Friends
I would like to expand on Dr Vyasamoorthy's lament somewhat with due
apologies to the poet T S Elliot. I think the lack of proficiency in English
is only the tip of the iceberg and hence my lament below.
Where are the books we have lost in our 'digital libraries'?
Where are the users we have lost in our 'library science'?
Where is the service we have lost in our 'automation'?
Where are the library networks we have lost in 'cyberspace'?
Where are the leaders we have lost in our 'library schools'?
Where are the scholars we have lost in our 'Ph Ds'?
Where is the professionalism we have lost in our 'profession'?
Where is the substance we have lost in 'hype'?
L J Haravu
Trustee, Kesavan Institute of Information and Knowledge Management
[http://www.kiikm.org/]
69 Krishnapuri Colony
West Marredpally
Sedcunderabad 500 026
Tel: 91-40-27803947
-------Original Message-------
From: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Date: 02/23/05 17:40:52
To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Subject: LIS-Forum Digest, Vol 23, Issue 30
Send LIS-Forum mailing list submissions to
lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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You can reach the person managing the list at
lis-forum-owner@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of LIS-Forum digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. MSN Search Helpful to Net User (Farooque Shaheen)
2. FW: Special lecture at DRTC (Dr. T.B. Rajashekar)
3. Librarians' proficiency in English (Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com)
4. RE: Librarians' proficiency in English (Aman Jha)
5. Basic English (shantha venkatesan)
6. Communication skills (gayathri sen)
7. Why do we need high proficiency in English language ?
(Jayadev P Hiremath)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:03:09 +0530
From: Farooque Shaheen
Subject: [LIS-Forum] MSN Search Helpful to Net User
To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The Hindu,
The next time you have a query such as "what is seven times 20" or "how
high is Mt. Everest" or a complex arithmetic or algebra calculation,simply
type the question in the window of MSN Search, Microsoft's latest
innovation. A one-line answer would appear in microseconds on the web
page, along with the other MSN search results.
"How many inches in a mile?" Launched last fortnight in the country, this
feature of MSN Search draws its results from the database of 1.5 million
answers provided by Microsoft Encarta, the leading encyclopaedia brand.
You could ask any question on geographical locations, historical and
popular figures, definitions, facts, calculations, conversions, and
solutions to equations.
Till now, Internet browsers had to type out the key words in the search
window and click on the search results to look out for precise
definitions.
But the one-line Encarta answer is only part of the long list of features
offered by the new MSN Search, built from the ground up by Microsoft in
about 16 months. Now available in 25 countries and 10 languages, the
search service offers a collection of tools to Net users, giving them
greater control in targeting and refining searches to get instant,accurate
answers to specific questions.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/23/stories/2005022315510300.htm
Thanks & Regards,
Farooque Shaheen,
Caritor India Pvt Ltd.
Tel. 080-26678388 # 4105
Mobile-9342507449
-------------- next part --------------
The Hindu,
The next time you have a query such as "what is seven times 20" or "how high
is Mt. Everest" or a complex arithmetic or algebra calculation,simply type
the question in the window of MSN Search, Microsoft's latest innovation. A
one-line answer would appear in microseconds on the web page, along with the
other MSN search results.
"How many inches in a mile?" Launched last fortnight in the country, this
feature of MSN Search draws its results from the database of 1.5 million
answers provided by Microsoft Encarta, the leading encyclopaedia brand.
You could ask any question on geographical locations, historical and popular
figures, definitions, facts, calculations, conversions, and solutions to
equations.
Till now, Internet browsers had to type out the key words in the search
window and click on the search results to look out for precise definitions.
But the one-line Encarta answer is only part of the long list of features
offered by the new MSN Search, built from the ground up by Microsoft in
about 16 months. Now available in 25 countries and 10 languages, the search
service offers a collection of tools to Net users, giving them greater
control in targeting and refining searches to get instant,accurate answers
to specific questions.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/23/stories/2005022315510300.htm
Thanks & Regards,
Farooque Shaheen,
Caritor India Pvt Ltd.
Tel. 080-26678388 # 4105
Mobile-9342507449
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:03:49 +0530
From: "Dr. T.B. Rajashekar"
Subject: [LIS-Forum] FW: Special lecture at DRTC
To:
Message-ID: <002101c51971$a2f80810$bd481090@Rajashekar>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
-----Original Message-----
From: DRTC General [mailto:drtc@ns.isibang.ac.in]
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 10:42 AM
To: raja@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Cc: ikrrao@yahoo.co.in
Subject: Special lecture at DRTC
Dear Dr. Rajashekar,
Kindly send this circular through lisforum.
