Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Absent libraries, photocopied minds
What the case of the photocopying shop versus the academic presses demonstrates is thefailure of the Indian library system and a parallel lack of intellectual growth
Once the ragging was over, freshers at Delhi University (DU) often went through a more pleasant initiation rite — the handing over of stacks of photocopied notes and chapters from books, a legacy passed down from seniors to their juniors.
Those stacks were substantial enough to qualify as quasi-books in their own right. Some of these faux anthologies had the impressive patina of age and signs of a fledgling democracy of colleges in DU: notes that had been passed down from Kirori Mal through St Stephens via South Campus colleges from generation to generation.
So when two academic presses, Oxford University Press (OUP) and Cambridge University Press (CUP), sued the small photocopying shop that operates near the Delhi School of Economics and the University of Delhi for infringement of copyright, they appeared to have threatened a venerable tradition. Students protested, threatened a boycott of the two presses, defending photocopying as their right; and an argument began over the rights and iniquities of copyright.
Both sides have merit. The academic presses are correct to demand an end to this widespread and common practice of copyright violation — they have a duty, however unpopular this may be, to the authors and the books that they publish. But the students have a point when they say academic books are often priced out of their budget, or that it’s unreasonable to expect students to buy 20 books where only a chapter or so might be cited in each.
Copyright is not the issue, though it might be the legal battleground to this case. (If OUP and CUP win their case, the photocopying shops will close shutters in DU, and open doors elsewhere. The practice is likelier to go underground than to stop.) What the case of the photocopying shop versus the academic presses demonstrates is the failure of the Indianlibrary system and a parallel lack of intellectual growth.
The problem that university students face in Delhi (and the rest of India) is not unique: especially for less affluent students, the cost of academic journals and books is prohibitive, and buying what would be required to cover the year’s syllabus is impractical.
For many of the world’s students, from universities in America and Oxford to places with very different college cultures – Portugal, Mexico, Belarus, Singapore – the library is their parallel university. In terms of scale, and just as important, the range of books on offer and the accessibility of the reading rooms to students, the public library or college libraryelsewhere has been as essential a part of the university experience as the actual classes and lectures.
The average Indian student cannot imagine what using a library elsewhere might be like: the Belarus library with its 8 million items and public concerts, the massive University of Coimbra library in Portugal with its 16th century charter – livraria pública para lentes,estudantes e quaisquer pessoas outras, the public library for lecturers, students and also everyone else – quite apart from the giant public libraries that also have space for art, sculptures, performances among the books. Even the best of DU’s libraries (or any Indian national or university library) cannot compare to any of the world’s good public libraries — it’s like comparing bullock carts and auto-rickshaws, which get the job done, to subway systems, which get the same job done on a completely different scale.
The Career Librarian blog describes what it took to build the Mexican library system — currently “the largest public library system in Latin America”. It required the enthusiastic backing of the state and the government over a decade, massive grants from foundations like the Gates Foundation. Most of all, a country that has had more than its share of problems with corruption and drug wars recognised that providing access to learning, computers and books for all their citizens is an urgent priority, not a luxury.
In the absence of a library culture – a place not just to read but to explore, not just tofetishise books but to own and examine the ideas inside them – the world of the Indian student is a shockingly narrow one. The real argument against photocopying texts isn’t, perhaps, the copyright one, which is only a legal argument.
When we read as students from those photocopied “books”, we read without anunderstanding of how much context and history had been lost. Often, chapters fromacademic studies and works floated in isolation, no link connecting one photocopiedchapter and the next. No one referred to the uber-texts, the actual journals or books in which they had appeared. The “books” were focused around the core of the syllabus and their purpose was only to get students through the exams.
Arguments, essays and schools of thoughts were stapled together in those books, often without any reference to the larger world where those ideas had gestated and been born. If you were lucky enough to have good professors, a better map of thinkers might have been available; if not, there are only these ersatz books and their limited world-view, shaping the way the next generation of students will negotiate their lives.
Source | Business Standard | 25 September 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Shri Narendra Modi to be on a LIVE, face-to-face conversation with you. Be a part!
http://www.narendramodi.in/chief-minister-narendra-modi-will-be-the-first-politician-in-the-country-to-have-a-live-video-chat-via-google-hangout-with-people-across-the-country/
Shri Narendra Modi will speak with you LIVE, face-to-face over Google+ Hangout on 31st August 2012
All you have to do is post a question, either a video or a text question
Speak with Shri Narendra Modi on “Strong & Glorious India long cherished by Swami Vivekananda!” Be the youth of Swami Vivekananda’s dreams!
The initiative is organized by Vivekananda Cell, Sports, Youth & Cultural Activities Department, Gujarat
In a yet another initiative to connect with the people of the country, Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi is all set to speak with you LIVE, face-to-face over Google+ Hangout on 31st August 2012!Google+ Hangout is an application on Google+ that facilitates group video chat with upto a maximum of 10 persons.
We come across excerpts of interviews of politicians & leaders on television or newspapers or online, but it is for the first time that a common man gets to ask questions to a CM LIVE! All you have to do is post a question, either a video or a text question here! The last date for submitting questions is 27th August midnight.
For those who have always wanted to have a word with Shri Narendra Modi in person, this is the time for them! Speak with Shri Narendra Modi on “Strong & Glorious India long cherished by Swami Vivekananda!” Be the youth of Swami Vivekananda’s dreams! The questions posted here will be shortlisted and the selected questioners will be invited to join Shri Narendra Modi on Google+ hangout. The Hangout will be broadcasted LIVE on youtube! So, if you are not on the ‘Hangout’ session, you may as well watch it Live on YouTube!
