Mr.Vyasmoorthy's query: Why others did not reply ? I can answer why we did not reply inspite of having the 1997 SSCI index. Some time the email server vill be down and in such case either we do not receive the mails or will be unable to answer the query. This one such stray incidence. IGIDR library staff are actively participating in the LIS FORUM and we have been thanked by many professionals for providing timely information. During the last survey conducted by NCSI students, we stood some where in 6th position in terms of active participation. thanks g.k.manjunath ************************************************** CHIEF LIBRARIAN INDIRA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH FILM CITY ROAD ( GEN.VAIDYA MARG ) SANTOSH NAGAR GOREGAON ( EAST ) MUMBAI - 400 065 INDIA e-mail : gkm@igidr.ac.in http:// www.igidr.ac.in/lib/library.htm phone 91-22-28490653 ************************************************ On Fri, 6 Jun 2003, Mailing List Manager wrote:

Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 10:11:15 +0530 From: VYASAMOORTHY /IKP/HYD

Dear Friends:

REplies given to Mr Pichappan's query on SSCI availability by Mr Sibli Sirajee of NIC and Mr Prafulla Chandra of NISC are of use to other 'silent' users of the Lis-forum in addition to Mr Pichappan.

Many times when questions are specfic to a single user I used to reply directly to the inquirer: the logic for this approach was

...

not to bother others with what they may not need; not to flood the list with 'use-less!' material; >a desire not be seen in the forum too often, lest people think 'Oh, this fellow does not seem to have any other work' etc

Now considering the nature of any Discussion Forum users and usage patterns, I tend to think all replies may be sent to the List so that others would benefit too. Again when one evaluates a Forum and its usefulness before joining or discontinuing, one would look at the length of the threads of discussions. If there are far too many questions that have been left un-answered (though in fact they have been answered directly as indicated in my case) users may feel discouraged; they might feel that this forum is inactive; people do not co-operate etc.

I have another moot observation to make: SSCI is available apprantly in SNDT, IGDIR, NASSDOC, TISS, Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, IIM-Indore etc. Ironically, the replies have come persons not from any of the SSCI holding institutions but from persons who took the pains to look up union catalogs elsewhere and send in replies. I know for sure that atleast a few of the holding institutions ARE members of the Lis-Forum -- Why did they not respond?

CAN anyone guess or theorise the reasons for this lack of involvement?

* Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre * ICICI Knowledge Park, Turkapalli Village, Shameerpet Mandal, RR Dist, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA * Ph: +91(40) 2348 0053; Fax:+91(40) 2348 0007 Ph. Res: +91(40) 2784 6631 * Website: http://www.vic-ikp.info and http://www.iciciknowledgepark.com

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