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The Madras Library Association’s Newsletter December 2010

Message from the President

Greetings!

Not a day passes without a news about the public andcorporate libraries getting automated and networking withother libraries with a web OPAC in both urban and ruralareas. We are seeing global libraries. While the world aroundus is changing so rapidly are we fully equipped to handlethis change and adapt to these new technologies? Thequestion we need to ask is where do I want to be in the nextfive years? Where do I want my organization to be in thenext five years? Do I have the skill sets to go where I wantto go?

We need to make ourselves indispensable. We need tothink globally. We need to realign our efforts with ourorganization’s strategy. The technology has become moreaccessible and affordable. There are several open sourcesoftware and sites that offer valuable information for free.You are not alone with several issues and only throughcommunication and exchange of ideas that we find an optimalsolution to common problems. It is stimulating to speak topeers with different perspectives yet common concerns andlearn from collective experience.

This can only happen if we learn to integrate the socialnetworking tools into our workplace. Networking toolsoffer ways to create and mobilize groups who share commonviews. We need to package and distribute information tomake it more meaningful and useful. Invest in yourself soyou and your organization will reap its rewards. If wedon’t act fast it may be too little too late.

We are happy to have had the opportunity for thisknowledge sharing from within the association to our peersin a large corporate last month. It was not only a richlyrewarding experience but was a venue for income generationfor MALA. It was also an opportunity for us to setprecedence for many more in the future. We have a wealthof knowledge within the association and we need to makesure that this knowledge transfer happens.

Information has no value if it is not used, no matterhow expensive it is. We need to create a culture ofcontinuous learning and knowledge sharing. We need tolink people to information. We in MALA are hoping to leadthis initiative. We have had several successful workshopsin the past and we want to continue this effort. From ourexperience we find that the organizations are willing tosupport this learning culture and it is you who need to comeforward. As we move into the New Year we have severalprograms planned for you and are looking forward withexcitement. Go ahead and tell us what you want and wecan organize this continuous growth in your career. Whatare you waiting for???

With Season’s Greetings,

Vijaya K Sundaram

New Members

735 Anna Salai, Ground Floor (Behind LLA Building) Chennai 600 002

We are pleased to welcome the following new Lifemembers to MALA:

Mr. Kunwar Sanjay Bharti, Ramabai Govt. Girls PGCollege, Chennai

Ms. Brindha Jayakanth, DRS Assistant, U.S.Consulate, Chennai

On October 30th 2010, MALA successfully conducteda one-day training programme entitled “ProfessionalDevelopment for Librarians” for Cognizant TechnologySolutions (CTS) librarians in India. Effective SearchStrategies, Information Management Using Web 2.0/3.0Technologies/Web Retrieval Tools, Social Networking Toolsfor Information Services, Library Marketing/PromotionTechniques were some of the topics covered. Seniormembers of MALA conducted the interactive sessions. Wethank CTS for their support and encouragement. We lookforward to many such opportunities!!

Success Story

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Forthcoming Programs

Regional

MALA is planning to conduct a workshop forschool librarians in the third week of January 2011. Thefocus is to introduce them to automation software andtools and on marketing techniques to their targetaudience. Those Interested in participating can sendan e-mail to madraslibraryassociation@gmail.com orcall the Secretary Mr. Elavazhagan at: 9789071310 or JointSecretary Ms. Gowri at: 9382338822.

National

Asia Pacific Institute of Management (AIM) isorganizing National Conference on “Managing Librariesin New Information Environment” in January 7-8, 2011at New Delhi. To participate and to get more details visit:http://www.asiapacific.edu/Conference.php

2nd International Conference on Academic Libraries(ICAL-2011) is focusing on “Planning for GlobalizingAcademic Libraries” during 27-30 November 2011 atUniversity of Hyderabad. Conference website http://igmlnet.uohyd.ernet.in/ical2011 has further details.

Information Resource Center of INMANTEC,Ghaziabad is organising National Seminar onContemporary issues for the Information Professionalsin a Digital Era (NASCIP- 2011) in collaboration withManagement Library Network (MANLIBNET), New Delhion 22nd January, 2011. Seminar site http://www.inmantec.edu has more information.

International

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), NewDelhi and Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation(RRRLF), Kolkata, are organising InternationalConference on Digital Library Management (ICDLM).ICDLM will be organized from 11-13 January 2011 inKolkata. The theme of the conference is ‘Extending Benefitsof Modern Technology to Public, Academic, and SpecialLibraries’. The conference aims to provide an internationalforum for sharing advanced thoughts and experiencesfocusing on digital libraries and its management. Please seehttp://www.teriin.org/events/icdlm/ for more information.

