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International Conference on Future Libraries: Day 3

Speakerlist1

Invited Lectures

 



Mr. P Jayarajan
Retired in 2003 as Head of
The British Council Libraries in India


Dr. Anil B Suraj
Visiting Faculty
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore



Dr. M G Sreekumar
Chief Librarian & Information Officer
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode


Dr. Arun Kumar Chakraborty
Librarian
Bose Institute, Kolkata



Dr. Kishor Chandra Satpathy
Chief Librarian
Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata
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ABSTRACT

In the public library map of the world, India probably occupies the top position with over 50,000 public libraries. In spite of this large number, and the fact that public library movement started over 100 years ago, India still does not have a single library that can be showcased as one of the best in the world; and most out of this large number will not even qualify to be called ‘’libraries’’. There are a number of reasons for this sorry state of affairs, and many stakeholders are responsible for this, such as the central government, state governments, library profession and the public at large. The role of public libraries in the making of a knowledge society can’t be overlooked so also the kind of support public libraries can make to education. Citizens like public libraries. The results of two major public library surveys conducted recently overwhelmingly showed this. The low level of use and progressively declining footfall vis a vis the high cost of maintaining public libraries are a cause for worry. The first and most important cause for the poor state of our public libraries is inadequate funding. When one reads about the new library opened about two years ago in Tianjin in China, which the Chinese proudly call the ‘’futuristic library’’, and about the state-of-the-art Oodi library in Helsinki opened recently, to mark 100 years of independence of Finland, one start wondering will Indians ever get a chance to see something like that in our country! Yes, it is possible, but only if the central government and indeed the state governments make determined decisions to invest in public libraries. Side by side, the libraries too need to transform themselves to meet the changing needs of the community around and make public libraries the knowledge hub in their respective areas. Such a transformation is covering aspects such as infrastructure, technology application, ambience, provision of access to digital resources, innovative services and most importantly staff with the required skills and competencies and preparedness to go beyond books.

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ABSTRACT

Rapid development in technology enables us to meet the ever-increasing demand for information. However, there are traditional laws and rights that are well established in limiting access to resources, thereby also directly impacting the quality of education, and production of research. This talk shall focus on the emerging legislative and judicial trends (Indian and international) in interpreting Copyrights, and licenses of especially digital content, towards enabling better - the quality of teaching and education; the opportunity to conduct and complete research; and open access to knowledge, data and intellectual resources.

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ABSTRACT

Preamble - The Evolution of Indian Business. India’s rich culture, heritage, and vast trade relationships are recognized as the most influential social systems as well as commercial activities in world history. India has the honor of contributing many business innovations and financial practices to the world. Indian business was unique, innovative, dynamic and qualitatively superior to many other countries at that time. With foreign invasions and colonial rules that rampaged over the centuries, the country slowly lost its supremacy, became poor and subservient. Historical evidence reveals that business has been an integral part of the Indian socio-economic-cultural structure and the business acumen of the Indians got rejuvenated with the independence and more so with the liberalization of the Indian economy and its rapid development thereafter. India has the distinction of being an ancient society and a young nation. Recognizing the country’s recent achievements in science & technology, industrial productivity and the growing reservoir of wealth as well as the availability of educated youth, India is remarked as “a sleeping giant that seems to be waking,” based on a Thomson Reuters research study.

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In India, libraries were established by various religious institutions and by the Maharajas, Nawabs, and Noblemen during the medieval period. The public library concept started taking shape since 1808 when the British Government decided to register libraries, which was given copies of books published from the “funds for the Encouragement of Literature” for the use of the public. With the advent of education and culture, public libraries in India grew in numbers and also played an important role in the country’s struggle for independence. In the post-independence era, the concept of libraries and librarianship has undergone sea changes, and the public library system is progressively developed for providing reasonably meaningful library services to the citizens. The impact of the information technology revolution and globalization is visible. The ‘search engine’ feature given by the internet and the arrival of Google and Amazon caused some tremors. But it is evident now that the digital realm will run parallel to the physical library and complement each other.

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ABSTRACT

Indigenous knowledge is the local knowledge that is unique to a culture or society. Other names for it include: ‘local knowledge,’ ‘folk knowledge,’ ‘people’s knowledge,’ ‘traditional wisdom’ or ‘traditional science.’ While there is no universal definition of Traditional Knowledge (TK), the term was coined to refer to the knowledge, innovations, and cultures of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles. TK of communities holds information which is critical to their health care, food security, culture, religion, identity, environment, sustainable development, and trade. TK evolves through time as the communities adapt to changes in their personal and working environment. The wisdom and the culture are passed over to subsequent generations through cultural transmission and are undocumented in most cases. The knowledge is particularly crucial for the most vulnerable segments of their societies and indigenous peoples worldwide. There is a need for preservation and conservation of traditional and indigenous knowledge culture resources for Sustainable Future. Application of TK has and will continue to benefit the society at large immensely. Hence, there is a dire need to preserve TK. Therefore, recognizing the importance of TK, ISI Kolkata in collaboration with IIM Kashipur & NIT Silchar has initiated a project for in Mapping traditional knowledge, grassroots innovations and best practices of the indigenous communities in North East India. Based on the said background, the paper gives a bird's eye view of the TK in North East India & the importance of dissemination TK in the knowledge era. Further, the paper draws a brief outline of the project initiated by NIT Silchar, IIM Kashipur & ISI Kolkata in mapping traditional knowledge along with its objectives, methodology & deliverables of the project.



Panel Discussion


(L-R) Rajendrakumar P Y, Former Director General, National Library of India, P Jayarajan, who retired in 2003 as Head of the, British Council Libraries in India, Dr. Arun Kumar Chakraborty, Librarian, Bose Institute, Kolkata, Dr. Akhtar Parvez, University Librarian, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Dr. S. Kamatchi, Librarian and Information Officer, Anna Centenary Library, and Dr. Basheerhamad Shadrach, Asia Coordinator, World Wide Web Foundation, during the panel discussion on ‘Transforming Public Libraries for Socio Economic Development’,.

Valedictory

 



Dr. M S Sridhar, Rapporteur General, who retired as Head, Library & Documentation, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, gives the closing remarks.


Dr. K. Rama Patnaik, Conference Director and Librarian, IIMB, gives the Vote of Thanks


The organizing team.