With regards,
I.K. Ravichandra Rao
Head, DRTC
========================================================
INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE
Documentation Research and Training Centre
8th Mile, Mysore Road, Bangalore - 59
Cordially invites you to attend a Special Seminar
On
"Finding Scholarly Information through the Internet and the WWW"
By
Prof. Paul Nieuwenhuysen
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2,
B-1050 Brussel
Belgium
On
Monday, 28th February 2005, at 2 pm.
At
Documentation Research and Training Centre
Indian Statistical Institute
8th Mile Mysore Road
Bangalore 560059
Professor and Head, DRTC
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:36:38 +0530
From:
Subject: [LIS-Forum] Librarians' proficiency in English
To:
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Dear Friends,
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at the
lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language among
many librarians. I wonder how one could pass through some 17 years of
schooling and even after that manage not to learn basics of English Language
It is regrettable that our present system of Education does not emphasize
the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians
promoting their own agendas at the cost of the nation and because of a
tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere -- the necessity
for striving for excellence is once in a way heard from our president,
though -- students do not look at Lannguage skills with any concern.
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of about
fifteen persons we considered, hardly two or three could measure up as far
as basic English Language skills are concerned.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be prolific
writers - even an entry level resume mentions two or three 'papers'
published and on the other hand we find that their presentation and
communication skills at horribly very low levels. What are reasons? How can
this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are?
What do LIS teachers have to say?
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you are
just lazy - not that you do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence
on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it happens to everyone), unheard
of abbreviations being thrust on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture
and the like. I am concerned with basic English Language skills expected of
a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same
everywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argument.
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
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:39:27 +0530
From: "Aman Jha"
Subject: RE: [LIS-Forum] Librarians' proficiency in English
To:
Cc: Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
Message-ID: <677A2BDC87B41F4C9059053630B29736050A7061@ciimail>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Dear Dr Vyasamoorthy
I too feel that English Language proficiency is a problem for many library
professionals. This is basically for those who belong to BIMARU states. I
myself belong to one of such states where English language is taught from
6th standards onwards and in 10th standard, it is not mandatory to pass in
English. This is the case of many state boards.
I somehow managed to fill this gap after 10th, may be due to my primary
education took place in Delhi. Even in Delhi during 1980s, English was
taught not before 6th standard in Govt schools.
PROBLEMS:
Education systems:
State Boards: There is a general practice in many states where passing in
English is not mandatory in the State Board examinations.
Universities: Many universities allow Hindi speaking students, whose medium
of instruction till Bachelor have been in Hindi, to get admission in BLIS
course where BLIS is taught in Hindi. There are many other LIS departments
where medium of instruction is mentioned English in Prospectus but Hinglish
is practised.
Attitude: In my case, since I was very weak in English till 10th, I took it
very seriously for higher education and started studying basic English books
even primary levels, grammar and translation with lot of self-practice at
home which boosted my confidence of English language.
WHAT TO BE DONE?
I think British Council has taken a good lead in developing English language
skills in the country. Professionals who feel are weak in English may join a
short term course.
As an interface between books and users, librarian must have good
communication skills in English and should be primary requisite for the
recruitment of the post.
Employers should also enhance their employees' communication skills by
organising an internal training/workshop program.
Library associations should come forward, if not, library network centres in
India can join hands with the primary employers to organise such programs.
There are many other avenues where professionals may try for upgrading their
English language skills. I had compiled a comprehensive list of English
Language Training Schools/Centres in India last year. I will be happy to
share that list.
Best regards,
Aman Jha
Librarian
Confederation of Indian Industry
Plot No 249-F, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV
Sector 18, Gurgaon 122015 (Haryana)
Tel: 0124-5014060-67 * Fax: 0124-5014080
-----Original Message-----
From: Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com [mailto:Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 7:07 AM
To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Subject: [LIS-Forum] Librarians' proficiency in English
Dear Friends,
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at the
lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language among
many librarians. I wonder how one could pass through some 17 years of
schooling and even after that manage not to learn basics of English Language
It is regrettable that our present system of Education does not emphasize
the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians
promoting their own agendas at the cost of the nation and because of a
tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere -- the necessity
for striving for excellence is once in a way heard from our president,
though -- students do not look at Lannguage skills with any concern.
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of about
fifteen persons we considered, hardly two or three could measure up as far
as basic English Language skills are concerned.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be prolific
writers - even an entry level resume mentions two or three 'papers'
published and on the other hand we find that their presentation and
communication skills at horribly very low levels. What are reasons? How can
this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are?
What do LIS teachers have to say?
