Effective action to attract good students obviously is a must. Good professionals definitely are regarded with respect (as with any field). We all know (but to put this in writing just incase someone is making a note of how desperate we as librarians feel for some effective action), the genesis of the problem lies with the general perception of students (school+college) about libraries and librarians, which generally begins at schools in our country. I guess a better way to say this would be to do a survey of such students asking them to rank the professions they would choose (I may be corrected). Just a few days back one of our colleagues had posted a dismal glimpse of how libraries have been very conveniently ignored from the national commission presiding over school curriculums. Again, it is a cycle for if we cannot make an impact on the little minds how can we think of making our mark with commissions of such order ? We cannot wait for action from any orgnaization (Indian library ones mainly), I guess we have ample experience now. We must begin on our own, as exemplefied by Dr.Varalakshmi. With Regards, Smita Chandra Librarian Indian Institute of Geomagnetism New Mumbai Vara Lakshmi Rudrabhatla wrote: .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } Yes what Prof Amudha stated is true. Let us do something in action. There is need to promote our profession as suggested by Ms Vasumati Sriganesh since public have a different opinion. 1. Let us write articles in newspapers and telecast talks about the changing face of the profession. I will write one today itself for local newpaper and workout for a telecast in local cable vision. I am ready to write the same for national newspapers also but it should not be duplicated. I think if a working professional from corporate sector writes with his experience it will have more effect. 2. It is time for the LIS departments to to put a note in admision notification that 'candidates with good academic record have positions in corporate sector after completion of the course'. 3. Interaction with working professionals, as suggested by Mr Koteswara Rao, certainly boost the morale of students and motivate them. The departments in metros, where there are industries and business houses, had already initiated such programmes. The problem is with remote departments where they have to find means to meet their TA. 4. Regarding teacher expertise....Collaborative teaching is a viable option though not acceptable to many. Faculty exchange programmes atleast within a state may help to share the expertise of teachers with low cost. thanks varalakshmi -- Dr. RSR Varalakshmi Professor, Dept. of Library and Information Science., Andhra University. Visakhapatnam. --------------------------------- Detailed profiles 4 marriage! Only at Shaadi.com Try it! -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum --------------------------------- Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.