VOL. 18 NO. 4 OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1999 - EVENTS

The Electronic Library: Strategy, policy and management issues

The British Council will be organising an International seminar on 'The Electronic Library: Strategy, policy and management issues' during February 13-18, 2000 at Loughborough, UK. The seminar reference number is 99032.

The objective is to highlight the many issues that must be addressed before developing a strategy for electronic library services in academic, public and voluntary or private sector.

The seminar will be of importance to all senior policy makers and managers working in libraries or information units and involved in service provision and development strategies.

The seminar is fully residential and the fees is 990 pounds which covers accommodation, meals, academic and social programme, emergency medical insurance, etc.

Contact: Local British Council office or International Seminars, The British Council, 1 Beaumont Place, Oxford OX1 2PJ, UK at  international[dot]seminar[at]britcoun[dot]org or visit their website at http://www.britcoun.org/seminars/ for more details.

The right to know: human rights, censorship and access to information

The British Council will be organising an International seminar on 'The right to know: human rights, censorship and access to information' during February 6-11, 2000 at Oxford, UK. The seminar reference number is 99041.

The aim of the seminar is to explore the principles which should govern freedom of information laws - what should they cover and to whom should they apply, and where should the lines be drawn between disclosure and non-disclosure? The seminar will also focus on the role of media, notably its public watchdog role.

The seminar will be of importance experienced human rights and NGO workers and activists, including researchers and information handlers; members of national human rights commissions; officials concerned with he development of freedom of information legislation; journalists - from differing environments including countries experiencing transition in democracy in areas such as Africa, Asia, Central Europe and Latin America.

The seminar is fully residential and the fees is 990 pounds which covers accommodation, meals, academic and social programme, emergency medical insurance, etc.

Contact: Local British Council office or International Seminars, The British Council, 1 Beaumont Place, Oxford OX1 2PJ, UK at international[dot]seminar[at]britcoun[dot]org or visit their website at http://www.britcoun.org/seminars/ for more details.

Workshop on Internet for Information Resource Management in Libraries

The Internet School, established with support from NISSAT/DSIR, at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore will be organising a workshop on 'Internet for Information Resource Management in Libraries' during November 22-26, 1999 at Internet School, IISc., Bangalore.

The course contents include:

  • Network based L&IS

  • Internet as an Information Resource

  • Internet for Library house keeping operations and management

  • Content creation for the web

  • Library and Information Centre Web sites: Development and maintenance

  • Web based information retrieval services

The workshop is limited to professionals who have interest (or responsibility) to develop, implement or maintain Internet based applications in a library/information centre environment.

The workshop is limited to 20 participants and registration fees is Rs. 5000/- per participant.

Contact: Dr. TB Rajashekar at raja[at]ncsi[dot]iisc[dot]ernet[dot]in or Ms. KT Anuradha at kta[at]ncsi[dot]iisc[dot]ernet[dot]in or visit http://www.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/ncsi/iirml.html for more information.

Information Networking Workshop for SAARC Countries

The SAARC Expert Group meeting for the proposed establishment of a Information Networking Mechanism to assist member countries for protection and preservation of the environment was organised by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs and Tata Energy Research Institute during March 9-10, 1999 in New Delhi.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of various member countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. A detailed deliberation was made during the 2-day workshop for effective mechanisms for setting up of the proposed Information Networking so that all the member countries could exchange the necessary information among themselves for necessary action in order to protect and preserve the environment. A framework for the Network was accepted unanimously by all the representatives which include building strong national networks around the country nodes encompassing the NGOs, local communities, non-elite class, traditional knowledge base, vernacular languages and mass media.

It was also proposed that the Network should be termed as SEINet (SAARC Environment Information Network). SEINet would be developing the database on various local and global environmental issues and would disseminate the information using the latest information technology and by developing a website through Internet.

— Enviro News, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 1999

ADINET and Community Services

To commemorate the birthday of Dr. SR Ranganathan, a one day seminar on 'ADINET and Community Services' was organised by ADINET jointly with the INFLIBNET on August 14, 1999 at National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad.

Dr. HN Saiyad, Director, NIOH, welcomed the delegates and invitees to the seminar. Shri SR Thakore, Hon. Director, ADINET, introduced the theme of the seminar. The presidential address was delivered by Shri Kartikeya Sarabhai, Chairman, ADINET. The seminar was formally inaugurated by Prof. Yash Pal, National Research Professor. Prof. Yash Pal felt that the theme of the seminar was apt in the present day circumstances. Community needed variety of information services. Technology should be used for providing useful information to the society e.g. health care information for the poor, education information for the needy people, etc. He advised that such information should be provided in local language and should be easily accessible. Kiosks should be opened at Pan or grocery shops, frequented by people. Just like PCO/STD booths, these kiosks should dot the nook and corner the country. These types of community information services should be coordinated by agencies like ADINET.

The inaugural function was followed by two technical session. In these sessions, experts from various fields told about the information needs of different strata of the society. The first session was chaired by Shri SM Salgar of INFLIBNET. Dr. TS Kumbar talked about the community information services and information needs of the community. Components of the community information services were discussed in details by him.

