delnet Newsletter Vol. 19 Nos. 1 & 2 December 2012 NACLIN 2012 : A Report Dr. Sangeeta Kaul* * Rapporteur-General, NACLIN 2012 and Network Manager, DELNET The 15 th National Convention on Knowledge, Library and Information Networking – NACLIN 2012 organised by DELNET in collaboration with the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat from November 20-22, 2012, was inaugurated at the Prof. C.C. Mehta Auditorium, MSUB, Vadodara by the Chief Guest Shri V.N. Maira, IAS, Former Additional Chief Secretary (Planning), Government of Gujarat and currently Chairman, Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd. on November 20, 2012. NACLIN 2012 was supported by organisations including Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd., iGroup/Balani Infotech Pvt Ltd, RRRLF, DRDO and BRG Group. The theme of NACLIN 2012 was “Libraries for the Future: Collection, Competencies and Cooperation.” Dr. Mayank J. Trivedi, Organising Secretary, NACLIN 2012 and University Librarian, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda welcomed the delegates. He thanked DELNET for collaborating with The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara to organise the event on the occasion of the 150 th birth anniversary of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. It was followed by the Introductory address by Dr. H.K. Kaul, Founding Director, DELNET. He started the address by paying a tribute to Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III and applauded the commendable work being done by the Maharaja for bringing the libraries to the citizens of Baroda and for initiating the library movement a hundred years ago. According to Dr. Kaul, the means of access to knowledge have changed. Also it is quite essential to evaluate the quality of the information resource. He appraised the delegates about the National Mission on Libraries conceived by the Government of India in March 2012 and the subgroup on the National Virtual Library for India. He added that there is no census of libraries and under the mission the government is keen to initiate the work on the census of libraries in order to gauge the number of libraries that exist in the country. It was followed by the address of the Guest of Honour, Hon’ble Dr. (Smt) Mrunalini Devi Puar, Chancellor, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. She said that the library is the soul and knowledge bowl of an institution. It is a place to learn, relearn and unlearn the emerging and prevalent trends of our civilisation and existence. Dr. (Mrs.) Puar observed that E-libraries and networking of libraries are some of the latest advancements to be introduced in the libraries across the State and the country as it will reduce The dignitaries at the Inaugural Function
The 15th National Convention onKnowledge, Library and InformationNetworking – NACLIN 2012 organisedby DELNET in collaboration with theMaharaja Sayajirao University ofBaroda, Vadodara, Gujarat fromNovember 20-22, 2012, wasinaugurated at the Prof. C.C. MehtaAuditorium, MSUB, Vadodara by theChief Guest Shri V.N. Maira, IAS, FormerAdditional Chief Secretary (Planning),Government of Gujarat and currentlyChairman, Uttar Gujarat Vij CompanyLtd. on November 20, 2012. NACLIN2012 was supported by organisationsincluding Cengage Learning India Pvt.Ltd., iGroup/Balani Infotech Pvt Ltd,RRRLF, DRDO and BRG Group. Thetheme of NACLIN 2012 was “Librariesfor the Future: Collection, Competenciesand Cooperation.”
Dr. Mayank J. Trivedi, OrganisingSecretary, NACLIN 2012 and UniversityLibrarian, The Maharaja SayajiraoUniversity of Baroda welcomed thedelegates. He thanked DELNET forcollaborating with The MaharajaSayajirao University of Baroda,Vadodara to organise the event onthe occasion of the 150 th birthanniversary of Maharaja SayajiraoGaekwad III.
It was followed by the Introductoryaddress by Dr. H.K. Kaul, FoundingDirector, DELNET. He started the
address by paying a tribute to MaharajaSayajirao Gaekwad III and applaudedthe commendable work being done bythe Maharaja for bringing the libraries tothe citizens of Baroda and for initiatingthe library movement a hundred yearsago. According to Dr. Kaul, the means ofaccess to knowledge have changed.Also it is quite essential to evaluate thequality of the information resource. Heappraised the delegates about theNational Mission on Libraries conceivedby the Government of India in March2012 and the subgroup on the NationalVirtual Library for India. He added that
there is no census of libraries and underthe mission the government is keen toinitiate the work on the census oflibraries in order to gauge the numberof libraries that exist in the country.
It was followed by the address ofthe Guest of Honour, Hon’ble Dr. (Smt)Mrunalini Devi Puar, Chancellor, TheMaharaja Sayajirao University ofBaroda. She said that the library is thesoul and knowledge bowl of aninstitution. It is a place to learn, relearnand unlearn the emerging and prevalenttrends of our civilisation and existence.Dr. (Mrs.) Puar observed that E-librariesand networking of libraries are some ofthe latest advancements to beintroduced in the libraries across theState and the country as it will reduce
the gap between the user and theresource centres. She said that librarieshave gone through unimaginablechanges in the past few years and newchallenges have to be met to keeppace with the present needs.Furthermore, according to her, LISprofessionals need to design, framenew methods and devices to equipthemselves with pertinent awarenessto meet the new challenges of thepresent times. Shri V.N. Maira, IAS,Former Additional Chief Secretary(Planning), Government of Gujarat, andcurrently Chairman, Uttar Gujarat VijCompany Ltd. and the Chief Guestdelivered the inaugural address. Hesaid that Baroda city is known asSanskar Nagri, i.e. the cultural city andthat the services and the effects of thelibraries on its users should bequantifiable. He applauded the effortsof Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III inpromoting the opening of the librariesin villages wherein after school hoursthe libraries were used by the generalpublic. Mr. Maira affirmed that Wikipedia
has become the gospel truth and Internethas become a divine truth. He alsoreiterated the need to turn informationinto knowledge and cautioned that if theLibrary and Information Scienceprofessionals want to become knowledgeproviders they should first becomeknowledge seekers and one should notget distracted on the net.
It was followed by the release ofNACLIN 2012 publications by the ChiefGuest Mr. V. N. Maira including thepre-conference proceedings and theSouvenir.
The Presidential address wasdelivered by Prof. Yogesh Singh, Hon’bleVC, MSUB. He noted that the 21st centuryis a knowledge century and said that theLIS professionals must upgrade their skillsand knowledge to accept the challengesarising out of the new demands and needsof the users. He added that the NationalMission on Libraries should make theNational Virtual Library free of charge tothe citizens of the country. He felt theneed for initiating more avenues for
innovations in the country whichaccording to him relies more currentlyon the natural resources.
Dr. Sangeeta Kaul, NetworkManager, DELNET gave the vote ofthanks.
It was followed by the inaugurationof the NACLIN 2012 exhibition pavilionby the Hon’ble Dr. Mrunali Devi Puar,Chancellor, MSUB and Prof. YogeshSingh, Vice-Chancellor, MSUB. Thecompanies including CengageLearning, iGroup/Balani Infotech,Beegees Computers, Economic andPolitical Weekly, Prashant BooksAgency, Proquest, Rapid RadioSolutions, Sage Publications, Taxmannand Total IT Solutions exhibited theirproducts.
Under the technology updatessession, the companies includingCengage Learning India Pvt Ltd,EBSCO Information Services India,Proquest, Beeges Computers, SagePublications and Taxmann PublicationsPvt. Ltd. gave product demonstrations.
A tutorial on Koha : An Open SourceIntegrated Library System wasconducted by Dr. Sangeeta Kaul,Network Manager, DELNET, New Delhi.A CD containing the open sourcesoftware for installation both onWindows and Linux was distributed tothe delegates.
A cultural programme wasorganised on the occasion which raisedthe morale of the participants andbrightened the evening.
The second day of the Conventionstarted with a Technical Session I onthe “Library Movement of India.” Thesession was chaired by Dr. H. K. Kaul,Director, DELNET.
The keynote paper entitled“Libraries in the Knowledge Society”was delivered by Dr. P.R. Goswami,Director, NASSDOC, New Delhi andFormer Director CSL & Libraries,Ministry of Culture. He focused on theevolution of the libraries, the various
dimensions of knowledge, theknowledge creation and the growingrole of libraries. Dr. Goswami said thatKM practices need to be followed inlibraries and further added that in futurelibraries will be judged by their overallrelevance to the people in their domainand they must develop the domainknowledge.
A paper entitled “Library Movementin India : With Special Reference to theContribution of the Maharaja SayajiraoGaekwad III” was presented by Mr.Jaydeep D. Mehta, Librarian, CU ShahTechnical Institute of Diploma Studies,Surendranagar, co-authored with Ms.Meghna J. Vyas, Research Scholar(Library & Information Science),SCSVMV University, Kanchipuram,Tamil Nadu and Librarian, CU ShahCollege of Pharmacy and Research,Surendranagar and Dr. Mayank J.Trivedi, University Librarian, TheMaharaja Sayajirao University ofBaroda, Vadodara, Gujarat.
Dr. Sudha A., Deputy Librarian,Kannur University, Kannur, Keralapresented her paper entitled “ PublicLibrary Movement in Kerala : TheHundred Years of Introspection.” Itwas followed by another paper entitled“Ten Decades of Growth andDevelopment of the Public LibrarySystem in India: A Study of PublicLibraries in Goa State” which wasdelivered by Mr. Sandesh B. Dessai,Librarian, Goa College of Engineering,Goa and co-authored with Mr. B.B.Satpute, Deputy Librarian, NationalInstitute of Technology, Goa.
The Technical Session II entitled“Libraries : Learning Spaces andNetworking” was chaired by Prof. I.V.Malhan, Dean, School of Mathematics,Computers and Information Science,Central University of HimachalPradesh, Dharamshala, DistrictKangra, Himachal Pradesh.
The keynote paper entitled“Libraries as Learning Spaces :Metaphor Intact, Myths Exploding” was
delivered by Prof. Jagtar Singh, Head,Department of Library and InformationScience, Punjabi University, Patiala,Punjab. He maintained that ICTs and theInternet are supplementing the traditionallibraries and not supplanting them. Headded that in a country like India wherearound one third of the population livesbelow the poverty line and is illiterate aswell, the total replacement of traditionallibraries by digital libraries and virtuallibraries is a myth rather than a realityand reassured that the future of librariesas learning spaces is intact and ICTs areonly furthering the mission of the libraries.Dr. H.K. Kaul, Director, DELNETpresented the paper entitled “DELNET-Developing Library Network-The Networkthat Evolved into a Major Network”wherein he gave a historical backgroundof the conceptualisation and growth ofDELNET.
This session was followed by a visitto the Poster Presentation Area whichwas moderated by Dr. P. R. Goswami.The posters covering the aspects ofMobile Applications for Library andInformation Centres, Library Automation,New Skills for the New Age, E-resources,Advancements in IRMethods, Libraries inKnowledge Society,DELNET Consortium,were presented by Ms.Suvarna A. Walimbe,Manager KnowledgeManagement, Ion Ex-change (I) Ltd., NaviMumbai; Dr. ShaistaMuqeem, AssistantLibrarian, Dr. BabasahebAmbedkar MarathwadaUniversity of Aurangabad,Aurangabad; Mr. RameshBhimrao Patil, LibraryAssistant, DKTE’s Textile& Engineering Institute,Kolhapur and Ms. AnjaliS. Kadappa, LibraryAssistant, DKTE’s Textile& Engineering Institute,
Kolhapur; Ms. Chanchal Gyanchandani,Library & Information Assistant,National Library, Kolkata; Dr. (Ms.)Dhaval D. Bhatt, Chief Librarian, ParulGroup of Institutes, Vadodara; Dr. R.Jayalakashmi, Librarian, ADM Collegeof Women, Nagapattinam, Tamil Naduand Dr. Kanakbala Arvind Kumar Jani,Incharge University Library,Hemchandracharya North GujaratUniversity, Mehsana.
