Sunday Times 2
SLLA conference marks 55th anniversary celebration
View(s):The growth of internet has transformed the landscape of information society and impacted all aspects of education and in this backdrop Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals have a major responsibility and greater role to play in the process of knowledge creation, organisation, storage, delivery and access, said the Director INFLIBNET Centre Gujarat, India, Dr. Jagdish Arora during the inaugural session of the International Conference on Library and Information Science (ICLIS) held at Galadari Hotel Colombo recently.
Head Table From L-R: ICLIS Conference Chair Dr. Mrs. Pradeepa Wijeytunga, President SLLA Shivanthi Weerainghe, High Commissioner of Pakistan to Sri Lanka H.E Major Gen. (Rtd) Syed Shakeel Hussain, Director INFLIBNET Centre Gujarat, India, Dr. Jagdish Arora, General Secretary SLLA Sandhya Gunawardena, Vice President SLLA Anton Nallathamby. (Pic by Athula Devapriya)
Organised by the Sri Lanka Library Association (SLLA) to coincide with its 55th anniversary celebration, the two-day conference held on September 17-18 focused on the theme of ‘Challenges for Information Professionals and LIS Services in the 21st Century.’
Speaking of the objectives of conference, President of SLLA Shivanthi Weerasinghe said that the event is held with a view to create a forum to discuss the role of information, its integration and dissemination by way of dialogue, research and technical paper presentations.
The event saw discussions and presentations of 27 technical papers by local and international experts in the field of Library and Information Science. Dr. Arora’s deliberations at the inaugural session focused on the topic of ‘Next Generation Libraries; Changing roles of libraries in promoting Research and Innovation’. Addressing the gathering, he said that, future libraries and librarians will have a changed role to play in order to meet the needs of the tech-savvy learners, especially the socially networked young learners.
Some of the features he mentioned included, making the resources and services available in digital form, creation of Facebook sites to facilitate information searching and social exchanges, integration of discovery services with Google, offering virtual referencing services, promotion of interaction/ learning and collaboration amongst students and researchers and digitalisation of archival material etc.
High Commissioner of Pakistan to Sri Lanka Major Gen. (Rtd) Syed Shakeel Hussain who graced the occasion as the Chief Guest noted that the “users of information are diverse such as general public, decision making bodies, analysts, intelligent specialists, researchers, scientist, consumers and many others. Therefore, library and information professionals need to maintain that balance between disseminating the correct information needed for users.”
The High Commissioner also emphasised the need to strengthen the regional network of libraries. The technical sessions of the conference focused on deliberations and paper presentations based on research findings on a wide range of topics such as, the challenges to Library and Information Science profession, library services for special users, ICT and libraries, current library trends, school libraries and many more.
A panel discussion was also conducted on the topic of challenges for libraries and Library and Information Science professionals in developing countries. The conference also created a platform for networking amongst LIS practitioners, educators and service providers.