ELF

Two Day National Workshop jointly Organizing KSIT, Bangalore & AKELPA on 15-16 July 2011 “ET-EMMLS-2011”

2011-06-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Moderator,

Sorry for the cross posting.
Please arrange to post this message in our Professional Forum

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am very happy to bring it to your kind notice that, K. S. Institute of Technology, Bangalore and AKELPA, Bangalore is going to organize two day National Workshop on "EMERGING TRENDS IN E-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND MANDATORY LIBRARY STANDARDS” on 15th and 16th July 2011. This Seminar will enrich our professional knowledge & benefit for professional activities with respective libraries. Hence I request you all please attend the same and make the event a grand success as we all did in our previous AKELPA events.

We look forward from your participation on 15th and 16th July 2011.

Thanking you.

With due regards

Dr. K. R. Mulla,
General Secretary, AKELPA.
Ph: 9448031969

Handle System

2011-06-13T04:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Handle System

The Handle System, developed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives, is an infrastructure on which applications serving many different purposes have been built. Among the objects we know of that are identified by handles are journal articles, technical reports, books, theses and dissertations, government documents, metadata, distributed learning content, and data sets. Handles are being used in digital watermarking applications, GRID applications, and repositories, registries and more.

Further it provides efficient, extensible, and secure resolution services for unique and persistent identifiers of digital objects, and is a component of CNRI's Digital Object Architecture. Digital Object Architecture provides a means of managing digital information in a network environment. A digital object has a machine and platform independent structure that allows it to be identified, accessed and protected, as appropriate. A digital object may incorporate not only informational elements, i.e., a digitized version of a paper, movie or sound recording, but also the unique identifier of the digital object and other metadata about the digital object. The metadata may include restrictions on access to digital objects, notices of ownership, and identifiers for licensing agreements, if appropriate...

UGC job breather for PhDs

2011-06-13T04:19:00.000-07:00

BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY
New Delhi, June 11: A controversial UGC decision that virtually made thousands of PhD holders ineligible for appointment as college or university teachers unless they had cleared the National Eligibility Test is most likely to be withdrawn.

A source said the University Grants Commission (UGC) would meet next week to reconsider that decision, which exempted only those who had obtained their doctorates under tough quality standards similar to those implemented in July 2009.

The MPhil and PhD regulations the commission put in place in 2009 said persons aspiring for teaching jobs in universities and colleges would have to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State-Level Eligibility Test (SLET).

However, those who had done their doctorates under guidelines similar to the new PhD regulations or those already employed did not need to clear the tests...............

Call for Applications to Receive Global Disability Rights Library

2011-01-18T01:39:00.000-08:00

Washington, DC – The Global Disability Rights Library project announces a call for organizations to apply to receive a free digital Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL). Applications are open to disabled people’s organizations, universities, and agencies in developing countries. Sixty organizations will receive the digital library to empower them to disseminate valuable disability rights knowledge and toolkits to their communities. for More>>

Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities

2010-10-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

Rupkatha Journal - About Us: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975-2935) is a non-profit non-commercial open access journal, featuring peer-reviewed articles and book reviews on interdisciplinary cross-currents in the humanities. The Journal derives its name from 'rup' (form) and 'katha' (words), which, when combined, mean 'myth' in Bengali. The journal gets its inspiration from the etymology and goes by the principle that anything which has a form, visual or mental, can come under focus. SOURCE>>

Eleventh COLLNET meeting concludes @ Mysore, 2010

2010-10-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

The sixth International conference on Webometrics, Informetrics and Scientometrics and the 11th COLLNET meeting which was being held under the auspices of department of studies in Library and Information Science at Senate hall concluded here on Friday.

In his valedictory address, K Siddappa, former vice-chancellor of Bangalore University said the trends in the technical subjects like the Webometrics, Informetrics and Scientometrics changes faster than ever in the contemporary world. Earlier, the knowledge updating in any of the subjects required years. The doubling of the concepts and new knowledge in any subject needed about 2-3 years. Now, the scenario is changed.

The knowledge in any subject gets doubled within a year or six months. There was need to keep the students and teachers updated with the latest knowledge with conferences like these, he opined. Prof Hildrun Kretschmer, Honorary professor of Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, China, who is also the chair for the 11th COLLNET meeting said she was impressed with the Mysore conference. There was lot of exchange of new ideas, she said.

Vice-Chancellor V G Talawar, Jagadish Arora, Director of Inflibnet, Ahmedabad, organising chair of the three-day event S L Sangam and others were present. Sourse>>

INTRODUCING DR. S.R. RANGANATHAN’S COLON CLASSIFICATION, REVISED EDITION 7 IN KANNADA, TRANSLATED BY DR. B.A. SHARADA

2010-10-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science (SRELS), Bangalore
in association with B.M.S. College of Engineering, Bangalore cordially invite you to the function

INTRODUCING DR. S.R. RANGANATHAN’S COLON CLASSIFICATION, REVISED EDITION 7 IN KANNADA, TRANSLATED BY DR. B.A. SHARADA

address by
Prof. K. V. Narayana
Former Registrar, Kannada University, Hampi
about the book

Dr. B.A. Sharada
Chief Guest

Sri. S.B. Hondadakeri Director, Dept. of Public Libraries, Govt. of Karnataka, Bangalore

presided by
Dr. K. Mallikarjuna Babu Principal, BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore
********
Felicitations to

Dr. B.A. SHARADA Librarian, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore
by Prof. A. Neelameghan Member-Secretary, SRELS, Bangalore

on Thursday 14th October 2010, at 6.00 pm at Auditorium, B.M.S. College of Engineering, Bull Temple Road, Bangalore 560 019

RSVP: 1. K.N. Prasad - Ph: (080) 23305109 E-mail: srels@dataone.in
2. N. Chowdappa - Mob: 9980063838 E-mail: ncbmsce@yahoo.co.in

Asia Journals Online

2010-08-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Asia Journals Online: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Asia Journals Online is a portal to scholarly journals published in Bangladesh, Nepal, The Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.

You can search for information from all the countries by using the search box below or
search a single country by clicking on its flag. For more click here>javascript:void(0)

"Walk to the Book - March To the Library" on 12.08.2010 at 8.00am

2010-08-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Dear LIS Professionals,

The Librarians day (Dr.S.R.Ranganathan's Birthday Celebration) is being observed on 12th August, 2010. On the eve His, Excellency the Chancellor of Universities of Karnataka, Shri Hans Raj Bhardwaj is giving Momentum to the run for the library. On the occasion invited literary giants, Academicians and Vice Chancellors to participate in the March and give a message to the society for improvement of reading habit.

Hence all the library professionals of Karnataka have been requested to be present at Rajbhavan on 12.08.2010 at 8.00am to participate in the procession program along with your friends. The event is being organized by all the library associations of Karnataka.

We look forward from your kind support for professional day celebration.

Thank you

With kind regards
on behalf of all library associations

Reprieve for PhD, MPhil holders

2010-07-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

Reprieve for PhD, MPhil holders - Nagpur - City - The Times of India

NAGPUR: The last meeting of Nagpur University management council has provided a reprieve to PhD/MPhil holders at least for this year. The meeting granted status quo on the vexed issue of providing equivalence to the PhD candidates with NET/SET holders.

According to reliable sources, the department of higher and technical education has written to the vicechancellor SN Pathan asking him to end the relaxation granted to PhD/MPhil holder from appearing in the tough eligibility exams for getting permanent teaching jobs in university or affiliated colleges. The relaxation was granted as per UGC’s directives of June 21 last year.

The mysterious letter by the government mentioned that the it had notified all approvals given to PhD/MPhil candidates as "illegal" and these should be annulled within 10 days. However, council members led by Dr Ved Prakash Mishra lodged a strong protest and pointed out inconsistencies in the letter. Source>>

Research journals to get UGC funds

2010-07-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Research journals to get UGC funds

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to sanction funds for bringing out research journals and hosting seminars as presentation of research papers by college teachers will, for the first time, be considered for their promotion.

“Since there may not be sufficient journals in which college teachers could publish their papers and subject associations like History Association or the Economics Association played an important role in bringing together scholars, giving them an opportunity to present papers and publish these in the journals brought out by the associations, the UGC would support these associations in order to help them upgrade their activities,” UGC chairperson Sukhadeo Thorat told Deccan Herald.

“This annual assistance can be to the tune of Rs 10-15 lakh per association or journal,” he said. Similar support could also be provided to good quality journals being published by university departments and other research institutions.

At present, the UGC has no such specific scheme. The commission had earlier taken a decision to support a few umbrella associations such as the Indian Science Congress and the Indian Social Science Congress.

The objective of the scheme will be to support subject associations in social sciences and humanities in organising specified activities in order to encourage teachers and researchers to participate in conferences/seminars/workshops and to present papers leading to publication, wherever possible.

The scheme will be open to all national subject associations which fulfil certain criteria such as minimum membership size, duration of existence and regular audits for at least three years.

A core annual assistance of upto Rs 3 lakh per year will be provided to national-level subject associations for secretariat support, day-to-day office expenses, communication and dissemination of their activities and outputs. It will also provide financial support of upto Rs 7 lakh for holding annual conference of national subject associations and for publication of conference proceedings.

The support under the head “Journals” will be subject to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh for academic association and Rs 3 lakh for university department or 50 per cent of the audited cost of publication, distribution and dissemination of the journal, whichever is less. An assistance of Rs 2 lakh will be available for holding national and regional conferences, seminars as well as workshops for the upgradation of teaching and research.

Associations such as the Indian Science Congress or the Indian Social Science Congress may be provided an assistance of upto Rs 20 lakh annually. Source>>

The Grey Journal: An international journal on grey literature

2010-06-30T00:41:00.000-07:00

The Grey Journal: An international journal on grey literature / D.J. Farace (Journal Editor); J. Frantzen (Technical Editor); GreyNet, Grey Literature Network Service. - Amsterdam: TextRelease, Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 2005.

This serial publication appears three times a year - in spring, summer, and autumn. Each issue in a volume is thematic and deals with one or more related topics in the field of grey literature. The Grey Journal appears both in print and electronic formats.

The Grey Journal (TGJ) is a flagship journal for the grey literature community. It crosses continents, disciplines, and sectors both public and private. The Grey Journal not only deals with the topic of grey literature but also is itself a document type that is classified as grey literature. It is akin to other grey serial publications, such as conference proceedings, reports, working papers, etcetera.

The Grey Journal is geared to Colleges and Schools of Library and Information Studies, as well as, information professionals, who produce, publish, process, manage, disseminate, and use grey literature e.g. researchers, editors, librarians, documentalists, archivists, journalists, intermediaries, etc.

http://www.greynet.org/pages/5 (See this link for contributor information).

ISSN 1574-1796 (Print)
ISSN 1574-180X (E-Print/CD-Rom)

Grey Literature - GreyNet, Grey Literature Network Service

2010-06-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

Grey Literature - GreyNet, Grey Literature Network Service

"Dedicated to Research, Publication, Access, and Education on Grey Literature"
The Grey Literature Network Service was founded in 1992. The goal of GreyNet is to facilitate dialog, research, and communication between persons and organisations in the field of grey literature. GreyNet further seeks to identify and distribute information on and about grey literature in networked environments. Its main activities include the International Conference Series on Grey Literature, the creation and maintenance of web-based resources, a moderated Listserv, a combined Distribution List, The Grey Journal (TGJ), as well as curriculum development in the field of grey literature.

Grey Literature "Information produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body." (Luxembourg, 1997 - Expanded in New York, 2004)

GreyNet International
Grey Literature Network Service
Javastraat 194-HS
1095 CP Amsterdam
Netherlands

Tel/Fax: +31-(0)20-331.2420
Email : info@greynet.org

Opening of Library Trainee positions at the ResourceCentre, DA-IICT Gandhinagar, Gujarat

2010-06-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Colleagues,

Kindly bring the following announcement to the notice of interested
candidates and also request you to recommend potential candadates.

----------------------------------

Subject: Opening of Library Trainee positions at the Resource Centre,
DA-IICT Gandhinagar, Gujarat

The Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology
(DA-IICT) at Gandhinagar http://www.daiict.ac.in/ is looking for young,
enthusiastic, dynamic and fresh graduates with minimum First Class in
Masters in Library and Information Science to work as 'Library Trainees'
for its Resource Centre (Library).

Duration of the Training is for a period of one year and selected trainees
gets a fixed stipend of Rs. 8000/-per month with no other facilities/
benefits, excepting casual leave. Accomodation in students hostel on the
campus on payment basis will be provided, subject to availability.

