'Librarianship as a profession' - a lecture by Dr. M. S. Sridhar

Mysore University Library and Information Science Student Association (MULISSA) of the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore organised a Friday lecture by Dr. M.S. Sridhar, Head, Library and Documentation, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore on the topic ‘Librarianship as a profession’ on November 30, 2007. A summary of the lecture and the student interaction which followed is given below.
Libraries are under utilized. Only 1.5% of the population have access to the libraries. The myth that evolution of Internet has made libraries redundant contributes further to the less use of libraries. Dr. Sridhar counter argued that in spite of invasion of technology number of printed books and journals has not reduced. On the other hand it has increased. He said one in five books published and one out of three books borrowed from libraries are related to IT. If IT eliminates the printed books, why this trend he questioned. Dr. Sridhar presented some of the quality issues that need to be taken note of by the Internet users. Authenticity and accuracy are the major ones. Libraries are more reliable source for a common man. Filtering mechanism adopted in libraries ensures the quality and accuracy. On the other hand, Internet is increasingly becoming more popular creating the impression that libraries are no more required. Dr. Sridhar trying to rationalise this trend said accessibility, ease of use and perceived utility are the major factors for popularity of Internet. He opined that Internet and IT are supplement to the libraries and in real perspectives they are not threats.
Giving some tips for students Dr. Sridhar said that domain knowledge (library based skills), communication, research bent of mind, reading habit and ICT skills are the expected core competencies by the employers. He said that competition for job is increasing as number of qualified professionals coming out of library schools has increasing drastically. A huge chunk of graduates are coming out of library schools from open universities. This has created an imbalance between supply and demand as for as library professionals are concerned. In this context Dr. Sridhar gave advice to the students that they should go for specialization and be ready when the opportunity arises.
Dr. Sridhar’s lecture was followed by an interesting and elaborate interactive session. Students asked varieties of questions and sought clarifications on various intriguing issues. Some of the questions asked/issues discussed are as follows:
- Can Internet substitute a library?
- Whether the present university syllabus enough for developing a good librarian?
- How can one encourage young people to read?
- How to ascertain needs/wants of remote readers in the context of digital libraries?
- How one should equip to get good job?
- What are the core competencies of librarians?
- Whether classification and cataloguing are redundant in Internet era?
- How to improve social status of libraries?
- Libraries have been changing their names over the years from ‘Libraries’ to ‘Knowledge centres’, ‘Information Centres’ to ‘Information Kiosks’ etc. Whether this change in name inevitable?

Response on Interdepartmental Interaction on 'Information and change' at MyDLIS

It is a good effort by the Mysore university. Interaction between Library and Information Science students and Journalism students at this level will bring in the awareness to both the students. If you had a moderator who works as a librarian in a newspaper office or a senior editorial staff who uses the services of a Information centre it would have been more lively and authentic. As a professional person working in the newspaper office I know that every editorial written in the news paper by senior journalists require authentic Published information of various types like statistics, statements, biography etc. in any form. There is no subject limit and the time allowed is "now or never". 25 years experience has shown us that it is only the library and information/ science students who have a very good hard training in information/Knowledge management and understanding can organise, manage and retrieve information of right kind at a very short notice from a huge information and Knowledge base.
Both need to understand that one group is Knowledge Generators and the other is Knowledge Managers. One who generates may not keep track of what he has generated and what others have generated. Where as a Information Manager will keep track of the information generated in a helpful manner. We need to understand that all information required is not available on web or net. For Example try searching comprehensive information on one of the biggest Illicit Liquor Tragedy which took the life of 1000 people in Bangalore. Can you find it on web. If it is required in local Language it is much more difficult.Well a news paper library can fish out things in a short time. Need for Trained Information people in the filed of Journalism is more now than before. Think of the news channels and production houses who are having tough time organising their own productions and finding the right kind of information required during production. Interaction between Journalists and the Information Centre is much more thanin any other library and the work is really demanding. Need is well established as newspapers are recruiting Information Science Students under some designation or the other.
N. Shailaja
Chief Information Officer
Information Centre
Deccan Herald
Bangalore-1
Ph.No 25880545, 25880521
Email:naganarasimhas@yahoomail.com

