Current Newsletter - units.sla.org - Special Libraries Association

Vol. 8 • Issue 1 • 2012
Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO,
15-18 July, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Connecting People
and Information
Warm greetings!
Editorial Committee:
Editor/Chair
Dr. R.K. Sharma
Members:
Dr. H. Anil Kumar
Dr. Tariq Ashraf
Mr. M. Nandeesha
Dr. Sushmita Chakraborty
Dr. Nabi Hasan
ISSN: 1793-2289 (print)
ISSN: 1793-2297 (e-version)
Asian Chapter News
Official Newsletter of Asian Chapter of the Special Libraries Association
Website: http://units.sla.org/chapter/cas
Message from the President
Dear friends, it is my great privilege to communicate with all of you through this issue of the
Newsletter. This has been possible only because of the sincere efforts of the Editorial Team,
headed by Dr. R. K. Sharma and assisted by Dr. Nabi Hasan, who took the challenge of launching
this publication in time despite many difficulties and delays. I am equally grateful to other
members who contributed meaningfully to the Editorial process, on our request. I also wish to
appreciate the excellent work of Past President B.P. Prakash and his team for contributing
significantly for the growth of the chapter.
As you know, our association was established in 1999 and we are now about to complete 13
purposeful years of existence. In the meantime, our Chapter has grown by leaps and bounds,
covering a large geographical area of over 20 countries. To continue its international appeal, we
have decided to organize ICoASL-III in Manila (Philippines), from 10-12 April, 2013, with the able help of Ms. Shirley
Ingles-Cruz. Similar systematic efforts are being made to organize Seminars, Workshops, Conferences and Tutorials in
other regions during the year 2012 and you shall be intimated of the same shortly.
In terms of activities, we have already started off the year at a fast pace by organizing of a high level talk by Dr. H.K.
Kaul, Director, DELNET; a Symposium on “Change Management: Challenges for Special and Academic Libraries
under Digital Libraries” at IIT Madras; Library and Information Professionals Summit (LIPS) 2012 on “Leadership,
Ethics, Accountability and Professionalism in Library Service (LEAP) at Delhi attended by SLA President Mr. Brent
Mai, etc. The aims and objectives apart from others also include; creating awareness about SLA Asian Chapter among
the delegates and ensuring continual professional development. The professionals of the region may use SLA platform
to come together, organize events, share experiences and innovations.
SLA Asian Chapter is looking forward to take new initiatives like making the chapter website more informative and
interactive, formation of some new committees, introduction of more awards, better actions for mandatory activities of
the chapter, attracting more new members and more interaction among the professionals from Asian region as well as
from US on platforms like LIPS 2012. We have already made good progress in this direction and timely publication of
this issue of the newsletter is one such reflection of our commitments.
You may find many interesting professional activities of the Asian Chapter as reflected through this issue and would
request you to send your feedback and opinions for further improvement in chapter activities. We want to hear from
you as we value your suggestions and comments. If you have some constructive criticism, we welcome that too as it will
help the chapter to further improve it. Please feel free to e-mail me at- hchandra@iitm.ac.in or to any other board
member for your comments and ideas. If your colleagues or other professionals are interested in this chapter, please
provide the details to them as how they can join us.
In the end, I would like to appeal all members to participate in the SLA Annual Conference which is scheduled to be held
in Chicago, USA during July 2012.
Warm regards,
Dr. Harish Chandra
President- SLA Asian Chapter &
Librarian, IIT Madras, Chennai, India
All the Members of the SLA Asian Chapter are requested to update their e-mail and postal address
IN THIS ISSUE…
• Message from the President 1
• SLA Asian Chapter Board
Members 2012 2
• News and Events 3
• Forthcoming Events 7
Register now for SLA 2012!
Join us for the SLA 2012 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO,
15-18 July at the McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.
