I agree with Dr Laxman rao. Lots can be done by the librarian who is 1) innovative & 2) ready to sweat it out. Recently a senior professional remarked: "What is there in Lis-forum?. Only forwards of messages from some other Forum. There are no discussions". I asked him how many discussions did he initiate or take part? He became quiet. You see the point? Though I am out of the loop as far as active librarian ship is concerned I do have an active interest in knowing what is happening. How about librarians exchanging best practices. Best practices need not be costly or hightech. For instance the site www.160by2.com permits sending free SMS to mobile numbers from the web. About 50 text messages per day is free. Web based texting permits automation. This can be used by ALSD to send info about meetings to members. Librarians can use it for announcing events. I am using it very successfully to send reminders for meetings concerned with Resident welfare associations. Vyasamoorthy On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 9:45 AM, Prof. N. Laxman Rao. wrote:

helo while appreciating the statements of Ms Gayatri, i would like to request every one to take into consideation of ground realities.

1. most important responsibility is librarian. as many teachers and students r not aware of new books / documents. the librarians need to take more interest in identification of the new and useful books and bring to the notice of the teachrs and students. generally they approve it for purchase.

if this effort is succesful, indirectly we will be able to bring to their notice about new documents, and then in turn the usability increases.

2. there is general complaint about awareness of new documents. the library professionals use the listserv. and can we use this forum as a place for giving information to fellow librarians about the new and useful documents.it solves the problem of awareness about new publications.

3. we can find details of many publications and documents are found in these listserv, but hw many of the librarians are using the facility for procurement of the collection.

4. over all we need to change the culture in the libraries. we all are luking for ward to the young blood to bring the revolution in the library services, by using the technology.

5 today people comment tht we do only issue and return of the books, in spite of having so much knowledge on various topics learnt at the schools and outside.our complaint s tht we hav no resources or no staff. but there are some librarians , who are able to do wonders with in their resources.

6. i suggest tht the forum should hav a special focus on publicising gud publications, their price and edition. the professionals should give the details of both priced and free publications. it will help in qualititaive collection development.

7. iam not criticising any professionals but we hav to try to overcome the limitations to project our services and build the image of the profession, especially in the context of extensive use of technology.

laxman rao

gayathri sen wrote:

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