Response on Interdepartmental Interaction on 'Information and change' at MyDLIS

Quite interesting discussion. Myself was once a while working for the Library/Information centre in the Times of India newspaper at Patna (Bihar). I found the job very interesting and hectic. We used to keep index files on various local, national and international issues as well photo shots of different personalities and episodes like a situation of flood, a devastation brought by earth quake,accidental fire, etc.Often during election times, besides the editorial staff, I was supposed to be available in person to let them have materials on the character of a constituency. Sometimes, the editorial department would put a telephone call to my residence in nights to let them know how then can locate back year information on a particular case. I also used to interact with the editor as well as. Truly, it said that people in the press keep ready obituary materials in advance so that they can reach first with full coverage to the public.The traffic of users was always heavy. I don't know on what premise the students of journalism are calling the art & science of Li bray business 'no more required' as already things are available on the net. We librarians are not internet shy. We quite well know the quantity & quality of materials available there. Regards.

T. Shahab

INFORMATION & CHANGE-an interactive session

Under the umbrella of Friday talk series, MULISSA organized a novel program of interactive session between LISC and Journalism and Mass Communication, on 16th November 2007. The theme of discussion was “Information & Change”. Dr. Niranjana, Reader and Chairperson, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication was the guest of honor. He also played the role of moderator along with Dr. Mallinath Kumbar.
The programme started by offering prayers to the almighty by Mr.Mahadev Murthy, LISc. Mr.Poornachandra Naika, LISc extended welcome to the Chief guest, Dr.Niranjana and Dr.Mallinath Kumbar, Reader and Chairperson of LISc Department.
Dr. Niranjana lauded the efforts made by MULISSA for making this kind of session, which was a new experience for all the participants. Also he emphasized how there is a communication gap between students and faculty members and students from different department and such kind of program would help reducing the gap.
He green-flagged the discussion by highlighting the role of Journalism & Libraries in a society. He said that LISc domain deals with scientific aspects of information where as journalism is interested to know not the mechanism but the art. LISC and Journalism are hardware and software of information and a society needs both to grow and prosper. Dr. Mallinath Kumar seconded him by stating that these two disciplines go hand in hand. LISc is an interdisciplinary discipline and Journalism is part of it. –this fact was the inspiration behind conducting such kind of interactive session.
Two participants from Journalism and LISc briefed the group about their respective discipline- how change has impact on society and the role of media in change in information. How media acts as catalyst to propel the change. Similarly how library plays a role in shaping up the society, how IT has brought changes in operations and services of library.
However to make the discussion more interesting ,Dr. Niranjana questioned the value of library in cases where the user number has plummeted. Another remark by one of the participants that libraries shape up a society resulted in a heated yet spirited discussion and each side tried to justify role of their domain in shaping a society.Dr.Niranjana cooled the environment by pointing out to the fact that Journalism and LISc are not the competitors but they compliment each other.
Another key issue discussed during this session was the advent of Internet. It began with a statement by one of the participant who questioned the use of library when abundant information is available on Internet. Answering this, one of the participants argued that Internet is playing an important role in information retrieval but it can’t be considered as a library in itself, which was justified on the basis of ALA’s report. Another participant explained how we are shifting from traditional library to Digital library and the differences between the two. They discussed interesting issues like "Content Vs. Container", "Access Vs Ownership", "Myths of digital libraries", "Knowledge commission and libraries" etc.
The sweet and sour side of change brought by technology in both the domains was presented in the discussion. Information technology is seeping into all the domains but sometimes it poses issues as not many people in India can use computer or know how to retrieve information from Internet. One participant from Journalism explained how emergence of e-paper and how resources like place for office, staff are mere requirements to carry on the process.
Dr. Mallinath noted how the society had transformed from the conventional to the current knowledge revolution which is required to bring out social change however it cannot substitute the traditional library or media.
Dr. Niranjana concluded the session by emphasizing on the fact that both the disciplines are information centric. He pointed that the disciplines depend on each other- Library seeks media’s help to disseminate knowledge to users and media requires a library for proper functioning. Succinctly it can be stated that both work towards one goal – that is – dissemination of information to society.
Ms. Ashwini, , compeered the programme and Mr. Satheesha H., proposed the vote of thanks. Dr. M. Chandrashekara and Dr. N.S. Harinarayana also participated in the discussion.