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you are
just lazy - not that you do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence
on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it happens to everyone), unheard
of abbreviations being thrust on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture
and the like. I am concerned with basic English Language skills expected of
a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same
everywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argument.
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
_______________________________________________
LIS-Forum mailing list
LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:17:06 +0530 (IST)
From: "shantha venkatesan"
Subject: [LIS-Forum] Basic English
To: LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Message-ID: <1225.192.16.4.247.1109148426.squirrel@proxy.uict>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
Kudos to Dr.Vyasamoorthy! Certainly the real culprits are the education
system & selfish politicians. You will agree this is an exciting topic. We
speak of national integration. We accept or do not accept that English
language brings all castes & communities together. Ridiculous indeed! How
many universities are conducting interviews for B.L.I.Sc in regional
language to see that the mediocrity thrives everywhere. Are the teachers
of LIS not responsible for this appalling state? Do the teachers of LIS
identify & motivate the would-be prolific writers? Do the teachers speak
correct English in the class? Are the teachers simply cynical of students
who are better than the teachers? Are the teachers aware of difference
between healthy criticism & cynicism? I believe the teachers are right in
the centre of the field to mould the academic society. It is just like
blaming the government for all ills not knowing that the govt. is of the
people, by the people and for the people. As Dr.Radhakrishnan said " a
teacher commands respect and not demands respect. Learning is directed
both ways teacher-students and students-teachers. Now who is responsible
for the poor communication skill : the system of education, the floating
politicians or the sacred teachers? This is a food for thought. A proper
analysis would bring in the answer.
--
Shantha Venkatesan.
Senior Librarian
Prof.M.M.Sharma Library
U.I.C.T.Matunga (East)
Mumbai400 019
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 01:24:43 -0800 (PST)
From: gayathri sen
Subject: [LIS-Forum] Communication skills
To: LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Message-ID: <20050223092443.12145.qmail@web52907.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Dear friends,
I strongly endorse the views of Dr. Vysamoorthy regarding the present day
out comes of Libray Schools. I have even spoken about this to some
professors teaching in library schools.
Librarian or Information Officers position involves dealing with users,
managements, government bodies etc. etc.
When the library staff or the librarian himself cannot present himself well
what respect can you expect in organizations?
To improve the situation, like how english classes are introduced in
technical courses like B.E., even in library courses english should be made
compulsory. This may solve the problem to a small extent.
I take english classes for few staff members in my library whenever I have
some time, so that they can present themselves better in front of users.
Many come from rural back ground and hence this drawback.
Gayathri Sen
PESIT
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
-------------- next part --------------
Dear friends,
I strongly endorse the views of Dr. Vysamoorthy regarding the present day
out comes of Libray Schools. I have even spoken about this to some
professors teaching in library schools.
Librarian or Information Officers position involves dealing with users,
managements, government bodies etc. etc.
When the library staff or the librarian himself cannot present himself well
what respect can you expect in organizations?
To improve the situation, like how english classes are introduced in
technical courses like B.E., even in library courses english should be made
compulsory. This may solve the problem to a small extent.
I take english classes for few staff members in my library whenever I have
some time, so that they can present themselves better in front of users.
Many come from rural back ground and hence this drawback.
Gayathri Sen
PESIT
Do you Yahoo!?
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/virus/*http://promotions.yahoo
com/new_mail/static/protection.html Yahoo! Mail
- Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:50:38 +0300
From: Jayadev P Hiremath
Subject: [LIS-Forum] Why do we need high proficiency in English
language ?
To: "Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com"
Cc: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
How many Librarians in East Europe, Japan, France, China and Russia
and many other countries know English. Haven't these countries
progressed ? If the Librarian has studied in Vernacular upto high
school, is it his fault ? Library Science teacher's are there to teach
Library Science and not English Language skills.
When you were recruiting an Information Officer, what was the basic
requirement ? Was it his skills in Information Management or English
language ?
You have a done a great disservice by writing highly unwarranted
mail. This will dissuade many Librarians from writing to this forum.
They all will develop inferiotity complex. Itis a national shame that
when two Indians...Librarians.... from different parts of the country
meet they have to communicate in English language. Have you ever
thought about conversing in Hindi ?
I jolly well know the importance of English language in the world. But
that doesn't mean that we have to look down upon our fellow
professionals who are not proficient in English. We have all become
slaves to English language and take great pride in being so.
I as a customer, have received many e-mails from your Organization and
I don't think ICICI as such attaches much importance to English
language skills and rightly so. Why is it that only you are so keen
about it when it is not an Institutional policy. Working knowledge of
the languages is more that sufficient for providing the services.