• Asian Libraries, Librarians &
Networks Series 8
• 2011 SLA Asian Chapter Award
Winners - A Memoir 10
• Book Review(s) 11

SLA ASIAN CHAPTER BOARD
MEMBERS 2012
Executive Board Members - 2012
Dr. Harish Chandra/India President
Dr. Medha V Joshi/India President-Elect
Mr. B. P. Prakash/India Immediate past president
Dr. Nagappa B/ India Secretary
Mrs. Kyoko Sato / Japan Director
Dr. Susmita Chakraborty /India Director
Mr Jay Bhatt/USA Treasurer
Operational Committees Members
Nominations Commitee
Dr. Debal C Kar (Chair) / India
Ms. Jane Ray / UK
Mrs. Sushma Arora / India
Mrs. Sanjujta Ray / India
Membership Committee
Dr. P. K. Jain (Chair) / India
Mr. Ben Keffe / Hong Kong
Tahmina Akhter / Bangladesh
Dr. P S Kattimani / India
Kishore Ingale / India
Awards Committee
Mrs. Kyoko Sato , Chairperson / Japan
Ms Jeanette Reagan / Australia
Dr. Mrs. Pradeepa Wijetunge/ Srilanka
Mr KV Satyanarayana / India
Ms Harvinder Kaur/ Malysia
Mentoring Committee
Dr. Pradeepa Wijaytunge (Chairperson) /Srilanka
Dr. P R Goswami / India
Dr. M. Anjaaappa / India
Dr. T S Kumbar / India
Bulletin/Editorial Committee
Dr. R. K. Sharma Bulletin Editor/ (Chair)/ India
Dr. H. Anil Kumar / India
Dr. Tariq Ashraf / India
Mr. M Nandeesha / India
Dr. Susmita Chakraborty / India
Dr. Nabi Hasan / India
Career Guidance / Employment Committee
Dr. S N Singh (Chair) / India
Mr. Parveen Babbar / India
Mr. Salek Chand / India
Haq Nomanual / Bangladesh
Mrs. Sushma Gupta / India
Public Relation Committee
Dr. N K Wadhwa (Chair) / India
Dr. Jetty Sridevi / India
Ms. Geeta Paliwal / India
Mr. R.Henery Joseph / India
2 SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
Portal Management
Dr. Sandeep Kumar Pathak (Chair)/ India
Mr. S K Vijaianand / India
Program Planning Committee
Dr. Inder Vir Malhan (Chair)/ India
Ms. Shirley Ingles-Cruz/Philppines
Ms. Harvinder Kaur/Malaysia
Mr. Yamakawa / Japan
Mr. Dharmendra Sachan /India
Dr. Susmita Chakraborty /India
Discussion List Committee
Mr Mahendra N Jadhav (Chair) / India
Mr. Mahendra Kumar Arya
Country Representatives Country
Shirley Ingles-Cruz Philippines
Ben Keefe Hong Kong
Dave McCaughan Japan
Nooruddin Merchant Pakistan
Harvinder Kaur Malaysia
Tahmina Akhter Bangladesh
Pradeepa Wijeytunge Sri Lanka
Scott Davidson Singapore
Pik Yin Cheung China
Jane Ray UK
Tanya Torres Indonesia
Welcome to our New Asian Chapter Members
Agale,Ajit
Akter,Tahmina
Ameen,Kanwal
Arekar,Sandhya S
Bhardwaj,Raj Kumar
Chirmule,Mrudula
Choudhury,Santosh Kumar
Cruz,Shirley
Das,Banalata
Ganesh,V S
Devi Priya, C
Gaur,Ramesh C
Giri,Kaushal
Gohain,Rashmi Rekha
Gupta,Sushma
Haq ,Nomanul
Hasan,Nabi
Hawaldar,Vishal
Hegde,Chandrika
Jadhav,Mahendra
Jagtap,Vijaykumar
Joseph,Henry
Kadam,Varsha
Kadam,Snehal S
Kahar,Shivmohan
Kale,Namdev
KaRande,Vandana
Kattimani,Parashuram
Kumar,Mahendra
Kunkur,Giridhar
Kurup,Dhanya
Labade,Ganesh
Lalita,Dheer
Mathew,Susan
Munirangappa,Anjanappa
Navaratnaa,Anujaa
Nayak,Sanjay
Pathak,Sandeep
Prakash,Kshema
Rahman,A Fazlur
Raj,Priya
Rangareddy,Venkata Kesavan
Rani,Shikha
Ravichandran,R
Sawant,Lochan
Sethi,Neeraj
Sharma,Ravinder Kumar
Shedbalkar,Anuradha
Simon,Rachella
Singh,Arnand
Singh,Akash
Sumitha,S
Trutna,Shayne
Vijaianand,S K
Wijetunge,Pradeepa
Yap,Joseph

NEWS & EVENTS
News
India to link 9000 Libraries
India will modernize and digitally link nearly 9000
libraries across the country in a bid to provide reader
access to books and information, said Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh. The ambitious plan under
the National Mission for Libraries aims to cover 9000
libraries in cities, towns and villages of the country in
the next three years. A young reader sitting in his
village public library should be able to access books
and information from across the world, Mr. Singh said
at the Centenary Celebration of the Oxford University
Press in India, 21 March, 2012. He further said that
the Mission will conduct a national census on libraries,
work towards upgradation of infrastructure of
reading resources, and seek to modernize and
promote the networking of libraries across the
country. Noting that the Mission cannot succeed
through government efforts alone, Mr. Singh said
resources available in the community, private sector
and non-governmental organizations will have to be
roped in to meet these objectives. The Mission will
focus on improvement of the public library system of
the country particularly concentrating on the states
where library development is lagging behind. Mr.