Report Prepared by Mrs. Moninca Sharma, Research Scholar, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore

Interdepartmental Interaction on 'Information and change' : A report

On Friday, November 16, 2007, Mysore University Library and
Information Science Student Association (MULISSA) of the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore organised an interactive discussion programme, first of its kind in the university campus, with the students and faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication on an interesting topic "Information and Change". Dr. Niranjana, Reader and Chairperson, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication along with Dr. Mallinath Kumbar, Reader and Chairperson, Department of Library and Information Science moderated the discussion.

Dr. Niranjana in his introductory remarks appreciated the Department of Library and Information Science and MULISSA for taking this initiative which would foster the mutual relationships. He said that library science and journalism disciplines and their respective professions complement each other like hardware and software in a computer system.

The discussion was started with preamble laid by two students, one from each department. In their talk they narrated the role of information in their profession and the changes that both the professions are undergoing.

Dr. Niranjana's comment that "Libraries are no more required as the number of users have diminished drastically" triggered a spirited discussion. One student from Journalism trying to reason out the comment said that when the information is easily available on Internet, libraries would become redundant. Moreover the lack of service and good quality collection in the libraries add to the problem, he said. Library Science students, found little offended by the comments, said that librarians alone can not be blamed for the situation. Moreover, the concept of libraries is changing from "four wall libraries" to "Wall less libraries". One student rationally argued, by citing the 10 reasons given by American Library Association, why Internet can't substitute a library. Dr. Mallinath Kumbar, who spoke in the mid of the discussion, said that libraries are under the tremendous influence of information and communication technologies. They have seen a paradigm shift in their approach to serve the users. While speaking on their turn, the library science students explained the changes in the profession by discussinginteresting issues like "Content Vs. Container", "Access Vs Ownership", "Myths of digital libraries", "Knowledge commission and libraries" etc.

Participants from Journalism also talked about media's role in acting as a catalyst to propel the change and impact on change in information society and emergence of e-papers.

Dr. Niranjana concluded the discussion by stating that both media and libraries work on the principle of dissemination of information to the society, Both together play an important role in shaping the society.

Dr. M. Chandrashekara and Dr. N.S. Harinarayana also participated in the discussion.

Interdepartmental Interaction on 'Information and change'

On November 16, 2007, MULISSA has organised an interaction programme with the students of Journalism and Mass Communication on an interesting topic “Information and Change”. Both the disciplines, ie., Library and Information Science; and Journalism and Mass Communication, have many things in common. Both of them
• are information based and service oriented professions,
• have seen a paradigm shift due to the impact of ICTs in recent years,
• are professional courses, and
• have based on the philosophy of disseminating information to the users.

A programme has been chalked out to have a discussion between students of both the departments. The objectives of the programme are as follows:
• To foster the relationships between the department in general and students in particular.
• To promote the communication skills of students by giving an opportunity to express themselves on their field of study.
• To expose the students to the art of participating in a controlled discussion group.
• To develop the skills of group participation.


The modus operandi of the programme is as follows:
• The programme will be held at first year MLISc Hall of Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore.
• The programme will be on the Friday, November 16, 2007. The programme starts at 3 PM. It is intended to close the interaction session by 4.30 PM.
• There will be two groups of students (not exceeding 15 members on each side) representing the two departments.
• There will be two moderators – one each from each department - during the interactions. The moderators have to initiate the discussion with their introductory remarks. They have to guide the discussion by way of asking questions, critically commenting on a statement, instigating the students to speak by their comments, etc. They have full freedom to control student speaker if they find it so necessary.
• After moderators’ introduction, a student representative from both the side will speak for 5 minutes each to introduce their subject field to the other group.
• The interaction would start after the approval of the moderators. Any student from any group can claim their turn to speak. The sequence will however be determined by the moderators. A student speaker can talk for a maximum of two minutes only. This restriction is to just ensure that all the participants get an opportunity to speak.
• The following guidelines may be followed by the students:
o They speak only with the permission from the moderators.
o They speak only for two minutes, unless extended by the moderators.
o They speak only on the subject of interaction.
o They are advised not to repeat others point and waste their time of presentation.
o It is advised to prepare well before coming to the discussion on various aspects of the subject of discussion.
o Providing factual information if any is encouraged. However, PPTs should not be used.
o It is not a debate and no prizes are given. Students are not supposed to enter with an argument with other students.
o They should speak in turns.

