Reading now: International and Comparative Studies in Information and Library Science

A Focus on the United States and Asian Countries

Series: Libraries and Librarianship: An International Perspective #3. Edited by Yan Quan Liu and Xiaojun Cheng

Introduction by Dr. Yan Quan Liu.

Contents:
NB. To read the following, point mouse over and scrolling stops!!!

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Part 1: Research Methodologies
1. Comparative Librarianship Lalitha K. Sami
2. International Library and Information Science Research: A Comparison of National Trends Maxine Rochester and Pertti Vakkari
3. Comparison between the People's Republic of China and the United States in the Field of Library and Information Science Weina Hua
4. Introducing an International Cooperative Research Method Employed in Cross-Country Studies in Information and Library Science Yan Quan Liu
Part 2: Information Policy
5. The Impact of National Policy on Developing Information Infrastructure Nationwide: Issues in the People's Republic of China and the United States Yan Quan Liu
Part 3: Professional Education
6. Is the Education on Digital Libraries Adequate? Yan Quan Liu
7. An Investigation of LIS Qualifications throughout the World Pete Dalton and Kate Levinson
8. A Comparative Study of Library and Information Science Education: China and the United States Ziming Liu
9. A Comparison Study on the Confusion and Threat of the United States and Chinese Library Education Xudong Jin
10. Motivation to Manage: A Comparative Study of Male and Female Library and Information Science Students in the United States of America, India, Singapore, and Japan Sarla R. Murgai
Part 4: Information Organization and Services
11. Digital Library Infrastructure: A Case Study on Sharing Information Resources in China Yan Quan Liu and Jin Zhang
12. Cataloging Nonprint Resources in the United States and China: A Comparative Study of Organization and Access for Selected Electronic and Audiovisual Resources Yan Ma, Steve J. Miller, and Yan Quan Liu
Part 5: Academic Libraries
13. A Comparative Study of the Use of the Academic Libraries by Undergraduates in the United States and Taiwan Ting-Ming Lai
Part 6: Public Libraries
14. International Public Library Trends Nerida Clifford
15. The Use of the National Library Statistics by Public Library Directors Yan Quan Liu and Douglas L. Zweizig
16. National Public Library Statistics and Management: A Comparison between the United States and People's Republic of China Yan Quan Liu
Part 7: School Libraries
17. Teachers' Perceptions of School Libraries: Comparisons between Tokyo and Honolulu Yuriko Nakamura
18. An International Study on Principal Influence and Information Services in Schools: Synergy in Themes and Methods James Henri, Lyn Hay, and Dianne Oberg
Appendix A: Schools Offering International and Comparative Librarianship Related Courses
Appendix B: Journals Pertaining to International and Comparative Studies in ILS
Appendix C: International Conferences on Information and Library Science
Appendix D: Web Resources Relating to Information and Library Science Worldwide
Bibliography
Index

Rare manuscript, textile from Northeast holed up in museums abroad

Times of India, 25 Sep 2007

GUWAHATI: A number of objects from Northeast India, much more ancient than Mahatma Gandhi's handwritten letter recently recovered from a British auction, are preserved in museums and private possessions in Europe and Southeast Asian countries, researchers have claimed.

Samiran Baruah, a researcher in the Assam State Museum says manuscripts of Brahmabaibhatta Purana belonging to the 18th century is in the British Museum.

" Vrindavani Vastra -- the figured silks from Assam -- from the 16th-18th century are found preserved in the British Museum, Chepstow museum in UK and Gemau Museum in France," he told reporters.

Sachipath Puthi (manuscript book) is occupying a place in British Museum.

Vrindavani Vastra are rare silk textile fragments depicting scenes from the life of Lord Krishna in a floral, naturalistic and preciously elegant style. They were used in the worship of Vishnu in the ancient Assamese monasteries.

Baruah had earlier documented 33 manuscripts including 3,000 paintings scattered in many satras (Vaishnavite monasteries) in Assam.

"Probably during the British rule, researchers found these objects and took them to their country," claims Baruah.

On the Vrindavani Vastra , belonging to the times of Assamese Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankaradeva, Baruah cited the findings by Rosemary Crill, author and a curator in the Indian Department at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

Mahatma Gandhi praised Urdu in last letter

News update: Heritage saved! Auction of Gandhi letter stopped CNN-IBN, July 02, 2007
The executors of Albin Schram have agreed to withdraw the Gandhi manuscript from Tuesday's auction in order that it may be acquired by the Indian Government.


Bapu's letter may be stolen: Grandson, CNN-IBN, June 27, 2007 at 22:16
New Delhi: The scheduled auction of a letter written by Mahatma Gandhi, possibly his last before his assassination, has sent the Indian government in a tizzy.
The letter, written on January 19, 1948, is part of a collection of manuscripts put up for auction at the famous auction house Christie's in London. Meanwhile, a harried Indian Government has started the process of bidding for it. Sources in the Ministry of Cultural Affairs have said that they are assessing the cost to bid for Gandhi’s letter, which is expected to fetch £ 12,000 or Rs 10 lakh.

