International CALIBER-2003: Report [by Mr PremChand , INFLIBNET]

INFLIBNET Center successfully organized CALIBER- 2003 at Nirma Education and Research Foundation, Ahmedabad during 13- 15th February 2003.  The theme of CALIBER – 2003 was “Mapping Technology on Libraries and People”.  CALIBER is an annual event of INFLIBNET, which is being organized in collaboration with Universities and Educational Institutions. This was the 10^th convention in series and was the First International event.  Total of 316 delegates participated in this convention, which included delegates from USA, Philippines, UK, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh apart from Indian delegates. There was an overwhelming response to the call for papers. Authors from different countries contributed and presented papers during the convention. In the proceeding of CALIBER-2003, 67 full text papers and 39 abstracts have been published. About 100 delegates registered for two pre-conference tutorials on Designing and Implementation of Local Area Network and Developing Digital Collection.  Prof. B.H. Jajoo, Computer & Information Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Dr. Dr. Jagdish Arora, Librarian, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai were the resource persons for these tutorials, respectively. 

The conference was inaugurated by Shri Narender Modi, the Honorable Chief Minister of  Gujarat State . After lighting the lamp, Shri Modi released the proceedings volume of CALIBER – 2003. Shri Modi in his address emphasized that the knowledge must spread and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues should not come in the way of knowledge dissemination Dr.  Karsanbhai Patel, Chairman, NERF released the souvenir  and CD of CALIBER  proceeding. Dr Anup K. Singh, Director NIM welcomed the delegates earlier. Dr. T A V  Murthy, Director, INFLIBNET  Centre highlighted the activities & plans of INFLIBNET for promoting IT culture in academic sector and transforming Indian academic libraries.  He also informed about UGC-Infonet programme, which is coming up in a big way. Under the programme, INFLIBNET will subscribe to core journal in electronic form and make them accessible to academic community in India. Dr. Dilip Kumar Basu, Vice-Chancellor, Tripura University  delivered  keynote address.  Dr. S. Ramani, Chairman, Governing Board of INFLIBNET, in his opening remarks, highlighted the role of private institutions and trusts like NERF, who would play a vital role in making the education truly global one. Shri H Anil Kumar, Organising Secretary, CALIBER-2003 proposed the vote of thanks. 

Total deliberations of the CALIBER-2003 were divided in to four technical sessions under sub themes.  The first session on “Library Automation” started with the theme paper presented by Dr T A V Murthy and Shri V S Cholin from INFLIBNET Centre. 23 papers were presented in this session out of 43 selected papers. Sh. A R Sethi of Punjab University chaired this session. The second session on “User Studies” held in parallel with the theme paper from Prof I V Malhan of Jammu University and chaired by Prof. K C Sahoo of Hari Singh Gaur University. There were about 19 papers presented out of 28 selected papers.  The third session was on “Consortia” and had the theme paper presented by Prof Ajit Kembhavi of IUCAA and Dr T S Kumbar of INFLIBNET. Total 11 papers were presented in this session out of 25 selected papers and was chaired by Dr R B Gaddagimath of Gulbarga University. The session on “Telecommunication” was chaired by Prof I  K Ravichandra  Rao of DRTC, in which 4 papers were presented out of 11 selected. Dr P K Jaiswal of Mizoram University acted as the Rapporteur General of the conference and he was assisted by Dr Pravakar Rath,  Prof. R S R Varalaxmi, Mr V S Cholin, Mr K Prakash, Mr Rajesh Chandrakar, Mr Rajendra Thaty, Ms Swadha Majumadar and Ms Pragnya Pathak in different sessions.   

CALIBER 2003 brought out few new things like, CALIBER – 2003 Updates, a daily conference newsletter covering the daily events, report of technical sessions and interviews of experts were brought out and circulated to the delegates. In addition to the printed copy of the proceedings, delegates have been given the CD of the proceeding.  The entire proceeding will be soon available on INFLIBNET web site at http://www.inflibnet.ac.in 

Mr. P. Pannervel IAS, Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad was Chief Guest for valedictory function.   He underlined the importance of right information at the right time and he said that information technology is changing significantly the way the society was conducting. There is a need for partnership between the industry and the society for overall benefits. Prof. Girish Agrawal, Director, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad was the guest of honor for this function and highlighted the changing role of librarians in electronic environment.  Dr. P.K. Jayaswal, Rapporteur General presented the report on the technical session and read out on the recommendations made for consideration to UGC, INFLIBNET and university libraries. The Director, INFLIBNET, presented the foreign delegates form Sri Lanka and Philippines with mementos. The valedictory function concluded with vote of thanks by Mr. H. Anil Kumar, Organising Secretary of CALIBER-2003. 