Singh said, “I take this opportunity to urge every state
government and every municipality and panchayat
to pay special attention to the setting up and
maintenance of public libraries, including community,
locality and village libraries’. The Prime Minister said
that affordable modern information technology can
be deployed today to extend the resources of the
libraries. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/
India-to-link-9000-libraries-PM/articleshow/
12359118.cms)
Jagindar Singh Ramdev Lifetime Achievement
Award
The General Body (GB) of the Indian Association of
Teachers of Library and Information Science
(IATLIS) has instituted the “IATLIS-Prof. Jagindar
Singh Ramdev Lifetime Achievement Award” in its
annual meeting held on 27 November 2011 at Gujarat
University, Ahmedabad (India) during the XXVIII
National Conference of the IATLIS on the historical
occasion of the Centenary Celebrations of Library and
Information Science Education in India. Prof. Jagindar
Singh Ramdev, Patron-in-Chief of the Satinder Kaur
Memorial Trust for Advancement of Librarianship
(SATKAL), has granted INR 1,00,000 (One Hundred
SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
thousand Indian rupees) to the IATLIS for instituting
this award. This Award shall be given to a senior
teacher of Library and Information Science every
year on the basis of his unique contribution to the
IATLIS and the LIS profession in India at the Annual
National Conference of the IATLIS w.e.f. 2012.
Nominations for this Award shall be invited every
year and a three member jury constituted by the
IATLIS shall decide about the Award Recipient every
year.
EVENTS HELD
2012
IEEE Second International Conference on
Information Science and Technology (ICIST)
ICIST 2012 was held, 23-25 March, 2012 at TBD
Wuhan, China. It was attended by about 300 delegates
from different parts of the globe.
National Seminar on Managing Electronic Theses
and Dissertations (ETDs)
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi in
collaboration with INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmadabad
organized a two days National Seminar on “Managing
Electronic Theses and Dissertations”, 22-23 March,
2012. This seminar provided a platform and a unique
opportunity to network, share experiences and discuss
current good practices from around the region,
enabling researchers and practitioners in the area of
Electronic Theses and Dissertations. There were only
invited presentations and about 250 professionals from
different parts of the country attended the event.
JNU Librarian Dr. Ramesh C. Gaur was the
Organizing Secretary.
National Workshop on FLOSS based Library
Automation Software- Koha
The Birla Institute of Management Technology
(BIMTECH) organized a National Workshop on
“FLOSS based Library Automation Software- Koha”,
19-22 March, 2012 at Jaipur.
3

DELNET Annual Lecture 2011 on “The Library in
the Cloud”
Mr. Brent Mai, President, Special Libraries Association
delivered the DELNET Annual Lecture for 2011 on
“The Library in the Cloud”, on 19 March, 2012 at India
International Centre, New Delhi. He referred to the
growth of cloud computing as it is used for web
services, data storage, access, etc. He said that using
this technology one could seek information on 24/7
basis. It is used for coordinating various consortia
activities. He added that it is used for teaching in the
distance education, for archiving of digitized data as
the system would get upgraded by the cloud
computing agencies from time to time. He also
mentioned that it helps in providing services to users
from any part of the world. He cited the example of
Concordia University in Portland wherein he currently
serves as a University Librarian and the cloud
computing has been implemented in the University.
Dr H K Kaul, Founding Director, DELNET presided
over the function.
Mr. Brent Mai, President, SLA delivering DELNET Annual
Lecture at IIC, New Delhi, India
Library and Information Professionals Summit
(LIPS) 2012
The Library and Information Professionals Summit
(LIPS) 2012 on “Leadership, Ethics, Accountability and
Professionalism in Library Service (LEAP)” was
organized, 16-17 March, 2012 by the Institute of
Economic Growth, New Delhi, India in association
with the Ambedkar University, Delhi and SLA Asian
Chapter. The well attended event sourced together
nearly 200 participants ranging from Librarians,
Activists, Information Scientists, Consultants,
Publishers, CEOs and Entrepreneurs both from
academia and industry representing several countries
like USA, UK, Sri Lanka etc. Conference was marked
by lively invited talks, papers, product presentations,
4 SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
penal discussion, and debate. Experts from across the
profession grappled with issues and offered wide
ranging opinions and views. Sheila L. Rosenthal,
Manager of Library Services, Carnegie Mellon
University and Chair of the Awards Committee,
Science-Technology Division (DST) shared her
experiences as how her association with the SLA has
been very valuable to her career as a librarian on many
levels with one of the most important being the fact
that it provided excellent opportunities to meet and
network with distinguished professionals both
nationally and internationally. Following are the
recommendations of the LIPS: to work towards
facilitating and enhancing leadership skill among
library professionals, to foster and inculcate ethical
and professional work culture among libraries through
regular activities and interaction, to promote
standards and best practices for enabling libraries to
work in a networked environment ethically and
professionally, to evolve and promoting ethics and
morality in LIS leadership and participating in focused
and sustained professional development activities.
Release of LIPS publication by Dr. Debal Kar, Prof. B.N.