Press Trust Of India, London, June 29, 2007,
In the letter, a rare manuscript that will go under hammer at Christie's in London on July 3, Gandhi said opposing Urdu will "put a wanton affront" on the Muslims, who "in the eyes of Hindus have become aliens in their own land".

Writing in his journal 'Harijan' on January 11, 1948, Gandhi, who appeared disturbed with the dwindling circulation of its Urdu edition, said in the letter that it is likely to be stopped.

Praising Urdu, which he said "is set free from bondage of orthodoxy", he asserted that those who learn it will "lose nothing but gain". At the same time he urged Muslims to learn Devanagari to "enrich their intellectual" capital and subscribe to his journal.continue

See also:

Mahatma in market

Mahatma manuscript up for sale, govt wakes up

India to participate in auction of Gandhi letter

Gandhians demonstrate against auction of letter

Rare letter from Mahatma surfaces

Rigveda Manuscript in Memory of the World Register

This post courtesy: Smart Indian

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute of Pune has the honour of preserving some of the oldest Indian manuscripts. Among others, it has 28,000 manuscripts of Rigveda. Thirty of these Rigveda manuscripts have been added to the UNESCO's list of the International Cultural Heritage. Rigveda is considered the oldest compilation of the Indian philosophical thoughts which survived through the singing and listening in a special manner and thus called Shruti (heard). Later on [corrected - thanks to Yatra-Tatra] there was a need of writing it and the first manuscripts started emerging. The 30 honoured manuscripts are considered to be written from 1800 BC to 1500 BC. continue reading

See also related posts from my blog:

10th International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL 2007)

The invisible Indian library - Thought for the Day

Rare manuscripts gathering dust

Chandamama gets a snazzier look

Islamic manuscripts section revamp on the cards

Chandamama gets a snazzier look

Mumbai: There is good news for those who enjoyed reading Vikram and Betal stories in the old Chandamama magazines – the children’s classic has been sold to a software company which is going to give it a facelift. Read More

Islamic manuscripts section revamp on the cards

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, March 2: Buoyed up by four of its rare Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit manuscripts getting awarded by the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), the Asiatic Society is drawing up plans to revamp its Islamic manuscripts section.
As the first step, professional librarians, conversant in Persian, Arabic and Urdu, will be inducted to give better service to the scholars and highlight the priceless manuscripts in the society archives.
The absence of librarians conversant in these languages was hamstringing the Islamic manuscript section, a senior official of the society said. The staff pattern ought to be changed to give more utility to scholars dealing with rare manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Urdu.
Nearly 6,000 manuscripts were currently housed in the Islamic section, it was learnt. Collections of Tipu Sultan, Radhakanta Deb and Hedayet Hussain, to name a few, can be perused by scholars.
The collection of manuscripts is a veritable treasure trove for scholars. Dating back to the 17th century, the collection boasts Shahnama written by Firdausi as one among its trasures.
Written by Rashid Taleb, a history of the Chengiz dynasty is also to be found in this collection. It was written in the 16th century.
Abul Fazal’s Ain-i-Akabari is also part of this collection. It is a statistical account of the Mughal empire during emperor Akbar’s reign.
Enthused by the recent awards, senior society functionaries felt that a detailed representation of these manuscripts was needed. The lacuna of not possessing librarians conversant in languages the manuscripts were written in was being felt now, a senior functionary said.

PS. image courtesy: www.catchcal.com

Mehta's Water earns Oscar nomination for best foreign film

Canada's entry for the Academy Awards, Deepa Mehta's Water, earned a best foreign language film nomination Tuesday.

It will compete against Denmark's After the Wedding, Algeria's Days of Glory, Germany's The Lives of Others and Mexico's Pan's Labyrinth.
News source: CBC Arts January 23, 2007; Image source: http://www.dmcityview.com/archives/2006/06jun/06-22-06/movie.shtml

See also: WATER - The movie, an Oscar Contender by Mike Ghouse

Asian, Not Oriental, Politically Correct Lessons of 2006

'Black' coffee may brew trouble, Press Trust of India,

New Delhi, January 7: Order a "black" coffee or talk about "metrosexuals", and you could be accused of being politically incorrect - says a group which describes itself as the "global language police".

On the Global Language Monitor's list – which documents, analyses and tracks trends in language the world over - the top politically incorrect words for the outgoing year are "Oriental", which it says should be replaced by "Asian", and "Macaca", the use of which is believed to have led Senator George Allen's defeat in US polls after he used it to refer to an Indian American aide of his opponent.

In India, our very own Shah Rukh Khans, who likes to be seen in mauves and pinks and are endowed with a dash of feminine sensibilities, will be heralding the menaissance movement.

Even religious phrases have not been spared by the politically-conscious. So there's a demand to rephrase the old prayer 'Our Father in Heaven' to "Our Mother and Father Who Are in Heaven" - that's the Bible in a more just language, as the monitor points out.

Next on the language police's list is "HERstory" for "HIStory".
"Though there are nearly 900,000 Google citations for 'HERstory' they are all based on a mistaken assumption. When Herodotus wrote the first history, the word simply meant 'inquiry'," writes Paul J J Payack, the president of the group. Yet going by the tremendous demand for "HERstory" - the word has made it to the list. Continue reading