Friday Talk - 3

Mysore University Library and Information Science Student Association(MULISSA) organised a lecture on "Kannada in Computers" by Dr.Panditaradhya, a well-known speaker in this region. It was held atthe Department of Library and Information Science, University ofMysore, Mysore on 7th November 2007. The lecture was the third one inthe series of "Friday talks" for the current year. Because of thefestive week, the lecture was advanced to Wednesday itself.

In his speech, Dr. Panditaradhya said that a language is basicallylearnt orally. The oral communication has been dominating the writtencommunication for centuries. The invention of printing press byGutenberg has enhanced the impact of written communication over thesociety. The emergence of computing and communicating technologieshas proved a shot in the arm for written communication. Dr.Panditaradhya traced the development of encoding standards from ASCIIto ISCII to Unicode to Nudi ( a local standard approved by Governmentof Karnataka). He said though English was a dominating language incomputers, it is not any more. Any script in any language of theworld can now be stored in computers. Cashing on his experience inNudi, the speaker showed how Kannada scripts could be entered incomputers. Answering a query from the audience, Prof. Panditaradhyaclarified that Nudi employs phonetic based data entry method unlikeBaraha which uses transliteration technique for data entry. Comparedto its competitors, he said Nudi has several features and is based onscientific studies. Nudi, a product of Kannada Ganaka Parishat, is astandard approved by Government of Karnataka.

Mr. G. N. Narasimha Murthy, Secretary, Kannada Ganaka Parishat who waspresent during the lecture, gave a demo on "Kannada Viswakosha"(Kannada Encyclopaedia) which was recently released by Prasaranga ofUniversity of Mysore, Mysore. He showed browsing, searching,multimedia, audio and other features of the encyclopaedia. Similarlya demo of "Pampa Bharata" a legendary work of 10th century poet Pampawas shown. Vikramarjuna Vijaya, also known as Pampa Bharata, is aKannada version of the Mahabharata which was originally written byVyasa. The electronic version of the work, to be released shortly,contains the original poems with meaning and annotations. The oralrecitation of the poems both in Gamaka method and normal readingmethod is given to each poem.

The program was well attended by students and staff of MyDLIS, otherdepartments in the campus and general public. The whole programme wasmanaged by the student representatives.

Friday Talk - 2

The Department of Library and Information Science (MyDLIS) under the aegis of MULISSA – Mysore University Library and Information Student Association organised a demonstration cum lecture on ‘ListServs’ on 2nd November 2007 by Dr. M. Chandrashekara, Reader, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore.
Dr. Chandrashekara explained the concept of ‘ListServs’ and its usage as group discussion forums. ‘ListServ’ is an electronic forum which facilitates online communication. He gave a step by step demonstration about ‘ListSevs’ to the students by taking ‘LISFORUM’ as an example. He said that one must first join the listserv as a member in order to send messages to the list. Members must also correspond with the listserv using the email address they subscribed to the list with. ‘LISFORUM’ is an moderated list in which moderators approves and prunes the messages. He opined that the challenges of a ‘ListServ’ include striking a balance between quality and participation, which can be achieved through careful planning and moderation. In his demonstration of ‘LISFORUM’, Dr. Chandrashekara explained its features including searching of archives, default settings etc. He drew the attention of the students towards various ListServs available in the field of Library and Information Science.
In order to encourage the participation in ListServ, a competition for the MLISc students was announced. The students of the current batch of MLISc in MyDLIS have to become members of LISFORUM and participate in the discussion. The best participant would be awarded with an attractive prize.
Moderators request to subscribe/unsubscribe members to the list or members can subscribe/unsubscribe themselves.
This has been the practice for many decades now. On 2nd of November Dr. M.Chandrashekara, Reader of the Department has given a talk on “Listservs”. In his talk he gave practical understanding of how Listservs are used, how to subscribe and unsubscribe listserv, and how to become acquainted with reading and posting of a message. In his talk he also listed the listservs available in LIS domain and emphasized the role of listservs in professional development. At the end he gave a practical demo on how to subscribe LIS-Forum. Who was to give a talk for about 45 minutes went up to 1 hour 15 minutes, with out the knowledge of the audiences. All the faculty members and the students immensely benefited from his talk.