Around 20 companies from the fields of electronic and online information vendors, books publishers, sellers and subscription agencies displayed their products  in the Exhibition arranged at the CALIBER venue. A cultural programme with a flavor of Gujarat folk dances was put up by Mudra Institute of Performing Arts, Ahmedabad after the inaugural function.

SIS –2002 Report

News in Deccan Herald News Paper   May 28, 2002      May 31, 2002 

TWENTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION AND CONFERENCE OF SIS HELD AT MANGALORE 

            The twentieth annual Convention of the Society for information science (SIS) was held at Mangalore University Campus. Mangalore, on 29 May, 2002. Prior to that a three-day National Conference on "Consortia Approach for Content Sharing among Libraries" was also organised on this occasion during 27-29 May, 2002. 

CONFERENCE REPORT 

            Under the present scenario of declining information resource-base and diminishing access-base in Indian libraries due to budgetary constraints, it is becoming difficult to meet the demands of library/information users. One plausible solution appears to be the pooling of resources and sharing of information. This has led to the development of consortia models world over and therefore the theme of this Conference was aptly chosen as 'consortia Approach for content Sharing among Libraries". The conference was organised jointly by the Mangalore university and the Asian Society for Social Services, Information Science and Technology (ASSIST), Bangalore. 

Inaugural Session 

The inaugural session was presided over by Prof. B. Hanumaiah, Vice-Chancellor of Mangalore University, who in his address designated libraries as 'heart of an academic institution'. He stressed on the need of cutting subscription costs of core journals, which he said, was possible only through adopting the consortia approach. He released the Conference Volume entitled, "Consortia Approach for Content Sharing among Libraries'.

            The Conference was inaugurated by Prof. S. Gopal, former vice Chancellor of Mangalore University in the Old Senate Hall of the University. in his inaugural address, Prof. Gopal emphasized on the need for 'Consortia Approach' to develop cooperation among libraries using such facilities as e-mail and internet so as to avoid duplication of efforts. The approach, he said, would benefit the libraries as well as users.

The key-note address was delivered by Dr. T.A.V. Murthy, Director, Information & Library Network/UGC, Ahmedabad. Dr. Murhty opined that consortia approach would benefit the whole nation through creation of our own information system and good database. Dr. Murthy, who is also the Vice President of SIS, explained that the scientific and academic programmes of  SIS help the university system in meeting the information needs of both teachers and students more effectively. He informed that the UGC was going to launch an information network in Bangalore (see box).

            Earlier, Prof. Sundar Naik (Registrar, Mangalore University) welcomed the delegates and Dr. M. K. Bhandi  (University Librarian) made introductory remarks about the Conference. The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Usha M Munshi (INSA, New Delhi).

 Technical Sessions

            There were nine technical sessions at this conference, which was attended by more than one hundred delegates from all parts of the country. Nineteen resource persons shared their experiences and views with the participants during the conference. A number of publishers/Vendors not only participated in the Conference but also displayed their products for the benefit of delegates.

 Session I : Library Consortia

             The session was chaired by Mr. I.R.N. Gowdar and the papers presented were : (i) Consortia approach for academic libraries : Emerging solution for optimum utilization of resources (V.S. Cholin), (ii) From library co-operation to library consortium (Krishna Maraddi), (iii) Library consortia : An emerging trend (Dr. B. S. Biradar), (iv) Consortia approach for academic libraries : Emerging opportunities (N Oza) , and (v) Libraires consortia : its role as a change management (M.P. Gowda).

 Session II : Content of Consortia : Cooperative Acquisition 

            The papers presented at this session, chaired by Dr. Venkateshan, were : (i) Consortia approach for content management (Dr. R. Rama Raj Urs). and  (ii) Resource sharing and cooperative acquisition of electronic information resources through consortia : A case of IIM libraries (Dr Chikkamallaiah).

 After paper presentation, Dr TAV Murthy explained the contributions being made by INFLIBENT in information dissemination and added that IT and Networks, irrespective of distances, could access and interact with consortia.

 Session III : Publishers/ Vendors on consortia

             Dr R.B. Gaddagimath chaired this session at which following presentations were made : (i) Informatics India Pvt. Ltd. (Sanjay Grover), and (ii) SOUL software package developed by INFLIBENT (Ms S Dube). 