The Resource Centre http://resourcecentre.daiict.ac.in/ has fully
computerized in-house operations and services and provides access to wide
variety of digital collection, catering to the needs of the Faculty, Staff
and Students. Several new initiatives are being taken from time to time to
make this library as one of the leading and resource libraries in the area
of ICT in the country. It is a part of regional & national consortia and
actively participates in the resource sharing activities.

The Resource Centre is kept open till mid night on all working days during
the semester and is open on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. Selected
trainees will require to work during these extended hours on rotation
basis alongwith other staff members.

Nature of Traineeship: Traniees will be provided with an opportunity to
work in different sections of the Resource Centre and learn the modern
library management techniques and web based services.The Resource Centre
provides a highly professional working & learning environment. The
selected candidates will have ample of opportunities to work and learn on
emerging IT tools and technologies.

Date for Written Test & Interview: 16th July, 2010 ( Friday) at 10.00am

Venue for written test and Interview: DA-IICT Campus, Near Indroda Circle,
Gandhinagar 382 007, Gujarat

Address for sending the application: Please send your application to
hr@daiict.ac.in ( Head, HR & Admin, DA-IICT, Gandhinagar 382 007, Gujarat
Tel: 079-30510551, 30510591)

The interested candidates who meet the above mentioned basic requirements
may send in thier application with CV at the above address and directly
come for the written test and interview on 16th July, 2010. Candidate are
requested to bring with them the documents in support of date of birth and
qualifications, and experiences, if any.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks & Regards

Dr. T S Kumbar
Librarian
Resource Centre
DA-IICT
Gandhinagar 382 007
Tel: 079-30510550
Email: ts_kumbar@daiict.ac.in

Suresh, B.
Resource Centre, DA-IICT

Plan to lift ban on deemed tag

2010-05-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

New Delhi. May 7: The human resource development ministry is preparing to again start awarding deemed university status to institutions, lifting a ban it had imposed in June 2009, officials have told The Telegraph.

The move comes after a massive pile-up of applications from institutions aspiring to the deemed tag, which allows them to award degrees without direct legislative scrutiny unlike full-fledged universities.

But the decision to re-open the deemed university “bazaar” — as some officials jokingly referred to the move — comes amid a feeling that the tough new regulations adopted will help enforce standards at these institutions.

The new regulations — reported by The Telegraph on April 20 — require new aspirants to hold the highest possible rating that is offered by accreditation agencies.

Institutions must exist as colleges for 15 years before they become eligible for deemed university status.

They are also barred from offering distance education courses.

The ban on awarding deemed university status was formally put in place by HRD minister Kapil Sibal on June 4 through an order to the University Grants Commission.

The UGC was also asked to conduct an inquiry into all 130 institutions already granted deemed university status. The ministry conducted a parallel probe.

While the UGC probe recommended that all 130 deemed universities be allowed to retain their tag, the ministry review found 88 of them unfit. It suggested that 44 among these 88 be given three years to try and improve their standards.

It also recommended that the remaining 44 be stripped of their deemed status immediately. The Supreme Court is hearing a case on these deemed universities.

The Centre had asked the Supreme Court to stay admissions to these 44 deemed universities till it decided the issue, but the court has turned the request down. The apex court had earlier ordered the government not to act against these institutions till it had delivered its verdict. Source>>

HC stays order making NET must for lecturer posts

2010-05-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

CHENNAI: A single judge order upholding the UGC's decision to withdraw the exemption given to those who had completed MPhil before 1993 from clearing the National Eligibility Test (NET) or State-Level Eligibility Test (SLET) for appointment as lecturers has been stayed by a division bench of the Madras high court.

The bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice KK Sasidharan stayed the order on an appeal filed by three guest lecturers working in government colleges on contract basis, without the NET/SLET qualification.

It all started with a UGC notification dated July 11, 2009, noting that henceforth NET/SLET qualification would be the minimum eligibility for all lecturer-aspirants, including those who had completed their MPhil before December 31, 1993. That is, the notification effectively dispensed with the exemption that had been extended to those who had completed their MPhil degree before the cut-off date, from clearing the NET/SLET. The state government issued a consequent order on March 29.

Challenging the notification and the consequent GO, a batch of writ petitions were filed in the high court. Last month, a single judge upheld the validity of the notificiation and the GO.

Assailing the order, the present writ appeal has been filed by the guest lecturers, who contended that guest lecturers possessing pre-1993 MPhil degree were working in various colleges for a period ranging from seven years to 13 years. They said the state government must either come out with a regularisation scheme as a one-time measure or give reasonable time' for such candidates to equip themselves and clear the NET/SLET examination. Till such time, they should be allowed to continue in their services, they said. Source>>

Kapil Sibal inaugurates nationwide e-library project

2010-05-05T00:46:00.000-07:00

Kapil Sibal inaugurates nationwide e-library project

New Delhi: The "National Library and Information Services Infrastructure for Scholarly Content (N-LIST)" was formally launched by Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, here today.

The N-LIST project provides access to more than 2,100 electronic journals and 51,000 electronic books to students, researchers and faculty from colleges and other beneficiary institutions through server(s) installed at the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre.

"Authorized users from colleges can now access e-resources and download articles required by them directly from the publisher's website once they are duly authenticated as authorized users through servers deployed in the INFLIBNET Centre," said an official press release.

Faculty, staff students and researches from colleges covered under section 12B of University Grants Commission (UGC) Act are eligible to access e-resources through the N-LIST project. These colleges are required to register themselves on the N-LIST Website.

Currently, 665 colleges are registered members. Registered colleges are issued Log-in IDs and passwords for their authorized users including faculty, staff, researchers and students. Colleges that are not covered under 2F/12B Act of the UGC may join as N-LIST Associate Members.

The N-LIST Project is being jointly executed by the UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium, INFLIBNET Centre and the (INDEST-AICTE) Consortium, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

The project provides for cross-subscription to e-resources subscribed by the two Consortia, i.e. subscription to INDEST-AICTE resources for universities and UGC-INFONET resources for technical institutions.

It also provides access to selected e-resources to colleges. Also present at the launch were Ashok Thakur and Sunil Kumar, Additional Secretaries in the Ministry of HRD and also N.K. Sinha, Amit Khare and Dr. Anita Bhatnagar Jain, Joint Secretaries in the Ministry of HRD.

Source>>

Need for enhanced library services stressed

2010-04-19T00:54:00.000-07:00

Need for enhanced library services stressed

TIRUCHI: In the backdrop of radical changes in the form and content of libraries caused by technological advancement, the national workshop on ‘Quality Assurance in Academic Libraries: NAAC and NBA Parameters' organised by the Department of Library, National College, highlighted the role libraries can play by harnessing technology.

Delivering the key-note address, Shri. Jahagirdar, Librarian, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) focussed on the positive steps that could ensure access to library and learning resources at an affordable cost. Efficiency and quality in provision of library services for teaching, learning and research is the corner stone for the survival and success of libraries, he said, and explained the quality indicators of Library and Information System and the grading system of NAAC. S. Srinivasaraghavan, Librarian, Bharathidasan University, explained the NBA (National Board of Accreditation) parameters for engineering colleges while M. Durairajan, Librarian, St. Joseph's College, spoke on ‘Best Practices in Library and Information Sciences.'

Inaugurating the workshop, Dr.P.V. Konnur, University Librarian, Bangalore University, emphasised the need for enhancement of the quality of services to attract users and optimise the use of library resources. Presiding over, the Principal K. Anbarasu spoke of the dynamic transformation of libraries. Dr. Anbarasu handed over the first copy of the Manual on ‘NAAC and NBA Parameters on LIS' to Mr. Jahagirdar and Dr. Konnur. M. Krishnan, Professor and Head, Department of Biotechnology, delivered the valedictory address. Vice-Principal A. Krishnamurthy presided. P. Raghavan, Librarian, National College; and R. Jayabal, Librarian, Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, also addressed the gathering of about 150 Library professionals, faculties and students of colleges and universities from various parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States. Source>>

Digital Library Portal of the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing launched

2010-02-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

Digital Library Portal of the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing launched

V. Venkatachalam, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (second from left), at the launch of the digital library portal of AIISH in Mysore on Wednesday.

MYSORE: V. Venkatachalam, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Wednesday said that the Ministry was doing its best to overcome manpower shortage that affected national health programmes, including the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD).

Scarcity of professionals in the field of speech and hearing was acute and the Ministry was addressing the problem by supporting the initiatives taken up by the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), he said.

Launching the Digital Library Portal of the AIISH Library and Information Centre here, Mr. Venkatachalam said the national programmes launched for public health lacked trained professionals.

“Manpower is not available to support the initiatives launched under the programmes. Therefore, we have introduced a few initiatives to ensure manpower to implement the programmes,” he said.

Promising support and resources to AIISH in carrying forward its activities, he said the Ministry had been supporting its programmes and would continue to do so for its development. Infrastructure at the institute was on par with any other national institute, he said.

Lauding AIISH for launching the Digital Library Portal, he said the portal would benefit many as information available in the library could be accessed from anywhere, anytime.

He said the portal would also help those pursuing courses under distance education system launched by AIISH to overcome the shortage of speech and hearing professionals.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore V.G. Talawar said the facilities provided for accessing information digitally should be used effectively. Not many scholars, academics and teachers were making use of the e-journal facility launched by the Universities Grants Commission (UGC) in which over 5,000 journals could be accessed online.

“According to some surveys, only 39 per cent are making use of the facility though the journals are available in all disciplines. It is not a good trend. More and more people should make use of information for their academic prospects,” Dr. Talawar said.

He urged students, research scholars and therapists to use the portal of AIISH.

AIISH Director Vijayalakshmi Basavaraj said the portal was conceived two years ago and could be accessed free of cost.

Shortly, the National Medical Library in New Delhi could be accessed through the portal as its approval was awaited. “Once it is done, over 1,532 journals can be accessed from our portal,” she said.

Ajish Abraham, head of the Department of Electronics, AIISH, gave an overview of the portal and its benefits. He said the availability of online search allowed users to locate relevant information quickly and reliably, thus enhancing success in their research endeavours.

Asha Yathiraj of the library committee of AIISH was present.

Source>

APPRAISAL OF INDIAN SITUATION- EFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF ICT IN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

2009-12-29T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today we are living in the age of information, and communication where the information societies are rapidly transforming themselves from information society to knowledge society. Information society or rather its Japanese term “Johoka Shokai”, was perceived by the Japanese writer, Yoneji Masuda, “as a society, which would eventually move to a point at which the production of information values became the formative force for the development of the society.”

In India the significance of communication in equipping people with new information and skills; and mobilizing them for their willful participation in various development programmes and activities has been well recognized and emphasized in the country’s blueprint policy i.e the five year plans. Communication is fun, Communication is power, Communication is money and Communication is intelligence today. So a country’s growth, cultural moorings, its inner strength and competitive edge all depend greatly on communication power. In the recent years the country is on the threshold of a new communication revolution of which satellite, TV, Video are major manifestations. In this information age from high frequency wireless communication to digital compression technology, to microwave communication to silicon chips, satellite communication, optic fibers, telematics, computer graphics, Internet, world wide web, Internet protocol TV(IPTV),interactive TV(ITV),digital audio broadcasting(DAB),multimedia and so on, there is no stopping and no looking back. Communication wise the whole world is technically knit together and with the constraints of time and distance disappearing, it has been possible for humanity at large to be integrated at intellectual, economic, cultural and emotional levels, by sharing a global commonwealth of human resources, transforming the whole world virtually into a ‘global village’.

for more click>>

Docstoc-find and share online professional documents

2009-12-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

Docstoc is the premier online community and marketplace to find and share professional documents. Docstoc provides the platform to upload and share documents with the world, and serves as a vast repository of free and for purchase legal, business, financial, technical, and educational documents that can be easily searched, previewed and downloaded.

Docstoc also provides technology through various APIs and Widgets to help facilitate the sharing and promotion of documents across the web. The site has popularized the use of embedding documents throughout the blogosphere and mainstream media. You can learn more about embedding documents here: http://blog.docstoc.com/embed-documents-on-docstoc-into-your-blog-or-webiste.html

for more>

E-learning in India- A wave

2009-12-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Over the past five years, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has been busy in attaining the goal of making education accessible to every child, particularly among the marginalised sections in the rural areas. We are also addressing the gap that exists between the market demands and the available skill sets among professionals through the participation of private sector in the curriculum framework.

Coming to the aspect of quality, infrastructure and faculty are two major concerns that need to be focused on. We are roping in as many colleges as possible under the ambit of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to upgrade their quality. The UGC and AICTE are also pursuing various measures to lure fresh graduates into research and teaching profession.

