Dear Friends, Quite often many librarians wishing to do PhD ask me what topic they should choose. Though I am at a loss to answer such a pround question, I would like to re-circulate a list of topics that I complied some years ago. Some topics might still interest current day researchers. Best wishes Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631 =============== Now for the list ============ 1. Professional associations and their role in the development of the LIS: IASLIC. ILA. IATLIS, SIS. ALSD. APLA. etc. Role in training of professionals, dissemination of professional information, safeguarding professional interests, etc. 2. House journals as sources of technical information: A look into the structure. contents. availability. bias. price and procurability can be studied. 3. Analysis of employment opportunities for library professionals: Who employs whom-what are entry qualifications, salary. pay-scales, promotional avenues and opportunities, language preferences. etc. 4. Book review as source of book selection: Assessment of book reviews-content, bias, timeliness, criticality, objectivity, comprehensiveness, authority, etc. 5. Bibliotherapy under Indian situation: A study of use of books and reading to cure certain chronic diseases and mental disorders. Libraries in hospitals. availability of trained manpower in this regard. 6. Conferences/seminars-resolutions and their implementation: resolutions adopted in several national conferences / seminars / symposia and their implementation. 7. Indian dissertations/theses as cited documents: Analysis of the citation of dissertations/theses in LIS published/unpublished by other researchers/authors in LIS. 8. Occupational health hazards of library personnel: allergic problems from dust, age, problems in using chemicals in photocopying, book preservations, binding; problems with user community (burn out issues) 9. Indian patents and their use: availability of patent literature in libraries. Its use, indexing patterns, awareness among user community, availability, etc. 10. Survey of Indian software packages for library automation: a survey of software packages brought out by private companies -hardware/software requirements, compatibility, user friendliness, etc. 11. Study of title and content pages of Indian publications: insufficient data, variant data, ambiguity, authorship, price, disfigurement, etc. 12. Book indexes in Indian texts: indexes and their usefulness, comprehensiveness, correctness, arrangement, style, reader's view, etc. 13. Role of media on library movement and development: analysis of articles appeared in newspapers, radio talks, telecasts on library development, their role in public opinion, legislation, etc. 14. Women librarians/LIS teachers in India: role, impact, parity, contribution, etc. 15. Problems of non-use and misuse of library materials: vandalism, theft, loss of books, security aspects; less used and unused books, weeding out policy, etc. 16. Survey of map libraries/tape libraries, etc. 17. Philosophical basis for Ranganathan's Five Fundamental Categories. 18. Universe of knowledge: the Indian conception - its treatment in ancient Indian classics. 19. Notational techniques in DOC, CC and UDC. 20. Study of auxiliaries in DOC, CC and UDC. Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631