Dear Professionals, UGC has to ammend rules to strenghten the Library System of the Universities in India. Now, the UGC and the Govt. is totally neglecting this sector. The first example for this is that in majority of the Universities in India, the post of University Librarian is laying vacant. Out of seven universities in Kerala, only two have University Librarians. All others are running on "In-Charge" for several years. There are several reasons for this. Some of them are listed below: 1. No sufficient number of qualified candidates are available ( As per UGC norms). College Librarians / Asst. University Librarans with 18 years experience in the UGC cadre or Dy. Librarians are exinct species in Kerala. At present no candidates are available in Kerala. 2. The reason for this is that College Librarians appointed after 1990 are not getting UGC Pay Scales. 3. Since the College Librarians/Asst. Uty. Librarians are filled by promotion (3/4 posts), no candidate will get 18 years service in the UGC cadre. 4. If a person appointed at the age of 28 as College Librarian/Asst. Uty. Libraian in UGC scale only will qualify 4. This reduces the interest and pressure of librarians to aspire for this post and hence they try to hold the post as In-Charge. 5. University authorities also not taking active interest in this regard. Suggestions:- 1. Revise the Qualifications and Experience as follows: - MLISC + PhD in Library and Information Science - Total 18 years of professional experience in libraries, of which atleast 8 years should be in the UGC Cadre of Dy./Asst.Librarian or College Librarian. 2. In future, library professionals should be recruited to universities and colleges only in the UGC Cadre as in the case of teachers. 3. The ideal situation is the redesignation of the post of librarians as Lecturers/ Readers/ Professors. The designation of librarians in DRDO, CSIR, ISRO, etc. is "Scientists". With regards A.T. Francis Assistant Librarian Kerala Agricultural University From: Veerankutty Chelatayakkot To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Dear Professionals, I invite your attention to the discrimination to Assistant University librarians in the qualification prescribed by the UGC to the post of University Librarian. Minimum qualification to University Librarian : (i) Master's degree in Library Science / Information Science / Documentation with at least 55% of the marks or its equivalent grade of B in the UGC Seven point scale and consistently good academic record; (ii) At least thirteen years as a Deputy Librarian in a University Library or eighteen years as experience as a college librarian (iii) Evidence of innovative library service and organization of published work. As per this qualification, 18 years experienced College librarian can become a University Librarian. At the same time, an Assistant University Librarian with same experience can’t apply to the post of University Librarian. Assistant University Librarian is equivalent to the College librarian. This can be easily understood by comparing the qualification prescribed to Deputy Librarian. Qualification to Deputy Librarian: (i) Master's degree in Library Science / Information Science / Documentation with at least 55% of the marks or its equivalent grade of B in the UGC Seven point scale and Consistently good academic record; (ii) At least five years as a Assistant University Librarian / College Librarian (iii) Evidence of innovative library service and organization of published work If five years experienced Assistant University Librarians/ College librarians can apply to the post of Deputy librarian, why 18 years experienced Assistant University Librarian can’t apply to the post of University Librarian. This is the discrimination. Veerankutty Chelatayakkot __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com