The second speaker in the session was Dr. Vidyut Joshi, Professor at the Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad and formerly Vice-Chancellor of Bhavnagar University. He talked on information needs for higher education. There was a need to provide information to the students regarding various courses available, fee structure, etc. He described, with examples, the needs of students, teachers and researchers with regard to higher education.

Prof. SK Bhattacharya of NIOH talked about the need to provide information to the people regarding safety in day to day life. He described the need to follow safety practices in and out side houses.

Shri Sridhar Rajgopalan, Director, Ekalavya Institute of Teacher's Education (EITE) talked about information needs for managing organizations. Introducing the concept of digital nervous system, he described the need to provide right information to the right people at the right time.

There were four speakers in the second session too. Shri Manubhai Shah, Managing Trustee, Consumer Education & Research Centre (CERC) told about the type of information needed by the consumers to protect their interests. He gave examples of a few consumer goods and the information needed by their users. He advocated extensive use of IT in providing this information.

Dr. Ajay Munshi, a Surgeon and Professor in VS Hospital talked about the information requirements for taking care of health of the community. He said that a surgeon is a manager, organiser and a planner. Doctors and hospitals should be provided with information about casualties in natural disasters, riots, epidemics, etc. well in time so that they can be prepared to provide prompt medical help.

Dr. M Ratna Prabhu of AMA and formerly Dy. Director, ATIRA, described the information needs of the R&D community in the field of science and technology.

Prof. AC Brahmbhatt of BK School of Business Management talked about the information needs of religious community. He told that all religious need marketing. Akshardham is one such example. Various forms and methods of information collection and dissemination of any religion should be effective and useful for the society.

Shri Kirti Bhavsar briefly gave the summary of the proceedings in Gujarati for the benefit of those who did not understand English. The seminar concluded with a vote of thanks by Shri SR Thakore.

Training Programme on Modern Technologies for Information Handling

All India Institute of Medical Sciences in collaboration with the Medical Library Association of India will organise to organise a `National Training Programme on Modern Technologies for Information Handling' at AIIMS from February 7-11, 2000. The course contents include:

  • Library Automation

  • Online Searching

  • CDROM and CD Networking

  • CDROM Databases

  • Email Services

  • Bar-code Technologies

  • Multimedia

  • Telecommunications and Library Networking,

  • Electronic Publishing

  • Virtual Libraries

  • Internet (web authoring, net surfing)

The training is designed to benefit librarians, Information specialists, documentalists, R&D scientists, health scientists, computer professionals and teachers in library science.

Extensive practical training shall be given. Those who are interested to attend may write to the coordinator for registration form, fee and other details at the following address:

Contact: Dr. R.P. Kumar, Coordinator, National Training Programme, C/o BB Dikshit Library, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029 at kumar[at]medinst[dot]ernet[dot]in for more information.

CALIBER 2000

INFLIBNET Centre has been organising National Conventions every year in different parts of the country in collaboration with different universities. This convention provides unique forum to the library professionals, information providers and users involved in automation and networking of libraries to come together and interact on the subjects of mutual interest.

CALIBER 2000 will be jointly organised by INFLIBNET, Ahmedabad and University of Madras, Chennai at University of Madras, Chennai during February 16-18, 2000. The main theme of the convention is Information Services in a Networked Environment in India. The sub-themes and topics to be covered under each sub-theme are:

  • Networked Based Information Services
    Resource Sharing, Virtual Libraries, Computer mediated communication, Web publishing, other services

  • Infrastructure Requirements
    Hardware, Software, Humanware, Technologies for Networking, Network architecture, etc.

  • Organization of Information Resources
    Digital resources, Non-print media, Content creation, Metadata tools, Research networks, Institution networks, etc.

  • Network Policy and Governance
    Participation in INFLIBNET, Legal and Copyright issues, Economics of centralized database services, Institutional policies, etc.

The delegate registration fee is Rs. 500/-. Payments should be made through Demand Draft/Cheque drawn in favour of Organising Secretary, CALIBER-2000 payable at Chennai. For outstation cheque, please add Rs. 30/- as bank collection/service charges. DD/Cheque should be drawn on nationalised bank only.

In view of the increasing demand from the professional colleagues, for the first time, INFLIBNET will be holding two tutorials on:

  • How to set up a Local Area Network

  • Web page Design

The tutorials will be conducted by experts in the respective fields and will be held on February 15, 1999. The focus will be on practical aspects and problem solving. Each tutorial will be of half day duration. The charges per tutorial are Rs. 500/- and to be paid in advance by Demand Draft to the Organising Secretary, CALIBER- 2000 on or before January 15, 1999.

Arrangements are being made to accommodate limited number of delegates in the Guest Houses/hostels which are spacious and furnished with minimum amenities. This will be done on first come first served basis. Arrangements are also being made to accommodate in nearby Hotels at reasonable rates.

Contact: Dr. R Vengan, Organising Secretary, CALIBER-2000, University Librarian, University of Madras, Chepauk, Chennai-600005 at rvengan[at]unimad[dot]ernet[dot]in or Dr. TS Kumbar, Convenor, CALIBER-2000, Scientist-D (LS), INFLIBNET Centre, Near Gujarat University Guest House, Navrangpura, PB No. 4116, Ahmedabad-380009 at kumbar[at]inflbnet[dot]ernet[dot]in