International Conference on Digital Libraries andKnowledge Organization is being jointly organised byManagement Development Institute, at its Gurgaon campuswith IASLIC and INDEST-AICTE Consortium, IndianInstitute of Technology, Delhi during February 14-16, 2011.Their website http://www.mdi.ac.in/ICDK/Home.htmlprovides more details.

NET Qualification and Appointment of Lecturers

The request for according concurrence to a UGC

resolution of August this year, granting exemption to those

who have passed M.Phil degree prior to 2009 from taking

the National Eligibility Test /State-level Eligibility Test for

appointment as lecturers in government colleges, has been

rejected by the Union government. The resolution was

against the letter and spirit of the regulations issued by the

UGC from time to time regarding compulsory NET/SLET

qualifications for appointment as lecturers/assistant

professors. The case is still in the courts. (The Hindu, Nov.

10, 2010)

Part-time library opened at women’s prison in Tiruchi

Inmates of the Special Prison for Women in the city

could look forward to spending some valuable time brushing

up their knowledge as the Department of Public Libraries

opened a part-time library on the prison complex. Women

prisoners would be able to spend some time in leisure at the

part-time library which would be open three hours every

day. To start with, the Department of Public Libraries has

supplied about 500 books to the part-time library. Magazines

and journals would be available at the library.“We are ready

to provide more books depending upon the response and

use,” A.P. Shivakumar, District Library Officer. (The Hindu.

Nov. 17, 2010)

Storytelling Association in Chennai

On November 14, 2010, Children’s Day, Prof Eric Miller,

(a member of MALA) the Director of World Storytelling Institute

officially inaugurated Chennai Storytelling Association (CSA).

The CSA is a project initiated by the World Storytelling Institute

(WSI).

The primary mission of the CSA will be to develop

and share lesson plans for training people (adults and

children) in the art of storytelling, in English and Tamil.

The CSA also tries to facilitate: 1. Monthly discussions of

storytelling (especially for those who have taken WSI

In the News

National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhiin collaboration with IFLA - Art Libraries Section

Organises ICLAM 2011 (International conference onthe Convergence of Libraries, Archives and Museums)during February 15 to 17, 2011 at India International Centre,New Delhi. The conference focuses on User Empowermentthrough Digital Technologies. Please see their websites http://www.nift.ac.in/ICLAM_2011/index.htm & IFLA http://www.ifla.org/en/news/71 for more details

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workshops), 2. Monthly sessions of autobiographicalstorytelling for adults, open to the general public, perhapsat coffee shops and such — along the lines of what is doneby the Moth ( http://www.themoth.org ) 3. Weekly sessions(on Saturday mornings) of storytelling for children (onesession in English, and one session in Tamil), for free,perhaps at public libraries in Chennai. 4. Visits to the Tamilcountryside, to hear and collect stories, and to meetstoryte l l e r s . T h e i r w e b s i t e h t t p : / /www.storytellinginstitute.org/ provides additionalinformation about membership and events.

An online community platform for people with differentneeds

Chennai: An online community platform designed forthe print-impaired, probably the first such in the country,seeks to make the internet accessible to people with differentneeds.

The platform, inclusiveplanet.com, came about afterChennai based Rahul Cherian realised while taking part inthe 2008 discussions of the world blind union centeringaround the WIPO treaty for the blind, that there was a‘massive resource’ problem that technology would fix.

Blog Watch

ONLINE Insider – onlineinsider.net – the editorialblog by Marydee Ojala, editor of ONLINE: ExploringTechnology & Resources for Information Professionals.Presents commentary on happenings in the online world.

Business of Video blog – blog.streamingmedia.com– Daily posts about the online video industry, business trendsand analysis, market data, and research as well as the onlinevideo business models in the media and entertainment,broadcast, publishing, advertising and enterprise industries.

The British Library Adds 12 Million Records toWorldCat

OCLC announced that the British Library has added12 million bibliographic records to WorldCat. OCLC staffworked closely with British Library staff to add the recordsover a 4-month project. As a result of the cooperative effort,OCLC and the British Library have enhanced the process toadd these valuable records to WorldCat for the benefit ofresearchers worldwide.

Prior to this latest data load, some 4.5 million BritishLibrary records had been added to WorldCat over the last25 years. Not only has this volume now effectively tripled,

Information Trends

but the quality and accuracy of the records has beensignificantly enhanced. Ongoing automated batch loads willfurther improve the quantity and quality of British Libraryrecords in WorldCat.