Goldar, Mr. Brent Mai, Dr. R.K. Chadha and Dr. P.K. Jain
International Conference on Electronic Publications,
Puducherry, India
The conference was organized by the Pondicherry
University, Puducherry, India during 1-2 March, 2012.
Dr. Chennupati K. Ramaiah, Prof. & Head, Dept. of
Lib. & Inf. Sc., Pondicherry University was the
Organizing Secretary. The aim of the conference was
to address the key issues in the publishing, usage and
management of e-publications. Following were the
main objectives of the conference:
To provide a forum for discussion among users,
librarians, and publishers and suppliers for
addressing various issues related to usage,
emerging technologies and management of
e-publications;
To discuss the applications of e-books and
e-journals in e-learning and life-long learning;

To address the issues like standards, digital rights
management, user interfaces, consortia and
interoperability issues in e-publications;
To provide an opportunity for e-publishers to
educate Indian readers on e-publications and their
advantages in an Indian context; and
To provide an opportunity for participants and epublishers
to exchange their views and provide
feedback on the use of e-publications.
PLANNER 2012
INFLIBNET organized its Bi-annual Conference -
Promotion of Library Automation and Networking
in North East Region (PLANNER) – 2012 on “Building
Participatory Library Services in Digital Era” in
collaboration with the Sikkim University at Gangtok,
1-3 March, 2012.
International Conference on Access to Legal
Information & Research in Digital Age (ICALIRDA
2012)
Inaugural session in progress
National Law University, Delhi organized its first
International Conference on “Access to Legal
Information & Research in Digital Age” from 29
February to 2 March, 2012. Six sessions were organized
and discussed on the themes. The Conference had forty
invited speakers and two hundred fifty participants.
The following recommendations were the outcomes
of the deliberations of the technical sessions: (1) The
conference recommended that the global access to
information is essential for socio-economic
development and for promoting the rule of law (2)
The conference recognized the Montreal Declaration
and supported free access to law as a fundamental
right for democratization of information (3) The
conference considered the urgent need for globally
accepted copyright and IPR laws relating to database
licensing issues (4) The conference recommended the
creation of networking among libraries and supported
cooperation in sharing digital commons and
promoting information exchange.
SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
20th New Delhi World Book Fair 2012
The bi-annual and one of the biggest Book Fair of the
Asia known as “New Delhi World Book Fair” was
held at New Delhi from 25 February to 4 March,
2012.
57th Annual Conference of Indian Library
Association
ILA hosted its 57 th Annual Conference at St. Agnes
Centre for Post Graduate Studies & Research,
Mangalore, Karnataka, in collaboration with
Karnataka State College Librarians’ Association, 23-
25 February, 2012. The theme was ”Knowledge
Society: Innovations in Librarianship”.
National Workshop on Using Different Metrics for
Assessing Research Productivity
Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Campus hosted the
National Workshop on “Using Different Metrics for
Assessing Research Productivity”, 16-17 February, 2012
at ISI, New Delhi Campus. Prof. Shevgaonkar,
Director, IIT Delhi and Chairman, National Steering
Committee of the INDEST was the Chief Guest and
Dr. Gangan Prathap, Director, NISCAIR was the Key
Note Speaker on the occasion. A total no. of around
100 participants attended the workshop. Dr. N.K.
Khatri was the Organizing Secretary of the workshop.
Symposium on Change Management: Challenges for
Special and Academic Libraries under Digital
Libraries
Central Library, IIT Madras in association with the
Asian Chapter of Special Libraries Association
organized a Symposium on 24 January 2012.
A photo from the symposium
The objective of the event was to provide an
opportunity to the Central Library staff for interacting
5

Group photo
with the delegates, to create awareness about SLA
Asian Chapter among the delegates, to provide an
opportunity to the delegate to show the state of the
art facilities developed by the Central Library and to
encourage Central Library professional staff to deliver
lectures and to ensure continual professional
development. A total no. of 70 delegates attended
the symposium.
IIT Madras in collaboration with the SLA Asian
Chapter organized a Lecture on “Role of Knowledge
Centres in Academic Libraries”, 9 January, 2012.
A photo from the talk
Dr. H.K. Kaul, Director, DELNET was the Resource
Person on the occasion. In his lecture, he stressed the
need for the establishment of Knowledge Centre in
each institution specializing on one subject to avoid
duplication of efforts globally. He also advised the
librarians to re-orient their efforts and keep them
ready to attract the users for their respective libraries.
He emphasized the importance of conducting surveys.
He concluded his talk by advocating that there is need
to form a Think Tank so that various existing as well
as potential barriers are removed. He is of the view
that SLA Asian Chapter can make an effort for
removing these barriers.