The Google+ Hangout with Shri Narendra Modi is scheduled to happen on 31st August 2012, the 5th Friday of August 2012. To participate, you need to follow Shri Narendra Modi on Google+. To go to his profile and follow him, click here. This initiative is organized by the Vivekananda Cell, Sports, Youth & Cultural Activities Department, Gujarat & Google is the official partner of this initiative.
On an international level, among others who have interacted live with people before on Google+ hangout are USA President Barack Obama and Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Being abreast with modern technology is icing on a cake and Shri Narendra Modi has had an influential web presence since he came to power. Connecting with people on social media has been nothing new for Shri Modi. The tech-savvy CM already has a huge fan following on social networking sites like Twitter andFacebook, with more than 8 lakh followers on twitter and more than 6 lakh fans on facebook! His Google + account which was created only 2 months back, already has a huge followers base of more than 90,000! Shri Narendra Modi has always believed in open exchange of views with people on a regular basis be it through any medium.
In India, when people talk about taking technology to the doorstep of common man, nobody misses out on making a mention of Shri Narendra Modi, as he is known for having a penchant for modern day technology and providing the same to the people residing in remote areas. He is committed to offering transparency in whatever work the state government takes on hand.
In a bid to achieve mass participation, the Chief Minister in the past has made optimum use of technology that has helped improvise governance and also speeded grievance redressal procedure. An example of this is Gujarat government’s SWAGAT e-governance system, a UN award winning initiative of Gujarat! The government through e-governance has resolved thousands of long-pending complaints!
So, make the most of this chance to speak with Shri Narendra Modi, the leader who has envisioned and implemented change for good and post your question now!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
MANLIBNET Best Librarian Award 2012
MANLIBNET Best Librarian Award 2012 (Award Consists of Citation and a Cash Award of Rs. 10,000/-)
Management Libraries Network (MANLIBNET)* invites nominations/applications for MANLIBNET Best Librarian Award for the year 2012 from MANLIBNET members in the country. Applicants are requested to send their detailed bio-data with details of achievements along with supporting documents. The contribution for the development of profession should specifically find a place in bio-data. MANLIBNET’s current office bearers, members of the Executive Council or MANLIBNET Advisory Board are not eligible for applying to this Award.
Management Libraries Network (MANLIBNET) instituted the MANLIBNET Best Librarian Award in the year 1999. The Award which is supported by EBSCO consists of a Cash Award of Rs. 10,000/- and a Citation.
On the basis of the applications received, MANLIBNET Executive Council selects the candidate for this Award. However, the executive council of MANLIBNET reserves the right to select a person for this Award either from the applications received by it or nominate someone else other than those who might have applied for the Award. The Award would be presented during the inaugural function of the *International Conference on Creating Wisdom and Knowledge through Shared Learning: Roles of Librarians and Information Managers being held at Indian Institute of Management Indore during October 11-13, 2012.
The application may be sent at manlibnet.secretariat@gmail.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Why go to the library for research
New Delhi, July 20: Struggling over your civics homework or history thesis? No problem, just file a Right to Information Act application with the National Archives of India, and its officials will find the answer for you.
The problem has gone beyond a joke, say administrators at the National Archives of India (NAI). They are breaking their back to locate the answers from their mountains of documents as people, including researchers, bombard them with RTI queries as a short cut, sparing themselves long hours in the NAI’s reading room going through musty records.
The NAI is receiving about 120 RTI applications a month. With the act setting no limit on the number of questions that can be asked, sometimes a single application contains queries on multiple subjects.
“The library is open to one and all. There is no reason why people should seek information through the RTI when they can come themselves and look for it here. They are just looking for an easy way out,” NAI director-general Mushirul Hasan complained.
Forced to double as researchers, the archive’s administrators are planning to request the government to amend the RTI Act to exempt libraries from its ambit.
It’s easy to sympathise with them: one query asked for “a list of all the names inscribed on the India Gate in Delhi and who they are”. The monument carries 90,000 names: soldiers who died fighting for British India in World War I (1914-18) and the Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919).
Another demanded a “record of all people hanged since 1947 onwards and those who got amnesty”.
The one question that seems to have started the trend came from a 10-year-old schoolgirl in Lucknow.
Aishwarya Parashar had sent an RTI application to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in February asking how Mahatma Gandhi secured the tag of “Father of the Nation”. The PMO forwarded it to the home ministry, which sent it to the NAI.
Flummoxed NAI officials discovered there never had been an official declaration and replied that no documents on the information sought were available.
Parashar’s question spurred others to file similar queries, this time directly to the NAI.
“We have received several questions asking the same thing, only framed a little differently. Some ask for the gazette notification in which Gandhi was declared ‘Father of the Nation’; others ask for file notings if there are any,” a senior official said.
Another favourite RTI topic is the Emergency. “How many people were sterilised during the Emergency?” asked one applicant. “Please give details of people arrested and detained,” requested another.
Some seek historical dates, such as the date of birth of 1857 revolt hero Mangal Pandey .
A “whole lot” of applicants demand information on the wealth and properties of the erstwhile royals, who had to submit an inventory of their assets at the time of accession, a senior NAI official said.
“People demand photocopies of the inventories, mainly to settle court cases,” he explained.
Then there are the queries filed by researchers. “Most of them are very honest and accept that they have filed the RTI application to help them collect the data,” the official said.
Source | http://www.telegraphindia.com
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
2012 Emerald South Asia LIS Research Fund Award - Deadline extended!!!
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