Very recently, the Ministry launched National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT).An amount of Rs.4612 crore is being incurred during the 11th Five Year Plan for the scheme. There is a budget provision of Rs.502 crore during the current financial year 2008-09.

The government alone cannot address all these challenges. The private sector needs to play a proactive role to supplement the efforts of the government. A PPP model is to be developed with the active participation of stakeholders at the central and state level.

The 11th Five Year Plan has kept a target of raising the gross enrollment ratio to 15% by the end of the plan year. This is where ICT steps in. Integration of ICT in education will give an impetus to our efforts to attain our target of increasing our gross enrollment ratio by widening the reach of education to the remote and marginalised areas of our country.

With a large percentage of our population constituting the workforce, ICT also gives them space to pursue education at their own convenient pace and time. The role of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) systems, which have accepted and integrated ICT in their functioning and outreach, particularly finds mention here.

However, there is also significant knowledge retention at the end of the training programs. High quality, e-learning solutions can be developed in India with the right technology and industry support in sectors as distinct as steel, IT, automobiles, cement and telecom. Industry watchers estimate that because of its advantages, India is bound to grow in stature as the hub for e-learning programs.

Interestingly, many companies are booming up here in India for providing eClasses; places like Mumbai and Bangalore are becoming prominent centers for providing eTutorials. It’s booming but the big question is what the future of eLearning is? Everyone educators, parents, and students have the question in mind but no one able to answer. To check it out its imperative to look the trends concerned with learning, which are already taking control in our world?

Considering above facts it seems imperative that eLearning would co exist with other technologies and the way of acquiring knowledge. And as soon as low cost PCs would be made available and broadband will penetrate deeper particularly in developing countries there are chances the e-learning will strengthen.

E learning is interactive too. With the growth of eLearning more and more pupil will opt for it, as there would be no worry that math’s teacher will beat for a sum doing wrong; since classes are available at ease there also be no hurry to get late and then standing out side waiting for permission. More and more working professionals would be interested in learning eWay because of flexibility the eLearning offers. The eLearning will soon become a great tool to enhance qualifications, and getting promotions in the job market. So to sum up, the future of eLearning is bright.

Talking of e-Learning and academic bodies in India like, UGC-INFONET. The chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2002 decided that the universities and colleges should also reap the benefits, which ICT had in store for them. The deliberations of the various committees led to the setting up of the UGC-INFONET towards the end of 2004. UGC also joined this crusade of introducing e-Learning. Wholly funded by UGC, UGC-INFONET provides electronic access to scholarly literature available over the Internet in all areas of learning to the university sector in India.

There are several companies that are working towards e-learning in India. Our product focus is on providing simple, cost-effective e-learning tools for individuals.

Forays have been made in the field of e-Learning in form of Brihaspati, an e-Learning platform developed as open source freeware which IIT, Kanpur has developed and is using since January 2003 supported by Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Govt. of India. Faculties are using this platform to post the lecture notes, handouts, and reference material on the Intranet for supporting the classroom teaching, benefiting over 75 Universities / Institutes across India, and the list is growing. Yet another project to provide web based training is the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), which is being funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and was first conceived in 1999 to pave the way for introducing multimedia and web technology to enhance learning of basic science and engineering concepts, was launched in September 2006. interestingly, The major advantage is the consistency that e-learning provides. e-learning is self-paced, and learning is done at the learners pace. The content can be repeated until it is understood by the trainee. It can be made compelling and interesting with multimedia, and the trainee can be given multiple learning paths depending on his or her needs.

However, one of the problems with e-learning in India is the lack of course content, especially outside the mainstream focus areas of IT education, English-language content, and tutorial-like courses. There will be high demand for people who can develop multi-lingual courseware that addresses various topics. Gartner says that one of the top 10 positions among Global 1000 companies of the future will be that of an online learning designer.

Significant infrastructure has been set up for production of video-based teaching material by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Bangalore based Indian Institutes of Sciences (IISc) and Technical Teacher Training Institutes (TTTI).Gyan Darshan which was launched on January 26, 2000 as an exclusive higher education TV channel on Doordarshan to provide quality distance education can be considered as an effective effort in India.

At the institutional level many institutes, mainly private as of now have entered into online distance education and the much talked about NIIT Varsity offers training to 500,000 students annually across 33 countries. One of the world’s leading management schools IIM Calcutta amongst others entered into a strategic alliance with NIIT, to offer executive development programmes through virtual classrooms. Researchers, academics, teachers, and students worldwide are excitedly embracing blogs (web logs). Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India played host to the Bloggers’ conference held at the TIDEL Park. CDAC and IGNOU are two of the India’s most esteemed organisations in their respective fields, which have held conferences in the field of e-Learning. Online Education is coming up as the biggest challenge to distance education in the near future.

Change is a painful process and is therefore resisted by most organisations but the need of the hour is effective change management by the leaders of the higher educational institutes, which are into e-Learning.

Higher educational institutions in India which plan to venture into e-Learning should take a lesson from this and are suggested to first follow the education and communication strategy of organisational change where the stakeholders should be informed as to how the change will affect them. Most of the states run universities in India require an IT / ICT policy of their own.

The government needs to stimulate a learning culture, and e-Learning must become a policy issue. Government must recognise the e-Learning Industry as a separate forum and not treat it as part of the IT enabled services or a sub sector of the IT industry. A case in point is the Australian Government support for promoting e-Learning. The Government there has been successful in increasing the industry use of e-Learning in workplaces. Schools and Universities taking the e-Learning route are still a very small fraction of the overall number. In addition, the transition from distance learning to e-Learning is moving at a snail’s pace. Universities are long over due in making significant improvement in the quality and employability of their courses offered. Through e-Learning, they have a chance to improve both the quality and quantity.

The Industry Unlike the west, in India, evens the large corporates and business houses have been slow to adapt to e-Learning. With the tremendous explosion in web usage as a knowledge sharing and delivering platform, e-Learning will become more a norm than an exception. It is incumbent upon all of us to drive this process. Together we need to create an e-Learning infrastructure that is sustainable and continues to transform learning, education and training.

Nothing can replace traditional classroom teaching, but e-learning complements the process and can help reach out to the masses.

By Sadaket Malik
sadaketmalik@rediffmail.com

Upcoming exams: CEED for Design Careers, GATE 2010

2009-12-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Upcoming exams: CEED for Design Careers, GATE 2010 | MentorPolis Blog

In India where education is so diverse you are bound to hear about a new entrance exam everyday by an institution, simply because everybody is an race to get exclusive but not only all of these are worth your attention. Our goal is to point you in the direction where the horizon opens to limitless opportunities for the bright future you’ve always imagined. Na-uh don’t start cramming yet!, read on to know the latest upcoming entrance examinations across India…

CEED – Common Entrance Exam for Design

Free online OCR

2009-12-03T22:47:00.000-08:00

Free online OCR

Free-OCR.com is a free online OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool. You can use this to perform OCR on any image you supply.

This service is free, no registration necessary. We also do not need your email address.

Just upload your image files. Free-OCR takes either a JPG, GIF, TIFF BMP or PDF (only first page).

The only restriction is that the images must not be larger than 2MB, no wider or higher than 5000 pixels and there is a limit of 10 image uploads per hour.

For More>>

Cataloger's Desktop 3.0 Now Available - The Library Today (Library of Congress)

2009-11-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Library of Congress Launches Cataloger’s Desktop 3.0, Major Modernization of Subscription Service
The Library of Congress this week launched Cataloger’s Desktop 3.0, a major modernization of its popular web-based subscription service of important cataloging and metadata resources.

Desktop, available from the Cataloging Distribution Service, provides catalogers access to more than 280 electronic manuals, cataloging and classification standards, procedures and resources. The new 3.0 version adds operational enhancements, greatly expanding its search and information-discovery features.

Beacher Wiggins, director of the Library’s Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate, said "Cataloger’s Desktop 3.0 is a good example of the Library’s continuing commitment to catalogers everywhere."

Subscribers to Desktop have automatically received the new version, and catalogers soon will have an opportunity to see Desktop 3.0 demonstrated at the Library of Congress exhibit booth at the American Library Association midwinter meeting in Boston in January 2010.
For more click here>

Companies may be allowed to set up universities

2009-11-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

These non-profit multi-disciplinary institutions will have to be registered under Section 25 of Companies Act.

The government is planning to permit corporate houses to set up higher educational institutions — like multi-disciplinary universities and colleges — by floating a separate not-for-profit entity under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956.

A not-for-profit entity is one that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders. It, instead, reinvests these in the institute. Many private universities in India have been set up under Section 25 of the Companies Act. However, deemed universities are not covered by the Act for more>

International Conference on Informatics, Cybernetics, and Computer Applications (ICICCA 2010)

2009-11-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

The 2010 International Conference on Informatics, Cybernetics, and Computer Applications (ICICCA2010) July 19-20, 2010, Bangalore, India

The 2010 International Conference on Informatics, Cybernetics, and Computer Applications (ICICCA2010) is a forum for scientists, engineers, and practitioners to present their latest research results, ideas, ...

The proposed conference on the above will be be held at HKBK College of Engineering, Bangalore, India. from July 19 to July 20, 2010 which aims to enable researchers build connections between different digital applications. for more click here

With regards
K. R. Mulla,
Librarian,
HKBK College of Engineering, # 22/1, Nagawara, Bangalore - 560 045. Karnataka, India.
Tel. +91-80-2544-1722 / 23 / 3744 Ext 152

Is it the end of road for conventional libraries?

2009-10-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

AHMEDABAD: Books have shifted from laps to laptops and reading has been reduced from pages to keywords so have libraries and librarians, who are
known as knowledge resource' and knowledge professionals'. A seminar on future libraries and librarians at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) with participants from prominent academic institutions and business organizations shared their views about the existing system of libraries and what the future holds for them.

Satish Deshpande, former head of British Council Library, said that the concept of a knowledge centre has undergone a paradigm shift. "When we think of library, we see an image of a dull place with an uninterested librarian and graveyard peace. However, the new-age resources do not depend on printed books only. Internet has become the biggest knowledge store house," he said.

The educational institutes are feeling the heat. Dr TS Kumbhar, librarian at DA-IICT told TOI that the percentage of the subscription of the books by students has fallen drastically over the years. "We, as knowledge professionals, have an important role to play in guiding students to the right resources. We are already working on the concept of a virtual library," he said.

Anil Kumar, librarian at IIM-Ahmedabad, told TOI that the automation of the library does not automatically convert into efficiency. "A library's role also includes documentation of the knowledge gathered by an institute and make it available to the others. The students also expect a lot more than just a classification of the information and issuance of books," he said.

Source>

Indian-origin shares Nobel Prize for Chemistry

2009-10-08T03:42:00.000-07:00

London: Indian-origin Scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan shares the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath, it was announced in Stockholm Wednesday.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 awards studies of one of life's core processes: the ribosome's translation of DNA information into life. Ribosomes produce proteins, which in turn control the chemistry in all living organisms. As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for new antibiotics, it said in a statement.

Born in 1952 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, Ramakrishnan did his B.Sc. in Physics (1971) from Baroda University in Gujarat and later migrated to the U.S. to continue his studies where he later got settled and attained U.S. citizenship. He earned his Ph.D in Physics from Ohio University in the U.S. and later worked as a graduate student at the University of California from 1976-78. Ramakrishnan, now a Senior Scientist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge has authored several important papers in academic journals.

Ramakrishnan and Steitz are U.S. citizens while Yonath is from Israel. Ramakrishnan joins an illustrious list of Indians and people of Indian origin, who have won the Nobel Prize in various disciplines - including Rabindranath Tagore, C.V. Raman, Hargobind Khorana, Mother Teresa, S. Chandrashekhar and Amartya Sen.

Ramakrishnan, Steitz and Yonath have been awarded for showing what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.

"Inside every cell in all organisms, there are DNA molecules. They contain the blueprints for how a human being, a plant or a bacterium, looks and functions. But the DNA molecule is passive. If there was nothing else, there would be no life," a statement from the academy of sciences said.

The blueprints become transformed into living matter through the work of ribosomes.

An understanding of the ribosome's innermost workings is important for a scientific understanding of life. This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes. Without functional ribosomes, bacteria cannot survive. This is why ribosomes are such an important target for new antibiotics, the statement added.

This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering.

Source>

KMBook.com: KM Book: BRINT Institute's Book on Knowledge Management

2009-10-07T03:41:00.000-07:00

BRINT Institute's Book on Knowledge Management: "Presenting the first book on knowledge-driven organizations and knowledge workers that can survive and thrive in the new world of uncertainty and risk... from the frontlines charted by 'The Knowledge Creating Company'tm." Fortune magazine in its special focus issue on the 'knowledge economy' reported in June '98 about this work that: "Founder Yogesh Malhotra says his vision for this site is to fill the gaps between business and technology, data and knowledge, and, theory and practice..." Here is a report of how the BRINT Institute (www.brint.org) and associated knowledge ventures succeeded in filling the 'gaps' and substantively influencing knowledge management and information technology management strategies, practices, and policies of worldwide corporations and governments in that process.