6 SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
2011
SAARC Workshop on “Library 2.0” in Nepal
A photo from the workshop
SAARC Documentation Centre organized a Workshop
on Library 2.0, 12-16 December, 2011 at Kathmandu,
Nepal. The workshop was organized by SDC and
Ministry of Sc. & Tech., Nepal Govt. A total of 24
participants attended the workshop from various
SAARC member states. Resource persons from India
and Nepal facilitated various sessions. The participants
were introduced with the general concept of Web 2.0,
various Open Source Softwares useful for Library 2.0,
softwares for creating blogs, wikis, RSS, social
networking, etc. The workshop also covered
demonstration of some websites exploiting Library
2.0 in practice and hands -on experience.
Strategies for Managing Libraries for Future-2011
7-9 December, 2011 at Ahmadabad.
IIM Ahmedabad in collaboration with the INFLIBNET
organised the conference at Ahmedabad, 7-9
December, 2011.
UNIC New Delhi National Seminar on “New-Age
Libraries: Partners in Youth Development and
Education”, 21 Oct., 2011
The United Nations Information Centre for India and
Bhutan (UNIC) jointly with the National Social Science
Documentation Centre (NASSDOC) of the Indian
Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Ministry
of Human Resource Development, Government of
India, organized a one-day National seminar on “New-
Age Libraries: Partners in Youth Development and
Education” on Friday, 21 October 2011 at the UN
Conference Hall, 55 Lodi Estate, New Delhi. One of
the objectives of the seminar was to mark the close of
the International Year of Youth which was observed
from August 2010 to August this year and to energize
young men and women to work for the community
and to help them develop their talent and potential.

The seminar was also a forum for ideas and to probe
expectations of knowledge-seekers – researchers,
academia, journalists, and parliamentarians among
others – from modern libraries, and how libraries
might best respond to the quest for knowledge in an
e-environment. More than 80 librarians, information
officers, library and information science (LIS) students
and other invitees participated in the seminar. The
inaugural session began with UNIC Director Kiran
Mehra-Kerpelman welcoming the participants and
highlighting the aims of the seminar.
Inaugural session in progress
SoFerence 2011 - A Social Conference on Knowledge
/ Expertise Sharing
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in collaboration with
Special Libraries Association (SLA) - Asian Chapter
and Karnataka State Library Association (KALA)
organized “SoFerence: A Social Conference on
Knowledge / Expertise Sharing” at TCS, Bangalore
on 15 October, 2011. The SoFerence concept design
was unique and one of the first in its kind in India. 40
papers related to the SoFerence theme/sub-themes
were accepted. Dr. Nagappa IRC Head, TCS,
Bangalore and also the current Secretary of the SLA
Asian Chapter was the Organizing Secretary of the
Conference. The conference covered; social platform,
which allows professionals to share their experiences
in the form of best practices, processes improvements,
new initiatives, success stories, case studies, etc., which
will help other co-professionals to know and
implement them at their workplace. SoFerence
empower every author & participant to play a vital
role by acting as a moderator to choose the best set of
papers. The event also covered speech on various SLA
activities, memberships, sponsorships and advantages
thereof to all participants by Mr. B.P. Prakash, Past
President, SLA Asian Chapter. More than 115
professionals working in the field of libraries,
knowledge management, information & content
management, information technology, etc. from
SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
various organizations actively participated in the
event. Participants rated the event at 8.26 on a scale
of 1 – 10 (with 10 being the highest).
SoFerence 2011: Participants & organizing committee
members
Workshop on Digital Libraries in SAARC Region
Delhi Library Association, in collaboration with the
NISCAIR (New Delhi) and HEALTHNet (Nepal),
organized an Advanced Workshop on Digital Libraries in
SAARC Region in New Delhi, 16-25 July, 2011. The
Workshop covered an advanced level training and
hands-on experience on digital library management
technologies (using Greenstone and Koha).
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
2013
International Conference of Asian Special Libraries
(ICoASL-III)
The third International Conference of Asian Special
Libraries (ICoASL-III) is planned to be held, 10-12
April, 2013, in Manila, Philippines. ICoASL-I was held
in New Delhi, India in November 2008 and ICoASL-
II was held in Tokyo, Japan in February 2011. The
more details of the conference will be available at the
Asian Chapter website soon.
Contact Persons:
Shirley Ingles-Cruz
Immediate Past President
Association of Special Libraries of the Philippines (ASLP)
Commission on Appointments
6th Floor PNB Financial Center
D. Macapagal Avenue,
Pasay City 1300 Philippines
singlescruz@gmail.com
Or
Dr. Harish Chandra
Librarian and President SLA-Asian Chapter
Central Library
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai-600 036, India
hchandra@iitm.ac.in
7

2nd ICAL-2013 at Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha
University
The 2 nd International Conference on Academic
Libraries will be organized by the GGS IP University
at New Delhi, 12-15 February, 2013. The theme of the
conference is “Academic Library Services through
Cloud Computing: Moving Libraries to the web”. The
pre-launch function of the conference was held on 9
March, 2012 in New Delhi. The 1 st ICAL was held in
October 2009 at Delhi University. For more details,
visit the conference website at: http://ipu.ac.in/
ical2013/index.htm
2012 12
National Seminar on ‘Competency Building for
Knowledge Management’, 15-16 October 2012
Contact: Prof. Jagtar Singh, DLIS, Punjabi University,
Patiala. e-mail: jagtar.kindu@gmail.com
ISKO International Conference (ISKO 2012)
The Conference is being jointly organized by the ISKO
(India Chapter) and Sarada Ranganathan Endowment
for Library Science & the University of Mysore and
will be held 6-9 August, 2012 in India. The topic of
the conference is Categories, Conceptual Structures,
Contents and Relations in Knowledge Organization.
