future of libraries will remain great, that does not mean that the future of the LIS profession as we know it today, will also be great. Historically libraries (Ex: Alexandria) are a millennia old and while LIS, as profession is about 150 years old, therefore as profession we are very young. Libraries being part and parcel of our civilization are revered and respected institutions. Now there is a need to re imagine the library in context of transformative changes that are happening. Libraries shall continue to stay, so also the profession. But, Alas! We may not be part of it. We may lose control over both because of the ICTs, which have transformed them. We may have to reclaim it! To maintain our leadership, we will have to reposition and be there throughout the entire life cycle of information and not just the consumption end. Historically libraries (and LIS professionals) have been supporting the academia in the ‘consumption/use’ end and not at the ‘creation/generation’ end. Academic best practices means supporting academic integrity (Ex: avoiding plagiarism) etc. The role of our profession is secondary and it means we are in the service sector to give service to the library users. The primary function of the academia is to read, write and talk. Libraries so far have focused mainly on assisting the reading function of its customers than the writing function. Internet is free and it supports the reading/access function very well. Countries like Brunei, Malaysia, which I have visited have surged ahead both in economic development as well as in supporting academic best practices. A country like Malaysia, which got independence at the same time as India, is way ahead in supporting writing function- style guides, Referencing; inculcating academic integrity (helping in avoiding Plagiarism-which is equal to actual theft)- said Prof. Urs. Things like ‘Turnitin’, a cloud base plagiarism detection tool which teachers, students, journal editors use to maintain quality in academic output may be introduced to the readers-just an example. Metaphorically LIS professionals should become like ‘Turnitin’ supporting best practices. If consumption of information is one end of information cycle the other end is information generation. Apart from traditional information management tool like catalogues etc., reference management systems must be provided to the users (Ex: Zotero). Let us re- imagine the library not from the consumption side but from the information generation side both from a physical infrastructure as well as intellectual infrastructure side physical spaces and provide an opportunity for a users to collaborate; discuss on the lines of the iconic New York Public Library (NYPL) which made waves in planning to shift its vast collection to a remote place but converting its current space for helping users access the Internet and also supporting children and students to creatively use the space. Library as a Place—report by the Council of Library and Information Resources (CLIR) emphasis this importance - said Prof. Shalini Urs to the budding academic librarians. It is time we changed our paradigm of information as a resource to information as an infrastructure, she said. -- Yours sincerely Umesha M L Guest Lecturer Dept. of Library and Information Sciensce University of Mysore Mysore. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.