Source>

Science & Technology podcast, video lessons Online Courses lecture notes classes ebooks training Streaming videos animations tutorials Engineering

2009-10-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Dear LIS Professionals,

I came across a beautifull blog which has more than 2000 videos on over 20 following subjects.

» Anatomy & Physiology
» Astronomy & Aerospace
» Bio Sciences
» Bio Technology
» Biology
» Business & Management
» Chemistry
» Computer Science
» Economics
» Electronics
» Entrepreneurship
» Genetics
» Health Sciences
» Law
» Leadership
» Mathematics
» Mechanical
» Medicine
» Networking
» Other Courses
» Philosophy
» Physics
» Psychology
» Signals & Systems
» Social Sciences
» Web Designing

for more click>

IITs, IIMs to be set up overseas - Ministry of HRD

2009-09-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

Bangalore: Solution to faculty shortages, expansion plans to take Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) move beyond India. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has indicated that it may allow the IITs and IIMs to set up campuses in foreign countries.

"Setting up of campuses abroad will not be feasible immediately, as there is faculty shortage. The institutes will have to undertake 54 percent expansion in their intake to implement the other backward class quota," said the ministry, reports Business Standard. The Minister of State for education D Purandeswari pinpointed that some memoranda of association will need to be amended, which presently, becomes a bar for any oversea campus establishment.

The government, had earlier turned down a proposal of IIM Bangalore to open a campus in Singapore.
The HRD Ministry did not agree to the proposal on grounds that the Memorandum of Association of IIM, Bangalore, does not empower the institute to open campuses abroad.

IIMs, however, remain optimistic. "We would like to go abroad with the intention of spreading our name if the government permits us. IIMs are the leaders of education in the country and should be allowed to set campuses in developing countries. I think it was a missed opportunity for the IIMs as there is a huge potential out there," says IIM-Ahmedabad Director Samir Barua. Among developing countries, the IIMs favour the Middle East, Malaysia and Africa as these are the growing economies. Barua explained that IIM alumni and visiting faculty can be of help in manning the courses and that will also ensure the quality of delivery.

Source>

Librarian's discrimination complaint dismissed

2009-09-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

The BC Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a Vancouver school librarian's complaint that she was discriminated against on religious grounds for not putting up gay-straight alliance stickers or stocking gay-friendly books in her library.
The ruling upheld regulations and previous court rulings that say schools must be tolerant of diversity and that it is incumbent on teachers to be professional despite their personal views.

Queer teachers and school trustees are hailing the decision as a landmark one which will help make classrooms throughout the province more gay-friendly.

"It makes it clear in terms of human rights that teachers have the right to believe in whatever they want to believe, but don't have the right to behave in a way that violates the Human Rights Code," says queer Vancouver school trustee Jane Bouey.

In her human rights complaint Po Yu Emmy Chiang, the sponsor of University Hill Secondary School's Christian Fellowship Club, alleged that teacher Megan Fergusson and principal Jill Philipchuk singled her out for her acting on her religious beliefs.

But, noted tribunal member Lindsay Lyster, Chiang had to be guided by the provincial "School Act's requirement that schools be conducted on secular and non-sectarian principles, and the requirements arising under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the BC Human Rights Code that schools provide a tolerant learning environment, free from discrimination."

In January 2007, Fergusson, who sponsors University Hill's gay-straight alliance, gave teachers rainbow stickers to put in their classrooms to indicate they were gay-friendly spaces.

"When the stickers were displayed by many teachers, it clearly marked me as teacher who did not 'support' these students since I chose not to display the sticker on the library door," Chiang says in her complaint. "Most staff and some students know me to be religious. They may interpret the non-display as related to my beliefs."

But, ruled Lyster, the choice to display the sticker or not was indeed Chiang's, as Fergusson had told her.

Lyster said Chiang alleged no facts to indicate she was discriminated against.

Further, Lyster notes, "Chiang does not say that her choice not to display a rainbow sticker was related to her religious beliefs."

"Ms Chiang's choice not to display a rainbow sticker was just that, her choice. The respondents are not responsible for her choice or how others might have perceived it," Lyster said in dismissing Chiang's complaint.

"Ms Chiang has failed to allege that anyone actually did interpret her choice in the manner suggested."

Source>

One-stop Searching of WorldWideScience Sources

2009-09-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

WorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway connecting you to national and international scientific databases and portals. WorldWideScience.org accelerates scientific discovery and progress by providing one-stop searching of global science sources. The WorldWideScience Alliance, a multilateral partnership, consists of participating member countries and provides the governance structure for WorldWideScience.org.

Subsequent versions of WorldWideScience.org will make additional science information resources from many nations accessible via this portal. Read about the WorldWideScience.org Architecture: What is under the Hood. For more information, please see our FAQ.

WorldWideScience.org was developed and is maintained by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), an element of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy. Please contact webmaster@worldwidescience.org if you represent a national or international science database or portal and would like your source searched by WorldWideScience.org.

Source>

The Yashpal Committee Report: A Review - Mainstream Weekly

2009-09-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

The key Recommendations of the Yashpal Committee Report is the following:

A holistic view of knowledge, as advocated above, would demand a regulatory system which treats the entire range of educational institutions in a holistic manner. All of higher education has to be treated as an integrated whole. Professional education cannot be detached from general education. It would be, therefore, imperative that all higher education, including engineering, medicine, agriculture and law, is brought within the purview of a single, all-encompassing Higher Education Authority.

More about click heare>

75 Cutting-Edge Lectures for Engineers

2009-09-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Whether earning your degree or continuing education, engineers are always seeking to gain more knowledge in their always evolving field. With new technologies developing every day, they must educate themselves on the most current events. Many colleges and universities are now offering video lectures and podcasts of their engineering related courses. MIT, UC Berkley, and Stanford are just some to name a few. The Indian Institute of Technology has also created a channel on YouTube with a number of video lectures on a variety of engineering topics. Below are some of these lectures from the facilities listed above, as well as some others we felt deserved mention also. They are categorized by specific engineering fields like Civil, Electrical, Software & Computer, Mechanical, Environmental, Biomedical, and some miscellaneous lectures that might be of interest.

Source>

Karnataka’s chances for IIT slim as CABE meets

2009-08-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

"BANGALORE: The Central Advisory Board for Education (CABE), the oldest advisory board of education to the Central government, is meeting again on Monday after being revived by the previous Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh in February this year. For Karnataka, it will be an opportunity to take the Central government to task for not meeting its demands made around the last time CABE was in session.
At the top of the list is the demand for an IIT in the state. During the previous meeting, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, the state’s representative in the CABE, had made the demand (for an IIT). This demand is however unlikely to be met, as the HRD minister has recently written to Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily that the demand will not be met because of the intense political lobbying from the top politicians of the state."

Source>

Inside Google Books

2009-08-27T02:54:00.000-07:00

Dear LIS Friends,

Over the years, we've heard a lot from people who've unearthed hidden treasures in Google Books: a crafter who uncovered a forgotten knitting technique, a family historian who discovered her ancestor once traveled the country with a dancing, roller-skating bear. The books they found were out of copyright and in the public domain, which meant they could read the full text and even download a PDF version of the book.

Source>

World list of LIS schools.

2009-08-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

World list of LIS Schools.

This is the best site for LIS Professionals all around the world.

World list of schools and departments of information science, information management and related disciplines.

Click here>

State plans 21 model institutions

2009-08-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

The Karnataka government plans to convert 21 government degree colleges in the backward districts of the state into model institutions.

The proposal is aimed at providing quality education to economically and socially marginalised students .

“Out of 349 Government colleges, which are functioning in this state of Karnataka, 21 Government degree colleges will be brought under model college project,” the proposal titled “Model Colleges coming under the economically backward districts in Karnataka” said.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has already approved the project in principle on the basis of a draft proposal.

The final proposal was recently submitted to the commission. The entire exercise will be completed during the 11th Plan period.

Click for More>

New UGC guidelines on PHDs: universities have different takes - Express India

2009-08-12T03:37:00.000-07:00

With the University Grants Commission (UGC) issuing a new circular relating to PhDs, some universities like the Calcutta and Burdwan universities have stopped registering new students for the doctorate courses. But others like Jadavpur University said that there was no need to panic as the universities will switch to the new rules laid down by the UGC.
“We would advise the students to register as per the new rules. There is no need to stall registration,” said Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University, Pradip Narayan Ghosh.

According to Ghosh, the decision on this issue will be taken in the next executive council meeting of the university.

A few universities are talking about a smooth switchover to the new proposal of the UGC. The UGC has suggested that a university-specific entrance test be held along with stringent checking of thesis and occasional internal examinations.

Source>

No PhD, MPhil at open universities, says UGC

2009-08-10T03:14:00.000-07:00

It had announced three years ago that these degrees would be considered as an option to NET or SET

In a setback to the country’s 14 open universities, the University Grants Commission, or UGC, has barred them from conducting research programmes, namely PhD and MPhil.

Pointing out the declining quality of research projects in a “distance learning” system, UGC has stopped registration for PhD and MPhil programmes at all the 14 open universities, including the India Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

This has sparked angry reactions from academics and students attached to open universities who believe the “declining quality of research” is a national concern and not confined to open universities.

Three years back, UGC had announced that degrees like MPhil and PhD would be considered as an option to the National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Eligibility Test (SET) for recruitment of full-time teachers at colleges. After this announcement, thousands of students registered for MPhil and PhD programmes at open universities. So it has come as a surprise that UGC has not only revoked this decision but also banned research projects at open universities. A notice to this effect has been put up on UGC’s website.

For More Click>

VTU plans its own ‘IIT’

2009-08-06T03:36:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: It has been 10 years since the Visvesvaraya Technological University(VTU) was established to impart technical education across the state. Yet the university has not made its mark in research activities.

Towards this end, the university has decided to set up its own research institute on the lines of IIT or IISc.

To draw up a blueprint for its own IIT, VTU had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Goa University former Vice- Chancellor B S Sonde. The committee report - which lists the vision, mission, aims and objectives of VIAT - has been approved by VTU’s executive council, the highest decision-making body.

As per the report, VIAT will be a complementary institution and not compete with the affiliated colleges and other PG departments of the university. Under the current proposal, a main campus is to be established at Muddenahalli in Chikballapur district, the birthplace of Sir M Visvesvaraya. Sub-campuses will be subsequently established in a phased manner in Belgaum, Gulbarga and Mysore.

Click for more>

AICTE Cannot take Direct Action Against Deemed Varsities: Court

2009-08-05T04:49:00.000-07:00

Chennai: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has "primacy" over the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in maintaining standards and enforcing regulations in deemed universities, the Madras High Court has ruled.

Passing orders on a batch of petitions on the jurisdiction of the UGC and the AICTE over the deemed universities offering technical education, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice Prabha Sridevan said: "Even if the AICTE discovers the shortcomings of a deemed-to-be university, it has no further or direct control. Nor is there any scope for the AICTE to initiate any direct action against the said deemed-to-be university. It can only bring these defects to the notice of the UGC for further action."

Stressing the need for the two agencies to function cohesively for the integrated development of technical education, the Bench said: "The AICTE has the power to inspect, but...it cannot charge like a bull in a China shop, for that will only wreak havoc. The AICTE also cannot take action directly on the erring universities. All that it can do is to report to the UGC... It will assist, aid and advise the UGC in seeing that the quality of education is not diluted. So, the apprehension that the AICTE will be reduced to a silent spectator is unfounded."

More on this topic: Please click this link>

AICTE invites Proposals on Research & Institutional Development (RID)

2009-08-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

AICTE Call for Proposals on Research & Institutional Development for
Financial Assistance During 2009 - 10

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is a statutory
body established by the Government of India through Act No.52 of 1987,
for proper planning and co-ordinated development of Technical
Education System throughout the country, promotion of qualitative
improvement of Technical Education in relation to planned quantitative
growth, regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in
the Technical Education system and for matters connected therewith.

For more details on this topic:
Click this here>

A university can be created by an Act of Legisla

2009-08-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

A university can be created by an Act of Legislature

Grants Commission by advertising Vedanta University without being authorised by the law.

