[Sigiii-l] Fwd: Reports from WSF IV Workshop On Democratisation of Information with a Focus on Libraries

[Michel J. Menou]

Sorry it is a bit long but I suspect of interest to many of you

Regards,

Michel J. Menou                mailto:Michel.Menou at wanadoo.fr

This is a forwarded message
From: Mikael Book <book at kaapeli.fi>
To: Mirja Ryynanen <mirja.ryynanen at dnainternet.net>
Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2004, 7:51:09 AM
Subject: Reports from WSF IV Workshop On Democratisation of Information with a Focus on Libraries

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Democratization of Information: Focus on Libraries

NIGD, Network Institute for Global Democratization
and 
TISS, Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library,  Mumbai. 


This workshop took place 18-19 January, 2004, at WSF IV, Mumbai, India

Co-ordinators: Dr. Muttayya Koganuramath (TISS),  Mikael Böök (NIGD)

Speakers:

  First Session, 18 January  

Prof. Usha S. Nayar, Deputy Director, TISS (Welcome Address)
Dr. Muttayya Kaganuramath, Librarian, TISS  (Introduction to Workshop)
Dr T.A.V. Murthy,  INFLIBNET, (Address by the Chief Guest)
Prof. R.R.Singh (Presiding Remarks)
Ms Kay Raseroka, President, IFLA, Gaborone, Botswana (Keynote Address)
Prof. Harsha Parekh, SNDT University, Mumbai, India
Mr Doug Schuler, Evergreen State College, Washington, USA
Dr Sangayya Shirumath, IIM, Ahmedabad, India
Prof. E Rama Reddy, University of Hyderabad, India
Mr Sunil Abraham, MAHITI Company, Bangalore, India
Mr N.V. Sathyanarayan, MD, Informatics Ltd, India
Mr G.K. Manyunath, IGIDR, India
Prof. C.R Karisiddappa, President, ILA, Dharwad, India 
Dr B.D Kumbar, Karnatak State University, Dharwad, India
Mr D.V. Singh, Sri Ram College of Commerce, India
Mr Mikael Böök, NIGD, Finland
Dr Pandey S.K. Sharma, PLIO, UGC
Ms Mirja Ryynänen, former Member of European Parliament, Finland
Dr Ravinder Kumar Chadha, Director, Parliament Library, New Delhi, India

  Second Session,  19 January 

Ms Kay Raseroka, President, IFLA, Gaborone, Botswana (Chair)
Mr. Mikael Böök, NIGD, Finland (Introductory Remarks)
Mr Potare Dilip Pochiran, ex-student of library science, Nandeh (Mah.),
India
Mr. Rashid Ali, Documentary film-maker. New delhi, India
Ms. Shweta Verma, Village Libraries Project, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation,
Delhi
Mr. Mika Rönkkö, Technical Advisor, Puxirum Project, Alter do Chao, Brazil
Dr. Helen Jarvis, Librarian, Advisor to Council of Ministers, Cambodia
Dr Boris Kagarlitsky, Director, IPROG, Moscow, Russia
Dr Alla Glintchikova, Political scientist, Moscow, Russia 


The first session took place on Sunday, 18 January from 9 a.m. to 19 p.m.,
at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which is situated in an
Eastern suburb of Mumbai.  It was attended by about 80 persons. The
majority of these participants were  Library and Information Professionals
(LIS) from Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi, Dharwad (city of Karnatak State
University, where many of the Indian LIS are being educated), Ahmedabad
and other Indian cities.  

The second session was held  19 January 2004 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m, at 
NESCO Grounds Venue 126. The number of participants was about 25.

While the first session had been planned in detail, the second was rather
improvised. The first session took place in the well-equipped,
air-conditioned auditorium in the quiet surroundings of the Tata Institute
of Social Sciences; the second session met next to a noisy construction
area in one of the hundreds of tents at  NESCO grounds, the huge
industrial area, where most of the events of the World Social Forum in
Mumbai were organised. 


Summary

The importance of libraries and the librarians in society was stressed, or
taken for granted, by all speakers. There was a near consensus on the
opinion that democratization of information can only be achieved through
an adequately and publicly funded global network of libraries. At the same
time it was recognized that, henceforward, the democratization of
information "implies a fundamental change in the role of the library", as
IFLA president Kay Raseroka said in her keynote address. She explained her
own position as   follows: "As a facilitator of communication, the library
has to establish contextual operations that are determined by the needs of
the community they serve." Raseroka went on to say that librarians should
take an active interest in society, and engage in documentation and
communication. For instance,  professional librarians should preserve,
organise and present the information brought to the World Social Forum by
hundreds of social movements and organisations, Raseroka said. - This
possibility of involving the insitutional library is clearly something
which the organizers of future World Social Forums (and of regional and
local social forums) should also take into consideration. 

