I am happy to note that Dr. Ali has stressed the importance of national level accreditation system for LIS education in India. I really hope this will become a reality soon. Three years ago, there was an online discussion about changing LIS education, in which I had the opportunity to raise this point (see links below). Our LIS educators, associations and librarians in India need to initiate this soon. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/corporatelibrns/message/3020 http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/corporatelibrns/message/3077 Kind regards, Dr. J. K. VIJAYAKUMAR, Sci Tech Specialist Librarian, KAUST, Saudi Arabia ------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 01:35:26 -0700 (PDT) From: zafar iqbal <zafar_lib at yahoo.com> Dear Colleagues/Professionals, In order to venerate 100 years of LIS education in India, the Department of Library and Information Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh organized one day Symposium on “Library and Information Science education in India: Challenges and Opportunities” on March 17, 2011. The Seminar was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Mr. H.K Chegani, Former Director, Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, Patna also deliver the key note speech. The Chief Guest appreciated the efforts made by the Department holding such a wonderful symposium on suitable theme of the time. He also mentioned that the curriculum should be modified in such a way as the students get opportunity to learn about the various aspects of traditional as well as modern librarianship. President of the symposium Prof. V.K Abdul Jaleel, Registrar, Aligarh Muslim University appealed to the government to implement the National Knowledge Commission’s Report especially all those recommendations related to the library and information centers. Prof. Shabahat Hussain, Director of the symposium introduced the theme and stated that the libraries were existed in very old universities like Nalanda and Takshila. During his speech, he emphasized the need of introducing course on communication skills at B.L..I Sc level. Dr. Naushad Ali. P.M, Chairman and Organizing Secretary of the symposium in his welcome speech proudly narrated the contribution of the department in LIS education in the country by introducing ‘Bachelor of Library Science’ in 1958-59 with full time lecturers for the first time in the country. He also spoke about the importance of a national level accreditation system for library and information science education in India. Dr. Nishat Fatima, Coordinator of the programme proposed the vote of thanks. The symposium was attended by more than hundred professionals from in and around Aligarh. The symposium was conducted in three technical sessions and twenty two papers in LIS education were presented. The deliberations and the panel discussion ended with a few important recommendations. -- Dr. P.M Naushad Ali Associate Professor Dept. of Library & Information Science Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P-India-202002 pmnaushadali at yahoo.co.in +91-9897258855 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.