According to the UGC Act, 1956, a University can be created by promulgation of an Act of Legislature and pursuant mandatory declarations. Section 23 of the Act provides, ``No institution, whether a corporate body or not, other than a University established or incorporated by a Central Act, Provincial Act or a State Act shall be entitled to have the word University associated with its name.” The Vendant University Act was passed in the State Assembly on July 30. But, in gross disregard to set laws, the promoters came out with an advertisement in newspapers on July 29 publicising the project as Vedanta University. This when there was no Act in operation.

Rath has called for initiation of penal action against the promoters as stiplated in the UGC Act.

A university can be created by an Act of Legisla

Shell out money and obtain a Ph.D degree - Patna - City - NEWS - The Times of India

2009-08-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

PATNA: Getting a Ph.D degree had never been so easy. You need not qualify the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC and CSIR or the
pre-Ph.D registration test conducted by different universities for doing Ph.D in a subject. You need not make even a pre-Ph.D presentation as required by some universities to get yourself registered. You have to simply cough up an amount ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh for getting a Ph.D degree.

This easy way of getting a Ph.D degree, which is supposed to be a passport for lectureship, is attracting a large number of unemployed postgraduates. And, this is, but natural that the walls of Patna streets, especially those located in and around the Patna University (PU) campus, are replete with posters proclaiming a Ph.D degree without pre-registration test. A lesser known institution, styled as Bidya Evening College and located in Kachchi Talab area near Gardanibagh in west Patna, is the facilitator. The college admits a candidate on payment of Rs 16,500 only after which the process of Ph.D registration starts.

The college authorities claim that candidates are registered as part-time candidates under distance education mode with Dravidian University in Andhra Pradesh. A candidate can do Ph.D in any subject, right from history to computer science, biotechnology or management. Depending upon the selection of the subject, the amount of fee (to be deposited in instalments) varies. While a candidate doing Ph.D in history is required to deposit a sum of Rs 90,400, one doing Ph.D in environmental studies will have to deposit Rs 1,50,400 for a period of three years.

Candidates are required to select their own supervisor for guiding them in research activities. And, a supervisor need not be a working teacher of any college or university. Anybody who is a Ph.D degree holder and has three years of teaching experience (even if he is unemployed at present) can become a supervisor. Retired teachers are most welcome as supervisors. Candidates registered for Ph.D are, however, required to pass a written examination conducted by Dravidian University after one year of their registration, they added.

It may be mentioned here that cracking the UGC NET examination is not an easy job for many candidates. As the syllabi of pre-Ph.D registration test are the same as those of NET examination, very few candidates are able to qualify. And, almost all the universities in the state have, of late, introduced pre-Ph.D registration test for allowing a candidate to do Ph.D. PU has further made it tougher by prescribing at least five hours daily stay on the campus for research scholars.

Under these circumstances, candidates would certainly opt for off-campus part-time Ph.D programme, compromising with the quality of research work.

Source

All Karnataka Engineering College Library Professionals Association (AKELPA)

2009-07-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Sirs/Madam

All Karnataka Engineering College Library Professionals Association (AKELPA), comes into existence on 18th July 2009 in the presence of 250 library professionals of engineering college libraries of Karnataka at Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering (DSCE) with the following objectives.

1. To devise, formulate and set up standards, norms, rules, guidelines for engineering college libraries of Karnataka.

2. To establish a common platform for all LIS professionals by conducting state, national and international level workshops, seminars, conferences, short terms training programs and other developmental activities.

3. To uphold and maintain the position of Engineering Librarianship in terms of pay scales, promotion, training etc.

4. To orchestrate and synchronize with the state, central government and national, international agencies with regard to the issues of the engineering library professionals.

5. To craft right recommendations to university, government and other authorities and organizations to safeguard the profession and professionals.

6. To collaborate and coordinate with the professional organizations in terms of networking and resource sharing.

The following office bearers of AKELPA are selected in the meeting :

President:
Sri. N. Choudappa
Chief Librarian, BMSCE, Bangalore

Vice-Presidents (Region-wise):
1. Dr. Dinesh K. S. (Bangalore North Region),
Librarian (SLG), NCET, Bangalore
2. Sri. R. M. Puttaswamy (Bangalore South Region),
Chief Librarian, BNMIT, Bangalore
3. Dr. H. M. Chidananda Swamy, (Mysore Region),
Librarian, JNNCE, Shimoga
4. Dr. Vinayak Bankapur, (Belagaum Region),
Librarian, SDMCE, /Dharwad
5. Sri. S. A. Patil, (Gulbarga Region),
Librarian, BLDEAS, Bijapur

General Secretary:
Sri. K. R. Mulla,
Librarian, HKBKCE, Bangalore

Secretary (Technical):
Sri. Vinay C.
Sr. Librarian, SJBIT, Bangalore

Treasurer:
Sri. J. C. David,
Chief Librarian, DSCE, Bangalore

Joint Secretaries (Region-wise):
1. Smt. Mallika M. H., (Bangalore North)
Librarian, SSIT, Tumkur
2. Sri. K. K. Suresh Kumar, (Bangalore South),
Librarian, ASC, Bangalore
3. Sri. K. L. Basappa, (Mysore Region),
Asst. Librarian, SJCE, Mysore
4. Sri. Suresh Horakeri, (Belagaum Region),
Asst. Librarian, BVBCET, Hubli
5. Sri. Vasanth Nithalipur, (Gulbarga Region),
VCET, Puttur

Executive Members:
1. Dr. M. M. Bachalapur,
Chief Librarian, KIT, Tiptur
2. Dr. Diwakar Bhat,
Chief Librarian, NMAMIT, Nitte
3. Smt. C. A. Malaghan,
Chief Librarian, Dr. AIT, Bangalore
4. Sri. Police Goudar,
Librarian, AIT, Gulbarga
5. Sri. K. V. Manjunath,
Chief Librarian, BIET, Davanagere
6. Smt. V. Bharathi
Librarian (SLG), KSIT, Bangalore
7. Sri. K. Srinivas,
Librarian, TJCE, Bangalore
8. Sri. Manjunath P. S.,
Librarian, BNMIT, Bangalore
9. Sri. Naveen Kumar,
Librarian, PESSE, Bangalore

--
General Secretary
AKELPA

Opening of Library Trainee positions at the Resource Centre, DA-IICT Gandhinagar, Gujarat

2009-07-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Colleagues,

Kindly bring the following announcement to the notice of interested
candidates and also request you to recommend potential candadates.

------------ --------- --------- ----
Subject: Opening of Library Trainee positions at the Resource Centre,
DA-IICT Gandhinagar, Gujarat

The Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology
(DA-IICT) at Gandhinagar http://www.daiict. ac.in/ is looking for young,
dynamic and fresh graduates with minimum First Class in Masters in Library
and Information Science to work as 'Library Trainees' for its Resource
Centre (Library).

Duration of the Training is for a period of one year and selected trainees
gets a fixed stipend of Rs. 8000/-per month with no other facilities/
benefits, excepting casual leave. Accomodation in students hostel on the
campus on payment basis will be provided, subject to availability.

The Resource Centre http://resourcecent re.daiict. ac.in/ has fully
computerized in-house operations and services and provides access to wide
variety of digital collection, catering to the needs of the Faculty, Staff
and Students. Several new initiatives are being taken to make this library
as one of the leading and resource libraries in the area of ICT in the
country. It is a part of regional & national consortia and actively
participates in the resource sharing activities.

The Resource Centre is kept open till mid night on all working days during
the semester and is open on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. Selected
trainees will require to work during these extended hours on rotation
basis alongwith other staff members.

Nature of Traineeship: Traniees will be provided with an opportunity to
work in different sections of the Resource Centre and learn the modern
library management techniques and web based services.The Resource Centre
provides a highly professional working & learning environment. The
selected candidates will have ample of opportunities to work and learn on
emerging IT tools and technologies.

Date for Written Test & Interview: 27th July, 2009 ( Monday) at 10.00am

Venue for written test and Interview: DA-IICT Campus, Near Indroda Circle,
Gandhinagar 382 007, Gujarat

Address for sending the application: Please send your advance copy of the
application to hr@daiict.ac. in (Head, HR & Admin, DA-IICT, Gandhinagar
382 007, Gujarat Tel: 079-30510551, 30510591)

The interested candidates who meet the above mentioned basic requirements
may send in thier application with CV at the above address and directly
come for the written test and interview. Candidate are requested to bring
with them the certificates in support of date of birth and qualifications,
and experiences, if any.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
Thanks & Regards
Dr. T. S. Kumbar
Resource Centre
DA-IICT
Gandhinagar
ts_kumbar@daiict. ac.in
++++++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++

Suresh, b.

Extermely shocking: The CBI on Thursday carried out raids on the top brass of AlCTE

2009-07-19T21:12:00.001-07:00

The CBI on Thursday carried out raids on the top brass of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in Hyderabad, Bhopal, Chennai and Delhi, exposing the rot in the national regulator for technical institutes.

While AICTE member secretary K Narayan Rao was arrested, an FIR was lodged against AICTE head Ram Avtar Yadav for corruption. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have approved the raids on Wednesday night — something considered unprecedented as CBI raids against officials above the rank of Joint Secretary require the Cabinet minister’s approval.

Narayan Rao and middleman Subba Rao were arrested after laying a trap wherein the latter had reportedly demanded Rs 20 lakh as bribe on behalf of Narayan Rao for inspection and approval of an engineering college in Hyderabad. Cash amounting to Rs 9 lakh and documents related to bank accounts and properties were recovered from Narayan Rao’s residence in New Delhi. Searches were also conducted in Hyderabad and Subba Rao’s residence in Ongole, Andhra Prade

Extermely shocking: The CBI on Thursday carried out raids on the top brass of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

Shared via AddThis

Twitter for Librarians

2009-07-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Twitter, the new microblogging service. How it’s useful within a library context, what libraries and librarians are doing with it and it’s role within an overall library context. They will also have an opportunity to create an account, start following people, posting ‘tweets’, using the search options and exploring other Twitter applications. Please see the Usage status

Strict norms for MPhil, PhD - Rajkot - City - NEWS - The Times of India

2009-07-14T03:25:00.000-07:00

In a bid to end the situation where under-qualified aspirants get MPhil and PhD degrees, University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued

a notification with minimum qualifications for students who want to get these degrees.

Now, universities will have to conduct entrance tests for students in line with certain provisions. They will also have to decide on number of students instead of haphazardly granting permission.

The notification will be applicable from June 1 to all UGC-granted universities, Central and state government-run ones and colleges affiliated to them. All institutions will have to decide on minimum qualifications for selection of recognized guides as well. The number of students permitted to undertake research will depend on availability of guides.

"All universities will have to decide on number of MPhil and PhD seats in advance and publish the information as advertisements and on the website too," said a dean of Saurashtra University. For students who have cleared Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) exam, State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) and other exams, or equivalents, universities can fix separate conditions, he added.

UGC has also decided that a student can get direct admission to PhD or via MPhil. Universities will have to keep in mind reservation quota and select guides for candidates. After the entrance exam, students will have to undergo study programme for one semester, including research methods and computer skills.

Students will have to submit theses within a time limit. Before that, a summary will have to be presented. This will be open to all for criticism and suggestions, which will be incorporated in the paper. Each thesis will be checked by at least two experts, one from abroad. After satisfactory evaluation, the student will have to take on viva. After this, he or she will have to send a soft copy of the thesis paper to UGC in 30 days.

Source

First step towards world-class varsity - Mysore - Cities - The Times of India

2009-07-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

MYSORE: To study the feasibility of upgrading the University of Mysore into a world-class centre for higher education, members of an expert
committee constituted by Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC) visited the varsity on Wednesday.

Members P Rama Rao, Goverdhan Mehta and N R Madhava Menon along with KKC member-secretary M K Sridhar held meetings with vice-chancellor V G Talawar. They also discussed with syndicate members and academic council members and interacted with students.

The committee aims to improve teaching quality, research programmes and infrastructure. Curriculum management, admission and recruitment and funding are also included. At an interaction, Menon advocated the need for a separate Act to govern the two universities-- UoM and Karnatak University-- which have been selected by the state government as centres of excellence and to make them trend setters. He also endorsed that teaching faculty must be strengthened and should be in total command to be a world class varsity. The members also pointed out that rather than banking on advantages, the university must take cognizance of weak points and try to address the issues.

Earlier, the V-C explained to the members the proposed action plans of the varsity about using the government's Rs 100-crore grants.

The team will submit its report to the government by July 15 after considering the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission.

Source

UGC warns deemed universities on fake degrees - Chennai - Cities - The Times of India

2009-07-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

CHENNAI: Taking a serious view of some deemed universities awarding degrees by offering unapproved academic courses to students, the University
Grants Commission has warned that severe punitive action would be initiated against such institutions including recommending withdrawal of the deemed university status. It has also sought a legal undertaking from vice chancellors of deemed universities to the effect that their institutions are not violating norms.