The post lunch session, TechnicalSession III on “Digital Resources” waschaired by Dr. Jagtar Singh, Professor,Dept of Library and Information Science,Punjabi University, Patiala. The keynotepaper entitled “Challenges andProblems of Enriching DigitalInformation Reserves and ImprovingTheir Access” was presented by Prof.Inder Vir Malhan, Dean, School ofMathematics, Computers and In-formation Science, Central Universityof Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala,District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. Hediscussed in detail the latest trends ofpublication of digital documents andthe emergence of the new generation ofinformation products and knowledge
management tools to improveaccessibility of digital informationresources. He spoke at length aboutthe challenges and problems forpreservation and improving access ofdigital reserves.
The paper entitled “KnowledgeCentre for Development of SairangVillage, Mizoram” was delivered by Dr.(Ms.) Lalremsiami, Librarian-in-charge,Central Library, Mizoram University,Tanhril, Aizawl, Mizoram. Anotherpaper entitled “Use of Digital/ElectronicResources in Engineering CollegeEnvironment: A Case Study of K.K.Wagh Institute of EngineeringEducation & Research, Nashik” wasdelivered by Mr. Prakash S. Bodke,Librarian, K.K. Wagh Institute ofEngineering Education & Research,Nashik, Maharashtra written with Dr.Shrish S. Sane, Head, Dept. ofComputer Engineering, K.K. WaghInstitute of Engineering Education &Research, Nashik, Maharashtra.
The paper entitled “Use of E-resources by the Students of the
Babaria Institute of Pharmacy, Vadodara”was presented by Ms. Raxa RaysinhSolanki, Librarian, Aryakanya ShuddhaAyurved Mahavidyalaya, Vadodara,Gujarat written with Ms. Rekha RaysinhSolanki, Library Clerk, The MaharajaSayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara,Gujarat. The last paper entitled “AnOverview of Electronic Resources (E-resources) of the National Library, Indiaand its Implications” was delivered byMs. Deepshikha Pathak, Library andInformation Assistant, National Library,Kolkata, West Bengal co-authored withMr. Partha Sarathi Das, Assistant Libraryand Information Officer, National Library,Kolkata, West Bengal.
The last technical session of the day,i.e. Technical Session IV entitled “Libraryand Information Science Education andSkills” was chaired by Prof. M.B. Konnur,Retd. Professor and Head, Dept of Libraryand Information Science, University ofPune, Pune and Co-Chaired by Dr.Shyama Rajaram, Head, DLISc, The MSUniversity of Baroda, Vadodara. Prof.C.R. Karisiddappa, Visiting Professor,former UGC Emeritus Professor (2008-
2010), Department of Library &Information Science, KarnatakUniversity, Dharwad, Karnatakadelivered the keynote paper entitled“Revamping the Library and InformationScience Education in India.” Prof.Karisiddappa shared the global thinkingon revamping the LIS Education andalso the challenges being faced in India.The choice of the curriculum patternand the training of LIS teachers,accreditation of LIS programmes,distance education pros and cons werealso discussed in detail. Anotherkeynote paper entitled “The Skills forLIS Professionals in the Digital Age”was delivered by Dr. H.K. Kaul, Director,DELNET. He spoke at length aboutlibrarianship in the 21st century. Also, hediscussed in detail the skills needed forselecting the quality content; managingonline content; database creation skills,social media skills, etc.
It was followed by presentations bythe Host Institutions. Miss Jyoti Bhatt,Asstt Librarian, MSUB delivered a talkon the Smt Hansa Mehta Library,MSUB Vadodara and Dr. SangeetaKaul, Network Manager delivered apresentation on DELNET.
The spectacular cultural eveningwas a great success and all theparticipants from across the countryenjoyed doing the garba dance. It wasorganised at Urmi School, Vadodara.
The third and last day of theconvention started with TechnicalSession V entitled “TechnologiesTransforming Libraries” and was chairedby Dr. A.R.D. Prasad, Professor andHead, DRTC, Bangalore. The keynotepaper entitled “Data Repositories andLinked Data” was presented by Dr.Prasad. Another keynote paper entitled“Use of Social Networking for Libraryand Information Centres” was deliveredby Dr. T.S. Kumbar, Librarian, IndianInstitute of Technology, Gandhinagar.The paper entitled “Design andDevelopment of Institutional Repositoryof Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Prof. Yogesh Singh, VC, MSUB, Vadodara delivering the Presidential Address
at Smt. Hansa Mehta Library, M.S.University of Baroda: A Case Study”was delivered by Ms. Binal H. Joshi,Librarian, Institute of Technology,Varnama, District Vadodara, Gujaratwritten with Dr. Mayank J. Trivedi,University Librarian, The MaharajaSayajirao University of Baroda,Vadodara, Gujarat.
The paper entitled “InstitutionalRepository (IR) of Babaria Institute ofPharmacy (BIP) Library Using DspaceSoftware” was delivered by Dr. (Mrs.)Ranjita N. Dash, Librarian, BabariaInstitute of Pharmacy, Varnama,Vadodara, Gujarat. The paper entitled“Perception and Use of MobileTechnology for Qualitative Researchby the Scholars in Mahatma GandhiUniversity: A Case Study” waspresented by Mr. Maghesh Rajan M,Assistant Librarian, Mahatma GandhiUniversity, Kottayam, Kerala.
The Technical Session VI entitled“Library Services” was chaired byProf. C.R. Karisiddappa and thepresentation entitled “Library andInformation Services: The GrowingGlobal Trends” was presented by Dr.Sangeeta Kaul, Network Manager,DELNET. The paper entitled “Mappinga Knowledge Resource Centre’sServices Beyond its DirectDeliverables” was delivered by Mr.Ashutosh Gopalrao Joshi, Manager-Knowledge Resource Centre &Services, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd,Nashik, Maharashtra. The last paperentitled “Need for a National InformationCentre for Indian Languages at CIIL,Mysore: A Proposal” was delivered byDr. R. Suman Kumari, Librarian, CentralInstitute of Indian Languages, Mysore,Karnataka.
It was followed by technologyupdate presentation by IGroup. Thepresentation of Turnitin - plagiarismdetection software was made followedby another presentation by Total ITSolutions wherein a presentation of 3MRFID products was made.
The panel discussion on the themeof the Conference “Libraries for theFuture” was held which was chaired byDr. H. K. Kaul. The panelists comprisedProf. C. R. Karisiddappa, Dr. A. R. D.Prasad, Dr. Jagtar Singh and Prof. I. V.Malhan. Dr. Kaul highlighted the issueswhich were going to define the roleslibraries could play in future including theselection of new content, growth of openaccess repositories, processing of theexisting content in libraries, access toselect content, challenges to librariesfrom commercial agencies, technologychallenges, and the challenges fromusers themselves.
Dr. Jagtar Singh felt that theinformation pollution was growing andfinding proper content was like finding aneedle in a haystack. Dr. Prasadmentioned that domain specific anddiscipline specific information resourcesneeded to be identified. Prof. Malhanadded that there was the need for qualityfiltering of the content. The panelists felt
that the library professionals needed tobe trained in processing of informationand devising of techniques for selectingthe best content. Dr. Jagtar Singh saidthat the information professionalsshould be trained in informationconsolidation. It was felt that theprinciple of demand and supply would apply to the development of librariesfor the future. Dr. Prasad was of theopinion that librarians were not trainedto identify good or bad content. Prof.Malhan maintained that policiesshould be spelt out for identifying goodonline content. The panelists wereconvinced that librarians would haveto provide efficient services in order toface competition from commercialagencies. More stress was laid onproviding appropriate training to workingprofessionals and students in theUniversity Departments of Library andInformation Science. Prof.Karisiddappa was of the opinion thatreluctant professionals would face thetechnology challenges, the most. The
panelists felt that the Library Scienceteachers were not trained to teach newtechnology courses. Dr. Jagtar Singhsaid that the State Universities werevirtually starved of good talent in LISDepartments and it was necessary to take a holistic approach in this regard.While Prof. Karisiddappa was of theopinion that curricula could be designedbut who would teach new content, Prof.Malhan believed that for capacitybuilding a massive effort was needed.Dr. Prasad said that communityinformation service was important. Prof. Karisiddappa observed thatprofessionals were not providing betterservice to users. Dr. Kaul who initiatedthe discussion on various issues ofrelevance to ‘Libraries for the Future’summed up by saying that there wasindeed the need for establishing a goodpublic library system in the countrywhere both the Central and StateGovernments needed to collaboratewithout wasting more time. He said thatthe National Mission on Libraries waslooking at various issues that wouldstrengthen the roles libraries could play
in future. He added that the future oflibraries was as much in the hands of Central and State Governments as itwas the responsibility of libraryprofessionals themselves. Libraryprofessionals would have to work as knowledge workers. The librariesmanaged by knowledge workers woulddefinitely succeed in future.
The valedictory function started witha welcome address by Dr. Mayank J.Trivedi, Organising Secretary, NACLIN2012. Dr. Jagdish Arora, Director,INFLIBNET, Ahmedabad delivered thevaledictory address. He said that the usersare drifting away from the librariesbecause of the E-revolution. He observedthat the collections are growing inlibraries and in order to accommodatethem the user spaces are being takenaway. He affirmed that the library building,library collections and library staff are allrelated. Dr. Arora added that though inthe digital environment there is no need tohave physical spaces but the effectivemethods for searching through federatedsearch facilities are not available yet. Dr.
Arora noted that in the physicalenvironment the interaction betweenthe library staff and the resourcecollection remains quite high though inthe digital environment, the distancebetween the user and the resource isgood but the library staff does not havea close interaction with the resource.He urged the need to have the physicalspaces for the users, to developconducive environments in the libraryfor users. He also cited the variousassumptions and said that the libraryas a subsidy may not exist and felt thatdisruptive technologies are taking theusers away from the libraries. Hementioned that providing quality spaceand social space is an important aspectto be looked after by the libraries. Alsothe need for virtual reference services,outreach programmes and informationliteracy skills was stressed by him.Dr. Arora observed that selectingappropriate resources, managinglicenses, negotiating terms andreferences and also managingdigital repositories are some of themajor tasks to be undertaken bylibraries.
Mrs. Radhikaben Nair, MD, UrmiSchool, Vadodara also addressed thedelegates. Mr. Pravin Vasant Kamat ofGoa College of Engineering, Goa wonthe lucky draw for free registration atthe NACLIN 2013 Conference.
Dr. H. K. Kaul delivered thePresidential address. He emphasisedthe great challenges being en-countered by the libraries and felt theneed for a higher pace of collaboration,connectivity between the users andthe libraries. The need for strong humannetworking was also urged by him. Itwas followed by a Vote of Thanks byDr. Mayank J. Trivedi and Dr. SangeetaKaul.
NACLIN 2013 will be held at MNITJaipur (www.mnit.ac.in) fromDecember 10-12, 2013. The detailswill be available soon at www.naclin.org
Looking forward to your presenceat NACLIN 2013 !
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DELNET NEWSLETTER
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DELNET in collaboration with theDaisy Forum of India organised a paneldiscussion on December 15, 2012entitled “Transcending the Boundariesof Vision: Managing Digital Content inthe Mainstream Libraries for the PrintDisabled”. The panelists included Mr.Dipendra Manocha, President, DaisyForum of India; Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura,Vice-President, Assistive TechnologyDevelopment Organisation, Japan andthe immediate past president of theDaisy consortium, Dr. H.K.Kaul, theFounding Director, DELNET and Mr.Ashim Mukhopadhyay, NationalLibrary, Kolkata. Dr. Sangeeta Kaul,Network Manager, DELNET welcomedand introduced the panelists.
