Dear Members, NCSI-Net, an informal association comprising of erstwhile NCSI staff and its trainees, was established in 2000. During its 13 years of existence, the association has been constantly engaged in organizing various professional activities like monthly lectures, invited talks, seminars, conferences, and workshops. It has also been collaborating with other professional associations in organizing and conducting various professional activities.   Being an informal association, it had its own advantages and to some extent, some constraints, too.  Also, many of NCSIians have been expressing their intent, for a long time now, that it should become a registered body so that it can engage itself in lot more diversified activities.   Several of senior NCSI-Net members have been mulling about the idea of NCSI-Net being a registered body for a long time. Around March 2013, it was decided that NCSI-Net would be registered as a charitable trust. The process for registration was started thereafter and after few initial hurdles, we finally managed to get it registered. We are very happy to convey that our plan came into fruition on Friday, 14 June 2013. So, NCSI-Net is now NCSI-Net Foundation, a registered charitable trust.   The foundation, for the present, will continue with the existing activities including the annual lecture and seminar series in honor and memory of late Dr. T.B. Rajashekar. In fact, the TBR Memorial lecture, 2013, on "Knowledge Diversity in Media Content Analysis - An Analytico-synthetic Approach" delivered by Dr. Devika P. Madalli of DRTC, on Friday 21 June 2013, was the inaugural event of the foundation. The foundation already has a web presence with a very rudimentary web site, accessible at http://www.ncsinet.org/. It will be improved up on in due course of time.   We are now gearing up for the second event by the foundation – Dr. T.B. Rajashekar Memorial Seminar. The announcement about the seminar follows:   NCSI-Net Foundation cordially invites you to the 9th Dr. TBR Memorial Seminar (2013). This year's topic will be "Digital Information Services in Academic and R&D Information Centers". It’s a one-day seminar targeted for the benefit of students of Library and Information Science and budding LIS professionals.   The details of the seminar are given below. Brochure is available at Foundation website.   Title: Dr. TBR Memorial Seminar (2013): Digital Information Services in Academic and R&D Information Centers Date: November 23, 2013 (Saturday); 08:45 AM - 04:30 PM Venue: APC (erstwhile NCSI) Seminar Hall, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore - 560012 Registration fee: Rs. 250/- for Students and Rs. 500/- for budding professionals (includes working Lunch). Target audience: Students of Library & Information Science courses & budding information professionals. Seminar coverage: The Seminar is being conducted with an intention to create awareness amongst the students and budding information professionals about the latest developments in the field of Information and Communication technologies applicable to LIS profession.   This year's Seminar will give an overview on the various Digital Information Services provided by the Library & Information Centers in R&D and Academic Institutions. There will also be a session dealing with soft skills/communication skills and career building strategies for LIS professionals.   Please do note that no arrangements for accommodation are being made for outstation participants. Number of participants restricted to 40 (due to Space constraint), it will be on first come first serve basis.   Kindly bring this to the attention of the budding professionals and encourage them to attend the seminar. Participants will get an opportunity to interact with fellow professionals working in the industry and academia.   For further information and Seminar Brochure, please visit the Seminar website at: http://www.ncsinet.org/   Regards Madhuresh Singhal On behalf of NCSI-Net Foundation -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.