From: Michael Sholinbeck (msholinb@library.berkeley.edu)
Date: Fri May 21 2004 - 10:31:10 PDT
Message-ID: <40AE3CDE.5050907@library.berkeley.edu> Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 10:31:10 -0700 From: Michael Sholinbeck <msholinb@library.berkeley.edu> Subject: Re: SLA-SF: Hello from a "Twinning member" from India
Hello -
Thank you for your interesting message. I am not sure I have much
advice for your consortia plan - I do not have any experience in this
aspect of librarianship.
Regarding access to databases, etc. - There's an entity called HINARI
that provides free or reduced access to biomedical literature and
databases to developing countries (so not India, but some other
countries in Asia) - you can read about them at
<http://www.healthinternetwork.org/>. For geosciences, maybe an entity
like the IUGS <http://www.iugs.org/> has such a program? Also, does IFLA
<http://www.ifla.org/> provide any assistnace for this type of endeavor?
Rergardless, it was nice to ahve "met" you (elcetronically). Good lick!
Best,
Michael Sholinbeck
Document Delivery/Reference Librarian
Public Health Library
University of California, Berkeley
USA
1-510/642-2511; 1-510/642-7623 (fax)
msholinb@library.berkeley.edu
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/PUBL/
Smita Chandra wrote:
> Respected colleagues :
>
> I am one of the members selected by SLA-KIIE, for their "International
> Twinning Program" for the period Apr 2003- Apr 2005. I am also a
> member of SLA-Bay region chapter.
>
> It has been a year now being a members of this forum and I have
> pondered about the ways I could bring the twinning benefits to
> colleagues in my home land. I am not sure how familiar the members of
> this forum are with the library scenario in India. However, there is a
> lot of scope for new areas of research, or for new projects here, from
> the library sector. The IT revolution sweeping the country has left
> far behind the libraries. While the libraries in premier educational
> and research institutions have benefited to an extent in the areas of
> Consortia, and to some extent the Web-OPAC and OAI (one or two, to be
> specific), there are many even in this category who have lost track of
> the international
> developments on one hand, and the local priorities on the other. The
> scenario of school, college, and public libraries then, can at best be
> described in terms of the work that they need to begin with. Sadly do
> I say that the librarians at these institutions need to begin at the
> very base level of "developing reading habits/skills" in their users.
> Aspects of library use, hence of library automation and
> improvement come at a very later stage.
>
> Working in such a professional scenario for the past 6 years, I
> strongly feel that we need new projects with national/international
> grants of some sort. And so is there a need to divert reasearch
> interests into the local scenarios here. With this in mind, I wish
> to put forward some ideas to members for consideration and help.
>
> The need for geology/geophyics libraries here is to either form or
> join a consortia of libraries in geology/geophysics/physics worldwide.
> I would like to explore a consortia type model, acting as an online
> aggregator-center/or a sub-division, akin to/affiliated to
> SLA-PAM. The membership to this center/sub-division/body/organization,
> could in turn open access to online journals, various databases and
> many other services (like cataloging, Inter-library loan), to those
> libraries joining it. The reason I state the necessity of an online
> agent for aggregating and disseminating resources is based on the
> difficulties libraries/librarians here in India face, economic and
> political. Many of the libraries are still grappling with ideas for
> consortia formation, unable to pool their resources together. If by
> some mode the ground work could be done, so that the o! nly
> requirement was for libraries to join and become a member, it would
> greatly benefit all.
>
> I am not sure how well I was able to explain what we here need. I
> seek the expertise of members for anything similar they may
> be aware about. I seek your help to explore and further research the
> topic and develop a model project for libraries.
>
> Thank you for going through my mail.
>
> With regards,
>
> Ms. Smita Chandra (IFLA/OCLC Fellow, 2001)
> Librarian
> Indian Institute of Geomagnetism
> New Mumbai
> INDIA
>
>
>
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