Dear All, It seems that we need not discuss much if some library schools are good, better or exemplary. They are expected to be good and they may be good. But we should discuss if some of them are not good so as to enable them to be good by helping them identify the strengths, weaknesses and showing them the right path. When a dog bites a man,it never becomes a subject for discussion. But when the reverse happens, it need to be discussed. Likewise we need not discuss the former. Let us agree that our library schools ,teachers and the outcome are good.But the library scenario in the country leaves much to be desired. It is just like saying that the operation was successful ,but the patient died. Do we need a project or research to make an analytical account of the effectiveness of the library school as a training ground of library professionals? I think it is not very essential. We can evaluate the potential of a library school by an informal talk with the teachers there or by applying some simple yardsticks, if we have common sense. Good researches are mere application of common sense, but in a systematic manner. Our National Knowledge Commission has identified that we need to do much in library scenario to make it useful for the emerging economy and certainly our library schools - many which I know - in general need to do a lot to meet those challenges.The real issue that we need to discuss is how can we make them better? Regards, K Rajasekharan Librarian , Kerala Institute of Local Administration Mulagunnathukavu, Thrissur -680581 Ph 0487- 2204097 (O), 2201428 ( R) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 16:40:11 +0530 From: "Shalini Urs" Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Efforts of MyDLIS, University of Mysore in introducing ICT skills among students To: , Message-ID: <200705241113.l4OBDDRP026137@mail.iisc.ernet.in> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear All, First a disclaimer: I cite the MyDLIS case as a case in point only - it does not mean 'others' are NOT doing what is expected. Secondly my apologies for a long winding message. I would like to thank all those who have conveyed their greetings and responses (for the posting by my colleague Hari) To continue the discussion, I have a question in the context of LIS curriculum. Has anyone done a systematic study of the LIS syllabus of universities before branding them as NOT GOOD ENOUGH or AS GOOD AS NCSI/DRTC?. I beg to differ here - our (MyDLIS) syllabus is in tune with both the changing scenario of LIS as well as market expectations/demands. Please have a look at our syllabus - http://lisc.uni-mysore.ac.in/ http://lisc.uni-mysore.ac.in PLEASE DO NOT MAKE SWEEPING GENERALISATIONS. Please also note that graduates from LIS schools are also doing quite well in many companies. We have our students working in companies such as IBM, Wipro, TCS, InfoSys, Accenture, I2 technologies, etc. We have received 'words of praise' about our students from their bosses. Some of our students also have effortlessly transited to KM and a few of them to even mainstream 'technical' areas. I would say it is all individual specific and case dependent. Excellence or progress is NOT the monopoly of elite institutions only. Let me respond to some of the questions/assumptions/opinions expressed with reference to the following- * LIS curriculum * Market expectations and demands/requirements Designing/adoption of LIS curriculum etc: * UGC is only a recommendatory /norm setting body in academic matters. UGC may recommend a model syllabus, but cannot make it mandatory. Each university is autonomous. The Board of Studies (BOS) in LIS of each university is in charge of drafting the syllabus/curriculum. They have the autonomy to design the syllabus. The BOS in any discipline (including LIS) consists of senior faculty of the Department as well couple of external experts. * There is usually a norm that the BOS revise/review the syllabus once in said number of years (in our case it is 3 years). In fact university encourages us to modify and keep it up to date. Many times, we get some small grants to organise workshops etc and invite experts to discuss on the curriculum. And we do carry out such exercises too. * The guiding principles of curriculum innovations are -changing dynamics of the LIS as a discipline and the market expectations/demands. * In addition to these two guiding principles, we also need to keep in mind - the pragmatics of imparting the syllabus such as infrastructure and other resources. * When it comes to ICT skills etc, the physical infrastructure such as an IT lab and the well trained teachers are two important criteria for the effectiveness of imparting the programme. * It is the responsibility of the departments to mobilise the resources and create the necessary infrastructure and resources in terms of trained teachers. Individual teachers also are responsible for keeping their knowledge and skill sets contemporary. There are many different strategies/opportunities that an LIS department uses to accomplish the above. Many LIS Departments have been successful in this regard. Market expectations/demands (wrt ICT): * In today's digital age, all sectors need ICT infrastructure and therefore LIS professionals with these skills are in need. The difference is in the kinds of specialised knowledge required. We cannot generalise again. * The market may vary in terms of opportunities. Today we may find more opportunities (in terms of number) in the private sector than in the public sector. Sometimes it is seasonal. * Deploying ICT many a times depends on the individuals working in these segments. I can cite examples of some of our students working in college libraries taking the initiative and deploying open source software (be it Koha or Open Biblio or something else) for automating their libraries. Instances where college libraries having deployed DSpace/ Greenstone for different types of repositories (may be student project reports/question papers etc) are NOT uncommon. * In a company LIS professionals may be called upon to manage electronic resources through intranets and portals, but not necessarily be required to deploy software tools or handle ICT infrastructure issues as they have technical people to manage the same, where as in academic segment, the librarians maybe called upon to install software, and manage the ICT infrastructure! I would like to end this lengthy note with the following - please do not dismiss LIS schools. Given the constraints that we work in, some of us have done very well indeed. Our products have also done fairly well and responded to the market expectations very well and MyDLIS is proud of them. Thank you Dr. Shalini R. Urs Executive Director and Professor International School of Information Management University of Mysore Mysore - 570006 India Tel : 91-821-2514699 Fax : 91-821-2519209 Email : shalini@isim.ac.in URL : www.vidyanidhi.org.in/shaliniurs.htm -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.