Dear friends, Sad to hear that Shri M N Seetharaman of NAL has succumbed to Covid-19. I was fortunate to work under him at IIT Madras Central Library where he introduced library automation by developing an in-house LMS package, CDROM network, barcoding, DIALOG online services, and introduced many ICTs, including the present new millennium library building. The Indian LIS fraternity has lost another library stalwart who will be remembered for his contribution to the development of technical libraries. He was first in the country to introduce the concept of 'library-trainees' and undertaken many library projects at IIT Madras. Let us pray for his soul to rest in peace. Om Shanti! Dr. M Koteswara Rao Hyderabad ________________________________ From: Ishwar Goudar Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 11:49 AM To: lis-forum Cc: Francis Jayakanth Subject: [LIS-Forum] Sad demise of M N Seetharaman, Ex Head, ICAST, NAL Dear Professionals, I am very sorry to inform you all that Mr. M. N. Seetharaman (MNS), Ex. Head, Information Centre, NAL, Bangalore around 1.00 pm yesterday, 22nd May due to Covid 19. He was 94. He was admitted to Sakra Hospital, Marathhalli Ring Road 15 days back. He was very active and bold being in the hospital too. Infact he spoke to me 6 days back from hospital and kept on sending messages. In between his covid test was negative. But again got infected including secondary infection along with low BP. MNS worked with Both Dr Neelakantan foudar Director, NAL and Dr. Valluri very closely. He played very imporyamt role in setting up of 4'X4' wind tunnel most important milestone of NAL. He took information centre to the highest level and served as its Head, since the setting up Library in 1960s till 1987. He had set up NICDROM at NAL, under NISSAT. MNS was dreamer and was person who used to put staircase to sky. Once Dr. Valluri told openly and I quote "If I were to allow MNS he would have made NAL as subsidiary of ICAST". Among many firsts to his credit he experimented in collaboration with TIFR and introduced satellite based Online Information service through European Space Agency at NAL in 1980s itself. He built exhaustive collection of Technical Reports. Most of thec ISRO, DRDO, IISc, IIT and other Aerosoace related institutes were depending upon ICAST sources and services. Leave alone LIS, he would talk hours together on any topic under the sun and even beyond. He recruited and trained many colleagues at ICAST. After retirement from NAL, he served as Special Officer at Library of IIT, Chennai. He brought ocean changes there to such an extent that IIT Senate gave him a standing ovation. He hosted 39th ILA Conference at IIT. He boosted image of Librarianship at IIT. Infact I worked under his guidance and supervision at IIT. He only recommenced my name to Prof. Narasimha, then Director, NAL who offered me the post of Head, ICAST. Then onwards he guided me to provide quality and state-of-the-art information services. Till the last hour of getting admitted to hospital he was using Internet profusely and inform us about new developments. I lost a friend, philosopher, guide and above all a great human being. Om Shanthi 💐💐🙏💐💐 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

I am extremely sorry to note the demise of Sri MN Seetharaman. I may recall that a Study Circle Meeting was arranged at NAL under the auspices MYLA now Karnataka Library Association .Dr. M A Gopinath was the Secretary and I was the joint secretary. After moving to Hyderabad too, I continued my contacts with MN . I express my heart felt condolences to his family and his daughter Savithri .May his soul RIP. Deva Eswara Reddy , Texas A&M University Libraries. ________________________________ From: LIS-Forum on behalf of Ishwar Goudar Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 1:19 AM To: lis-forum Cc: Francis Jayakanth Subject: [LIS-Forum] Sad demise of M N Seetharaman, Ex Head, ICAST, NAL Dear Professionals, I am very sorry to inform you all that Mr. M. N. Seetharaman (MNS), Ex. Head, Information Centre, NAL, Bangalore around 1.00 pm yesterday, 22nd May due to Covid 19. He was 94. He was admitted to Sakra Hospital, Marathhalli Ring Road 15 days back. He was very active and bold being in the hospital too. Infact he spoke to me 6 days back from hospital and kept on sending messages. In between his covid test was negative. But again got infected including secondary infection along with low BP. MNS worked with Both Dr Neelakantan foudar Director, NAL and Dr. Valluri very closely. He played very imporyamt role in setting up of 4'X4' wind tunnel most important milestone of NAL. He took information centre to the highest level and served as its Head, since the setting up Library in 1960s till 1987. He had set up NICDROM at NAL, under NISSAT. MNS was dreamer and was person who used to put staircase to sky. Once Dr. Valluri told openly and I quote "If I were to allow MNS he would have made NAL as subsidiary of ICAST". Among many firsts to his credit he experimented in collaboration with TIFR and introduced satellite based Online Information service through European Space Agency at NAL in 1980s itself. He built exhaustive collection of Technical Reports. Most of thec ISRO, DRDO, IISc, IIT and other Aerosoace related institutes were depending upon ICAST sources and services. Leave alone LIS, he would talk hours together on any topic under the sun and even beyond. He recruited and trained many colleagues at ICAST. After retirement from NAL, he served as Special Officer at Library of IIT, Chennai. He brought ocean changes there to such an extent that IIT Senate gave him a standing ovation. He hosted 39th ILA Conference at IIT. He boosted image of Librarianship at IIT. Infact I worked under his guidance and supervision at IIT. He only recommenced my name to Prof. Narasimha, then Director, NAL who offered me the post of Head, ICAST. Then onwards he guided me to provide quality and state-of-the-art information services. Till the last hour of getting admitted to hospital he was using Internet profusely and inform us about new developments. I lost a friend, philosopher, guide and above all a great human being. Om Shanthi 💐💐🙏💐💐 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-f...