Networking of Library and Information Centres of North East India

National Seminar on
Networking of Library and Information Centres of North East India in Digital Environment (NLICDE-2011)
(21-23 March 2011)
ORGANISED UNDER THE AEGIS OF
National Library, Kolkata
Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India
Organized by
Central Library, National Institute of Technology Silchar

THEMES
* Networking of Library and Information Centres of NE India in Digital Environment
SUB-THEMES
• Networking of educational & Research Institutes of NE India
* Library Consortia, Networking and Resource Sharing of LICs of NE India
• Impact of ICTs on LICs of NE India: Issues and Challenges.
• Web 2.0 / Lib 2.0 and Its Implications in LICs of NE India
• Open Access, DL/ IR Initiatives in LICs of NE India
OBJECTIVES
• The principal objectives of this seminar is to provide a platform for exchange of knowledge, ideas & learning experience among the Librarians, Information specialists, Information providers & persons related to LIS.
• To identify constraints, problems and challenges relating to networking & information sharing of LICs of NE India.
• To develop inter-institute links within the North East India to facilitate effective exchange of information resources among the information professionals of NE India.
• To initiate a library Consortia in North East India & to suggest the mechanisms to set up North East India Library & Information Network (NEILIBNET).
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Practicing Librarians, Retired Library Professionals, Teachers, IT Professionals, Knowledge Workers, Students and Faculties of LIS etc of the country in general and of the North East India in particular are the targeted participants.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Papers based on Case studies, Researches, Practical experiences, etc. on the main theme and sub-themes of the Seminar are invited from the interested persons. The Paper should be within 6000 word including Abstract of about 300 words with 4 keywords and typed in MS-WORD in 12-point Times New Roman. All the references should be properly tagged and referred following Chicago Manual Style. The authors should agree with the transfer of the copyright of the papers to NL, Kolkata and the NIT Silchar. The same should be sent as e-mail attachment to the Organizing Secretary on or before 2nd March 2011. All the received papers will be peer–reviewed. Only the accepted papers will be published in an edited book format to be published under the aegis National Library, Kolkata.
REGISTRATION
Interested delegates need to resister for the Seminar. Registration, Boarding and Lodging for the Seminar is free. Due to limited financial resources, only the selected participants (presenting papers) from North-East Region shall be paid TA on production of Train/Bus/Sumo fare receipts. Please note that there will be no telephonic or on-the-spot registration, so please send your registrations before 10 March 2011.

CONTACT DETAILS
Kishor Chandra Satpathy
Librarian & Organising Secretary.
National Institute of Technology
(A Deemed University-Institute of National Importance under Ministry of HRD, GOI)
Silchar-788010, Assam, India
Telephone : +91-3842-240055 (Off) +91-9435175531 (M)
E-mail : kishor_satpathy@yahoo.com and ksatpathy@gmail.com

NORTH-EAST INDIA RESEARCH & LIBRARY NETWORK: DREAM TO REALITY
Kishor Chandra Satpathy
Librarian, National Institute of Technology
(A Deemed University-Institute of National Importance under Ministry of HRD, GOI)
Silchar-788010, Assam, India
Telephone: +91-3842-240055 (Off) +91-9435175531 (M)
Email: kishor_satpathy@yahoo.com and ksatpathy@gmail.com


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The information revolution, along with its attendant explosive growth of knowledge, and the related phenomenon of the globalization of the world economy has brought about the Information Age. North Eastern Region (NER) of India is no exception to this disparity between information rich and information poor. The need of the hour is, therefore, to join national academic information portals with that of other regional initiatives in a collaborative effort to use information and communication technologies (ICT), specially the power of the Internet, for knowledge sharing and disseminating academic information. The NER comprises of eight states that are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and Sikim.

North-Eastern Library and Information Network (NERLIBNET) will facilitate knowledge- sharing and research partnerships between professional networks, researchers, libraries and key knowledge end- users, including policy- makers, trainers at institutions of higher learning, civil society organisations and the private sector.

Judged by many indicators, NER’s economic performance has improved over the recent years, but it remains fragile, and poverty is becoming deeper and more widespread. The challenge of attaining and sustaining higher levels of growth to reduce poverty remains overwhelming. There are currently some national research and information network initiatives in different parts of India. But the lack of an effective networking mechanism to bridge those activities, inadequacy of institutional arrangements to link various research institutions and organisations and centres of higher learning and public policy decision-making entities, have led to a number of shortcomings including:

• Absence of a portal, or gateway to the best researched information generated by the various knowledge sources in the NER-focused research centres abroad;
• Duplication;
• Isolation of research from the training of future policy leaders at institutions of higher learning;
• Limited local content in training programmes at all levels;
• Limited policy impact of research and programmes on public policy;
• Limited enrichment of civil society programmes from contemporary research;
• Limited local research in the search for solutions to private sector industrial and commercial problems.

Increased knowledge and more local content are needed to solve public policy problems, enrich the teaching curricula, stimulate the private sector, invigorate civil society, foster good governance and strengthen the integration of NER societies and economies, especially in the context of the intensely competitive global environment. The linking of knowledge- generating entities to knowledge end- users is critical to achieving this objective.

The NERLIBNET will "federate" existing networks with the aim of strengthening indigenous policy-oriented research and analysis for more effective use by NER decision- makers. NERLIBNET provides a continuous link between NER research networks, policy- makers and training institutions (mainly technical institutes) and supports centres of NER expertise and NER think-tanks-tasks which are critical to the pooling of resources for effective knowledge production and use. NERLIBNET will be particularly important to promote consensus building among NER’s academic and development stakeholders around key challenges, and to set priorities on which research initiatives should focus. By creating feedback loops between knowledge- production and knowledge-use, NERLIBNET will strengthen applied research and advisory services to NER researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations and private sector entities. NERLIBNET’s comprehensive database of expertise across disciplines will be pivotal to linking the supply and demand for knowledge-types in the continent.

Through technical support for IT-enhanced networking as well as participation by the knowledge networks in regular programs of research, advisory services, policy conferences, seminars and workshops, NERLIBNET will facilitate continuous and effective interaction between research networks and policy-makers. It will thus generate demand-driven research relevant to practical policy issues. NERLIBNET would initially focus on setting up various databases (using data provided by the existing networks); setting up a web-based directory of NER originated web sites to promote networking activities; as well as creating and moderating discussion lists.

The immediate beneficiaries from the NERLIBNET will be various organizations and academic institutions in who are planning and implementing different development initiatives. They will be more cooperative in knowledge and resource sharing in their approaches and will develop a capacity to tackle impediments to their development programs following the approaches of others who succeeded. NERLIBNET envisages taking advantage of the most important aspects of the Internet, and building the ability to capture and disseminate information services consistently across the region and provide a unique platform for broad collaborations among various stakeholders in education and research sector as well as with other existing online networks.

NERLIBNET will bring together academics and researchers to collaborate online and engage in knowledge sharing within the region. The Mission of the NERLIBNET is to create a regional academic information portal for the NER through partnership, networking, sharing and exchanging of knowledge and other resources. Therefore, the overall objective of this project will be the elaboration of an online academic network strategy and plan of action for the region, as well the implementation of an effective researchers’ network. The realization of the above will additionally address several other critical goals.

NERLIBNET also aims to provide a forum for individual and community-based and local, regional or national research organizations to share and exchange ideas, experiences and resources on issues of common interest. It will catalyse the development of latest research methods by providing web applications and ICT based services, notably for e-learning, and online library services.

A major component of NERLIBNET will be a collaborative network of libraries in the region that contribute vision, policy, principles and advocacy realized through information and communication technology infrastructure resources used to deliver library-mediated development information resources. The set of computer applications with internet services provide a point of entry for librarians and the public to resources of NER libraries and other networked information.

IMPORTANCE OF NETWORKING IN NORTH-EASTERN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES

The socio economic-cultural context of North East attracts special attention of our national planners and various developmental activities are geared to improve the basic facilities in this region. Among the most crucial factors which are essential to the regional development vis-a vis social unrest prevailing in the North East is Education and as such educational planning & programmes attains special significance in our national priority list for this region. Already a host of educational institutions supported by Central & State Government exists in these states. However, it is strongly felt by the planners in North East that any programme undertaken in this region must have a inter state correlation and it must have a north-eastern perspectives. In other words-(educational) development activities must take North East as a whole without confining them to any one state. Educational institutions like IIT Guwahati; IIM Shillong; NIT Silchar & Agartala; NERIST Itanagar; NERIWALM Sonitpur; Central Universitires like NEHU Silllong; Assam Univ. Silchar; Tezpur Univ Tezpur; Mizoram Univ. Aizwal; Nagaland Univ. Kohima & Medical Instittutions like RMRC, Dibrugarh & NEIGRIHMS, Shillong are such institutions which are not only catering the educational needs of the concerned states but also to the entire North India & rest of India. With a host of large number of educational Institutions, there has been a growing need to have NETWORK for these educational Institutions. Furthermore, there is a growing demand by the LIS professionals for the networking of said institutions & other state level institution libraries for better resource sharing. On this background, the idea for North East India Research & Library Network has come up. On the line of other active Library networks Like DELNET, INFLIBNET etc. it is proposed that North East India should have a network North East India Research & Library Network for NE Region.

First Step in this regard is to bring all the stakeholders to a platform to disscuss on the issue. Therefore a National seminar on the issue is being organized at NIT Silchar during March 2011 to draw a frame a blueprint for the network. For details pl. contact ksatpathy@gmail.com