Friday Talk - 1

Mysore University Library and Information Science Student Association (MULISSA) organised a lecture programme on “Life Skills” by Prof. Mohammad Shaik Saleem, Director, Zonal Institute for Education and Training, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan, Mysore on 26th October 2007.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Saleem said that life skills are those abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal positively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. Life skills include competencies that help people make informed decisions, solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, maintain healthy relationships, empathize with others, and manage their lives in a healthy manner. Prof. Saleem said that stress has become the order of the day. Coping with stress and emotions are the life skills essential of modern man. The speaker said, unfortunately the formal education does not equip its students with essential life skills.

Prof. Saleem explained the increased influence of the peer group on the youth. It tends to pull away from the close emotional ties that they share with their parents and prefer the company of their friends. The speaker touched upon some of the most influencing factors on youth like changes in interests, body image concerns, changes in morality, changes in family relationships, etc. He gave the young students present in the audience the tips to handle the peer pressure.

Prof. Saleem ended saying that one does not have to compare oneself with others but to look within oneself for the strengths. He urged the students to acquire the essential life skills – thinking skills, social skills and negotiation skills.

Report of the Inauguration of Mysore University Library and Information Science Student Association (MULISSA)

Mysore University Library and Information Science Student Association (MULISSA) is a student forum to support the overall development of students. MULISSA is in action for more than 35 years. Every year it is constituted with the current batch of students as its members. Department nominated faculty member faculty member would act as its advisor. A student elected committee co-ordinates the overall activities. ‘Friday Talk’ – a lecture series on every Friday organised by MULISSA – has been ascribed by NAAC as one of the ‘best practices’ in the campus. The main objectives of MULISSA are:
* To enhance academic and professional skills/knowledge among its members
* To provide opportunity for enrichment of cultural and sport abilities
* To foster relationships among faculty, staff, and students

As per the tradition, MULISSA for the current academic year was inaugurated on the Friday 19th October 2007. Prof. B. Nagappa, the retired professor of MyDLIS (Department of Library and Information Science, Mysore) inaugurated the association by lighting the lamp. In his speech he took the audience to a historical journey from ‘clay tablet libraries’ to ‘digital libraries’. He traced the changes in the nomenclature of librarians from ‘keeper of books’ to ‘librarians’ to ‘information scientists’. He highlighted the importance of the role of librarians in the society. He said ‘smile’, ‘work’ and ‘think’ are the three qualities of a librarian. He opined that the challenges of present day librarians are very high and the students have to be aware about them in order to prepare themselves for the future challenges in their career. He cautioned the professionals that unless we welcome the changes and learn the art of the game very fast, some body else would take away our jobs. Prof. Nagappa said the four basic principles of Charles Darwin propounded in his book ‘On the origin of species’ published in 1859 could be construed as the basic principles for success in life. He showed how librarians can interpret the Darwin’s principles “Struggle for existence”, “Survival of the fittest”, “Natural selection” and “Adaptation to the environment” to face the challenges.

Dr. Mallinath Kumbar, Chairman and President of MULISSA presided over the function. Dr. N.S. Harinarayana, the faculty advisor for the current batch and Dr. M. Chandrashekara, Reader in the Department were present on the occasion.

Students of MLISc managed the whole show. Ms. Umme Asima N.A welcomed the gathering and Ms. Sajana C. proposed vote of thanks. Mr. K. R. Udaya Bhaskar was the compere during the programme.

MULISSA objectives proposed by Tejashwini. B

· As democracy MULISSA can be defined as a student association or form from the student by the student to the academic sports, cultural all together universal development of student.
· Everyone 18 unique in god’s creation s0 the hidden talent of students should be highlighted through MULISSA.
· Everyone student of MLISSA should be involved in one or the other way in the actives of MLISSA.
· MULISSA is not an students union, so it’s not involved in any illegal activates against the university of Mysore any aspects.
· MLISSA is not administrated, favored by any organization by company or by any parson. Its faculty administrated by the students or members of MULISSA.

MULISSA objectives proposed by Kannika Parameshwari

1. To organize and social actives in the university campus facilating better multicultural understanding and appreciation.
2. MULISSA is a student association but not a union because is not involved in any illegal activities against the university of Mysore any aspects.
3. A student association may be organized to foster student autonomy and facilitate extra - curricular activities by MULISSA.