Session IV : Products/services of Cosnsortia

             At this session, the Chairperson Dr Usha Munshi, gave a brief description of the various products/services and the paper presented were : (i) The British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) : A single source for your document needs (L. P. Raj), (iii) Design and development of automated document delivery service of INFLIBNET at Goa University Library (S. R. Melashcemi), and (iii) Seamless journey : From citation to full text and open URL. 

Session V & VI : Resource sharing Models

             At these two sessions, the first chaired by Dr Rama Raj Urs and the second by Dr B.S. Biradar, the following papers were presented : (i) Sharing of resources among university libraries through consortia: INFLIBNET approach (V.S. Cholin), (ii)Virtual private network : A mode for resource sharing (M. Vijaykumar), (iii) INFLIBENT and DELNET : Effective resource sharing models in India (L. Parisutha Raj), (iv) Re-engineering of academic library service through consortia approach : A case study of Managalore University (Dr. M.K. Bhandi), (v)Comparative study of the Nation Electronic Sites Licence Initiative (NELS) and Indian National Digital Library in Engineering Science & Technology (INDEST) (L. Parisutha Raj), and (vi) Consortia approach to academic libraries : A new tool to maximize resource utilization (R. M. Vatnal). 

Session VII : Publishers & Vendors Consortia

             This session on vendors presentation was presided over by Mr Prisutha Raj with participation by EBSCO Publicity Co., Citrix, Dialog, Nexus Inf. Services Pvt. Ltd. and Globe. 

Session VIII : Resource sharing via Internet

             The session had following presentations with Mr V. L. Kalyan in Chair : (i) Resource sharing via internet (Dr K. Ganapathy Bhatta), (ii) Internet : A milestone in the global age for sharing information (Ms S Dubey), and (iii) Library partnership in Asia : Applying the knowledge model for library networks (M. P. Gowda).

Session IX : Technology for Consortia : Consortia for Distance Learning

            At this session, chaired by Mr Ramesh Kundra the paper on 'Consortia for distance education' was presented by M. Chandrasekhara. 

Plenary Session 

            A Plenary Session was also organised on 29 May, 2002 at which several experts including Prof. V.G. Talwar, Prof. A. K. Bardol, Dr Usha Munshi, Dr B. S. Birdar, Mr V.L. Kalyan and Mr. V.S Cholin shared their experiences with the praticipants. 

Valedictory Session 

            This session was presided over by Prof. B. Hanumaiah, and had Prof. V.G. Talwar, (Mysore University) as Chief Guest. Prof. Talwar highlighted the importance of  consortia  approach and its benefits under the situation of financial crunch being faced by a majority of libraries. The "Young Library Scientist Award-2002" was also presented at this session to Ms Sheetal Melasheemi of Goa University.

 Recommendations 

            The several recommendations made by the conference included : Formulation of a National Information Policy, and National Policy Consortia, development of effective access to literature of Indian origin and formation of state-wise consortia.

 ANNUAL GENERAL BODY MEETING OF SIS HELD 

                        The twentieth annual general body meeting of SIS was held on 29 May 2002 at Mangalore University under the chairmanship of Prof. P. Ram Raj Urs one of the oldest and founder member of the Society. Dr S Mallick, the President SIS, could not attend the meeting due to pre-occupation. 

Secretary's Report

 The Secretary, Shri Ramesh Kundra, presented the following point in his report :

Dr Divya Srivastava, one of the members of executive Committe, undertook a DST-sponsored project entitled "Application of Information Technology in Healthcare" on behalf of the Society. It has brought a good name to the society as well as financial benefits. The cancellation of the 19th AGM in Roorkee due to the inability expresed by the local organizing committee at the last moment, was highly regretted. Directory of SIS Members was in the final stages of preparation and would be soon printed.

 Financial Report

             Dr Usha Munshi, Joint Secretary, presented it due to the absence of the Treasurer, Shri H.C. Jain. It was passed unanimously since society did not spend much money on any major activity. The financial support provided through Dr Srivastava was appreciated. The need for change of Auditor was agreed upon.

 Other Matters 

These included :

(i) Appointment of Dr B.S. Aggarwal (ex Scientist, NISCOM) as Editor of SISCOM.

(ii) Launching of memebership enrolment drive.

(iii) Creating a website for SIS. Dr P Ram Raj Urs offered his services honorarius for this work.

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