This is to inform all that the 2nd 3-Week Refresher Course in Library & Information Sciences organized by the UGC-Academic Staff College of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi-25 from 06/8/2008 to 27/8/2008 has successfully concluded yesterday. The valedictory function was graced by Prof Krishna Kumar, the retd. Prof. & HOD, DLIS, University of Delhi and an author of many good books on almost all aspects of LIS, in the capacity of chief guest. He distributed the certificates to the participants and congratulated them for successfully fulfilling all requirements of this rigorous course which shall surely add to their understanding about the current developments in the field of LIS and also increase their levels of competency and commitment to the profession. He made an impassioned appeal to the professionals to make their presence felt in the organization wherever they are working by performing the best service possible with the given resources. He shared the working experience of his time with the participants and remarked about the good fortune of the present generation of librarians for having access to very enabling facilities of ICT. Prof. Zahid Khan of the Dept. of Physic and the Director CIT, JMI who presided the function, informed the gathering about the network topography of Jamia Millia Islamia. He told of his feeling that going through the content of the lectures delivered during the Refresher Course, he feels that it would have also been very beneficial for him. Dr. Ghayas Makhdumi, the ever ebullient coordinator and University Librarian of JMI in his brief address read out the subject-matter covered during the course and remarked that the overwhelming response of the library professionals is not only indicative of the fact that they are ever open and eager to absorb the latest development in LIS but also that the profession of library and information services has bright future in the country. The programme was made lively by soulful rendering of ghazals by Mr M.A. Khan of Tonk (Rajastahan), a poem (geet) by Dr. Srivastava of IIT-Delhi and a joke concerning librarians by Mrs Guliya of Haryana. The participants felt privileged to honour the eminent persons on the dais by presenting bouquets and some gifts as token of their gratitude. However, after attending this Refresher Course, I want to share some of my personal opinion with the library professionals through the gateway of lis-forum: i) the library professional on the verge of retirement may be screened out; ii) while screening the applications for selection, the status of computerization in the participant's organization may be taken as a criteria; iii) the working knowledge of English may be made a compulsory criteria; iv) the resource persons may be requested to make the lecture session a very interactive one having a look out for those participants who appear to be less understanding. Regards TANWIR -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.