240 research outputs found
Library stock verification: a ritual and an occupational hazard
No full textExplains the sensitive, controversial stock verification as one of the occupational hazards and a postmortem, emphasises need for clarity of objectives and procedures regarding stock verification and responsibilities of loss, points out that the cost of stock verification often far exceeds the benefits, highlights norms and procedures of stock verification for Government of India institutions, discusses some advantages and various methods and procedures of physical verification, put forth precautionary measures to be taken against loss and mutilation of library documents, analyses the issue of responsibility of loss and ways of resolving the conflict of responsibility, presents the procedure for write-off of reasonable loss, finally concludes by stressing the need for rational and updated rules and procedures about stock verification, responsibility of loss and limits to write-off loss as well as vital role of professional bodies in this direction
Know your library : user orientation
No full textIn a recent longitudinal comparative study of card catalogue and OPAC of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) Library, it was sadly noted that despite automation and meticulously developing, updating and maintaining nine databases on OPAC, almost doubling the number of registered members, collection and use of documents over the same period, use of OPAC has not much increased compared to use of card catalogue. It is often speculated that there is substantial decline in general reading habit and use of libraries over a generation. Promoting the use of OPAC (and multiple databases on them) through user education/ orientation instruction programmes was felt again and again. After all, OPAC, like card catalogue, continue to be one of the many means by which users discover bibliographic references of their potential interest. Having faced such a situation, gearing up user education/ orientation programmes particularly to new users and younger generation is much desired.
The purpose of user education is to make the end user searching as easy and as comfortable as possible, to minimise waiting time at the terminal and to avoid resorting to time consuming trial and error mode. Some of the new technologies are pretty easy to use but few can be effectively used without training. The need for training can be ascertained from the signs of novice users sitting in front of the terminal with lots of beeps, moving back and forth or from menu to menu and long periods of inactivity as well as the need expressed by users themselves.
In addition to extensive one-to-one assistance by professional staff and flip charts, new user induction and orientation programmes have been launched with visual animated presentation as well as lecture and discussion. Regular user orientation entitled "Know your library" consists of lecture cum demonstration on using various services followed by a local tour in small groups and distribution of informative brochure “Know your library” and “library user manual”. In the introduction, the presentation highlights the necessity of consumption skills among users, levels of user education and types of information covered in the presentation, a brief look at significant information-behaviour of engineers, display of selected parts of classification scheme followed by the library and finally the digital content and the non-book material collection of the library. Keeping aside common self-explanatory aspects of OPAC, Digital Library and the Internet, the presentation focused on features generally not known to users. Feedbacks from earlier studies on card catalogue and OPAC were also kept in mind. A series of A3-size colour charts with tips for effective use of OPAC, Internet, Digital Library, on-line and other information services were periodically designed and displayed at important places
Prospects of Open Access to Indian Agricultural Research: A Case Study of ICAR
No full textHistorically, agricultural research and education in India have been in the public domain. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was established as an apex organization for effective research coordination among institutions and promotion of agricultural research in the country. For the dissemination of research output, the research journal publishing in India have been, for long, primarily a public funded activity and done mostly by Government agencies like ICAR organizations supported by it. Though many of these journals are distributed for international indexing, full–text database services are very poor. Many of them are not even in the ISI Master Journal list for impact factor or science citation index analysis. The main objective of each author is to have more impact, visibility and readership for their work. These journals publish quality articles after stringent peer review process, but the time lag from submission to publication of an article or production of issue is long. The infrastructure for publishing online is also not available for these journals. Recently, some provisions have been established for providing free online access of journals being published by professional societies. Now the availability of open source software for the transformation of traditional journals into open access journals and the establishment of open archive online repositories for archiving research can make agricultural research accessible to much larger audiences. The paper argues that this will increase the visibility of research output and eventually lead to an enhanced impact factor for many Indian journals
A decision theory approach to standing order procurement of NASA reports
No full textExplains various package deal procurement methods including standing order method for library documents. Enumerates different standing order services of NTIS for technical reports. Describes the NASA information system. Discusses and analyses the economy of NASA FS service by applying decision theory approach and considering the various costs as well as saving aspects/advantages. Explains the non-economic factors to be considered in evaluating such a service. Suggests ways of making NASA FS service more beneficial to the library of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC)
Supplemental video 1 and video 2 to preprint article: Surface acoustic wave integrated microfluidics for repetitive and reversible temporary immobilization of C. elegans
No full textNo audio.The ZIP file contains two supplemental videos to the preprint article: BIORXIV/2022/496864; Surface Acoustic Wave Integrated Microfluidics for Repetitive and Reversible Temporary Immobilization of C. elegans by Nakul Sridhar, Apresio Kefin Fajrial, Rachel L. Doser, Frederic L. Hoerndli, and Xiaoyun Ding
Understanding the user - why, what and how?