WorldCat is a database of bibliographic informationbuilt continuously by OCLC libraries around the world since1971. Each record in the WorldCat database contains abibliographic description of a single item or work and a listof institutions that hold the item. The institutions share theserecords, using them to create local catalogs, arrangeinterlibrary loans, and conduct reference work. Librariescontribute records for items not found in WorldCat usingthe OCLC shared cataloging system. Once records havebeen added to WorldCat, they are discoverable on the webthrough popular search and partner sites, and throughWorldCat.org. (Source: OCLC)

Free Collaborative Learning Tools for Science—Spotlight on Scitable (http://www.nature.com/scitable):Suitable is a free science library and personal learning toolby Nature Publishing Group, the world’s leading publisherof science. Scitable currently concentrates on genetics andcell biology, which include the topics of evolution, geneexpression, and the rich complexity of cellular processesshared by living organisms. Scitable also offers resourcesfor the budding scientist, with advice about effective sciencecommunication and career paths.

Internet Insights

OpenDepot.org an initiative of EDINA (University ofEdinburgh, U.K.) ensures that all academics worldwide canshare the benefits of making their research output OpenAccess. For those whose universities and organisations havean online repository, OpenDepot.org makes them easy tofind. For those without a local repository, includingunaffiliated researchers, the OpenDepot is a place of deposit,available for others to harvest. Its URL is: http://opendepot.org

The Electronic Theses and Dissertations Bibliographyincludes selected English-language articles, books,conference papers, technical reports, unpublished e-printsand other scholarly textual sources that are useful inunderstanding electronic theses and dissertations. Thebibliography does not cover digital media works (such asMP3 files), editorials, e-mail messages, interviews, lettersto the editor, news articles, presentation slides or transcripts,or weblog postings. Where possible, links are provided toe-prints in disciplinary archives and institutional repositoriesfor published articles. Note that e-prints and published articlesmay not be identical. An archive of prior versions of thebibliography is available. http://digital-scholarship.org/etdb/etdb.htm

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We welcome your contributions for our next Newsletter,namely articles of interest to the librarians, programmesorganised by your library, awards/rewards received by you,your significant contributions to the field or simply yourfeedback on this publication. We are also looking forwardto hearing your suggestions/co-sponsorship of MALAevents. Please feel free to write to us. Our Email ID is:madraslibraryassociation@gmail.com Please encourageyour professional colleagues to become members of MALA.Membership fees for individuals is Rs. 100/- for Annual,Rs. 500/- for Life and Rs. 3,000/- for Institutional members.The fees could be paid by cash/local cheque/demand draftin favour of The Madras Library Association. Themembership application form can be downloaded from:http://mala.managedbiz.com. Please mail the duly filled inapplication form along with the cheque/demand draft tothe Treasurer Ms. Meena Y. Reddy, New. No.87 (Old No.41) 7th Avenue, Ashok Nagar, Chennai 600 083. Edited by L. R. Gowri and Vijaya K Sundaram

Please write to us: madraslibraryassociation@gmail.com

Printed at Vignesha Printers, Chennai -5. Ph: 9840016655

Article

7 Things You should Know About E-Readers: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7058.pdf

Book

Internet the Global Digital Library by Amrit PalKaur and Rajeeve Manhas. Available at Connemara PublicLibrary, Chennai

Database:

Factiva: A More Intelligent Way to Search

Searching the free Web used to be a key first step inthe research process, but now more and more ‘optimized’content consumes results pages. In addition, the numberof websites using pay walls is increasing, blocking the mostvaluable content essential for proper research. Professionalsare continually finding that the free Web is no longer a validway to begin high-level research projects.

Tools such as Factiva database solve these problemsand more, giving you the access you need backed withunique searching capabilities that will narrow down yoursearch and uncover the information you are looking for.Factiva provides access to 28,500 sources from 200countries in 23 languages, 5,000 of which are not availableon the free Web. Available at the American Library, Chennai.

Video

Learn about Twitter in Twitter Search in PlainEnglish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGbLWQYJ6iM

We Recommend

Academic Reference and Research Index (http://www.academicindex.net/) Tens of thousands of academicreference and research sites

Use www.englishclub.com or http://a4esl.org to brushup your English Language Skills.

FindSounds.com is a search engine for finding soundeffects on the Web.

Librarians Internet Index (www.lii.org) Searchable,annotated subject directory of more than 6,200 Internetresources selected and evaluated by librarians for theirusefulness to users of public libraries. It’s meant to be usedby both librarians and non-librarians as a reliable andefficient guide to described and evaluated Internet resources.

Kid Safe Search Sites are available at: http://www.sldirectory.com/searchf/kidsafe.html#top

Web Site Evaluation: If you feel comfortable as anInternet sleuth, move on to discover how to evaluate websites. The University of California, Berkeley has an exercisein evaluating web sites. Essentially a WebQuest on evaluatingsites, this activity is used to show UC Berkeley studentswhy it is important to evaluate the source of information onthe web. Try the activity yourself at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

Internet Searching Tips

Sign-up for eMALA to receive latest news,invites and other postings electronically.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/emala/