Unless ofcourse you are going to write a treatise.
Jayadev P Hiremath
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:36:38 +0530, Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
wrote:
Dear Friends,
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at
the lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language
among many librarians. I wonder how one could pass through some 17 years of
schooling and even after that manage not to learn basics of English Language
It is regrettable that our present system of Education does not emphasize
the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians
promoting their own agendas at the cost of the nation and because of a
tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere -- the necessity
for striving for excellence is once in a way heard from our president,
though -- students do not look at Lannguage skills with any concern.
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of
about fifteen persons we considered, hardly two or three could measure up as
far as basic English Language skills are concerned.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be
prolific writers - even an entry level resume mentions two or three 'papers'
published and on the other hand we find that their presentation and
communication skills at horribly very low levels. What are reasons? How can
this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are?
What do LIS teachers have to say?
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you are
just lazy - not that you do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence
on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it happens to everyone), unheard
of abbreviations being thrust on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture
and the like. I am concerned with basic English Language skills expected of
a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same
everywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argument.
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
_______________________________________________
LIS-Forum mailing list
LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
LIS-Forum mailing list
LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
End of LIS-Forum Digest, Vol 23, Issue 30
*****************************************
Friends
I would like to expand on Dr Vyasamoorthy's lament somewhat with due apologies to the poet T S Elliot. I think the lack of proficiency in English is only the tip of the iceberg and hence my lament below.
Where are the books we have lost in our 'digital libraries'?
Where are the users we have lost in our 'library science'?
Where is the service we have lost in our 'automation'?
Where are the library networks we have lost in 'cyberspace'?
Where are the leaders we have lost in our 'library schools'?
Where are the scholars we have lost in our 'Ph Ds'?
Where is the professionalism we have lost in our 'profession'?
Where is the substance we have lost in 'hype'?
L J Haravu
Trustee, Kesavan Institute of Information and Knowledge Management [http://www.kiikm.org/]
69 Krishnapuri Colony
West Marredpally
Sedcunderabad 500 026
Tel: 91-40-27803947
-------Original Message-------
From:
mailto:lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Date:
02/23/05 17:40:52
To:
mailto:lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Subject:
LIS-Forum Digest, Vol 23, Issue 30
Send LIS-Forum mailing list submissions to
mailto:lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of LIS-Forum digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. MSN Search Helpful to Net User (Farooque Shaheen)
2. FW: Special lecture at DRTC (Dr. T.B. Rajashekar)
3. Librarians' proficiency in English ( mailto:Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
)
4. RE: Librarians' proficiency in English (Aman Jha)
5. Basic English (shantha venkatesan)
6. Communication skills (gayathri sen)
7. Why do we need high proficiency in English language ?
(Jayadev P Hiremath)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:03:09 +0530
From: Farooque Shaheen < mailto:Farooque.Shaheen@caritor.com Farooque.Shaheen@caritor.com
Subject: [LIS-Forum] MSN Search Helpful to Net User
To: mailto:lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Message-ID:
< mailto:OFB6070F6A.8B1FE410-ON65256FB1.001DA55F-65256FB1.001F83C2@notes.caritor.com OFB6070F6A.8B1FE410-ON65256FB1.001DA55F-65256FB1.001F83C2@notes.caritor.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The Hindu,
The next time you have a query such as "what is seven times 20" or "how
high is Mt. Everest" or a complex arithmetic or algebra calculation,simply
type the question in the window of MSN Search, Microsoft's latest
innovation. A one-line answer would appear in microseconds on the web
page, along with the other MSN search results.
"How many inches in a mile?" Launched last fortnight in the country, this
feature of MSN Search draws its results from the database of 1.5 million
answers provided by Microsoft Encarta, the leading encyclopaedia brand.
You could ask any question on geographical locations, historical and
popular figures, definitions, facts, calculations, conversions, and
solutions to equations.
Till now, Internet browsers had to type out the key words in the search
window and click on the search results to look out for precise
definitions.
But the one-line Encarta answer is only part of the long list of features
offered by the new MSN Search, built from the ground up by Microsoft in
about 16 months. Now available in 25 countries and 10 languages, the
search service offers a collection of tools to Net users, giving them
greater control in targeting and refining searches to get instant,accurate
answers to specific questions.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/23/stories/2005022315510300.htm http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/23/stories/2005022315510300.htm
Thanks & Regards,
Farooque Shaheen,
Caritor India Pvt Ltd.
Tel. 080-26678388 # 4105
Mobile-9342507449
Jai Haravu
Subbiah Arunachalam