Mr. Dipendra Manocha began thepanel discussion by saying that personswith print disabilities means those whocan not read normal print. He said thatmost of the information actually wasbeing delivered in print format. Personswith blindness or low vision, personswith dyslexia, people who could notread, could not hold books if they hadproblems with their hands, constituteda large percentage of the populationand got left out of this knowledge poolwhich was being presented in thewritten format.
He added, “And it means losingout on right to information, right toeducation, right to productiveemployment, right to life in manycircumstances. And what has beenhappening over the past so manydecades is that people who cannotread normal print will have to have thisinformation in alternative formats suchas Braille, talking books, large print oraccessible digital books. And I speciallylay emphasis on digital books. Thosewith print disabilities have been usersof digital books since the 1980s. It isnow that the rest of the world is getting
to read digital books. That opens uphuge possibilities for us.”
Mr. Manocha added that “ifeverything had to be republished, itmeant recreating the book again. Ourchoice for reading would be restrictedand we could never dream of havingaccess to more than 0.5% of publications.It has been a struggle for us to getaccess to newspapers, magazines,dictionaries, textbooks for school childrenin accessible format. We are still notthere. We are still not getting all those inaccessible formats”. He said that a childwho enrolled today with the NationalInstitute of Open Learning or IGNOUwould still get printed books as studymaterials, even if they were persons withvisual impairment. “They are left tothemselves or their own resources to beable to convert them, republish them asa Braille book or as a talking book or theyneed to visit organisations such as
Saksham Trust, XRCVC, the BlindPeople’s Association, NationalAssociation for the Blind and others. Allthese organisations have been trying topitch in and do whatever they can byputting in some charity money andvoluntary support to convert thesebooks”. He added that they have beenfighting a lost battle.
Mr. Manocha felt that the wave ofdigitisation has given hope to a largesegment of print disabled populationwho would be able to access large andlatest content with the help of ourassistive technology only if certain keystandards were followed. “This digitalcontent has to be presented in a waywhich can be read not just with eyes butalso with ears and fingers.”
“We definitely do not want personswith blindness or low vision or personswith print disabilities to remaindependent for all the reading and writingneeds. To make them productive, anyone with an economics backgroundwould vouch for it, it makes sense to getthis population amongst productive
From L to R: Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura, Mr. Dipendra Manocha, Dr. H.K. Kauland Mr. Ashim Mukhopadhyay
people, make us tax payers instead oftax consumers. To make that happenone of the key areas, the biggestchallenge is to make informationaccessible. And to make this while thedigitisation process is going on, I thinkwe need to concentrate on making thisdigital content accessible.”
Mr. Ashim Mukhopadhyay fromthe National Library, Kolkata gave anoverview of the facilities available atthe National Library. He said that theNational Library had a mandate to servethe readers of the nation by collectingand assimilating books but the mandatedid not end there. He added that waswhat actually sparked the interest andthe passion to start the project called‘Towards Equal Opportunity’ wherethey set up a resource centre for thevisually challenged. He added that atender document had been preparedto buy the necessary equipment.
He observed that the NationalLibrary had digitised about 25,000books so far and the work wascontinuing. Mr. Mukhopadhyay notedthat they had approached Mr. Manochafor advice on how to make NationalLibrary resources readable by the printdisabled or the visually challenged. Headded that the National Librarysubscribed to about 7000 E-journalsand wanted to know how theseresources could become available tothe print disabled.
He maintained that there were notonly technological problem of somesoftware, hardware and the searchableissues but copyright issues as well asthe content belonged to themultinational corporations andagencies that were publishing them.“Becoming a hub would generally meanthat we can disseminate these papers,we can download these papers but aslong as it was not systematicallydownloaded.”
“Now what do we do with this hugeamount of digitised material which we
are accumulating, to make it available?Can we at the National Library select anodal point at Delhi, at Mumbai, atChennai from whom or rather who couldin their turn take these E-resources overInternet and provide them to institutionswhich are in these regions?”
Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura started with areference to the National Diet Library inJapan and said that the Library receivedalmost 150 million US dollars to be spentin two years for digitisation. “It is asubstantial amount of money and I foundfinally, all was spent on just scanning forbitmaps. And I see it is a major problemfor the future of the digital library becausejust scanning the image separated fromthe original doesn’t work when it comesto the OCR later on. When you distil thetextual contents by OCR from the original,you always keep the original print inhand to compare and in many casesOCR does not give you a precise imageand then you need to refer to the originalone. But if you accumulate a hugeamount of digitised images withouthaving the original book in your hand, theOCR process will have a greatproblem”.
The other aspect he stressed wasthe reduction of bureaucratic hurdles inmaking digital resources accessible tothe print disabled.
He added that he had requested theNational Library in Japan to consider themost urgent current requirement for theaccess to information by the printdisabled. He said that in Japan about20% of the total population is printdisabled.
He said that reading aloud wouldhelp the print disabled immensely. Andthat would enhance the role of theNational Diet Library in Japan. He addedthat a Digital Library could reach everyoneconnected to the Internet or mobile phonenetwork. “So it is really ideal to have forexample, public information on healthcare, on disaster, on education orwhatever is available in accessible format
for everybody at any time when it isnecessary. And also it is important tohave a legacy print in digital format forpreservation.”
“So I think if a National Library maydecide to make a balance betweenpreservation and meeting the urgentrequirements of people with printdisabilities, there will be a bright futurefor digital libraries”. He felt that thecountries which had already rectifiedthe Convention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities guaranteedthe access to information andknowledge in Article 9 in particular. Headded that in the most current highlevel inter-governmental meeting heldin ESCAP region (ESCAP is UnitedNations Economic & SocialCommission for Asia & Oceania) theministerial declaration on the Asianand Pacific decade of persons withdisabilities which will start from 2013to 2022, and it says in the declaration,“Mindful that there are increasingopportunities for promoting andprotecting the rights of persons withdisabilities including through the useof new technologies for enhancingthe accessibility of the physicalenvironment, public trans-portation,knowledge, information and communi-cation.”
He said that paragraph 7 of thekey principles and policy directionsdescribe “persons with disabilitieshave access to the physicalenvironment, public transportation,knowledge, information and communi-cation in a usable manner throughuniversal design and assistivetechnologies with reasonableaccommodation provided and takinginto consideration the need toaccommodate economic, geo-graphic,linguistic and other aspects ofcultural diversity which altogetherconstitute a critical bridge to fulfillingtheir rights.”
He highlighted the contributionmade by libraries during the last 1000
years and according to him withadvancement in ICT, libraries couldhelp the print disabled moreconstructively. “E-pub is an emerginginternational de facto standard for theelectronic publishing and all Daisyaccessibility features are incorporatedin E-pub and even adaptation of E-pubtechnology to many languages likeJapanese which require vertical writingand ruby annotation is supported by E-pub. The bi-directional writing in oneline is supported by E-pub. So, E-pubis going to support all specialrequirements of languages, existing inthe world. And E-pub has evensupported the motion pictures. So thenthe deaf community will have anequivalent of the motion picture suchas sign language interpretation whichwill be synchronised with the textualcontents. E-pub will provide us analmost perfect platform for knowledgesharing for everybody regardless ofdisabilities.”
Mr. Kawamura said that theuniversally designed new publicationparadigm, provision of Braille terminalto be hooked up to E-pub playingdevices may help in reading by fingeras the deaf and, blind communitydesperately require reading by finger.He hoped that this basic infrastructuredevelopment would change publishingand library services for the printdisabled. He added that we needed tostrive further to develop the technologyand affordable industry to provide suchreasonable infrastructure in anaffordable price range.
He also showed a multimediapresentation showing a resourcemanual for HIV/AIDS originallypublished for disabled persons of SouthAfrica.
Mr. Dipendra Manocha respondedby thanking Mr. Kawamura and byreferring to the famous judgementwhich happened a few days ago ondigitising publications by Haathi Trust.The Haathi Trust which was working
with the Google Books and their veryfamous digitisation process werechallenged for infringing copyright.“The plea which was taken up by theHaathi Trust was that this content,which was now digitised, is actually goingto be provided under that exception topersons with print disabilities and underthat plea the judgement was made infavour of the Haathi Trust.” The court feltthat the digitisation was required formaking content available to the printdisabled.
He also referred to the NationalLibrary efforts in South Korea in adoptingE-pub standards. He lamented and saidthat government and non-governmentalorganisations have taken 60 years since1952 to produce only 15,000 works inBraille and talking books. But now withE-pub standards and digitisation wecould have a sufficient number of booksfor the print disabled.
Dr. H.K.Kaul thanked the DaisyForum of India for collaborating withDELNET in organising this paneldiscussion on such a vital topic. He saidthat centres for disseminating knowledgeto the print disabled were naturally thepublic libraries. The public libraries weremostly supported by the stategovernments and the centralgovernments. Some state governmentswere moving well ahead and otherslagged behind. Each public library had adefined geographic area to cater to. “Theproblem arises because most of thepublic libraries are not well-equipped interms of the material for the disabled andthe manpower to serve them.”
He observed that “Mr. Kawamurarightly mentioned the figures of the printdisabled, were 20% in Japan and I couldsay that number would be more than50% in India because if a person can’tread any language, the person is printdisabled. So we have a greater problemin India so far as the print disabled areconcerned”. He added that the NationalMission on Libraries which the PrimeMinister established in March this year is
looking into how public libraries, thedigital libraries and community librariescould be modernised and the NationalVirtual Library could be established.The library services should reacheverybody, including the disabled andthe print disabled.
He felt that the National Libraryshould become a national resourcecentre for the print disabled. TheNational Library had already 25,000books in the digital form, the DigitalLibrary of India had 3.5 lakh books indigital form. Much more material willbecome available in the digital form.There is so much information beingproduced in the digital form daily. Theselection of material for each personwas a crucial job. “Because we cannotdevelop a knowledge society unlesswe offer knowledge and informationresources to people in the formatsthey can use”, he said.
Dr. Kaul further said that we needthe reading materials for the printdisabled including books, magazines,digital content, video, audio resources.“Most of the public libraries did nothave proper staff to serve the public.We have to create 21st century libraryprofessionals who can handle theseissues. You need a balanced bookcollection for the print disabled. It isnot just a book here and a book thereand a collection here or a collectionthere that will work. We need a specialkind of staff, the knowledge workerswho are very efficient in this.”
He said that in the United States in1904 the Act was passed for providingbetter services to the blind, and thevisually impaired. While the CopyrightAct in India takes into account theneeds of the visually impaired, but notmuch is done to serve them. And foroffering personalised service, we needqualified manpower, manpower with avision, manpower with a love for humanbeings, manpower with dedication,manpower with excellence intechnology and the resources we have
to make them available. Therefore thishuman problem is not only for the printdisabled, it is for everybody. We haveto have book stores for instance, wherediscs, cassettes and Braille materialcan be made available. We have tohave equipment for talking books whichcan be made available either on rentor through libraries”.
He said that we needed to have aproper vision at the national level andthe state level. “I would suggest that ifthe Daisy Consortium Forum couldcome up with a plan, a proposal, itcould be put up to the National Missionon Libraries. I am sure it would getfavourable support”.
Dr. Kaul added that DELNET couldpromote the dissemination of contentfor the print disabled through itsnetwork.
During the interactive Q-A session,Dr. Kaul said that the National Missionon Libraries is looking at the possibilityof using school libraries as publiclibraries or community libraries. Headded that there were more than30,000 college libraries, and it couldalso be explored if these libraries couldplay a role for the public.
Mr. Dipendra Manocha noted thatthere was the need for having design,mainstreaming accessibility anduniversal design to serve all types oflibrary users. “Earlier the mainstreamwas not reading digital books, now weare beginning to and that is why theimportance comes in.”
Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura affirmedthat the Daisy Consortium had beendeveloping software called Tobi whichhas a built-in function to create audiowhich will align with the text to besynchronised. The coordinator and theproject manager of Tobi, Mr. AvneeshSingh was also present.
Mr. Avneesh Singh observed thatthere were two open source toolsdeveloped by Daisy Consortium, oneis Daisy Pipeline which is a fully
automated production tool wherein youjust feed in the XML or XHTML and youget a full text, full audio Daisy book or theE-pub book in the output.
Mr. Singh added, “The Tobi is amore specialised tool. It can not only beused for text to speech Indian basedautomotive production but it can alsoproduce the human voice. There aremany different communities, manydifferent disabilities like cognitivedisabilities, people suffering fromdyslexia who may not like the text tospeech synthetic voice. So Tobi alsoprovides the provision and it is a bigworkflow that provides this provision ofhaving the human voice recording andalso the automated text to speechengine”.
“So both these things are availableand the book process is totallyautomated. On the other hand, Tobi alsoprovides the additional facility of addingimage descriptions. And this is the world’sfirst tool to provide complete support forimage description, for describing imagesfor people with blindness.”
To a question on accent, Mr. Singhsaid that the accent is not given by thetool, it is given by the text to speechengine. There are Indian accent enginesavailable. These are provided by Nuance,very good quality and there are alsosome text to speech Indian softwarecompanies who have produced theseengines.
Dr. Kaul mentioned that the DigitalLibrary of India is available on the Web.You can access it but it does not havethe facility for the print disabled.Regarding the course content for theprint disabled, Dr. Kaul said thatsomething had to be done at theuniversity level. We needed to contactthe University Grants Commission andhope that course content was madeavailable for students with printdisablities.
Dr. Kaul added that under theDelivery of Books Act only about 40,000books out of about 100,000 books
published were received by theNational Library in India. It has to beseen how much digital content isreceived by the National Library andhow it becomes available to the printdisabled.
Dr. H.K. Kaul agreed with thesuggestion that NAAC teams, collegesand universities should see whatfacilities are available for the printdisabled in their libraries. This, he said,had to be taken up by NAAC.
Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura said thatWorld Intellectual Property Or-ganisation, in collaboration withPublishers’ Association, World BlindUnion as well as Daisy Consortiumwere trying to agree on the Onixmetadata set for accommodating allnecessary features for accessibilityby the print disabled.
In response to the suggestion thatpublishers should produce books bothin printed and electronic formats, Dr.Kaul said that this suggestion will beforwarded to the Raja Rammohun RoyLibrary Foundation that acquiresbooks. They can look into it. He addedthat the Daisy Forum of India can alsoarrange a meeting at the national levelwith publishers to convey it. DELNETcan collaborate with the Daisy Forumin this regard.
Mr. Dipendra Manocha cited theexample of the National InstructionalMaterial Accessibility Consortium(NIMAC) in the US. He added thatunder the US law anybody who waspublishing educational content had tosubmit a digital copy of the same to acentral repository in a digital accessibleformat and the standard was defined.Because of this law, publishers learnthow to create it. It was made mandatoryto submit a digital copy in a specificstandard. Thus the specialists cameinto being.
The panel discussion ended witha vote of thanks to the panelists by Dr.Sangeeta Kaul, Network Manager,DELNET.
Dr. Gulshan Rai, Director-General,I-CERT (Indian Computer EmergencyResponse Team) and GC (Cyber Laws,Group Formulation & EnforcementDivision), Department of InformationTechnology, Government of Indiadelivered the DELNET Annual Lectureon Wednesday December 5, 2012 atthe India International Centre, NewDelhi on “Cyber Laws and E-Security”.Dr. H.K. Kaul, Director, DELNETpresided over the lecture. Dr. Rai startedhis lecture by saying that this subjecthas become very important not only inour professional lives but also in ourday-to- day lives. The subject hadgained more importance due to therecent incidents which the media hasbeen covering intensively. There hasbeen the misuse or misinterpretation ofSection 66A of the InformationTechnology Act. A lot of discussion andinteraction is necessary on this subjectas the technology is changing very
fast. “Whatever you may discuss fiveyears ago, it may not be valid after fiveyears. Whatever we are looking at today,may not be valid after a couple of years.Whatever technology we are discussingtoday may not exist even after two years”.He added that this area, unlike manyother areas, has unique characteristics.You design a product and you design asolution as well. You don’t know theimplication of the application. The issuesof cyber security and cyber laws nowassume great importance in such adynamically changing area.
He said that he proposed to just givea presentation on some basic aspectsonly because of the nature of theaudience. He said that as Dr. Kaulmentioned, how they started DELNET in1988, how the E-mail access was soslow in 1992. He added that we may lookat how we moved over a period of time.We had telegraph and we all used
telegraph for sending telegrams. Weused to rush to the nearby post office tosend telegrams. This technology wasused for a long time.
Dr. Rai said that it was around1977-78 when we started usingtelephones more effectively. The PCObooths came up sometime in 1985 asa result and the impetus was given tothe telephone. STD, ISD and all theother services came up soon. “Thenwe used the word which Dr. Kaulmentioned, the E-mail, the X-mailwhich was very primitive in connectivity.And, till that time, there was no Internetkind of activity. Internet arrivedsomewhere in 1997-98 and then westarted really looking at it in a muchmore effective manner and in the lastfifteen years the technology hasprogressed so much”. Dr. Gulshan Raiadded that in all three phases:telegraph, telephone and computercommunication data was allowed toflow across cables. “Today the entirescene has changed: the one factor thatmade the difference was the opticalfibre network. You find across the roadsome orange cables lying over there,yellow cables lying there, the blackcables lying there – they are all opticalfibre cables”. He said that bandwidthcapacity of these cables was of highmagnitude and several times themagnitude the telegraph or telephonecarried. “And this made a completerevolution in the entire informationtechnology or the digital dataprocessing, digital data storing andsending of digital data”. He said thatthe DELNET you see today iscompletely different from the DELNETyou saw in 1998. “Today you areaccessing at an extremely rapid speedand this is all the result of the opticalnetwork and optical fibre. We have laiddown the optical fibre right upto districts– some places it has gone to blocklevel as well and over a period of time,the technology of the optical fibre hasalso improved significantly”.
Dr. Gulshan Rai delivering the DELNET Annual Lecture
Dr. Gulshan Rai said that therewere 130 websites in the USA in 1993and now in 2012 there are almost 3.82billion of them. “This is what we havecome to in the evolution of IT”. Headded that there is extensiveinformation available on the net, whichwe can access and which we canprocess. “At any point of time thetechnology today permits you to accessa number of websites together. Youopen one window, close one window,multiple windows you can open in yoursystems and you can access a wholelot of information. There are 3.6 billionE-mail users in the world and about3 billion Internet users in the world.Once I hook on to the Internet, I amconnected to entire 2-3 billion people”.Dr. Gulshan Rai said, “The momentyou use Google talk or the momentyou put the switch on, on your mobilephone, it connects you, so and so useris online and you start interacting withhim and chatting with him. That isthe power of technology and thepower of information we have come touse”.
Dr. Rai noted that there has beenan information explosion and whoeverhas information is the most powerfulperson. “He can analyse better, he canmarket better and he can presentbetter.” He added that we had to protectinformation as there have been severalattempts made to steal information anddestroy it. As a result, aspects of securityof information become important.
He said that in the cyberspaceevery gadget is connectable. “There isno gadget which appears in the worldtoday which is not connectable to anyother gadget through the network. I canconnect, sitting in here, my gadget to agadget anywhere in any part of theworld”. He added that this is whyDELNET evolved over a period oftime.
He referred to the role of ISP’s,domain servers and mail servers. Thisis a broad picture of the Internet
infrastructure in the country. But if yousee here, this includes Google, hotmailand rediffmail. “There is some localinfrastructure, there is global infra-structure and there are infrastructure ata regional level or at the state level or thecountry level. The whole thing hasbecome part of the structure. Now thiswhole thing is becoming more and morecomplex. You, as a matter of academicinterest or common interest, have beensaying how the Samsung S3 or the Appleor the mobile systems have come. Onemobile telephone comes, a devicecomes, which is more complicated interms of features, in terms of functionsthan the past previous one”. He addedthat today it is practically becomingdifficult to repair any electronic deviceunlike about a decade ago when weused to get everything repaired in theshop near our residence or somewhere.Today you use a system and discard itbecause it is so complicated, it is difficult.The way the technology is turning out,the way the new products are coming up,it is very difficult to train somebody tounderstand or to repair those things. Hesaid that the technology was verysophisticated both in terms ofworkmanship as well as the functionalityof the technology. Cyberspace hadbecome complex.
He said that in 2011 the United Stateswas hosting 44% of the information,whereas in 2012 it had moved up to 47%.India’s rank is somewhere around 14th
rank in terms of hosting the information.“The reasons are very clear: A lot ofinfrastructure was available in the USA”.The infrastructure availability is muchbetter than in India. The communicationbandwidths are better in USA. A lot ofbusiness activities and Indian websitesare hosted in USA: the reason being,that if I do my export business and myclients are somewhere in the USA or inEurope, I will rather try to host myinformation in USA so that accessibilitybecomes easier there and the reliabilityof infrastructure is better there”.
He referred to cloud computingand said that one did not know wherethe systems were installed. He referredto gmail or hotmail or yahoo mailand said that you did not know wherethe servers were installed. He said thatit was important to know who waslooking at the server, who wasmanaging the server. And all thoseintermediaries were introducing somany services to be used. Cloudcomputing was coming up where onedidn’t need to install a costly orexpensive infrastructure in one’s officeor home. Some people were setting upinfrastructure, and people were hiringservices from them. It had so manyimplications in terms of security and interms of legal issues but this is the waytechnology is moving.
Dr. Gulshan Rai added that todaywe were working with the absolute nextgeneration. Any network which wasavailable three years ago was beingreplaced by more sophisticatednetworks. “Skype and other applica-tions are very sophisticated applica-tions. One could not have imagined thekind of applications which are therenow, which we call the teenagernetwork. And actually it is teenagerbecause they know how to use anetwork more effectively than many ofus. We don’t know many of the gadgets.I dabble with the technology so much inday-to-day life that many of the devicesare mindboggling.”
Dr. Rai referred to the value of theinformation today, the assets value andsaid that certainly information will attractso many hackers. Dr. Kaul in hisopening address said that there weremany malicious activities alsohappening on the Web. Referring tohacking, he said that it all started in1982 and described how a gas pipelinewas exploded in the Siberian jungles in1982.
Dr. Rai said that in major operationsincluding power generation all activities
were monitored by automated in-strumentations. “From 1982 to 2012we have moved far away in terms ofadoption of technology in our day-to-day lives, in all our economic activity,whether it is banking or production,power generation, telecommunicationor any activity you talk about, automationand control instrumentation are partand parcel of the system.”
Dr. Rai added that you can realisewhat importance the cyber security has.Information protection, informationreading and information processinghave become key factors in today’sdigital world or the knowledge age orthe information age.
Dr. Rai added that initially securitywas never a part of the Internet. It wasa laboratory experiment to connect sixor seven computers to share theinformation there and over a period oftime it has evolved into the Internet.“Though we have started thinking ofsecurity now for the last two to threeyears, many things have happened inthe past 10-15 years as a result ofwhich the Internet is not aheterogeneous kind of thing. There isno security concept on the Internet andthe threats and threat actors are more.Again virtualness, borderless and allkind of things are more. Attack isbecoming easy. Virtually I can createyour account by your name. Createfrom any part of the world at any pointof time I can reach millions of people atany point of time from any part of theworld. This is becoming easier”.
