Statement of Candidacy for I F L A Governing Board

Dr. T. A. V. Murthy   Ex. Director, INFLIBNET, Chief Librarian,   CIEFL CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF ENGLISH & FOREIGN LANGUAGES , Hyderabad - 500007 Andhra pradesh , India Phones: 040-2709-8131-ext Lib (O) 2040-2707-6273 (R)                          Fax: 091-040-7098402 Attn: Library                                                       E-Mail: adivaraham@yahoo.com

My professional commitment by respecting the sentiments and aspirations of the Librarians across the world and developing countries in particular, strives me to serve the Governing Board of IFLA. At present I am heading an Indian Government institution, controlling around 200 Universities and 15000 Colleges for Networking, Cooperation and Consortia. I have 33 years of wide experiences in managing prestigious Indian libraries, library networking and cooperation, successful operation of library consortia and licensing, leading various professional associations, continued professional development and human resource programs, e-information literacy, e-learning initiatives etc with focus on emerging technologies. Through my statement of candidacy I like to strengthen Three Pillars of IFLA with my professional experiences and interacting with socio-economic and culturally diversified communities in the region to bring them as partners in global village and promote a truly inclusive and mutually beneficial global information society.

 Society Pillar 

• Enhance the role of Libraries in Learning Society

• Promote E-Information Literacy

• Advocate Open Access and E-Learning

• Encourage Freedom of Expression and Access to Information

• Integrate ICT with Library services with out sacrificing its historical objectives

• Involve Corporate Sector as a partner in the Global Information Village

• Bridge the Digital Divide in terms of Creation and Access

 Profession Pillar

• Effective Resources Utilization, Library Cooperation, Networking and Consortia.

• Reach under represented Socio-Economic-Cultural communities through a systematic framework for localized caucuses.

• Implement vigorously the Continued Professional Development Programs.

• Initiate country level Leadership Development programs

• Develop interdisciplinary Library and Information Science courses.

• Localization of Content Management Systems in regional languages

 Members Pillar 

• Sustainable efforts for IFLA Membership drive.

• Pilot more appropriate Research Projects for Professional and Institutional upliftment.

• Strive towards making IFLA a vibrant force in the developing world

About Dr T A V Murthy 

Dr. T.A.V. Murthy holds B Sc in Zoology, Masters and Doctorate in Library and Information from India along with another M S L S from Catholic University, USA. He is the first Library Science professional to become the Director of Information and Library Network Centre (INFLIBNET), equivalent to the rank of a Central University Vice Chancellor in India. University Grants Commission under Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, established INFLIBNET in 1991 for promoting library automation, resource sharing, cooperative development among the academic libraries and other R&D libraries in India. INFLIBNET is Institutional member of international and national professional associations like IFLA, ALA, ASIS&T, ASLIB, IASLIC, ILA, SIS, SLA, CSI etc. 

Dr Murthy is currently also the President and Fellow of Society for Information Science (SIS) India, Member Secretary of Ahmedabad Library Network (ADINET) and Council Member of Indian Association for Special Libraries (IASLIC). SIS and IASLIC are two important national level LIS associations in India. He was past council member of Indian Library Association (ILA). During his tenure in IGNCA New Delhi, he was Member and Regional Coordinator in IFLA Arts Libraries Section and instrumental in the organizing of IFLA Conference in India. He is also associated with organizing of conferences like ICADL, International CALIBERs, PLANNERs, SIS, ILA, IASLIC and lots of international and national programmes. He is the recipient of  STAKAL LIBRARIAN AWARD, SIS FELLOWSHIPS, SALIS Harish Chandra - Sushil Chandra Best Librarian Award etc and widely invited by several Government and professional bodies as an expert in India and abroad.

He carries with him a rich experience and expertise of around 33 years of having worked in managerial level at a number of libraries in many prestigious institutions in India along with Catholic University and Case Western Reserve University in USA. He has been associated with number of Indian universities and has guided number of Doctorates and actively associated with the national and international professional associations, expert committees and has published good number of research papers at various level. He authored few books, edited several conference proceedings and editor of number of national and international journals in Library and Information Technology. He visited 26 countries for professional activities.

His major contributions include

• National and International training programs with the funding from ILO and UNIDO at SIET (name changed to CIET), Hyderabad during 1978-81
• Setting up of Library in Central University of Hyderabad during 1976-78 and 1986-88
• Computerised Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Library, New Delhi and looked after the AGRIS Database of FAO during 1987-1986
• Initiated computerization at National Library of India, Kolkatta during 1986
• Contributed in setting up of Cultural Informatics Lab and created Multi Media kiosks on Indian cultural heritage as traveling kits at Kalanidhi IGNCA, New Delhi. Conducted several International programs for South East Asia with assistance of UNESCO during 1989-99.
• Served as UNESCO Expert in Nepal for creation of Bibliographic Databases during 1984.
• Conducted SAARC Regional Workshop on CHIN at Colombo, Sri Lanka during 1997.
• Setting up of Digital Laboratory at Central Institute for English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Hyderabad during 2000
• Implemented lots of innovative programmes including UGC-Infonet, E-Journals Consortium, Various specialized training programmes at INFLIBNET and changed the length and breadth of its reach-out to Indian academic community from 2001. 
• Conducted series of Trianing progrms called IT@AGRILIBNET with support of World Bank's NATP and completed projects with supports from WHO and NISSAT at INFLIBNET Centre.

My sincere thanks to all members of SIS for electing me as the new President. The SIS has been a powerful force in the advancement of Documentation – Library and Information Services, and can be a significant factor in redefining and promoting the profession in the millennium. As we face challenging times, I am  honored to serve as president and ll work with you to make sure that the association affirm our fundamental values, while recognizing realities to assure a brighter future. My experience as a member of SIS for over a decade has helped shape my career and contributed significantly to my professional and personal development. We need to be proactive by engaging the selective risk taking with technology as a tool. In my present assignment as Director – INFLIBNET I have significantly increased the academic and technical access to technology, promoted the Library Information Centre as Information Gateway and established electronic Kiosks in non-traditional settings. I have worked in different parts of the country at all levels and know the value of unity in reaching out to be effective advocates.

I believe that there is a strong need to increase the viability in information science profession as an attractive and exciting career choice. Specifically, I pledge to work Increase funding and membership,   Organizing more training programs with LISc. – Schools/Depts, strengthening linkages with CSIR, UGC, AICTE and Industry, SIS – can be even more responsive to members needs and concerns. The newly created WebPage of SIS is promoted on the site to the on-line audience for inter action and promotion of SIS activities.

People who know me describe me as a high – energetic – innovator, a risk taker, a mentor, and a role model. I like to make this happen and bring people together to discuss issues and build coalition.  I would like to be your grassroots, frontline president of SIS. Come and join hands with SIS......

Dr T A V Murthy

tav@inflibnet.ac.in