The Hindu : `Role of library expanding'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 27, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Role of library expanding'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JAN. 26. "With the sum total knowledge in the world doubling every two years, the role of the library is expanding and so is the role of the librarian," M.S. Ananth, Director, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, said at the annual convention of the Society for Information Sciences (SIS) recently.

The theme of the two-day conference was `Digital Information Exchange: Pathways to build Global Information Society.'

Dr. Ananth expressed dismay at the recent attack on the Bhandarkar Institute in Pune and pointed out that by digitising conventional libraries, loss of such invaluable information could be prevented.

S.K. Raghavan, Dean (Planning), IIT Madras, traced history of networking information in India since the Education Research Network (ernet) was launched in 1985 and changes in public perception at each phase. "Between 1993 and 1995, the world was grappling with how the Internet should develop. But, the focus then shifted to integrating Internet communication along with other services such as cell phones," he said. Dr. Raghavan emphasised the importance of security in large interconnected systems.

"Buried treasures of optical fibres run along the power grid, the rail grid and BSNL lines. By using this primary education for all can finally become a reality," Dr. Raghavan said.

"No young mind entering higher education should walk away frustrated, unable to access information," T.A.V. Murthy, Director, Information and Library Network Centre (INFLIBNET) and president of SIS, said.

The focus of the conference was on access management, issues and directions in digital libraries, formats and standards, web-based services for special user groups, e-publishing, digital resource, e-prints archives and electronic theses and dissertations.

The society presented awards to Yogender Singh, Librarian, IIT Roorkee, and V.S. Choling of INFLIBNET.

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