The change in the role of the library also necessitates further
democratization of the library itself. Two different aspects, in
particular, were brought to the forefront and discussed:

- The Right to Memory: the non-literate as well as the literate people
must be served by the library, and  both groups must be included in its
collective memory. The new information and communication technologies
should be fully used for this purpose (Raseroka).

- Free and Open Source Software (FOSS): the increasingly digitalized
libraries as well as all other public information services must be built
on free and open source software; this is a precondition of transparency,
accountability and democracy. (Prof. Rama Reddy, Mr. Sunil Abraham and
others). - The objection that technical support is not always available
for FOSS was met by Mr Abraham, who maintained that the support is
nowadays there, if only the libraries take the nesessary steps to contract
it, as they do with firms which support proprietary software.

Under the the theme of "alternative knowledge formation", Mr Doug Schuler
introduced the concept of a collective 'civic intelligence', without which
the complex environmental and social problems of today cannot not be
tackled. Further discussion of the role of the librarians in the
construction of 'civic intelligence' would be most welcome! At least,
several speakers elucidated the related concepts of "knowledge formation"
in organisations (Sirumath), "information literacy" (Karisiddappa,
Ryynanen) and "capacity Building" (D.V.Sing).

"Library Paradigm and Library Power" was discussed, first with special
reference to Indian academic libraries (Pandey K. Sharma), and, secondly,
starting from the question: where comes the library in the existing power
structure of society? (Mikael Böök) A pledge for a Constitutional
Upgrading of Libraries and the Internet was made: the libraries and the
net must be granted power and secure status by means of constitutional
provisions.
This thesis was supported by several participants. It also corresponds to
Dr Koganuramath's introductory remark that the "library has to perform the
role of a super system" in today's information environment. 

In these discussions of abstract concepts and lofty principles some of the
real contradictions and inequalities of, say, India's "information
environment" risked, of course, to be neglected. Fortunately, this was not
the case.
 
The existing legislation on libraries, intellectual freedom, and freedom
of information in India was critically reviewed by Dr Ravinder Kumar
Cahdha, Director of the Parliament Library, and Dr B.D Kumbar from
Karnatak State University. "It is hearting to note", said Dr Kumbar, "that
the major states in terms of population [...] like UP, MP, Bihar, Rajastan
and Panjab have no library legislation". He also noted that even in
Karnataka, which has built a relatively wide network of public libraries
on the basis of its own Public Libraries Act (1965), "lot of negligence
and indifferent attitude have marred the growth of the system as a whole". 

Speaking at the second session of the workshop, Mr Potare Dilip Pochiran,
a former student of library science from a rural district in Maharashtra,
described the conditions of education and the libraries in the rural areas
of India as "pathetic". The public domain is dominated by the political
parties, which can be seen as a major cause of the bad state of libraries.
All in all, the rural areas are totally marginalized. We are speaking here
about two completely different worlds, he said, thereby also reminding us
of the slogan "another world is possible". Potare said that he has not
been able to complete his education because he knows only the Marathi
language (his speech at the workshop was translated into English by Mr
Rashid Ali). Nor has he found any job after he left his studies. 



The Full Reports and Proceedings

A full report of the first session at TISS, 18 January, has been prepared
by Dr. B.S. Kademani, Scientific Officer at the Library and Information
Services Division of Babha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. 
My report from the second session at NESCO, 19 January is also available.

The full reports and the proceedings are available in the publication
"International Workshop On Democratization of Information: Focus on
Libraries. Proceedings. Edited by Muttayya Koganuramath, 
Mikael Book, B. S. Kademani, Mallikarjun Angadi and Satish Kanamadi (96
pp.). 

These materials will shortly also be available via the internet and linked
to the webpage http://www.nigd.org/libraries/mumbai . Pictures will also
be  
published.

I enclose the Table of Contents of the Proceedings as an attached PDF-file
to this message.

Many thanks to all and greetings from Mumbai, which I am about to leave
tonight to fly back to Finland.  I look forward to meeting you again in
the discussion online.

  - Mikael Böök


gsm +358(0)-40 5511 24 * WWW http://www.kaapeli.fi/book/









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