http://www.isibang.ac.in/~isko/
SLA 2012 Annual Conference, 15-18 July at Chicago,
USA
Don’t miss the opportunity to remain “future ready”
by exchanging ideas and connecting with thousands
of fellow information professionals, all gathered in
Chicago, a city of world-class status and unsurpassed
beauty. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan in
the heart of the Midwest, Chicago is home to worldchampionship
sports teams, an internationally
acclaimed symphony orchestra, renowned
architecture, award-winning theater, and SLA 2012,
15–18 July. For more details, visit the conference
website at: http://sla2012.sla.org/
National Seminar on ‘Challenges and Opportunities
for Managing E-Resources in the digital Age’, 13-14
July 2012
Contact: Dr. Raj Kumar, Librarian, A.C. Joshi Library,
Punjab University, Chandigarh. e-mail: librarian@
pu.ac.in
International Conference on Trends in Knowledge
and Information Dynamics - ICTK 2012
Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC)
as part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations will host the
ICTK-2012, 10-13 July, 2012 at Bangalore. http://
drtc.isibang.ac.in/ictk/
8 SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
International Conference on Collection Development
in the Digital Environment (ICCDDE 2012)
The conference will be organized, 29-30 June, 2012 by
the Madras University Library, Chennai in
Collaboration with Prof. B. Ramesh Babu Felicitation
Committee at University of Madras, Chennai on the
theme “Collection Development in Digital
Environment”.
33rd Annual IATUL Conference
The International Association of Technological
University Libraries (IATUL) will organize its 33 rd
Annual Conference on “Library Strategies for New
Generation Users”, 4-7 June, 2012 at NTU, Singapore.
http://conference.ntu.edu.sg/iatul2012/Pages/
CallforPapers.aspx
Fifth Belgrade International Open Access Conference
2012
Centre for Evaluation in Education and Science in
partnership with the National Library of Serbia will
host the Fifth Belgrade International Open Access
Conference, 18-19 May, 2012 in Belgrade, Serbia.
http://boac.ceon.rs/index.php/BOAC/12
ASIAN LIBRARIES, LIBRARIANS AND
NETWORKS SERIES
This series has been initiated with the objective to
introduce libraries, librarians and networks of the
Asian Region to all valuable members. The aim is also
to provide a platform for fellow librarians to discuss,
share and exchange their views on professional issues
of mutual interest and to enhance their knowledge
on various aspects of librarianship.
Libraries
IIT Delhi implemented the RFID based Integrated
Automation System
IIT Delhi Central Library successfully implemented
Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) based
automation system during 2011 for its campus users
using LSmart. It is an integrated automations system
which also supports video surveillance, DVR
recording, people counter, etc. apart normal RFID
functions.
A screeshot from Main menu, Book Drop and EAS Pedestal
of the IIT Delhi RFID system

IIT Mandi implemented the KOHA (Open Source
Library Software)
The Central Library, Indian Institute of Technology,
Mandi is the youngest and has become the first Library
in the IIT System in India to implement successfully
the Open Source Library Management Software
(KOHA). The Library has also introduced various
innovative user services including user education
programmes under the stewardship of Dr. Sandeep
K. Pathak, Deputy Librarian-in-charge and also the
Chair of the SLA-Asian Chapter (Portal Management).
URL- http://www.iitmandi.ac.in/academics/lib
Librarians
It will be worth to share the
professional contributions of
Shirley-Ingles-Cruz who is
Senior Librarian at the
Commission on Appointments,
Congress of the Philippines. A
practicing librarian for many
years, she holds Masters in
Public Administration and
Bachelors in Library Science. Shirley-Ingles-Cruz
She has served a prestigious
Association of Special Libraries of the Philippines
(ASLP) as its President. As an active professional,
Shirley has also been associated with a number of
professional national and international bodies and
served these bodies in various capacities. Prior to this,
she was Librarian and Head of the Databank and
Library Unit of the Office of the Vice President of the
Philippines (1999-2000). She has also worked with the
One-man Librarian of the Bestchem, Inc., a multinational
company based in South Korea (1997-1999)
and Researcher at the Market Research International,
Inc. (1997). Shirley has contributed many research
papers and has also participated in several seminars,
conferences and workshops. Currently she is the
Program Planning Committee Member and also the
Country Representative of Philippines for the SLA
Asian Chapter. She is the contact person for the
proposed International Conference of Asian Special
Libraries (ICoASL-III) 2013, planned to be held during
10-12 April, 2013 in Manila, Philippines.
