Dear Sir you are absolutely Right! Thanks for the lucid explanation about my concern on the future of Librarianship in India. Librarianship in India has lost the ground created by father of library science in India Dr. S. R. Ranganathan. Being Indian we must be ashamed that we have deviated from the path shown by Dr. Ranganathan. Today library professionals are looked upon as mere clerks. the reason behind this solely the creations of our own faulty practices. The root of the cause lies at the very faulty system of attracting people to this profession. In India only those people opt for Librarianship (with few exception) who donot have a chance of getting admited to other lucrative courses. You have rightly pointed out that Library & Information Professionals have an edge over Computer Professionals. They are trained or ought to be trained in providing information pinpointedly, exhaustively and expediously. However many of the LIS Professionals are simply busy learning and adopting technology and forgetting the basic role of the LIS Professionals. No doubt technology is important and I am not against learning about technology, but at the same time we should be cautious that we donot forget the basics of Librarianship. But on one point I cannot agree with Sunny Joseph. The job requirements for a particular post cannot be the prerogative of any employer (lest it being a private employer). I think there are certain rules and norms set down by the Central Government for recruiting staff for various posts. Exisiting rules and norms shouldnot be violated. With this regards we have to certain that Government has clearcut rules and norms for for recruiting library personals. If such rules are twisted very now and then for library staff, then its a very sad situation and which must be opposed vehemently. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Niraj Barua Guwahati-781014 Assam INDIA 9435346637(Mobile) Email:niraj_barua@yahoo.co.in. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.