In a recent letter addressed to the vice chancellors of 127 deemed universities in the country, UGC joint secretary K P Singh, has pointedly said that "the deemed to be universities being unitary institutions are not allowed to affiliate any colleges or institutions. Degrees awarded through such colleges or institutions against the UGC guidelines will be treated as fake."

The apex higher education regulatory body has also said that the deemed universities should not under any circumstances conduct any course under distance mode without the specific prior approval of a joint committee of the UGC, All India Council for Technical Education and the Distance Education Council.

"The degrees awarded without such approval will be treated as unauthorised and invalid. Study centres established and maintained by the deemed universities are only for the purpose of advising, counselling or for rendering any other assistance required by the students used in the context of distance education and no student shall be admitted at these centres," Singh said in his letter.

He reiterated that deemed universities cannot open and run off-campus or off-shore centres establish new departments, start new courses without obtaining the approval of the UGC. Besides, the deemed universities have been asked to refrain from giving misleading advertisements about the constituent units which are not approved.

"The emphasis of deemed universities should be on quality education with access and equity& (However now) the main focus (of deemed universities) is on expansion of the activities ignoring the quality of education, norms and standards laid down in the UGC guidelines&The UGC has taken a serious note of this increasing trend of violating UGC guidelines," he added while warning that if the same continues "the UGC may take punitive action which may include recommendation to the HRD ministry for withdrawal of deemed university status."

Source

Why is MSU in hurry to fill up permanent teaching posts? - Vadodara - Cities - The Times of India

2009-07-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

VADODARA: Why is MS University in a hurry to fill up permanent teaching posts of lecturers, readers and professors in the varsity with old norms
even as both the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) have issued fresh norms regarding such appointments?

The UGC has notified the revised scheme for appointments under its notification on revision of pay scales, minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers in universities and colleges and other measures for the maintenance of standards, 2009, which the MHRD has not only approved but circulated to all state governments for implementation. But inspite of receiving the notification in June last year, MSU has invited applications for the posts in various faculties without incorporating minimum qualifications laid down by UGC raising doubts on the hasty exercise.

MSU authorities argue that they are filling up the posts with old norms as the state government is yet to approve UGC's revised norms. But, one does not understand the need to issue fresh notification in March this year when the university had not fully completed the selection process of candidates who had applied for the posts in 2004 when the university had issued notification. It is another matter that the university had to withdraw its notification published in March because the election code of conduct had came into place due to Lok Sabha polls.

Although university officials issued the notification in June, which was withdrawn in March, it was on Friday that the university's syndicate approved appointments of candidates in various faculties based on the 2004 notification and selections that were held after February this year.

Interestingly, between 2004 and 2009 MSU seems to have internally liberalised the selection process, raising further doubts on whether the university is trying to favour certain candidates.

The 2004 notification, for instance, mentions that for applying to the post of lecturer at Faculty of Fine Arts the candidate should have master's degree in a relevant subject or equivalent recognised by the university with at least 55 % of marks of its equivalent grade and good academic record. In contrast, the 2009 notification for the same post states master's degree or PG Diploma.

It is important to mention here that the revised qualifications issued by UGC are more stringent. For instance, the old norms simply state that an applicant for the post of professor should have 'ten years of experience in post-graduate teaching'. But, the revised UGC norms require that apart from 12 years of minimum teaching experience, the scholar should have minimum of 10 publications in indexed journals.

MSU vice-chancellor Ramesh Goyal admitted that UGC revised norms have not been incorporated in the notification but defended the university's decision saying the university is yet to receive details of revised norms.

"We don't want to stop the process but we will certainly adopt the revised norms once they are adopted by the state government," he said. Goyal also assured that he will probe into the matter if certain qualifications have been wrongly issued in the notification.

Source

Summer School at NITJ

2009-06-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Department of Industrial & Production Engineering at Dr. B R Ambedkar
National Institute of Technology is going to conduct an AICTE sponsored one
week short term training program on *'Supply Chain Management Issues and
Challenges'* during *13-17 July 2009*. The program is interdisciplinary one
and free for all engineering faculty members from AICTE approved institutes
with free boarding and lodging facilities and with reimbursement of travel
expenses. The call for participation is attached for your information and
necessary action.

Therefore, I request you to participate in this training program. Also
kindly encourage your colleagues and known faculty members to participate.

With sincere regards,

Dr. Arvind Bhardwaj
Professor and Head
Department of Industrial & Production Engineering
Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology
G T Road Bye Pass Jalandhar-144011 (India)
09888581883 (Cell), 9465758362(Cell)
91-181-2690301,302 (Office)
Resi: A-1, Staff Colony,
National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar (India)

MPhil on par with NET, SET till UGC amendment: UoP

2009-06-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

The University of Pune (UoP) on Friday clarified that MPhil can be considered on par with the National Eligibility Test or State Eligibility Test until the third amendment of the UGC about cancelling the MPhil criteria to teach at the undergraduate level comes into existence.

The issue was discussed in the senate meeting presided by acting V-C Arun Adsool. The Bhalchandra Mungekar Committee had made an amendment in June 2006 that the candidates who complete MPhil till June 30, 2009, would be eligible to teach at undergraduate level and could skip the NET/SET. However, on June 1, the UGC said in a notice on its website that MPhil cannot be considered a qualification for teaching. This upset many MPhil candidates, as they did not attempt the NET/SET.

Senate members argued that the UGC’s notice has not been published in the gazette yet — the UGC has said it would come into effect after its publication. “The UoP should clarify this by issuing a circular, as there is confusion among members of the teachers’ selection panel,” said Shyam Lavande.

Source

'Won't let UGC close like a factory' - India - The Times of India

2009-06-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Yashpal committee's recommendation that UGC be done away with has created a furore in the apex regulatory body with its officers'
association claiming that employees of the commission were not consulted.

Two days before the report was finalised, officers' union of UGC wrote to Yashpal stating that while restructuring of statutory bodies like UGC/AICTE may help in better governance of higher education, the committee "did not consult employees of UGC who have worked for two-three decades".

The officers' union said it was "unfortunate that the committee never deliberated on the future of employees if there is a possibility of reorganisation of various statutory bodies".

M V Krishnaswamy of the officers' association said, "We will see that UGC is not closed like a factory. We are not against recommendations but interest of employees should be given top priority." Asked about the next course of action, he said, "We will wait."

However, a member of the Yashpal committee criticised the officers' association for making such allegations. "Our brief was not to talk to UGC employees. Then, we should have spoken to employees of every regulatory body. Moreover, we were functioning out of UGC office for so long. How come this issue was not raised when we gave the interim report. Representation has come at the fag end," he said.

The union said it "strongly resents any move which will directly or indirectly affect career of employees of UGC". It also reminded Yashpal, himself a former UGC chairman, that the commission had to "deal with the growing aspirations of academic fraternity and growing number of universities and colleges at rapid pace". Despite the constraints, the union said, "Employees have been contributing to the implementation of the large number of schemes from plan to plan to fulfil UGC's mandate for the cause of higher education."

Source

Govt might disband UGC, AICTE; to implement Yash Pal report in 100 days

2009-06-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: Yash Pal report, UGC, national commission in higher education and research

Taking forward the process of reforms, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said the government will try to implement in 100 days the Yash Pal committee's recommendations for setting up of a national commission in higher education and research.

"The report seeks to show a roadmap for future of education in India. The recommendations are pivotal for reforms. I believe it will be accepted by the nation," Sibal told reporters after eminent educationist Prof Yash Pal submitted the report to him at his office in New Delhi.

"Yash Pal committee has taken everybody on board in preparing the report. We will proceed with consensus and try to implement the report in 100 days," he said.

The report on 'Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education' has been prepared after much consultation with all the stakeholders, including students and teachers, Prof Pal said.

"Our education system has become compartmentalised over the years. We have tried to bridge the gap between institutions and disciplines. We have suggested setting up of National Commission for Higher Education and Research which will be an apex body in education," he said.

The 24-member panel in its report has said that existing regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE have no business to perform the regulatory role. The universities will be made self-regulatory agencies.

The National Commission for Higher Education and Research will be a constitutional body like Election Commission. Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India will select people for the post of chairperson and members of the commission.

Source

HRD minister vows progress on Yashpal report in 100 days- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

2009-06-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Minister for human resource development Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that the government will try to initiate the process of
implementing the recommendations of the Yashpal committee within 100 days.

Mr Sibal made the announcement as Professor Yashpal submitted a report of the committee to advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education. "The recommendations of the Yashpal Committee and the NKC are pivotal to reforming the higher education sector," Mr Sibal said.

A key recommendation of the committee is to set up a new apex panel on higher education. The National Commission for Higher Education and Research will treat higher education as an integrated whole and not detach professional education from general education. The commission should be set up through a constitutional amendment, thereby have a constitutional status. It will subsume the academic functions of the UGC and the 13 professional education regulatory bodies that are in existence.

The existing regulators will be looking into the "fitness of people who wish to practice in their fields", and conduct regular qualifying tests for professionals in their respective fields. The proposed apex regulator will be made accountable to Parliament thereby moving away from the current tendencies of existing regulatory bodies "to control and impose bureaucratic interferences in the functioning of universities and colleges".

There will be a move to a "verification and authentication system". The proposed commission will deal with future directions, that is developing global benchmarks on student performance, university performance, salaries, new research directions; accreditation management; funding needs of universities; new institutions and governance. The new commission will ensure that the autonomy of universities is respected.

The Yashpal Committee recommendations are in variance with those of the NKC. A decision on which proposal to follow would be taken by the government. Warning that narrow expertise has led to the most serious problems of the world today, the committee has recommended widening the ambit of higher education, including the broadening of the stand alone single displine institutions.

Review of the deemed university route and the proliferation of engineering and management colleges has also been flagged. Mr Sibal said that recommendations of the Yashpal Committee would find easy acceptance as the panel has "done extensive dialogue with all stakeholders".

The minister stressed that not a single day can be wasted towards enabling the right for children to be educated. This education must be inclusive and with quality. He emphasised the three principles of access, equity and excellence, stressing that these principles will not be compromised while implementing the educational reform agenda.

Source

UGC bans MPhil and PhD programmes through Distance education, Haryana News - By Indiaedunews.net

2009-06-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

The recent notification by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for banning MPhil and PhD programmes through distance education mode has created havoc in the universities of Haryana.

The ban has been raised for universities, deemed to be a university, college, institutions of national importance.

The ban has come as a blow to Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU), Sirsa, in particular, as it will lose nearly half of its students in the distance education programme due to the notification issued by the UGC.

The ban came into effect on June 1, 2009, the same day it was notified in the gazette.

Although, CDLU was not conducting PhD programme through distance education mode its MPhil programme was a rage amongst students from different parts of the nation.

Even PhD programmes were conducted by some private universities in the state through distance education.

CDLU introduced the concept of MPhil through distance education mode in 2006-07, and admitted more than 8000 students in the same category with more than 16 subjects that year.

Science subjects, which require practical training was a part of distance education that year.

However, from the next academic year the number of seats got regulated to 200 per subject and MPhil restricted to six subjects - Management, Commerce, English, Economics, Computer Science and Education by the university.

In spite of decrease in the number of students, MPhil students form the largest chunk in distance education.

Out of 2200 students in distance education 1200 alone belonged to the MPhil Programme.

Even other universities of the state have a large number of MPhil students in their distance education programme.

The inclination towards MPhil through distance education increased after the UGC exempted the condition of NET for these candidates for the appointment of university teachers.

"The university was in the process of erasing these courses from the prospectus and the draft for the handbook of information (HBI) was ready but now we have to redesign our HBI," said Prof. Sultan Singh, Director of Distance Education, CDLU.

Source

Yashpal Committee suggests the removal of UGC, AICTE

2009-06-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

Yashpal panel lays out road to reform- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s plans to bring in sweeping reforms will soon be put to test. Professor Yashpal’s Committee on the ‘Renovation
and Rejuvenation of Higher Education’ provides a blueprint and broad guide on how exactly this change can be heralded. Professor Yashpal will be submitting the final report to the minister on Wednesday.

Going beyond a single regulatory body, the Yashpal Committee has said there was too much inspection, interference and delay in the universities’ dealings with the state and central governments.

While not absolving the universities of blame, professor Yashpal has asked the government to devise a different, more efficient funding management system. The committee recommends that universities should become self-regulating partners in managing the overall education system. “Continuous monitoring and inspection cause delays and lead to corruption,” professor Yashpal writes.