He added that these features mademany new types of criminal activitiespossible. “It has become an absolutewhite collar job. As per the statisticspublished by the National Crime RecordBureau, the criminals who are engagedin this kind of activity are largely (80%)below the age of 30. In this work, youdon’t spoil your hands. You have asimple system, an Internet connectionand you start committing all kinds ofcrimes which often one cannot imagine.
I deal with these cases day and night.Every case is a new case for me and westruggle to understand those cases there”.He said that online sale of illicit substanceswas going on. Such types of crimesincluded sale of illegal substances, thesale of stolen goods on the Web, stealingof passwords, stealing of other identitiesof industries, credit card frauds and otherE-frauds. He added that the managementof crimes was organised. Dr. Rai addedthat the techniques and know-how of saypistol making was available on the Web.Then distribution of child pornographicmaterial was going on including onlineprostitution and trafficking.
Dr. Gulshan Rai said that he hadshown how cyber attacks had becomevery sophisticated: some kinds of attackswere targeted. He said that we werefinding them not only in India butworldwide. “Only the intensity and theduration varied but these were the attackswhich were happening worldwide. Socialengineering, specially crafted E-mails willbe sent to you as attachment and you willfind it very interesting because sometopic may be of interest there. I will justopen the E-mail and my entire system is
compromised and it starts gettingcontrolled by somebody else”. Headded that they send a software whichsits into your systems and this softwaremakes your system come into contactwith some hackers and they takecomplete control of your system. Theystart monitoring your system and theysteal the information from there andstart sending the E-mails from there. Itseems as if your system is sendingthem but actually somebody else isdoing so. He said that there werespecially crafted E-mails and senderaccounts that had came up there.
He also referred to the spoofedmails- the mails that did not exist. “Suchsoftware were not a perfect software.You get patches and upgrades. Hesaid that every software had certainvulnerabilities and those vulnerabilitieswere exploited by the hackers. Theyknew how to exploit and they startedcommitting the crimes.
He added that viruses were calledmalware, because malware had muchmore complicated software code. It didmany automated functions. Such
software in a system, behaved likerobots and they operated the systemsautomatically in many ways. Itperformed many functions which innormal code we may not be able to do.He felt that the detection of suchmalware was very poor because thehackers were far more advanced thanthe tools which we could create todetect them.
He referred to the command andcontrol things which were posingchallenges to us because of therichness of the cyberspace and theinformation which they contained.Today attacks were becoming targetedand in targeted also, they didn’t knowwhich target exactly. He said thatopportunism came in between. Dr. Raisaid that 46% attacks were opportunist,39% were random and 15% weretargeted. “This 15% has grown at thecost of opportunistic, random ordirected. Things are becoming moreand more focused and more and moretargeted there because you have bettertechnology, you can identify better,resources are better and you attack.”
In the world today, he describedthe regions which were dangerousareas in terms of cyber crime and theareas where the crime was up or theareas where there was no crime. Hedescribed the countries that wereinterested in espionage activity,financial activity, credit card frauds,etc. He added that hackers werecoming up from different parts of theworld.
Dr. Gulshan Rai said, “The wholething has become an eco system. Iwant a malware; a software code whichcan do some different activity, whichcan take away information from theATM cards or credit cards or I want tospoil your systems; they are availableopenly on the websites. The cost variesfrom a couple of dollars to 400 dollars.And these are all a part of the entireunderground economy which is there.The trade value is 300 billion dollars.”
He added that one could attack anysystem and conceal his identity. Supportwas available on the websites. A newkind of worldwide cyber eco system haddeveloped. It was becoming difficult totrack those kinds of perpetrators orattackers or criminals and such activitiescontinued to happen.
Dr. Gulshan Rai observed that ourinformation technology penetration wasincreasing. We could not do away withsuch information technology because ithad become a part and parcel of ourliving mind. Our minds had begun tothinks in terms of electronic speed. “Wewant everything on electronic speed.We want online facilities there but thereare physical problems. We need to findsome solution so that our faith, ourconfidence in the online system remainedthere”.
Referring to the role of technologyDr. Rai said that the use of technologywas not the only solution. We had tocontrol the misuse of technology. “Headded this is an area which is verytechnology intensive. New technologycomes up every now and then and nobodywants to share the technology with you.You simply know your virus, anti-virussystem. If you don’t subscribe to anti-virus for a couple of days or for a month,you are risking your entire informationthere. And keep on, new virus comes up,new anti-virus comes up and you keepon. Your vendors keep supplying you theanti-virus part of it but nobody wants toshare the technology with you. Sowe need to develop the technologyourself.”
He said that we had to do our ownR&D in the area of cyber security. Wehad to get new products there. Newviruses were coming up. In India we mayhave one kind of virus, in Japan we mayhave another kind of virus, in America adifferent kind of virus and so on. It is aglobal problem and we needed to have alot of data, in terms of technology. “So weneed a signature, we need virus samplesthere and nobody wants to share. So we
need to create those kind of productswith which we can secure our systemsin terms of technology or which enablesus to do the process part.”
Dr. Gulshan Rai mentioned theInformation Technology Act or CyberLaws and said that, we needed laws toaddress this kind of technology, we arehaving and develop the legalframework. We had to look atvirtualness or borderless environs inICT and stop attacks coming from someneighbouring country or some remotewar place. We required a legalframework. He referred to the IT Actwhich was passed in 2000 and saidbefore the 2000 Act came up, whateverwe are seeing here, had no legalevidenciary value. The cyber lawsbrought the legal evidenciary value toelectronic records. “It is a documenttoday. So we need a legal framework toaddress such technologically intensivecrimes or technologically createdcrimes there”. In case of securityincidents we had to install alerts andwarning systems, so that safety wasensured.
He added that for security policycompliance there was the need forestablishing a process which neededto be followed. We needed to trainpolice and take into account the trainingaspects. They had no clue as to whatwas happening there. He added thatwe needed to train everyone besidespolice. Judiciary needed to be trainedand we all needed to be trained andseek international cooperation becauseof the virtualness and borderlessnessof ICT to stop incidents that startedfrom any part of the world and affectedany other part of the world. We neededto exchange data if we had to really findculprits and find solutions. Cooperationamong the different countries and ICTcompanies was becoming essential.Dr. Gulshan Rai observed that thegovernment had formulated a cybersecurity policy and in a matter of a fewmonths it would be notified.
He referred to the ComputerEmergency Response Team (CERT)and said that it is an Indian emergencyresponse team. He added that everycountry has one such team. CERT is anodal authority in the area of cybersecurity. The team works with thevendors and the governments and triesto exchange data, collect data, analyseincidents and try to forewarn thepeople about forthcoming disruptivetechnologies. He said that CERTfunctions 24x7 at the CGO complex,New Delhi and it coordinated with allsuch organisations in the world.
Dr. Gulshan Rai concluded bymentioning that for the public CERThas hosted a site “Secure Your PC”at www.cert-in.org.in. Advice is givento home users as to how to protect theirsystems, how to protect theirinformation assets, where to report thematter, what steps need to be taken in
Number of Member-Libraries ason December 31, 2012 - 4370
Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2
Andhra Pradesh 746
Arunachal Pradesh 2
Assam 14
Bihar 15
Chandigarh 8
Chhattisgarh 48
Delhi 241
Goa 8
Gujarat 191
Haryana 239
Himachal Pradesh 33
Jammu & Kashmir 20
Jharkhand 17
Karnataka 199
Kerala 128
Madhya Pradesh 328
Maharashtra 334
Manipur 4
Meghalaya 2
Mizoram 2
Nagaland 2
Odisha 80
Puducherry 20
Punjab 139
Rajasthan 241
Sikkim 5
Tamil Nadu 662
Tripura 3
Uttar Pradesh 484
Uttarakhand 55
West Bengal 75
Nepal 3
Oman 4
Pakistan 1
Philippines 1
Sri Lanka 7
United Arab Emirates 3
USA 4
Total 4370
case of security lapses. We receive70,000 hits per day. The site gets aboutsecureelectronics.in. He added that fromJanuary 2013, a new site will be launchedwhich will advise on which device orgadget is to be used to protect yoursystems. “Because most of the time acommon person doesn’t know what arethe do’s and don’ts for protecting yoursystem. So we are going to put apamphlet in your gadgets there fromJanuary 1, 2013. We are working withindustry there and those pamphlets, do’sand don’ts, will be hosted onwww.secureelectronics.in.” He added thatthe FM channel will also be used topromote awareness about the cybercrimes and the use of appropriatetechnology to avert it. Reporting of acomputer security incident can be madeat help desk 91-1800-11-4949; Fax: 91-1800-11-6969; E-mail: [email protected]
DELNET Annual Lecture 2011
Mr. Brent Mai, President, Special Libraries Association (SLA), USA delivered theDELNET Annual Lecture for 2011 on “Library in the Cloud” on March 19, 2012.
*Director, DELNET and Member, NationalMission on Libraries, Government of India.
National Mission on LibrariesA New Gateway for Indian Libraries
1. The Background
The National KnowledgeCommission which was appointed in2005 by the Government of India hadconstituted a working group on libraries.The Commission in its final reportsubmitted to the government in 2007adopted the following major re-commendations on libraries;
1. Set up a National Mission onLibraries.
2. Prepare a National Census of allLibraries.
3. Revamp Library and InformationScience education, training andresearch facilities.
4. Re-assess staffing of libraries.
5. Set up a Central Library Fund.
6. Modernise library management.
7. Encourage greater communityparticipation in library manage-ment.
8. Promote Information Communi-cation Technology (ICT)applications in all libraries.
9. Facilitate donation and main-tenance of private collections.
10. Encourage public-private partner-ships in development of library andinformation services.
2. The Constitution of the NationalMission on Libraries
The Prime Minister of Indiaapproved the proposal for setting up ofthe National Mission on Libraries in
March 2012 with the followingcomposition:
i. Prof. Deepak Pental, Chairman
ii. Shri B.S. Baswan, Member
iii. Dr. Sanjiv Misra, Member
iv. Dr. H.K. Kaul, Member
v. Prof. A.R.D. Prasad, Member
vi. Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam,Member
vii. Mrs. Sudha Murty, Member
viii. One of the trustees of Sir Ratan TataTrust, Member
ix. Secretary, Department of HigherEducation, Ministry of HRD, Member(Ex-Officio)
x. Secretary, Ministry of Culture,Member - Convenor
The following were the terms ofreference for the National Mission onLibraries:
a. Advising the Government of India onall library and information sectormatters of national importance.
b. Preparing long-term plans andstrategies for development of thelibrary sector, includingconceptualisation and approval ofprojects and preparation of a“National Policy on Library andInformation Systems for India”.
c. Interacting with State Governmentson all library matters, especially onpublic library matters.
d. Setting standards, including qualitystandards, for library collections,services, technical work and
infrastructure, and devising in-builtmechanisms to ensure comp-liance for all types of libraries.
e. Encouraging and promotingpartnership with the corporatesector, philanthropic organi-sations, as well as bilateral andinternational agencies in thedevelopment of the library andinformation sector.
f. Reviewing and assessing thecurrent status of library andinformation service education andin-service training facilities, andworking with agencies such as theUGC and universities to addressthe identified issues.
g. Coordinating with stakeholderMinistries such as the Ministry ofCulture, Ministry of HumanResource Development, Ministryof Information Technology,Department of Panchayati Raj,etc., to ensure effective imple-mentation of the NKC re-commendations and manage-ment of the post-implementationscenario.
h. Coordination with other nationalstakeholders of the library andinformation sector, such as theUniversity Grants Commission(UGC), the All India Council forTechnical Education(AICTE), RajaRammohun Roy LibraryFoundation (RRRLF), Council forScientific and Industrial Research(CSIR), Indian Council forAgricultural Research (ICAR),Indian Council for MedicalResearch (ICMR), Indian Councilfor Social Science Research(ICSSR) and so on, to ensureeffective implementation of therecommendations and manage-ment of the post-implementationscenario.
i. Collaborating with counterpartagencies in other countries to
Dr. H.K. Kaul*
explore areas for cooperationwhich will lead to strengthening ofIndia’s library and informationsector.
j. Securing public support throughadvocacy and media by providingevidence of delivery, usage,outcomes and impact.
k. Helping State Governments (thatdo not yet have library legislation)in formulating State Library Acts.