Dr. Nabi Hasan won the Best Presentation Award at
International Conference on Knowledge
Management & Resource Sharing (ICKMARS-2012)
Dr. Nabi Hasan, Deputy Librarian, IIT Delhi & SLA
Asian Chapter Board Member was presented with the
SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
Appreciation Award for BEST PRESENTATION OF
THE CONFERENCE for his paper entitled, “Roadmap
for RFID implementation in Libraries: Issues and
Challenges”. An Appreciation Award Memento for
the same was presented to him in the concluding
function of the ICKMARS-2012. The conference was
organized by the Waljat College of Applied Sciences
in collaboration with the BIT, Ranchi at Muscat, Oman,
27-28 February, 2012 and was attended by about 150
participants from about 15 counties.
Dr. Nabi Hasan receiving the Best Presentation Award at
ICKMARS-2012, Muscat
Networks
Developing Library Network (DELNET)
DELNET, a non-governmental resource sharing
library network in South Asia connects more than 4000
libraries located in 32 states and UTs in India and
seven other countries including Nepal, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Oman, Philippines, UAE, United States, etc. It
networks academic, research, public, government
libraries among others. It provides access to more than
13 million bibliographic records of books, journals,
etc. and extensively provides Interlibrary Loan and
Document Delivery services to its member libraries
located in and outside India. It provides library
management software package free of charge to its
member libraries and also promotes the use of open
source software among the libraries. DELNET
organizes workshops and training programmes in
different parts of the country from time to time. More
details are available at www.delnet.nic.in
9

2011 SLA Asian Chapter Award Winners-
A Memoir
Dr. H. Anil Kumar, Librarian, IIM, Ahmedabad, India
Winner of ‘SLA Asian Professional Award’ sponsored by Balani
Infotech and Asian Chapter, SLA
The conference was a fantastic experience for me as it was my
first participation at an SLA annual conference. The scale and
organization of the event left me spell bound and infinitely
impressed. It was very unlike the academic and research
conferences that I had attended earlier. The SLA event was
totally focused on the practicing library professionals. The
Spot Light sessions were truly amazing and those that I attended
were very enriching and useful. The Info Expo was
unbelievable and huge. There were most of the leading
information products and services on exhibit. It was very
informative and educative. I strongly felt that one needed more
time to visit all stalls to get the most out of the event. It was
just not being aware of new products displayed at the Info
Expo but the event also provided an excellent understanding
of various tools, techniques, trends, etc., through the special
sessions organized by various exhibitors at the expo itself. The
conference also helped in networking with professionals from
various parts of the globe. SLA Fellows and First Timers meet
was an interesting session in an open format. All First Timers
had assembled to interact with each other and with the SLA
fellows. Both Asian Chapter Board Meeting and Presentation
of Asian Awards events were quite interesting and informative.
Also it was an honour for me to receive the award at the SLA
Annual Conference.
Mr. Bijoy Ketan Panda, TCS, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
Winner of ‘SLA Asian Librarian Award’ sponsored by IEEE
and Asian Chapter, SLA
Attending SLA Annual Conference “wow”, was really a
lifelong and amazing experience for me. There was a huge
gathering of more than 6000 information professionals in a
10 SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
well organized conference. The theme of the conference “Future
Ready” was more appropriate towards career span far into the
future. According to Thomas Friedman, three things can make
librarians Ready for Future i.e. Information Literacy,
Innovation & User Oriented Services. Wrote Godin rightly said
“A librarian is a data hound, a guide, a Sherpa and a teacher”.
Librarians/Information professionals – are more critical to
knowledge sharing than ever before because of the increased
amount of information being shared.
I am quite impressed with the thoughts emerged at the
Conference that only Information Professionals can help
navigate through the “labyrinth” of information. Hence, a
library should function as a service organization made by the
people, of the people and for the people.
I am very glad to express my gratitude to the Chair-Award
Committee, all Members, President SLA (Asian Chapter) and
the Sponsors IEEE. This award provided me the first
opportunity to attend SLA Annual Conference and INFO-EXPO
at Philadelphia (USA) during 12-15 June, 2011.
Ms. Geeta Paliwal, IEG, Delhi, India
Winner of ‘Early Career Award’ sponsored by Business &
Finance Division and Asian Chapter, SLA
The news of going to USA and participating in SLA Conference
was a pleasant surprise to me. It was the first time that I was
attending SLA Conference and was struck with amazement
on reaching USA. I was credited for my achievements and
honoured with Early Career Award for which I am indebted to
Asian Chapter and Business and Finance Division. The Conference
was global in nature and was an amalgamation of intellectuals
and professionals. I got the rare opportunity of acquainting
myself with some eminent personalities in the domain of
Library and Information Science. It was a very well organised
conference and was a treasure house of knowledge and
experience.
