Replies to This Forum

Permalink Reply by Dr. Badan Barman on July 27, 2013 at 21:10

Dear Sridhar Sir, Thanks for raising this point for discussion.
I am very much thinking of this from last one and half year and eagerly waiting to take it as one of the objective of LIS Links site.

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Permalink Reply by Ravikrishnan D on July 27, 2013 at 23:00

Dear sir....

Librarian has more works in Library and its related field. Our duty is main academic activities of the any educational institutions. so.. re-designation is not required sir....

 

 What about Director of Physical Education

We are also ask Director of Library

 

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Permalink Reply by Bahni Mukhopadhyay on July 28, 2013 at 3:06

The issue is rooted not in changing the designation, but the mindset of people. Can't we take pride in the fact that the 'Father of Library science' had once shun the 'professor' tag in order to become a 'Librarian'? And, Sir to earn the status similar to the teachers, we librarians have to stand against any kind of insult, but side by side, we have to do our duty, & uphold our works and service-principles; no complex should creep into our mind in being called a 'Librarian'. That'd perhaps lend our profession more status and grace, than imitating other professions...

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Permalink Reply by Vyas Jagdish R on July 28, 2013 at 8:02

School librarian Designation is Librarian .College Librarian Designation is Librarian also public Library Librarian Designation is Librarian .
UGC & Universities wants more information services from College & Universities librarian rather than issuing & lending books. Now a days Librarians are giving on Line services.
Number of services will be increasing day by day for ex-Mobile services .
If people or UGC wants some improving changes in duties of Librarian then College librarian Designation should be changed . It should be " Documentation & Information Officer " . Ten years back Librarians were giving services which are available in their library but now a day people wants more output .To meet such output Librarian must be ready to face all challenges & it is possible by starting change of Designation . Military & Police person after wearing Uniform feels more proud of his duties ,just like that if we change our designation ,we will abide to give that duties proudly. To change scenario of Today's Public towards Librarian change is required as Documentation & Information Officer " . WE all must fight to change the name .

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Deepak Sharma on July 28, 2013 at 17:41

Dear All,

After reading above comments, it is sure that we LIS professionals are not satisfied with the current status of us.

But changing the designation is not the right option as the word Librarian is related directly with the word LIBRARY and this word is like a temple for all of us. I have studied various foreign trends, they people also called Librarian and Library Professionals, the change they have are that they have various designations within the specialization of library like Reference Librarian, Acquisition Librarian, Research Librarian etc. but here in Indian scenario everyone is librarian after doing his MLISc everyone becomes librarian whether he is working on any post inside the library.

The government should do something to change the whole working system of libraries in India. More conferences, seminars should be organized on this topic and government officials should be invited to give awareness about all this. NKC although doing well in this direction but direct involvement of library professionals should be mandatory for making any policy related to Library and Library Professionals.Only few senior library professionals can not take the decisions on behalf of thousands of professionals without doing any ground work.

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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on July 28, 2013 at 18:50

Dear Dr. Sridhar,

Thank you for your post and for addressing a rather lucrative issue for many of us!!  

Well, the proposal is quite nice, it is  already there in the US.

But it may certainly invite a few complexities associated with Assessment, Clarification & service Conditions etc.

The API have to be made  EXACTLY AS THE TEACHERS.

Secondly what will be the case of Librarians in Medical/Engineering Colleges?

Following the US pattern will not be of much help as the need to "renew " their professional competencies on regular basis. In our country neither we have such scopes nor mindset!

Never-the-less, as we all know that College/University Librarians have received teaching status some 20 years ago but as we practically see there has been hardly any difference in the social status of Librarians. I personally very much doubt whether such change in designation will make any difference at all (except, of course sort of self satisfaction among many of us!!).

Even if the Assistant/Deputy/ University Librarians are re-designated as Assistant/Associate/Professors in Library Science, as the case may be, there will be ambiguity with those of teachers in Library Science Departments.

Even the service conditions  may require some important modifications.

As I understand, in West Bengal, the leave & service status of College Librarians (except the nomenclature non-vocational teachers) are not well defined by many universities yet.

Incidentally, I must admit that I salute Ms Bahni Mukhopadhyay for her post. I am sure that  you will certainly agree with me that her post reflect a deep sense of respect & commitment to the profession.

The posts by Sri Ravikrishan, Sri Jagdish Vyas and Sri Deepak Sharma also contradict the redesignation proposed by you and supported by Dr. Barman.

From my personal experience I presume that those of us working under the umbrella of UGC may be supporting this re-designation bu a vast number of professionals outside it may not like it.

And importantly, if the assessment becomes more stringent by the UGC (this is bound to happen today or tomorrow, as I see the trend), this re-designation may not be palatable for many of us.

Sincerely,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta 

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Badan Barman on July 28, 2013 at 19:22

Dear Ray Sir,
Thanks for your comment on this matter. Actually I was waiting for this moment to come. :-).
Kindly correct me, if am wrong, but here is my observation.

--- I am repeating your sentences------
Even if the Assistant/Deputy/ University Librarians are re-designated as Assistant/Associate/Professors in Library Science, as the case may be, there will be ambiguity with those of teachers in Library Science Departments. Even the service conditions may suffer changes.
--
I think there will not be any ambiguity if they are done with a proper plan, rather it will shift the reading habit to a new dimension, i believed. Let the Librarian (newly designated as Professor) entrusted with the responsibility of taking regular classes to the the students regarding web resources pertaining to their course syllabus, Information Literacy, Lifelong Learning, Website Evaluation, Which website to consult over web, which not for writing assignment, how to conduct a search over the web, search strategies, etc besides looking after the library and providing other library facilities.

In my personal opinion, at least the change in designation will give us an equal weightage with that of teachers in terms of service length, leaves, other office matter (you know many librarians even cannot act as an invigilator of an examination), and such others.

I dont have a problem with the present designation, but it kept us aside from others. From teachers as well as from non teachers (office staff).

I am even in the view that the school librarian should be equated with that of teachers even in terms of designation so that they can take classes and promote reading habit. In the research institutes, the librarian should be equated with that of scientist and would assist the researchers in literature search, citation styles, and so on.

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Permalink Reply by vijay choudhary on July 28, 2013 at 19:43

In my opinion should be change our Designation becouse in hindi librarian means Granthpal. many people comments for Librarian (Granthpaal) as a Dwarpaal (Watchman) are Lekhapaal (Accontant).

In many private institutes after M.Phil doing working as a Librarian. but theirs duty is  like a only watchman. I observe and I faced also that  he cant take decision individual for anything. because every institute have Library In-chare. In private institute this Library In-charge can be BE degree holder or only M.Pharma. 

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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on July 28, 2013 at 20:41

Dear Dr. Barman,

Many thanks for your comments.

I very much appreciate the proposals you have made in respect of certain teaching modules to be taught in the LIS Depts. However, I am absolutely doubtful,about the percentage of us who are really competent enough to teach such things. Speaking honestly & without any reservation, I have come across a significant (read majority)  number of Library professionals are quite substandard in knowledge. Even people with higher professional degrees & even in higher salaried positions are virtually unable to express in plain english in writing. Teaching in classes in extempore english is beyond question.( I understand that this statement will irk anguish among many of us; but I can not help saying the truth) Many of such adulterated human resources whom we may call in banking term non performing assets have cluttered the profession. One or two Badan Barmans are mere exceptions as I believe.

I myself was offered teaching posts in Universities more than once in early period of my life but I was afraid that me not being a very serious & committed academician ( I compared myself with my revered teachers) will not do justice to teaching profession and never accepted such jobs. Ironically enough, later I observed that I read more than many of them who came to academic profession!!

As I grew up seeing teachers who were extremely committed and with unfathomed resource of knowledge, it seems rather painful to me to see the downfall of the quality among them.

But I must admit that those who are capable, MUST be given the designation but the matter of concern is drastic unevenness in assessing quality in our country. The ideal thing ( I do not know how/whether it will ever be possible) is not to open a floodgate for such designation. rather it should be done after serious deliberation. That's all!

Sincerely,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

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Permalink Reply by SIMHACHALAM TERLI on July 28, 2013 at 19:52

The Government of Andhra Pradesh issued GO in the year of 2003, June 16 and changed designation of Librarian, Dy. Librarian, Assistant Librarian as Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor in Library and Information Science Respectively,

It has been implemented in some colleges and universities in AP but some consider and the same designation

Attachments:

• Page_1 GO_AP.PDF, 164 KB
• Page_2 GO_AP.PDF, 122 KB

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Badan Barman on July 28, 2013 at 21:07

Dear Ray Sir,
I am very much sorry, I cannot make the discussion threaded as some HTML is not working in my browser.
However, lets continue the discussion by this way, as I cannot resist in expressing here on this topic.
You are very much right that we have some language barrier. However LIS Links does not represent the entire LIS Profession in India. Again, a few of LIS Links members are from Hindi background. Even many of the knowledgeable LIS professionals are not LIS Links members or dont have sufficient time to interact here.
Again, if our knowledge of English language is poor we should not expect the same thing from the coming generation. We should try our best for the coming generation to keep the field fertile.
If we dont have sufficient knowledge, lets try to motivate the best talent towards the Library and Information Science, but those who have the capabilities should not get frustrated after entering into this profession.- just my observation.
Did I forgot to mention that I am not an exception. Even I have a very limited knowledge. :-(

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Permalink Reply by Jyothi Babu G on July 29, 2013 at 20:25

Dear Sir.

Thank you sir for raising a point in this reagrd .It is very necessary for our profession to get a recognition from the society as well as from the academic community.

Now ad days the technological developments that have had such a dramatic impact on library activity should, reasonably enough, have even contributed positively to the general image of libraries and librarians.In this context  at least it  should be changed in the  manner to get a recognition even  by hearing mear our   designation.

In last pay revision the UGC has changed the designation of teaching community to Asst Prof/Associate Prof/Professor etc . So we should have also the  right to ask for changing our designation/nomenclature For this ,we should frame a memorandum to HRD minister and Chairman,UGC for considering our request.

thanking you

Jyothi babu G

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