3. The Working Groups
The National Mission in its firstmeeting on May 18, 2012 took thefollowing decisions and constituted theworking groups to advise the Missionon how to proceed further for executingthe terms of reference given above:
i. A National Virtual Library (NVL)should be set up. All theGovernments (States and Centre),public libraries, Institutes,Universities and private founda-tions can contribute to the NVL.
ii. The content available on the NVLshould be available to anyone whohas access to Internet.
iii. The content which has alreadybeen digitised through government-funded programmes should bemade available on the NVLplatform.
iv. In new content generation,children’s needs should be givenpriority. Content on skilldevelopment and content ofregional and local interest shouldalso be highlighted.
v. To increase access to knowledgeand information, all the schoollibraries should be opened to thecommunities. Special grants needto be provided to the schoollibraries for access to ICT toolsand for purchase of books andreading material. To begin with,this model can be implemented in
the central schools. Participation ofMHRD would be a must in thisprogramme.
vi. All the existing public libraries shouldbe upgraded and put on a commonICT platform. Open source softwareavailable should be developedfurther, if necessary, for cataloguingand managing library services.Information on the resources withpublic libraries, national libraries,special libraries and NVL should beavailable at each major library.
vii. Existing libraries should be madeuser-friendly for the physicallychallenged.
viii. Training of library professionals isthe key to develop libraries of thefuture. University departments thatteach M.Lib Sc. students, and havereasonable staff, should be upgradedand trained for efficient library work.All M.Lib Sc. students should carryout library work during their studiesand should be paid a stipend for theirefforts.
ix. Special funding be provided to theinstitutions and universitydepartments that can train thelibrarians through short-termcourses. Such institutions should beidentified and projects should besolicited. Enthusiastic younglibrarians could be sent abroad for aone year Master’s degree in ICT-based library science courses.
x. A census should be carried out onthe resources available in thelibraries. A study should be carriedout on the reading habits in differentregions of the country and amongstrural and urban communities. Areaswhere public libraries are scarceshould be identified.
xi. The mission should act only as anAdvisory Body. To implement thedecisions of the Advisory Body, aTask Force should be created whichwill act as an interface between the
Mission and the other ministries,national and state levelstakeholders. A Joint Secretarylevel officer should head the TaskForce.
xii. The following working groups beconstituted to develop a road mapfor implementation of therecommendations.
a. Working Group on the settingup of National Virtual Library,Networking and ICTApplications in Libraries:
Chairman- Dr. H.K. Kaul
b. Working Group on NationalCensus of Libraries, ContentCreation, and CommunityInformation Centres:
Chairman- Dr. SubbiahArunachalam
c. Working Group on Up-gradation of the Existing PublicLibraries, School/CollegeLibraries and Use of SchoolLibraries as CommunityLibraries:
Chairman- Mr. B.S. Baswan
d. Working Group on Library andInformation Science Educa-tion, Training and ResearchFacilities:
Chairman- Dr. A.R.D. Prasad
Each group should have 5-6members who are well known expertsin the area. Working groups can alsoseek advice of experts outside thegroup and record the opinion of theoutside experts. Working groups cantake a few full-time or part-timeconsultants for advice on software,ICT tools, good library practices andmanagement of the libraries.
4. The Specific Projects
The four working groups preparedthe following specific projects which
may be forwarded to the PlanningCommission for financial support:
4.1 National Virtual Library (NVL)
NVL is being planned to:
a. identify all digital resourcesavailable under the digitisationprojects already undertaken byvarious government departments;
b. seek permission to obtain digitalcopies of relevant content fordissemination or link suchresources to the National VirtualLibrary from the aboveorganisations;
c. provide access to all suchresources through a unifiedinterface with provision forfederated search across all suchresources; and should alsofacilitate search content availablein different Indian languages. Theaccess will be provided in OpenAccess Environment; and
d. digitise content that is useful to thepublic in different disciplines.
The precise details of the NationalVirtual Library are being workedout and I hope that within a fewmonths time we will get moreinformation on it.
4.2 Networking and ICTApplications in Libraries
The Working Group has proposedto modernise and network duringthe next four years about 7,000libraries that offer services to thepublic. The selected libraries willbe given suitable hardware, Kohasoftware, Internet access, training;access to more than one croreand fifty lakh records availablewith DELNET along with ILLservices and document deliveryservices. The project also includessupport for catgaloguing /retro-conversion and digitisation ofimportant and rare works. TheNational Knowledge Network is
being requested to provide Internetconnectivity to all libraries that aregoing to be networked and convertedinto model libraries.
4.3 Creation of Model Libraries
The Mission is planning to identifyState Centre Libraries, DistrictLibraries and Village Libraries thatwill be converted into model libraries.The precise modalities are beingworked out.
4.4 National Census of Libraries inIndia
The Mission is concerned about thecreation of the national census oflibraries. It is proposed that in theinitial stage it may be undertaken asa sample survey and later adoptedas a complete one. The methodologyof undertaking the survey is beingworked out. Some internationalexperts are likely to be requested toadvise.
4.5 Community Information Delivery
It was decided that a detailed planwith necessary financial estimatesmay be prepared towardsestablishment of a few modelCommunity Information Centres bythe Working Group for its furtherprocessing.
4.6 Upgradation of the ExistingPublic Libraries, School/ CollegeLibraries and Use of SchoolLibraries as CommunityLibraries
The Mission considered that thesynergy is required to be developedwith the Ministry of HRD fordevising a plan for upgradation ofschool libraries and theirconversion into communitycentres. The details are beingworked out. It is also consideredthat State Governments will berequested to be partners in theextension of school libraries ascommunity libraries.
4.7 Library and Information ScienceEducation, Training andResearch Facilities
The Mission is considering toprepare a plan for conductingtraining programmes anddeveloping course content inEnglish and regional languages forlibrary professionals. It has beendecided that training programmesand development of suitabletraining materials should belaunched soon.
International Visitor LeadershipProgramme, USA : My Experiences
Dr. Sangeeta Kaul*
I am glad to report about myexperiences of visiting AmericanLibraries, Museums and Archivesunder the International VisitorLeadership Programme of the U.S.Department of State, USA from June9-30, 2012. Apart from myself fromIndia, there were LIS pro-fessionalsfrom countries including Algeria,Belarus, Chile, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq,Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Liberia,Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman,Pakistan, Palestinian Territories,Portugal, Senegal, Slovak Republic,South Africa, Syria, Tanzania andZimbabwe. I am indeed grateful to theUS Department of State for providing awonderful, lifetime opportunity toenable me to familiarise myself notonly with the splendid libraries,museums, archives of the US but alsoto know about the American cultureand its people from very close quarters.It had also given me an opportunity tobuild up connections with the fellowLIS professionals of 22 countries withwhom I spent 3 weeks in the USA. Ihave been overwhelmed with the warmhospitality and care extended by thehost institution for which I remainindebted to them for ever. I would liketo acknowledge that the entireexpenditure for boarding and lodgingincluding the return air-fare was borneby the US Department of State. I wouldlike to especially acknowledge the helpextended by Mrs. Geetha Rajagopal,Cultural Affairs Assistant - Exchanges,Embassy of the United States ofAmerica, New Delhi and Mrs. KalaAnjan Dutta, Director, The AmericanLibrary, New Delhi to provide locallogistic support. Ms. Susan ElaineLockwood, Programme Officer, Multi-Regional Programmes Division, USDepartment of State and Ms Nancy
Fearheiley, Programme Officer, MeridianInter-national Centre, Washington DCtook great pains in ensuring the effectiveexecution of the programme. The entiregroup of 22 LIS professionals wereaccompanied throughout the programmeby three English Language Officersincluding Mr. Ronn Francis, Mr. AlanPonikvar and Ms. Norma Reyes. Theyprovided the most unstinted support toeach one of us.
The main objectives of theInternational Visitor Leadership Pro-gramme (IVLP) of the US Department ofState, USA were to examine the role andfunctions of libraries and informationspecialists in US society; to explore theimportance of community-basedpartnerships and the strategies forpromoting sustainability within a librarysystem; to learn more about the diversityof library services; and to explore theadvancements and impact of digital andonline technologies within various typesof libraries.
The journey of the three weeks tothe USA started with an overseas travelto the first destination, i.e. WashingtonDC, the Capital of the United States ofAmerica wherein I arrived on June 9,2012. The stay of the entire group wasmade at Hotel Doubletree in Washington,DC. On Sunday, June 10, 2012 a three-hour guided sightseeing tour ofWashington’s monuments and points ofpolitical, historical and cultural interestwere made including the visit to the WhiteHouse, Capitol Building. It was followedby a visit to Shirlington Branch Library inArlington, Virginia wherein Ms. MaryPrisbrey, Librarian apprised us about thelibrary and its activities. The first library inShirlington was established in 1947.
The welcome and introductoryprogramme was held on June 11, 2012at the Meridian International Centre,Washington, DC wherein Ms. Susan
Elaine Lockwood, Programme Officer,Multi-Regional Programmes Division,Office of International Visitors, Bureauof Educational and Cultural Affairs, USDepartment of State welcomed thedelegates and briefed us about theIVLP. Ms. Nancy Fearheiley,Programme Officer, MeridianInternational Centre was also present.Mr. Akram Elias, President, CapitalCommunications Group Inc delivereda talk entitled “Overview of the USFederal System of Government”. Thefollowing next day, I had attended aninteresting keynote lecture which wasdelivered by Mr. William A. Mayer,Executive, Research Services,National Archives and Records entitled“Libraries and the New InformationAge”. He spoke at length about thechanging paradigm of the libraries fromsilos to synergy. He deliberated on theissues of great importance, i.e. whetherthe libraries matter, do we lead withfacilities and technology in the libraries,are our collections relevant, etc. Helaid emphasis on developing discipline-based tools, customer-centric-servicesand embedding librarians locally. Mr.Mayer affirmed that there is a greaterneed for creating welcoming spaces inthe libraries and to increase the userspaces. He shared the fact thatWashington Research LibrariesConsortium have 9 University Librarieswith off-site storage capacity. He saidthat the libraries should be the enablerof success for the entire community. Itwas followed by the visit to the Meccaof Libraries, i.e. Library of Congress.The spectacular architecture ofThomas Jefferson Building lefteveryone spellbound. A tour of theThomas Jefferson Building was madewith a staff official of LOC. It wasfollowed by a meeting with Mrs. RobertaI. Shaffer, Associate Librarian forLibrary Services, LOC in the JamesMadison Building. She gave anoverview of the work of the Library ofCongress. The Library of Congresswas established in 1800 for thepurchase of “such books as may be*Network Manager, DELNET
necessary for the use of Congress”.Since that time, the Library’sresponsibilities have been increasedby legislation to provide numerousservices that directly or indirectlybenefit all Americans. Although itsprimary role is to serve as the researchand reference arm of the Congress, itsrange of services has come to includethe entire government establishmentsand the public at large, making it aNational Library for the United States.The Librarian, appointed by thePresident with the advice and consentof the Senate, directs the Library. TheLibrary is mainly supported by theappropriations of Congress, but alsoreceives funds from foundations andother private sources.