No full textExplains the need, importance, purposes and scope of user studies, discusses procedure for conducting sound user studies together with associated problems of research like selection of problem, formulation of hypothesis, design of study, sampling strategy, data collection methods, scaling techniques, pilot study, processing and analysis of data, testing of hypothesis, interpretation, drawing inferences, communication and dissemination of results and finally concludes by highlighting methodological flaws and gaps in user studies
Information center/ system planning: Physical layout and facilities planning
No full textHighlights the general issues of physical planning for libraries and explores alternate plans from the angle of collection, users, staff, etc. Provides practical tips for the whole exercise of physical planning for libraries and for acquiring equipment and furniture. Discusses related aspects like space estimation, allocation and utilization. A case study of projecting requirements of space for a special library, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) Library is presented with emphasis on practical aspects of creating physical facilities and environment
A study of co-authorship and collaborative research among Indian space technologists
No full textAnalyses the productivity of space scientists and engineers in terms of number of papers published with full as well as fractional authorship credits. Explains the methodology adapted and the samples selected. Discusses in detail the pattern of collaboration of space technologists in publishing papers. Identifies nonintersecting informal communication groups and "communication stars" based on collaboration
Communication with customers: a statistical miscellany of a special library
No full textIt is often said that libraries routinely generate lots of statistics, but rarely collect, process and utilise them for improvement and better management. One of the ways of establishing effective communication with library users is to prominently announce and display colourful statistical charts containing feedback message and brief observation/finding on various aspects of use and user interactions with the library as well as general informative statistics on diverse subjects. On an experimental basis, A3-size colour charts generated and printed for the purpose were periodically displayed one at a time on circulation counter of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) Library during 2002. This incidentally also served another purpose of drawing attention of users on important issues and keeping them engaged for few minutes when they are in waiting line at the counter. Highly compressed statistical data of the library and its users are collected, processed, designed and developed into charts on a PPT document with brief message highlighting the inference. This presentation is a compilation of selected such charts called "Statistical Miscellany of a Special Library". Encouraged by this experiment, number of flip charts of similar nature providing tips for effective use of library and information services including OPAC, Digital Library, the Internet, etc. were also designed, developed and displayed subsequently. In addition, these PPT documents come handy for incorporating into regular user-orientation programmes
Surgical Strategy for Type II Long Segment Giant Spinal Schwannomas – Case Series and Review of Literature
No full textBackground:
Schwannomas have been classified according to their size, extent, and invasiveness. The type II giant intraspinal schwannomas (T2GSS) which extend for more than two vertebral bodies longitudinally are rare tumors. The challenge in surgery is the length of these lesions.
Objective:
The author critically reviewed literature with a view to decide on an ideal surgical strategy for these tumors.
Material and Methods:
A retrospective study was performed of the authors’ cases to identify those which qualified to be T2GSS. An online search was conducted to identify previously published cases in English literature. These were then analyzed especially for surgical approach and results.
Results:
Four cases from the author and 13 cases from the literature formed the basis of the study. The majority involved the cervical spine (15/17). In 4 patients, the lesion extended into the foramen magnum. The average length of the tumors was 6.5 (range 4–13), with 9 tumors located anteriorly. The approaches used included laminectomy – 5/17, laminoplasty – 4/17, hemilaminectomy – 2/17, and anterior corpectomy – 2/17. The author used a unilateral minimal laminotomy in 4 patients. There were no intraoperative complications recorded. Postoperative morbidity included pseudomeningocele, residual tumor, and swan neck deformity.
Conclusions:
The T2GSS is a rare tumor with this report being the first case series. The surgery for these tumors needs to take into account their longitudinal extent to avoid complications related to laminectomy. A unilateral posterior approach with minimal bone removal appears to be the appropriate strategy to be adopted along with good microsurgical techniques
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