In line with UPA’s effort to formulate a ‘brain gain policy’, professor Yashpal has said that for enriching the Indian higher education, efforts should be made to invite substantial number of great academics and scientists from abroad instead of “importing mediocre foreign universities to set up shop here”. The last could run counter to the government’s efforts to open up the Indian higher education to foreign providers.

In a cautionary note, professor Yashpal writes that it would be silly to deny practical role of experts in science, technology, finance, economics and management. Warning against narrow expertise, professor Yashpal makes a case for broadening the ambit of higher education.

The Committee has suggested that the new universities, Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management being set up during the course of the Eleventh plan should have the character of world-class universities.

“There are no great universities in the world that do not simultaneously conduct world-class programmes in science, astronomy, management, languages, comparative literature, philosophy, psychology, information technology, law, political science, economics, agriculture and many other emerging disciplines. All the disciplines breed value into each other.” This is the model that the Yashpal Committee would like the new universities to follow.

Source 1

Source 2

DDC Online Summaries

2009-06-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

DDC Summaries

Easy Online Classification / Download online Database with MARC:

Online DDC 22 summaries

Enter Keywords, ISBN, EAN or UPC

Many more

UGC puts errant varsities on watch list - Bangalore - Cities - The Times of India

2009-06-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

UGC puts errant varsities on watch list - Bangalore - Cities - The Times of India

BANGALORE: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has sent a clear message to private universities which cannot affiliate an institution/ college or

cannot establish off-campus centres beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the state concerned without its approval.

The UGC move follows complaints that some state private universities have affiliated colleges and started off-campus centres beyond the territorial jurisdiction of their state in violation of UGC (Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations 2003.

According to the UGC, there were 40 universities which are competent to award degrees but as specified by UGC under Section 22 of the UGC Act and with the approval of the statutory councils, wherever required through their main campus. "Wherever the approval of the statutory council is not a pre-requisite to start a programme, the universities are required to maintain the minimum standards regarding academic and physical infrastructure as laid down by the concerned statutory council," it stated.

Of the universities listed by the UGC, none of them are from southern states. They are mainly from northern states, including Shillong, Manipal, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Nagaland. "However, they can establish off-campus centres within the concerned state after their existence of five years and with the prior approval of the UGC. So far, UGC has not approved any off-campus centres of any private university," it said.

On running programmes in distance mode, the approval of the joint committee of UGC-All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE)-Distance Education Council is required.

WARNING

The UGC cautioned students and parents to cross-check before seeking admission in these universities at their off-shore campuses. The list is posted at www.ugc.ac.in
More

ISI Web of Knowledge

2009-06-20T00:40:00.000-07:00

What It Is: "Objective content and powerful tools that let you search, track, measure and collaborate in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.With ISI Web of Knowledge you choose the resources that you need - there's no need to subscribe to unnecessary or extraneous databases.
Combine renowned multidisciplinary databases with content-specific selections and tools for analysis and measurement to create the ISI Web of Knowledge that turns raw data into the powerful knowledge you need." MORE

UGC warns students against off campus centres of private varsities, Karnataka News - By Indiaedunews.net

2009-06-19T03:58:00.000-07:00

UGC warns students against off campus centres of private varsities, Karnataka News - By Indiaedunews.net

Bangalore: Keeping in view the probe carried out by the Karnataka Government, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has warned students against enrolling themselves at the off campus centres of the private universities in Karnataka.

The government is to confirm the legal status of more than 50 such off-campus centres of the country's private universities.The probe has been carried out to delimit them of ripping off the student.

The Bangalore University has also warned students against getting admission in 11 colleges affiliated to the varsity for inadequate infrastructure.

A Press release issued by UGC says, "All these universities established by Acts of legislatures of different States, are neither empowered to affiliate an institution or college to it nor establish an off-campus centre outside the territorial jurisdiction of the State."

"They can set up off-campus centres within the State once they complete their five year of existence with the prior approval of UGC."

The statement further says that the UGC has not approved any off-campus centre for any of the 39 private universities established in different States across India.

"It has come to the notice of the UGC that some of the private universities had affiliated colleges and started off-campus centres beyond the territorial jurisdiction of their State in violation of UGC (Establishment and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) 2003…", the UGC stated. more

Library@Kendriya Vidyalaya Pattom

2009-06-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

Library@Kendriya Vidyalaya Pattom: "The library of Kendriya vidyalaya Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram, with its excellent collection of books, periodicals and multimedia and a variety of services, acts as a support and inspiration to the teaching and learning community of the School." MORE

Free e-books

2009-05-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Free e-books

Note: Many books in the public domain may be freely accessed here, as well as some other books under specified conditions. However we cannot offer access to any copyrighted titles unless the publisher or copyright owner has so permitted. Therefore if you seek access to copyrighted books (unless available under dispensation as mentioned) please visit our "Buy Books" pages instead.

Information on the copyright laws of many countries is available here.

ECCELLIO - Excellent faceting search :: Science Miner

2009-05-27T00:24:00.000-07:00

ECCELLIO - Excellent faceting search :: Science Miner

Eccellio is a Search Engine that brings a cool new feature, named
“Faceted Classification”, that easily allows finding exactly what you are looking for on the Internet. We love to call this "Google simplicity with one additional single-
click".

Eccellio uses Google database but it adds an extra level of classification that allows you to refine your search easily. You don't need to learn a complex syntax to execute your searches. So Eccellio can be defined as Google++.

If you have 5 minutes ... Click

National : Professional courses:SC okays Karnataka's seat-sharing formula : 549405

2009-04-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

National : Professional courses:SC okays Karnataka's seat-sharing formula : 549405

New Delhi, Apr 15 The Supreme Court today approved a MoU reached between Karnataka government and Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental(COMED) colleges in the state on allotment of seats in private professional unaided non-minority colleges for the year 2009-10.

Under the said MoU, 42 per cent of the seats in the state private medical colleges will be filled up by the state government through its own Common Entrance Test while the remaining seats would be filled up by the respective colleges as per the stipulations contained in the COMED organised entrance exams.

For the Bachelor Dental Surgery (BDS) courses, the state government will fill up 35 per cent of seats through the CET while the rest would be filled up by the managements on the basis of the entrance conducted by the COMED.

Similarly, for engineering courses, the state would fill up 50 per cent of the seats through its CET and the remaining 50 per cent would be filled up by the managements through the COMED.

This is for the third time that such an MoU has been approved by the apex court. During the earlier two years also, the apex court had approved similar MoU as dispute relating to the seat-sharing formula is pending final adjudication before the court. More

Wish you all a Happy Ugadi

2009-03-26T04:20:00.000-07:00

Dear All

Wishing you all A HAPPY NEW YEAR (UGADI)

Google's Wonder Wheel Experiment, and More

2009-03-26T03:31:00.000-07:00

Google's Wonder Wheel Experiment, and More

Google is running an experiment in their search results, apparently shown to a portion of their users. What happens is that on the search results, say for the query comic books, a link in the top blue bar will read “Show options...”. Click it, and a side bar full of options expands to the left.

The options include some known experiments, plus things I didn’t see so far. There are restriction options to show only recent results, only videos, only forum entries, or only reviews. You can sort by relevance, or by date, and you can only show results from time ranges like the past 24 hours or the past week. You can opt to receive longer snippet text, and images. There’s also a timeline feature and search suggestions.

Here are some screenshots of the process (I’ve added a circle in the first screen showing the link that gets you started): More

ALA | Kilgour Award recipient named

2009-03-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

ALA | Kilgour Award recipient named

The winner of the 2009 Kilgour Award is William H. Mischo, head of the Grainger Engineering Library and Information Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Library. The Award committee chose William Mischo from a strong field of nominated leaders in library and information technology and praised his three-decades-long work on the design of user-centered information retrieval tools and services; his efforts to take on the complex challenges of search query formulation using various database syntaxes and the presentation of search results from different sources through a user interface in a manner that is comprehensible to various user audiences; and his translation of user information discovery needs into software programs and new information protocols that have served as models for commercial services and community standards. In addition, Mischo has made significant contributions to the areas of subject access in online catalogs; end-user interface design to enable searching of online abstracting and indexing databases; full-text search and discovery systems and the challenges of publishers and libraries providing access to this content; federated search of multiple full-text repositories; and the use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and OpenURLs as unique methods for identifying journal articles. MORE

Latest issue of Heat and Mass Transfer for free

2009-03-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

Read the newest Articles for free

Heat and Mass Transfer publishes original research reports serving the circulation of new developments in the field of basic research of heat and mass transfer phenomena, as well as related material properties and their measurements.

The title was changed in 1995 from "Wärme- und Stoffübertragung' to "Heat and Mass Transfer" to enable and stress international publications in the journal. Read more

Sign up for the Table of Content - Alert

As a special offer, I would like to provide free access to the last issue that has been published recently. This offer is valid until the end of April.

Please find a some of the articles available for free below.

Data analysis issues with thermo-fluids investigations: a critical literature review
-Vipin Yadav
Experimental study on surface wave and film breakdown of falling liquid film flow
-Tang Zhiwei, Yan Xiaoke and Jiang Zhangyan
A mixed convection in a reciprocating \UppiUnknown control sequence '\Uppi' shape channel with opposite direction of gravity and inlet cooling fluids
-Wu-Shung Fu, Sin-Hong Lian and Yu-Chih Lai
Evaluation of heat transfer surfaces for compact recuperator using a CFD code
-T. P. Ashok Babu and Mohammad Shekoor Talekala
Optimization of heat transfer coefficient correlation at supercritical pressure using genetic algorithms
-Jiyang Yu, Baoshan Jia, Dan Wu and Daling Wang
Heat (mass) transfer and friction loss in two-pass ducts with various parallel rib arrangements
-Kyung Min Kim, Sei Young Lee, Dong Hyun Lee and Hyung Hee Cho
Impact of the initial streamwise inclination of a double jet emitted within a cool crossflow on its temperature field and pollutants dispersion
-A. Radhouane, Nejla Mahjoub Said, H. Mhiri, G. Le Palec and Ph. Bournot
Forced-convection film condensation on a horizontal cylinder with wavy surface structure
-Cha’o-Kuang Chen and Yan-Ting Lin
Influence of vibration in enhancement of heat transfer rates from thin plannar fins
-E. I. Eid and M. E. Gomaa

Thank you very much for your continued interest in Engineering publications by Springer.

Sincerely,

Renate Hueser
Product Manager Engineering
Springer

More

Let's Play with KOHA

2009-03-04T21:46:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Let's Play with KOHA

View more presentations from Ashoksatapathy. (tags: ashok of)

Kashmir University Search

2009-03-01T20:15:00.000-08:00

Kashmir University Search

"Trends in Information Management", Bi-annual journal of Department of Library & Information Science, The University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India. Bi-annual peer reviewed Journal aiming to publish original papers on various facets of Information Management. This Journal welcomes articles, reviews, professional news etc. relevant to the focus of the journal. MORE

ONLINE! Citation Styles: Index

2009-02-26T02:51:00.000-08:00

ONLINE! Citation Styles: Index: "We strive to keep the links related to the content of Online! current. Some documents that we use for sample citations have been moved since publication, and the links shown in the samples will not activate their retrieval. As illustrations of appropriate documentation style we are retaining these 'broken' links without correction." MORE

ERIC – About the ERIC Program

2009-02-26T02:44:00.000-08:00

ERIC – About the ERIC Program: "ERIC - the Education Resources Information Center - is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC provides ready access to education literature to support the use of educational research and information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research." MORE

Home | Karnataka State Library Association

2009-02-06T23:46:00.000-08:00

Home | Karnataka State Library Association

Home
Karnataka State Library Association (KALA) is a professional association for Library and Information Professionals. This website has been created as a platform for professional development for KALA and the LIS professionals. Please feel free to share your thoughts, suggestions and feedback to make KALA a more vibrant organization.

Please have a look at the Activities section (above) to know about KALA activities.

Let us know what you think about our website by rating it(right next to this page)

Keep visiting KALA website for many upcoming activates for the LIS professionals

Feel free to Write to : secretary@kalaonline.com

National Portal of India : Directories

2009-02-03T23:57:00.000-08:00

National Portal of India : Directories

Searching for an Indian Government website ?..or lost in the maze trying to find STD/PIN Codes of any region in the Country ?..

Welcome to this section which helps you search through the various useful Directories.. MORE

Library Philosophy and Practice title page

2009-02-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

Library Philosophy and Practice title page: "Library Philosophy and Practice (LPP) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal that publishes articles exploring the connection between library practice and the philosophy and theory behind it. These include explorations of current, past, and emerging theories of librarianship and library practice, as well as reports of successful, innovative, or experimental library procedures, methods, or projects in all areas of librarianship, set in the context of applied research." MORE

Be the change you want to see!!!