On the next day, we visited theNational Endowment for Humanities(NEH). It is an independent federalagency created in 1965 that servesand strengthens the country bypromoting excellence in the hu-manities. Also National Endowmentfor the Arts (NEA) provides nationalrecognition and support to significantprojects of artistic excellence, thuspreserving and enhancing the diverseAmerican cultural heritage. Theyinformed us about their Big ReadProgramme for creating a nation ofreaders in America. I had anopportunity to visit Newseum which isthe world’s only interactive museumdedicated to the News. One can relivethe great news stories of all timethrough multimedia exhibits, artifacts,and news memorabilia. Among theartifacts on display were the GutenbergBible. The visit to the Institute ofMuseum and Library services was alsomade. Ms. Mary Chute, DeputyDirector, Office of Library Servicessaid that the Institute fostersleadership, innovation, and a lifelonglearning by supporting the nation’s15,000 museums and 1,22,000libraries. She spoke about the LauraBush 21st Century Librarian Pro-gramme. She laid emphasis on theskill sets required for handling the 21st
Century libraries and the need for buildingup communities, creative thinking andproblem solving skills among the LISprofessionals. It was followed by a visit tothe Smithsonian Institution – NaturalMuseum of Natural History, Washingtonwherein Ms. Mary Augusta Thomas,Deputy Director, Smithsonian InstitutionLibraries gave an oversight about thelibrary and the digital initiative‘Smithsonian Research Online’ built onDspace. The Smithsonian Institution wasfounded in 1846 and has a collection ofmore than 100 million national artifactsand specimens. The following day, beforeleaving Washington DC for New York,the next destination of the programme, avisit was made to George Washington’sMount Vernon Estate and Gardens anda visit to the library of the Estate housingthe rare collection. Mount Vernon washome to George Washington for over45 years. The bus journey fromWashington DC to New York took nearlysix hours.
In New York City, consideredAmerica’s largest and most diversifiedmelting pot, the much desired visit to theNew York Public Library (NYPL) wasalso made which is considered one ofthe premier public libraries in the world.Ms. Ann Thornton, Director for Reference& Research Services, NYPL briefed theparticipants about the various servicesbeing offered by the library including theservices to the people with speed needs.She spoke about the technology trainingprogrammes, literacy programmes,English language programmes offeredby the library for the public. She alsohighlighted the problems faced regardingthe licensing of E-content (E-books, etc)by NYPL for the general public. NYPL isnot a government library and sheobserved that the budget of the library isUSD 250 million and 2/3 are receivedfrom the public sources, with around600,000 dollars per week are raisedthrough the public/private support. MsMichelle Misner, Web Team Managergave insights into the online portal ofNYPL which is managed on Drupal alongwith some third party applications and
receives around 26 million hits in ayear. The tour of the Stephen A.Schwarzman Building (library building)was also made. It was followed by avisit to Flushing Branch Library-Queens Library wherein Ms. LoidaGarcia-Febo, Coordinator, NewAmericans Programme gave apresentation on the library which is thefourth largest public library in US interms of its collections and founded inthe year 1901. It has an annual budgetof US$ 106,500,000. Queens Libraryhas 61 community libraries and 7 Adultlearning centres. For the 2011, 21million items were circulated, 13 millionpeople visited Queens Library, 98113new library cards issued, 900,000active borrowers and 11 millionreference questions asked. She alsomentioned the Health Link, InteractiveExhibits-Maths and science, etc. andsaid that the Friends of the Librarypool financial support for the library.The next day the city tour of New Yorkcity was enjoyed and in the eveningeveryone attended a broadway showat Times Square.
The group divided into three andI had the pleasure of visitingIndianapolis from June 17-20, 2012along with seven other delegates ofdifferent countries. Indianapolis is the12 th largest city in USA and isconsidered as a sports city. A visit wasmade to the School of Library &Information Science, IndianaUniversity, Bloomington whereinDr Howard Rosenbaum, AssociateDean & Associate Professor ofInformation Science & MISProgramme Director, School ofInformatics, Indiana Universitywelcomed the delegates. He spoke atlength about the MLISc and MIScourses accreditated by ALA since itsinception. It was quite interesting tonote that in the MIS Degreeprogramme the topics includingdatabase designing, programminglanguages including Php/Java light,organizational informatics, informationvisualization, etc were included. He
also apprised the delegates about thedigital entrepreneurship initiative at theSchool of Informatics wherein thestudents work on a specific applicationbased project under the supervisionof the teachers and these projectscould be deployed commercially. Someof these programmes are availableonline for the US applicants only. Itwas followed by a tour to the Lilly Rareand Manuscript Library. The librarycontains approximately 4,00,000 rarebooks, 6.5 million manuscripts and1,00,000 pieces of sheet music. I couldsee the first folio of WilliamShakespeare of 1653, the AbrahamLincoln room, and a medieval andrenaissance period manuscriptdating 1645. I had the wonderful chanceof holding the original Oscar Trophy.
The next day in Indianapolis wasspent visiting the Conner Prairie, aninteractive history park dedicated torecreating life in an Indiana village inthe 1830s. Mr. Tim Crumrin,Experience Delivery Director andSenior Historian discussed the historyonline archives which was madeavailable with the association of PurdueUniversity . Conner Prairie is a recipientof the National Medal for Museum andLibrary. It was followed by a visit toSheridan Public Library serving apopulation of around 5000 people.Warm hospitality was extended bythem. Mr. Stephen H. Martin, Directorgave an overview of the library offeringservices to the rural Hamiltoncommunity for the past hundred years.
The most astounding moment ofthe visit to Indianapolis was the visit tothe spectacular masterpiece ofarchitecture displayed in every specof “Indianapolis Marion County CentralLibrary” with Learning Curve, an ALAaward winning space with areasdedicated to babies, children, andteens with an appreciation of booksand the supporting technologies in anenvironment conducive to learning.
Ms. M. Jacqueline Nytes, ChiefExecutive Officer informed the
delegates about the various activitiesand services offered by the public library.She also briefed the delegates about thevarious innovative services being offeredthat are truly unique and inspiringincluding kid picks, infoguides, summerreading programmes, Earn and Learnpro-gramme, etc. They also provideservices to the immigrant and refugeegroup population. I have been reallytouched by the cordial home hospitalityextended to us by Ms. Erin Kelley andfamily.
The next destination was Anaheim,California wherein we travelled by airfrom Indianapolis and stayed from June20-26, 2012. Anaheim is best known forthe Disneyland Resort and was also thelocation for the ALA Annual Conference.I got a chance to visit Yorba Linda Publiclibrary and Richard Nixon PresidentialLibrary and Museum. I had the greatopportunity to attend the ALA AnnualConference 2012 which is the world’slargest event for the library community. Ihad attended a number of useful sessionsat the ALA Conference including thoseon cloud computing, copyright, resourcesharing, top technology trends, etc. Onone of the evenings, we enjoyed the jetrides at Disneyland immensely.
With the group I had reached the lastdestination city of the programme, theSalt Lake City, Utah on June 26, 2012.The visits were made to the Utah StateArchives and Utah State History. WhileUtah State Archives provides access tohistorical government records includingdeath certificates, land records, courtrecords, etc and the Utah State Historypreserves and shares their legacy withthe people. I had also visited the UtahState Library : Library for the Blind andDisabled and Mobile Libraries Pro-gramme and was greatly impressed withthe facilities offered to the visuallychallenged population. Ms. CherylMansen, Asstt Director briefed us aboutthe activities and services. They hadinformed us that they do a circulation of5,00,000 books per year through 9 bookmobile vans. I had also seen the Digital
Talking Book reader of the Library ofCongress used at the library. Therecording station is available whereinvolunteers were seen recording thebooks. A visit was made to theMountain West Digital Library and Ms.Sandra McIntyre, Program Directorapprised the delegates about theactivities. The Mountain West DigitalLibrary is a portal to digital resourcesfrom universities, colleges, publiclibraries, museums, archives andhistorical societies in Utah, Nevada,Idaho and Hawaii. Its basic goal is tocreate a distributed digital repositoryof significant, rare and uniqueresources from libraries, archives andother cultural heritage institutions ofthe Mountain West Region. The lastvisit of the IVLP was made to theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints Family History Library which ismeant for collecting genealogicalrecords and assists in family historyand genealogical records. The finalevaluation of the programme was heldon June 29, 2012 wherein Ms. SusanLockwood of the US Department ofState and Ms. Nancy Fearheiley,Meridian International Programmewere available.
Finally, I would like to mentionsome of the most important, surprisingand memorable aspects of attendingthe IVLP programme which includesthe sense of contributing to the societythrough voluntary participation.I was amazed to find several librariesin USA have a greater participation ofthe general people who work on thevoluntary basis to assist the libraries;Preserving the “history” and thehistorical legacy for future generationsto feel proud of its past; Communityparticipation and community pro-grammes offered through the publiclibraries; the interest to know about thecross-border cultures; strong avenuesfor networking with the libraries ofdifferent parts of the world and thewarm, friendly attitude of Americans tomake you feel comfortable.
visit
NACLIN 2013
16th National Convention on Knowledge,Library and Information Networking
Jointly Organised by
DELNET, New Delhi
and
Malaviya National Institute of Technology,Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Jaipur
December 10-12, 2013
Theme:Emerging Technologies and Innovations in Library Practices
The emerging technologies aregiving rise to new applications that arebeing introduced in libraries to discovernot only the printed content andmanuscripts but also high-resolutionphoto galleries, audio and videocollections and even the architectureof the libraries. Thus, thesetechnologies bring all types of contenton a given theme and make access toit possible through one window. Toperform better and show better resultsnew practices are emerging inadvanced libraries.
The National Convention onKnowledge, Library and InformationNetworking (NACLIN 2013) will bedevoted to discussing how the latesttechnologies can enhance libraryservices, and help in the disseminationof information among library usersincluding students, staff and patrons.The technologies that are impactinglibraries include Cloud Computing,Social Networking, E-resources,Knowledge Organisation andOntologies; Metadata Standards;Mobile Technology Application inLibrary Services; Information Security;Preservation/Archives; FederatedSearch Engines; Semantic Web;Information Management in VirtualOrganisations among others.
