GUWAHATI, Jan 30 - The Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU), along with the Indian Statistical Institute (Bangalore) recently organised a three-day workshop titled �Open source software for library automation� in its Azara campus.
ADBU�s Pro Vice Chancellor Fr Joseph Nellanatt attended the function alongside the chief guest Prof Mahendra Nath Bora, retired librarian of Tezpur University; guest of honour Dr WS Devnath, librarian of Gauhati University; Prof ARD Prasad, Chairperson DRTC, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore and Prof Basil Koikara, Registrar, ADBU.
Altogether 23 library and information science professionals from various parts of the north-eastern region and members of LIS communities participated in the workshop.
�The workshop laid emphasis on open source software (OSS), that has taken the computing world by storm. Its contribution to every scientific field is enormous and the library and information science field is no exception. In fact, in many a case, the open source software is superior to its commercial equivalents,� said Chanlang Bareh, a participant at the workshop.
The purpose of the workshop was to impart practical knowledge to participants on the use of open source tools in libraries.
The open source software �Koha� that deals with library management, was introduced and taught with hands-on practice. The workshop also included lectures/practical hands-on by experts like Prof ARD Prasad; Prof Devika P Madalli, ISI, Bangalore; Dr Sunita Barve, NCI, Pune and Dr Gautam Kr Sarma, IDOL, Guwahati. Their contribution helped widen the knowledge in related topics of digital libraries and tools to build up and manage digital collections.
The workshop aimed at strengthening libraries in the North East through capacity building in cutting-edge areas of library automation and digital collection management.
