3rd LIS Academy Conference
The 3rd National Virtual LIS Academy Conference, LISACON-2020, held from August 27th to August 30th, 2020, was a landmark event jointly organized by the LIS Academy and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Library, University of Hyderabad. With its theme of "Reinventing Excellence in Librarianship," this conference drew together a diverse and dynamic community of academicians, practicing library professionals, policymakers, and stakeholders, offering a platform for the exchange of knowledge and ideas. This conference's primary objective was to enhance the career paths of its participants within the Library and Information Science (LIS) community. It aimed to achieve this goal by continually elevating the standards of researchers, scholars, and scientists in the LIS domain. By providing a forum for discussion and exploration, LISACON-2020 encouraged every participant to contribute their unique perspectives and knowledge to the field, fostering innovation and growth. To ensure that the conference maintained the highest standards of excellence, both in content and publication, the LIS Academy team collaborated closely with distinguished experts from various universities. Their collective efforts, guided by the Academic Advisory Body of the LIS Academy and the conference organizing committee, ensured that LISACON-2020 adhered to rigorous publication standards and ethical guidelines. These efforts were in line with the principles set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), ensuring that the conference's impact would be both significant and ethical.
The Third LIS Academy annual event and the first virtual conference - LISACON-2020 with a theme Reinventing Excellence in Librarianship was organised by LIS Academy in association with IGM Library, University of Hyderabad and Telangana Library Association during 27-30 August 2020
The conference was formally inaugurated by Prof. K. K. Aggarwal, Hon’ble Chairman, National Board of Accreditation, New Delhi in presence of Prof. Karisiddappa, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi, Prof. T. D. Kemparaju, Vice Chancellor of Bangalore North University, Kolar, Dr. Shankar Venugopal, Vice President, Mahindra & Mahindra, Chennai, Conference Director, LISACON 2020, Dr. M. G. Sreekumar, Chief Librarian and Adjunct Professor, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode, and Prof. B. Raja Shekhar, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Hyderabad.
Prof P V Konnur, Conference Chair and President LIS Academy, formally gave an overview of the conference theme ‘Reinventing Excellence in Librarianship’ and briefed about the professional journey of LIS Academy as well as its initiatives for the development of library professionals. He formally introduced the dignitaries and welcomed them to the first virtual and 3rd LISACON conference. The Conference Director, Dr M G Sreekumar, Chief Librarian and Adjunct Professor, IIM Kozhikode gave a brief note about the conference including sub-themes and introduced the panel speakers of four day event. He highlighted relevance of conference theme and sub-themes in covid19 pandemic and briefed the quiz program organized in each session to the LIS professionals to enrich their knowledge.
Prof Karisiddappa, Honourable Vice Chancellor of VTU, Belagavi, addressed on the changes that libraries are undergoing and the need for librarians to equip themselves to stay relevant and meaningful. He further mentioned that libraries are vital to any educational ecosystem and changes due to technology intervention, changing paradigms in education system and diverse need of information seekers, libraries need to work out a strategy to understand factors of change regarding their services and delivery mechanisms and called on the librarians to aid in creating meaningful curriculum.
Dr Shankar Venugopal, Vice President, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mahindra Research Valley, Chennai, delivered the Keynote address on Future of Library and the new role of Librarians. His talk focused on the forces shaping the future library. Talking on the new role of librarians, he gave three crucial rules for knowing and empowering the libraries and three models for connected library. He presented a comprehensive road map for future libraries and discussed critical skills for future librarians and explained how to build those skills. He enlightened future librarians with 3 new rules - know your customer, empower your customer and empower yourself and how to look at things with fresh perspectives and innovative approaches.
Conference Director, Dr. M. G. Sreekumar shared his thoughts on ‘Conceptualizing and designing a sustainably agile and resilient 21st century library’. In his talk, he discussed the library strategies, systems and services as catalyst in imparting, creating and preserving knowledge. Trends in libraries and mandate of present libraries, learning environment and activities were thoughtfully presented in his talk. Library professionals should shoulder the curriculum and academic activities of the institute by repositioning their importance in the organizations were the highlights of his speech.
Fourth Session of the conference - Data, Metrics, and Ranking: Role of Librarians was Chaired by Dr. Jagadish Arora, Former Director, INFLIBNET, Ahmedabad and Adviser, NBA, New Delhi. In his Plenary talk, he enlightened, how librarians can play a role in Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in India.
Speakers in the session, Dr. Usha Mujoo Munshi, India International Centre, New Delhi; Dr. Sanjay Kataria, Bennett University, Noida; Prof. S M Shafi, Former Professor, University of Kashmir, Srinagar; Dr. B. T. Sampath Kumar, Tumakuru University, Tumakuru; Dr. Bibhuti Bhusan Sahoo, IIT, Bhubaneswar; Dr. Gireesh Kumar T. K., BHU, Varanasi, shared their experiences on - role of librarians in open access publications, research data management, open data repositories, research indicators, institutional rankings and how best libraries can play a key role in enhancing the research visibility and research collaborations.
On 30th the Fifth session - Role of libraries in Inculcating Research Ethics was chaired by Dr. P. Mukhopadhyay, Professor, Dept. of Lib. & Inf. Science, University of Kalyani University, Kolkatta. In his plenary talk, he enlightened the participants on how to inculcate best practices to maintain standards with Academic Integrity.
Speakers of the session, Dr. IRN Goudar, Former Head, ICAST, NAL, Bangaluru; Dr. Murari Tapaswi, Goa University, Goa; Dr. Pratibha Gokhale, University of Mumbai, Mumbai; Dr. Satish Munnolli, ACTREC, Navi Mumbai; Dr. R. S. Jayasomu, NISCAIR, New Delhi; Dr. Rajendra Babu, Tumakur University, Tumakur, discussed and presented their views on publication ethics, pirate sites, good ethical practices in LIS education, role of librarians in publication procedures and predatory publications.
Sixth Session on Library Diplomacy was chaired by Dr. K. Rama Patnaik, Librarian, IIM, Bengaluru. In her plenary talk she presented, how to revitalize diplomacy and what role Libraries can play as a tools of Culture, Advocacy, promotion, and Curating heritage.
The five speakers of the session, Dr. Dilara Begum, East West University, Dhaka; Dr. G. Mahesh, CSIR-NISCAIR, New Delhi; Dr. N. C. Ghosh, IIM, Kolkata; Dr. S. K. Savanur, Former Faculty, Joshi-Bedekar College, Thane; Sri Rajesh Kumar Sinha, South Eastern Railways, Adra, presented on - Library Diplomacy in 21st century, how librarians can learn from science diplomacy, Past, Present and Future of Library diplomacy and strategic tool in diplomacy were deliberated in the session.
Dr. T. A. Mohan, welcomed the dignitaries of valedictory. Dr. Satish Munnolli, presented the detailed report of four days conference to the dignitaries. Prof. B. P. Veerabhadrappa, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Kuvempu University, Shivamogga gave the valedictory address and Dr. S. Satishkumar Hosamani, gave the presidential address and Dr. A. S. Deshpande, Registrar, Belagavi, addressed as Guest of Honour. Dr. P. V. Konnur, President, LIS Academy, Bangalore thanked all the speakers for intellectual contributions and success of the conference and Dr. B. S. Shivaram proposed vote of thanks.