The four day event familiarised me with many spheres of
Library and Information Science and I realised that I had a lot to
learn. The Early Career Award humbled me completely and
infused confidence and faith in me. This recognition has
triggered motivation in my endeavour to improve the quality
of professional services. It has enriched me with a new set of
knowledge, experience and has increased my professional
ability. I also paid a visit to Draxel University in Philadelphia
and learnt about new technologies used in their library.
I strongly feel that an association with SLA is indispensable to
learn more & more about the librarianship and best practices
across the world. I would conclude by expressing my gratitude
to the SLA Business & Finance Division and the Asian Chapter
for bestowing me with the opportunity of being a part of
the conference gathering.

Book Review(s)
Leadership and Professionalism for
New Age Libraries
Editors: Dr. P.K. Jain, Dr. Tariq Ashraf, Dr. Shantanu
Ganguly and Dr. Debal C. Kar
Published by Bookwell, 3/79, Nirankari Colony, Delhi-9
ISBN: 9789380574349. 2012. x+390p. Rs. 1595.00 $ 80.00 (PB)
This volume contains in all 61 papers which belong
to current and relevant topics on the theme of the
conference. Major areas covered in these papers
include; leadership strategy in library and information
science field, maximizing leadership and core
competency development, leadership and ethics,
digital library, application of ICT for augmentation
of library services and inculcating leadership
knowledge through capacity building.
P.K. Jain stated in his paper that the vision of SLA is
to have a global organization for innovative
information professionals and their strategic
partners. Its mission is to promote and strengthen its
members through learning, advocacy and networking
initiatives.
Durga Sankar Rath talked about leadership initiatives
in digital library services for e-resources and elearning
management. M.P. Singh explained about
leadership skills for library professionals. His focus
is on the areas of leadership skills, principles of
leadership, attributes of leadership and leadership
skills for library professionals in modern era.
Jitender Sharma and Rajesh Kumar stated that library
professionals play an extremely important role in
society. The authors covered professional ethics, need
and relevance of ethical practices, professional code
of conduct, etc. Under application of ICT for
augmentation of library services; information and
knowledge resources available in libraries are limited,
but those available through the web are enormous.
Ultimately Library professionals could play a major
role in specializing in the use of resources available
on Web. Each library professional could specialize in
SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
one subject or a part of it and create knowledge portals
and make that knowledge available through the Web.
Library professionals could make specialized
information available to users through the websites
of their institutions or develop new websites.
Kaetrena Davis Kendrick pointed out in her study, the
code of ethics on academic librarians and academic
library administrators’ behaviour while on the job.
She stated the outline of code of ethics of ACA,
covering customer service, intellectual freedom and
censorship, privacy and confidentiality, intellectual
property rights, conflicts of interest (business and
personal), and professional development, etc.
Sheila L. Rosenthal mentioned about institutional
research data collection methodologies and tools and
said that the institutional research data is a valuable
function of both academic and corporate libraries.
Citation analysis tools are frequently used to measure
the impact of an organization as well as on the author’s
primary areas of research, co-authors and citing
authors leading to additional collaborations,
geographical subject area concentrations, comparison
between similar establishments and research trends
in certain domains such as computer science and
engineering.
Rajkumar Singh discussed IPR information in digital
era, IPR meaning and types, IPR in India and its
enforcement, copyright problems with electronic
information, copyright in library information centres
and role of library and information professionals,
creating awareness among users about IPR and
copyright, etc.
A.A. Oyelude and B.A.Oladele covered leadership issues
in libraries. They also said that the application and
use of information and communication technologies
has become essential and the library leaders should
equip themselves with latest professional and
managerial skills by undergoing special training
programs.
It is concluded that the contents of this conference
proceeding volume are very useful for library
professionals, information specialists, teachers,
students, researches, and information practitioners.
All articles included in this volume are of great
academic value especially for the users from Asian
region.
Dr. Harish Chandra
Librarian
Mr. G. Kumar
Library Information Officer
Central Library, IIT Madras
Chennai, India
11

Contributions to next Asian Chapter News
We’re always eager to receive articles for the Asian Chapter News.
Please send articles about your accomplishments, library
developments, innovative practices, interesting websites, trends
in the information industry, the application of new technologies,
book reviews, and upcoming events that you’d like to publicize
to Dr. R.K. Sharma. e-mail: sharma@unicindia.org
12 SLA Asian Chapter News Vol. 8 Issue 1 2012
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For information about advertising in the Asian Chapter News,
please contact Mr. Harish Chandra. e-mail: hchandra@iitm.ac.in
Disclaimer: SLA assumes no responsibility for the statements
and opinions expressed by the contributors to the association’s
publications. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the
official position of the SLA. Acceptance of an advertisement
does not imply endorsement of the product by the SLA.