The national convention is scheduledfor three days. The first day is entirelydevoted to conducting tutorials by expertson the following topic:
Research Methodology andWriting Skills
The next two days will focus on thetheme of the National Convention onEmerging Technologies andInnovations in Library Practices
The theme is divided into severalsub-themes as detailed below:
I Emerging Digital TechnologiesCloud Computing ApplicationsMobile TechnologiesWeb-based ApplicationsLibrary PortalsRFIDSemantic WebOpen Source SoftwareMultimedia ApplicationsDigital Communication Tools
II Digital Library PracticesDigitisation ProceduresDigital PreservationManaging Web ResourcesArchiving Consortia-basedResourcesElectronic Publishing SystemsMultilingual Technologies
Best Metadata Practices
III Managing Web ResourcesWeb 2.0Content ManagementE-Content for E-UsersSubject Approach to ContentManagement
IV Library Networking andConsortia
Networking Libraries andInformation CentresSharing of Digital ResourcesConsortia Practices andModels
V Library Services and UsersNeeds
Library Services: BestPracticesICT Based ServicesMarketing LIS ProductsUser SatisfactionUser Studies
VI Copyright and IPRIPR and Digital EnvironmentOpen Access and CopyrightInfringementDigital Rights ManagementDigital Libraries and IPRCopyright Management :International EffortsCopyright and Digital Archiving
VII Human Resources ManagementEssential Skills for LISProfessionalsLife Long LearningInformation LiteracyE-LearningLeadership QualitiesNetworks and VirtualLearning EnvironmentLIS Education and TrainingRevising LIS CurriculumQuality Assurance Issues inLIS
VIII Information Services for PublicNational Virtual LibraryManaging Public Libraries: NewTrends
E-GovernanceKnowledge Centres for RuralDevelopmentDigital Reference ServicesLibrary and InformationServices for Distance LearnersRe-engineering LibraryServicesInformation Retrieval inIndian LanguagesMarketing of Library andInformation Services
IX Knowledge SocietyRole of Digital Libraries in aKnowledge Society
Copyright and Free Flow ofInformation
Role of State and CentralGovernmentsInternational CooperationIndigenous KnowledgePublic Libraries as KnowledgeCentres
Open Access to KnowledgeSocial InformaticsDigital Entrepreneurship
Submission of Papers:
Original papers on the above sub-themes or related themes are invitedfrom Library and Information Scienceprofessionals. The papers should bebased on research surveys, casestudies or action plans. Surveys onInternet use/E-Journals Usage inlibraries will not be accepted. Papersshould not normally exceed 5,000words or 16 double-spaced pages,besides tables, diagrams, etc. Also,each paper should contain an abstract,upto ten keywords, body of the paper,conclusion and references. Theabstract should state in about 150words the sum and substance of thepaper. The conclusion should includethe recommendations made in thepaper. The key words which describethe main issues discussed should begiven in alphabetical order. The papershould also contain the author’s name,title, organisation, address, telephone,
fax, and E-mail address. All referencesshould be presented according to theChicago Manual of Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html). The followingexamples are cited from the Manual toensure that the referencing model isstrictly followed.
Books
One author
Doniger, Wendy. 1999. Splitting thedifference. Chicago: University ofChicago Press.
Two authors
Cowlishaw, Guy, and Robin Dunbar.2000. Primate conservation biology.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Four or more authors
Laumann, Edward O., John H. Gagnon,Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels.1994. The social organisation ofsexuality: Sexual practices
in the United States. Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press.
Editor, translator, or compiler
Lattimore, Richmond, trans. 1951. TheIliad of Homer. Chicago: University ofChicago Press.
Editor, translator, or compiler inaddition to author
Bonnefoy, Yves. 1995. New and selectedpoems. Ed. John Naughton and AnthonyRudolf. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress.
Chapter or other parts of a book
Wiese, Andrew. 2006. “The house I livein”: Race, class, and African Americansuburban dreams in the postwar UnitedStates. In The new suburban history, ed.Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue,99–119. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress.
Book published electronically
Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner,eds. 1987. The founders’ Constitution.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.http://presspubs.
uchicago.edu/founders/. (accessedJune 27, 2006).
Journal Articles
Article in a print journal
Smith, John Maynard. 1998. The originof altruism. Nature 393: 639–40.
Article in an online journal
Hlatky, Mark A., Derek Boothroyd, EricVittinghoff, Penny Sharp, and Mary A.Whooley. 2002. Quality-of-life anddepressive symptoms in post-menopausal women after receivinghormone therapy: Results from theHeart and Estrogen/ProgestinReplacement Study (HERS) trial.Journal of the American MedicalAssociation 287, no. 5 (February 6),http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n5/rfull/joc10108.html#aainfo(accessed January 7, 2004).
Papers should be typed in the followingdocument setup : 8.5" x 11" page size,1.25" margins, 12 point Times Romanand double spaced. Papers may betyped as Text, Word or in RTF format.
Every paper has to be accompaniedby copyright declaration according tothe format in the conference websitewww.naclin.org
At least one of the authors listed in thepaper must register for NACLIN 2013within one week after the paper hasbeen accepted for presentation inNACLIN 2013.
Librarians, Professional Library Staffand other Library and InformationScience Professionals, KnowledgeSeekers, Leaders in Knowledge
Industry, Government Officials,Content Management Experts,Information Management Experts,Professional Staff of IT Companies,
Industrialists, Technology Managers,Knowledge Officers, Media Experts,Knowledge Centre Managers andKnowledge Managers
DELNET - Developing LibraryNetwork
DELNET is a major resource-sharinglibrary network in South Asia whichcovers a wide spectrum of member-libraries and their resources
connecting more than 4500 libraries inthirty-two states in India and sevencountries. It was registered as a societyin 1992. DELNET is committed to poolthe information about resourcesscattered in the libraries in the countryand consolidate information throughunion catalogues, union lists andother databases. This is being done tosatisfy the major information re-quirements of students, researchers,scholars and the public in the country.DELNET provides extensive Inter-library Loan facilities to its member-libraries in and outside the country andis one of the most widely used andpopular services of DELNET. DELNETdatabases have crossed over 1 crore50 lakh records.
More information about DELNET canbe obtained at www.delnet.nic.in
Malaviya National Institute ofTechnology, Jaipur was establishedin 1963 with the name as MalaviyaRegional Engineering College, Jaipur.On June 26, 2002 the college wasgiven the status of the National Instituteof Technology and on August 15,
2007 it was proclaimed as the Institute ofNational Importance through an Act ofParliament. The Institute is fully fundedby the Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment (MHRD), Government ofIndia. The institute is devoted to impartingtechnical education of internationalstandards and conducting research atthe cutting edge of technology to meetthe current and future challenges oftechnological development. More than12,000 students have already graduatedsince its establishment.
It has a campus of over 312 acres. Thecampus provides all essential amenitiesfor community living such as staff clubs,hospital, bank, post office, communitycentre, school, staff residences,gymnasium, playing fields, guest houses,24 hours Internet connectivity, andcanteen.
The subjects studied at the MNIT includeArchitecture; Chemical Engineering;Chemistry; Civil Engineering; ComputerEngineering; Electrical Engineering;Electronics & Communication En-gineering; Humanities and SocialSciences; Information Technology;Management Studies; MechanicalEngineering; Metallurgical & MaterialsEngineering; and Physics.
The Central Library/ LearningResource Centre at MNIT with a floorarea of 15,850 sq. ft. with new facilitiesand furniture is easily approachable. Thereading rooms equipped with cubiclesare fully air conditioned. The library isautomated. It has a collection of over1,71,600 books and bound volumes anda non-print collection of about 2,200CDs, videos, etc.
The library also receives e-resourcesand online journals under INDEST-AICTE Consortium. More than 2000 fulltext online foreign journals are accessiblefrom :ACM Digital Library, ACE, ASME,Annual Reviews, IEL Online (IEE &IEEE), Indian Standards (IntranetVersion), Nature, Project Muse, Springer
Link and many others. The Libraryalso has access to DELNET Databasesand Services.
How to Reach Jaipur
By Air : Jaipur is well-connected byvarious domestic airlines.
By Rail : Jaipur Railway Station (JaipurJunction ) is a major railway stationand the headquarters of the NorthWestern Railways. It is connected onthe broad gauge with major Indiancities.
Shatabdi train connects Jaipur withDelhi.
By Road: Jaipur is well connected withthe Capital City of Delhi. The journeyby bus and train can be undertaken.
Places of Interest in and aroundJaipur
Jaipur is Rajasthan’s beautiful PinkCity and is surrounded by three hillforts and a series of palaces . Theplaces of interest include its City Palacecomplex including the museum; JantarMantar, Hawa Mahal; Albert Hall; JalMahal; Amer Fort, B. M. BirlaPlanetarium among many other placesof attraction. Jaipur is famous for itsbazaars that specialise in Rajasthanijewellery, fabrics and shoes. Pleasevisit www.rajasthantourism.gov.in fordetails.
Accommodation
The accommodation can be arrangedin the guest houses/budget hotels bythe Organising Secretariat. Thecharges are Rs 750 per day per person(on double occupancy basis) providedthat the payment from the delegate isreceived by November 15, 2013.
Hotels: Many hotels are available inJaipur. The following are some hotelsof Jaipur with contact details. You aremost welcome to write to us for anyassistance.
Note: Kindly carry Government of India Approved Photo ID Proof for Room Checking(i.e. Driving License or Election Card or Passport)
Mr. Deep SinghLibrarian, MNITOrganising Secretary,NACLIN 2013Malaviya National Institute ofTechnologyJawaharlal Nehru MargJaipur 302017Tel : 91-141-2713302Mobile : 91-9001440442E-mail : [email protected],
All payments for Registration andAccommodation should be sent bydemand draft/multi-city cheque to thefollowing DELNET address. Demanddrafts/Cheque should be made in favourof DELNET and payable at New Delhi.
Kindly write to us for electronic banktransfer details.
Dr. Sangeeta Kaul,Network Manager, DELNET,Co-Organising Secretary,NACLIN 2013,
Submission of Papers: Dr. H K. KaulDirectorDELNET-Developing Library NetworkJNU CampusNelson Mandela RoadVasant Kunj,New Delhi-110070Tel: 91-11-26741111Mobile : 91-9891016667E-mail: [email protected]
Last Date for Submission ofPapers: November 1, 2013.
NACLIN 2013
Chief Patron :Prof. K.K. Aggarwal
Chairman, MNIT
Patron :Prof. I.K.Bhat, Director, MNIT
Chairman :Dr. H. K. Kaul
Director, DELNET, New Delhi
Organising Secretary :Mr. Deep Singh
Librarian, MNIT, Jaipur
Co-Organising Secretary:Dr. Sangeeta Kaul
Network Manager, DELNET
NACLIN 2013
NACLIN 2013
16th NATIONAL CONVENTION ON KNOWLEDGE, LIBRARY AND INFORMATIONNETWORKING
Emerging Technologies and Innovations in Library PracticesDecember 10-12, 2013
Venue : Malaviya National Institute of TechnologyJawaharlal Nehru Marg, Jaipur 302017
REGISTRATION FORM
Name (in block letters): Dr./Mr./Ms./Mrs./Prof. ..........................................................................................................................
...........................................PIN .......................................State ............................................ Country .........................................
Phone: STD Code....................... Office.................................Res ................................ Mobile .................................................
If yes, please mention the dates from ............................................................... to ....................................................................
Travel Schedule:
Date Time Mode(Train name, Coach no/Flt details)
Arrival Departure
Payment details : I am enclosing Demand Draft No ..............................dated.............................
for Rs. .................................................. drawn on DELNET, New Delhi towards participation fee / and accommodation
charges for ....................... nights @ Rs. 750/- per person per day
WorkshopsDELNET organised some workshops during the year 2012 in order to promote the use of
DELNET services in different parts of the country.
A one day workshop in collaboration with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kollam was organised onJanuary 28, 2012. Mr. M. Prasad, Head, Central Library, AVVU, Kollam was the local coordinator of the programme.
Delegates at AVVU, Kollam
A one day workshop in collaboration with Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore washeld on January 30, 2012. Mr. A. Fazlur Rahman, Librarian, SKCET, Coimbatore was the local coordinator
of the programme.
Delegates at SKCET, Coimbatore
Edited and published by Dr. H. K. Kaul, for DELNET - Developing Library Network, JNU Campus, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi -110070.Printed by Dr. H. K. Kaul at Kaveri Printers, Darya Ganj, Delhi-110002. Assistant Editor : Dr. Sangeeta Kaul
R. No. 59477/94 l ISSN 0972-0790
workshops
Delegates at Malla Reddy Engineering College, Secunderabad
DELNET collaborated with Malla Reddy Engineering College, Secunderabad to organise a one day workshop onAugust 13, 2012. Mr. T. Jogi Raju, Librarian, MREC, Secunderabad was the local coordinator of the programme.
A one day workshop was organised in collaboration with R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore on February 1,2012. Mr. F.S. Rudradevaramath, Chief Librarian, RVCE, Bangalore was the local coordinator of the programme.
Delegates at R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore
