Organizer:
Dr. Kumaran, Mr. A. Nirmal Singh Heera & Ms. Malini, TNNLU NDLI club
Platform: Online – Webex
Participants: 40 (Approx.)
Level of Programme: Intra University
The virtual event on the 75 Years History of Library System and It's Development was organized by the TNNLU-NDLI Club as part of the celebration of the 75 years of India’s Independence namely, Suthanthira Thirunaal Amudha Peruvizha (STAP) as instructed by the Central and State Governments.
The event was witnessed by nearly 40 participants. Mr. A. Nirmal Singh Heera, Assistant Professor (Law) and the President of the TNNLU NDLI Club welcomed the resource persons and the participants. After the formal welcome address, Dr. M. Kumaran, Assistant Librarian and the Secretary of the TNNLU NDLI Club introduced the guest speaker of the day Dr. R. Sevukan. The resource person of the day i.e, Dr. R. Sevukan, is an Associate professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Pondicherry Central University, Puducherry. The Resource person started his speech by giving the details of the universities in India. He informed that there are 54 Central Universities, 441 State Universities, 128 deemed to be universities, 397 Private Universities, 94 Institution of National Importance. Then he narrated the growth of the LIS profession. He highlighted that the formal library training by the Baroda College completed 100 years of in 2011; PG certificate programme started by the Punjab University has completed 100 years in 2015. Further, he emphasized that One Year PG Diploma was started in the Madras University has also completed more than 75 years, while MLS by the Delhi University has also crossed more than 75 years. He emphatically mentioned that First Ph.D. in library was awarded in the year 1951 and unequivocally stated that the LIS professionals hold key posts like VCs, Registrars and the Directors of National Centres.
The resource person has also touched upon the libraries system in Ancient, Medieval and the Modern period in which the new era of transformation of libraries in India was noticed towards the middle of the 19th century. He said that the significant date in the development of the libraries is 1808 when the Bombay government initiated a proposal to registrar libraries. He during his speech discussed about the Baroda library system in India and informed the gathering that the public libraries at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were started during the first half of the 19th century. Further, he stated that the Indian Library Association was formed in 1933 and many provinces formed their own library associations.
In addition to the above, he spoke about the growth of the LIS education in India and the levels of programme offered. The man of the day, has not failed to discuss about the major commissions and the committees for the LIS education, such as Renganathan Committee on University and College Libraries (1957-59); Renganathan Committee on Library Science Education (1961-65); National Policy on Library and Information Science, Kaula Committee on Curriculum Development; National Knowledge Commission (2005-08) and the National Mission on Libraries (2012) and the library associations.
The highlight of the talk was on the library legislation in India. It was inter alia, the Imperial Library Act, 1948; Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Act, 1954 and also he has emphasized about the present scenario on the library system.
His lecture also includes the growth of the LIS education and the Research; number of institutions offering the LIS courses, growth of LIS departments in the Indian universities and the State wise LIS Schools. Moreover, it has also included the decade wise growth of Ph.D. thesis in LIS and the subject wise distribution of the Ph.D. theses.
Not but not least, the special lecture by the man of the day was underlined the challenges in the LIS education and the sine-qua-non of the LIS Research either the quality based or the quantity based.
After the lecture was delivered the floor was open for the question and answers and the speaker of the day answered all the questions patiently. Lastly, the event came to an end and Ms. Malini, Assistant Professor of Law, and the Executive Member of the TNNLU NDLI Club proposed the vote of thanks to the resource person and the gatherings as well.
Event Screenshots
