The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Probe likely into disappearance of books

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Probe likely into disappearance of books

A THOROUGH inquiry into the reported disappearance of about one lakh books from the Bangalore University's main library on the Jnanabharathi campus is on the cards. But whether the books are missing or stuck in the various department libraries will be known only after a stock verification by M. Lib students is completed. This could take up to two months, according to the Vice-Chancellor, M.S. Thimmappa, who had ordered the verification.

Meanwhile, the university has decided to install closed-circuit television sets to curb any further loss of books. The value of the "disappeared" books from the 125-year-old library is estimated between Rs. 2 crores and Rs. 3 crores.

These include mostly reference books and encyclopaedias. It is suspected that the books were taken either by professors of various departments who did not return them or by students.

While the Syndicate wants an in-depth inquiry into the matter and the guilty punished, the Department of Libraries has reportedly asked for two months' time to check the individual libraries of the nearly 50 departments on the Jnanabharathi campus.

Incidentally, several of the books had been taken by various departments of the university.

The Jnanabharathi campus has about 50 departments. The last informal verification of the university library was reportedly done in 1991, which revealed that more than 80,000 books were missing.

A proper stock verification of the library had not been carried out ever since the campus was shifted from Central College to Jnanabharathi in 1974. This violated the international library code which requires stock verification of university libraries once every five years.

Dr. Thimmappa said that severe staff shortage in the library was one reason why regular verifications were not conducted. The library had about three lakh books.

* * *

THE PES College of Pharmacy has become one of the first institutions to extend the digital library facility to its students. Titled "Health Science Library and Information Network (HELINET)," the facility was launched by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) recently to provide students in its affiliated colleges the option of a comprehensive information access at the click of a button.

For starters, the digital library is a web-based electronic storage and access environment for information acquired or licensed by the library and stored in the digital format, either locally in the library or in a group of networked libraries.

It could also be at a remote location in publishers' or third party sites operating under applicable intellectual property regulations.

HELINET was conceived as a consortium to pursue the need for networking and resource sharing.

The mission was to network all the libraries under RGUHS for minimising the cost of acquisition and maintenance of learning resources and maximising their utilisation among the faculty. Besides, the university had realised that scholarly and professional resources such as journals and books were expensive.

* * *

ASPIRE LEARNING Company has organised an open seminar on the right method of preparation for various engineering and medical entrance examinations. The seminar is open to parents and students from Class IX to Class XII on April 2 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. at A.D.A. Ranga Mandira, J.C. Road.

The seminar will focus on helping students on how to prepare for the competitive examinations such as IIT JEE, AIEEE and AIPMT.

The seminar also intends to create awareness among both parents and students on what options the latter have after they complete their board examinations as well as how best they could prepare for their entrance exams.

For more information on the seminar, students and parents can call 51301915 or visit the Aspire Learning Centre, Jayanagar to collect admit cards to attend this seminar.

Rasheed Kappan

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Probe likely into disappearance of books