2009-01-24T03:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Sirs,
Please circulate this message.

With Regards,
K.R.Mulla

Folks Are Flocking to the Library, a Cozy Place to Look for a Job - WSJ.com

2009-01-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

Folks Are Flocking to the Library, a Cozy Place to Look for a Job - WSJ.com: "TRACY, Calif. -- The financial crisis has caused a lot of withdrawals at the public library.
A few years ago, public libraries were being written off as goners. The Internet had made them irrelevant, the argument went. But libraries across the country are reporting jumps in attendance of as much as 65% over the past year, as newly unemployed people flock to branches to fill out résumés and scan ads for job listings." MORE

Encyclopedia of the Nations - Information about countries of the world, United Nations, and World Leaders

2009-01-15T00:38:00.000-08:00

Encyclopedia of the Nations - Information about countries of the world, United Nations, and World Leaders

The Encyclopedia of the Nations is a complete source for detailed information about one hundred ninety three countries in the world, information about the United Nations and the associated agencies, and World Leaders.

There is a section that focuses on the history and the development of the United Nations, its structure and purpose, developments by each of the United Nation's generals, and the achievements in the fields such as security and peace between nations.

The detailed nation profiles are categorized by continent and alphabetically arranged and consist of information about each country such as the population, history, ethnic groups, culture, language, transportation, government structure, technology, and contain notes about museums, media, libraries, technology, and much more. We also have information about national economies of most countries in Africa, Americas, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe which include the overview of economy, economic sectors, agriculture, poverty and wealth, working conditions, imports, exports, manufacturing, and much more.

Make sure to also vist Every Culture for detailed information about countries' cultures and Food By Country for recipes and other information for every country, and Press Reference for information about press in the World. MORE

Google Book Search

2008-12-23T20:28:00.000-08:00

Google Book Search

Magazines will come into Google Book Search (http://books.google.com) from the Publisher partner side of the service with Google offering free digitization. Some of the magazine content in Google Book Search will come from other Google interfaces (e.g.., Google News Archive) and some from the main Google service.

Have a look on

Best Books 2008 - 12/15/2008 - Library Journal

2008-12-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Best Books 2008 - 12/15/2008 - Library Journal

Listen up, Barack Obama! You'll find useful reading on LJ's annual Best Books list, from Stephen Hess's What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect to Mahvish Rukhsana Khan's My Guantánamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me and Raja Shehadeh's Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. It's not all politics, though. From fiction debuts by Uwem Akpan, Nam Le, and Saša Stanišic´ to works from masters Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and Marilynne Robinson, from a biography of Shakespeare's wife to a chronicle of Sixties “girls like us,” and from accounts of divorce and madness to hot thrillers and cool how-to, this list has enough to occupy anyone for the coming year.

IndCat: Online Union Catalouge of Indian Universities @ INFLIBNET Centre

2008-12-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

IndCat: Online Union Catalouge of Indian Universities @ INFLIBNET Centre

IndCat: Online Union Catalogue of Indian Unversities is unified Online Library Catalogues of books, theses and journals available in major university libraries in India. The union database contains bibliographic description, location and holdings information for books, journals and theses in all subject areas available in more than 112 university libraries across the country. A Web-based interface is designed to provide easy access to the merged catalogues. The IndCat is a major source of bibliographic information that can be used for inter-library loan, collections development as well as for copy cataloguing and retro-conversion of bibliographic records. The IndCat consists three components available in open access to users and librarians.

Books: Over ten millions bibliographical records of books from more than 112 university libraries. more details

Theses: Doctoral theses submitted to various Indian universities till date. more details

Serials: Currently subscribed journals by the universities and holdings information on serials available in various university libraries. more details

asia-www-monitor Info Page

2008-12-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

asia-www-monitor Info Page

Welcome to the asia-www-monitor
You can subscribe to the free email edition of the Asian Studies WWW Monitor e-journal, or change your existing subscription, in the sections below.
The Asian Studies WWW Monitor (ISSN 1329-9778) , an electronic journal founded and edited by Dr T. Matthew Ciolek of the RSPAS, The Australian National University, was established 21 April 1994. The associated mailing list 'asia-www-monitor' (originally operating from the 'coombs.anu.edu.au' address) was established on the 6th Jun 1994. Some fourteen years later, on the 9th May 2008, the list moved to its current address, i.e. to the 'anu.edu.au' server. The journal - issued in the two parallel, web [http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html] and email [asia-www-monitor at anu.edu.au], formats - is a pioneering and the only publication of this kind in the world. It specializes in abstracts and reviews of new/updated online resources of significance to the research, teaching and communications dealing with Asian Studies. The periodical forms a key element of the global, cooperative project Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library

Journals Online4Information Science

2008-12-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

Journals Online4Information Science: "

LIBRARY , Information Science, Information Technology & Titles of Interest to Educators

Please Note! the American Library Association in the spring of 2003 redesigned their site
and totally redid their links to content.
URLs that many sites (including this one) had links to pages & publications
are now 'no longer valid'.
I am placing the link to ALAs Publications page and you should use this one to locate Any/All current links to ALA Periodicals and Publications.
I also am using http://tinyurl.com, to shorten the very long URLs that ALA has now.
Periodicals of the American Library Association
Divisions, Offices, Round tables & Sections
tinyurl.com/ezhb"
More

Scholarly journals - new free service makes keeping up-to-date easy « News from ticTOCs

2008-12-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

Scholarly journals - new free service makes keeping up-to-date easy « News from ticTOCs: "ticTOCs is a new scholarly journal tables of contents (TOCs) service. It’s free, its easy to use, and it provides access to the most recent tables of contents of over 11,000 scholarly journals from more than 400 publishers. It helps scholars, researchers, academics and anyone else keep up-to-date with what’s being published in in the most recent issues of journals on almost any subject." More

springfieldebooks » home

2008-12-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

springfieldebooks » home

Please visit the link given below if you are interested in free e-books.It is Wiki page with links to various free ebooks resources. More

AccessMyLibrary - News, Research, and Information that Libraries Trust

2008-11-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

AccessMyLibrary - News, Research, and Information that Libraries Trust

What's on AccessMyLibrary?
AccessMyLibrary gives you free access to millions of articles from top publications available at your library.
32,031,952 articles in the following categories:
Arts, Business, Consumer News, Culture & Society, Education, Government, Personal Interest, Health, News, Science & Technology. MORE

Visual MINTEQ ver 2.53

2008-11-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

Visual MINTEQ ver 2.53

Introduction

You are invited to download a freeware version of Visual MINTEQ!!

Visual MINTEQ is a Windows version of MINTEQA2 ver 4.0, which was released by the USEPA in 1999. MINTEQA2 is a chemical equilibrium model for the calculation of metal speciation, solubility equilibria etc. for natural waters. It is probably the most widespread model for these purposes today, and it is renowned for its stability. As the development of a Windows version of MINTEQA2 is being supported by the two Swedish research councils VR and MISTRA, the program is distributed via Internet from this server free of charge.

Visual MINTEQ has been developed to make the powerful features of MINTEQA2 more easily accessible for graduate and post-graduate students in soil and water chemistry. However also for research purposes the program has the potential of speeding up the management of input and output data. Visual MINTEQ has also been modernised to include new options for adsorption modelling. Here are some examples of what Visual MINTEQ can do:

MINTEQA2 | Exposure Assessment Models | US EPA

2008-11-24T22:16:00.000-08:00

MINTEQA2 | Exposure Assessment Models | US EPA

MINTEQA2

MINTEQA2 is a equilibrium speciation model that can be used to calculate the equilibrium composition of dilute aqueous solutions in the laboratory or in natural aqueous systems. The model is useful for calculating the equilibrium mass distribution among dissolved species, adsorbed species, and multiple solid phases under a variety of conditions including a gas phase with constant partial pressures. A comprehensive data base is included that is adequate for solving a broad range of problems without need for additional user-supplied equilibrium constants. The model employs a pre-defined set of components that includes free ions such as Na+ and neutral and charged complexes (e.g., H4SiO4, Cr(OH)2+). The data base of reactions is written in terms of these components as reactants. An ancillary program, PRODEFA2, serves as an interactive pre-processor to help produce the required MINTEQA2 input files. more

Electronic Journals from the Digital Library and Archives, University Libraries, Virginia Tech

2008-10-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Electronic Journals from the Digital Library and Archives, University Libraries, Virginia Tech

Digital Library and Archives provides access to scholarly electronic journals that are peer-reviewed, full text and accessible without cost. Journal range from topics in education, engineering, literature to technology, philosphy and libraries science. Most journals are available in both PDF and HTML. Current journals are listed below: more

phdData.org | Dissertation in progress | Thesis in progress | Doctoral dissertation | Doctoral thesis | Phd dissertation | Phd thesis

2008-10-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

phdData.org | Dissertation in progress | Thesis in progress | Doctoral dissertation | Doctoral thesis | Phd dissertation | Phd thesis

This site holds a database of doctoral dissertations in progress around the world.
The site is an open academic community effort to:

Avoid duplications in doctoral dissertations

Create the ultimate meeting place for researchers

Allow for interaction between them

Home/Search - ADT

2008-10-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

Home/Search - ADT

The ADT Program acknowledges the work done at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The ADT Distributed Database is powered by

Information on this website is copyright. Apart from fair dealing as permitted under the copyright law of your country, no material may be copied or further disseminated without the written permission of the legal holder of that copyright, Council of Australian University Librarians.

Introduction - Theses Canada Portal

2008-10-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Introduction - Theses Canada Portal

This is your central access point for Canadian theses and information about the Theses Canada program. From here you will be able to:

Search AMICUS, Canada's national online catalogue, for bibliographic records of all theses in Library and Archives Canada's theses collection, which was established in 1965;
Access and search the full text electronic versions of numerous Canadian theses and dissertations;
Find out everything you need to know about Theses Canada, including how to find a thesis, how our program works, information on copyright and much more.
The electronic theses and dissertations on this site are for the personal use of students, scholars and the public. Any commercial use, publication or lending of them in libraries is strictly prohibited.

HK University Theses Online

2008-10-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

HK University Theses Online

The Hong Kong University Theses Collection holds 16,574 titles of theses and dissertations submitted for higher degrees to the University of Hong Kong since 1941. The first recorded thesis was dated 1928, though all theses prior to 1941 were lost during the occupation of WWII. HKUTO includes works in the arts, humanities, education and the social, medical and natural sciences. Many of them deal entirely with or focus on subjects relating to Hong Kong. The collection is primarily in English, with some in English and Chinese, and others in Chinese only. Almost all HKU theses are included in HKUTO. Missing ones might be located in HKU departmental libraries. HKUTO now includes 14,481 fulltext electronic theses.

Ezinemart.com-The Online Magazine Store,digital magazines,print editions,cinema magazines,sports magazines

2008-10-14T04:09:00.000-07:00

Ezinemart.com-The Online Magazine Store,digital magazines,print editions,cinema magazines,sports magazines

"Read your favorite magazines online - anywhere, anytime.

eZineMart.com is an online magazine store that offers access to leading magazines in digital format.eZineMart also sells subscription of the print editions and the paid digital magazines as well. The decision to make the digital edition free or paid made by the publisher.

eZineMart.com is powered by the digitization services and e-publishing platform of Vast Digital Publishing Pvt. Ltd. eZineMart creates and publishes the digital edition magazines. eZineMart.com can generate these magazines in minutes and make them available on the Internet allowing Publishers to reach out to reader who are beyond the reach of traditional distribution channels. Users can access these magazines anytime-anywhere.

eZineMart.com digital publishing solution can be applied to any business which involves ePublishing in any form.

eZineMart.com helps businesses in dissemination of the relevant information online with following benefits:

Online Availability across geographies
Archival of all the print issues
More awareness through enhanced reader base
Reduces cost of printing and distribution
New medium of brand promotion
Eco friendly as each digital magazine saves trees

eZineMart.com leverages the technical strengths of Vast Digital Publishing Pvt. Ltd. high levels of innovative services and benefits from economies of scale to provide visitors access to world class digital editions of their favorite magazines titles.
"eZineMart.com is a venture of Vast Digital Publishing Pvt. Ltd.

Vast Digital Publishing is a reputed provider of services and solutions primarily to the media industry. The primary business of Vast Digital Publishing is to provide end-to-end BPO and KPO solutions to print and online media industries through the Media Hub division. The service offerings have also successfully been extended to:

Newspapers
Magazines
Art Galleries
Corporate Houses
Government Departments
NGOs/ Social Sector
Business Catalogues
Journals
Reports
Books
Annual Reports
User Manuals
Educational Institutions