Birth of SALIS

Issues in the Beginning of 21st Century

Globalization of Education
Opening of self financing institutions all over in India
Digital threat and divide
Information Explosion, availability and accessibility
Publication of more information resources in e-version
Birth of Consortia and legal issues related to accessing
Copyright and IPR
Technology threat and opportunity
Technology enabled Library solutions
Availability of limited Budget
Lack of trained manpower
Lack of adequate training  and skills to Professionals in all parts of the country to meet the digital challenges

To address these issues, Mr. A. Hariharan, CSIR-S|ERC, Chennai convened a group of like minded LIS professionals in Chennai in January 2002.

It was decided in these meetings to start a professional society and also get the opinion of LIS professionals working in Chennai. 

A meeting was again convened on 3rd March 2002 in the LLA Building, Chennai. More than 50 Library professionals in and around Chennai attend the meeting.

It was unanimously decided to start a professional society named Society for the Advancement of Library and Information Science (SALIS) by establishing Chapters at important cities in India  to address the issues and also to meet the challenges of 21st Century.

The formal inauguration of SALIS was held on 6th April 2002 at Bishop Heber College, Trichy

SALIS

The acronym ‘SALIS’ stands for Society for the Advancement of Library and Information Science. Like-minded library professionals established SALIS as a professional association in March 2002. The primary focus was to provide need-based service to the profession and to work for the advancement of Library and Information Science (LIS). The current focus of SALIS is to ‘Reach the Unreached’ LIS professionals with rural settings in order to minimize the digital divide. It also pays attention on the working library professionals of Public Libraries, the segment which almost remains as an area of neglect.

STRUCTURE

The structure of SALIS is federal in character. There exists a central authority namely the Governing Council (GC) with elected/nominated office bearers. The GC is the apex body responsible for policy making. The role of the GC is to provide guidance and support for each chapter. Each chapter has its own office-bearers and functions under the guidance of their respective Executive Committee (EC). The EC is empowered to take decisions and is also the authority for implementation at local levels. Thus the decision making process has been decentralized. Each chapter has the freedom to organize programmes based on their local needs.

CHAPTERS

SALIS  has opened regional chapters at the following cities with the basic aim of providing services with a regional perspective as well as to meet regional aspirations of its members. It is also contemplating to open a few more regional chapters in the years to come.

• Chennai    ( 3rd March 2002)
• Thiruchirapalli (6th April 2002)
• Coimbatore (19th October 2002)
• Tirunelveli  (22nd March 2003)
• Madurai    (13th March 2004)
• New Delhi (18th June 2004)
• Vellore (7th August 2005 )
• Nagpur  (27th December 2006)
• Karaikudi (9th April 2008)
• Erode (9th March 2009)
• Puducherry ( 28th July 2013)

MEMBERSHIP
Eligibility: Any professionals holds a certificate/diploma/degree in Library and Information Science or any professionals who wish to work for the objectives of SALIS.
SALIS offers the following categories of membership:
Life Membership                            - Rs.500
Institutional Membership                 - Rs.5000
A Library or information centre attached to an institution
Sustain Membership                        - Rs.5000
Any institution engaged in Library and Information Science and Technology activities

CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMME(CEP)

 

As envisaged in its objectives, every chapter of SALIS is periodically conducting lectures on emerging trends by inviting experts. The experts are either the practicing librarians or academicians from Library and Information Science Schools and allied fields. It also has conducted special programmes to impart softskills, which is very much essential for library professionals in the age of globalization and liberalisation. The thrust areas are Information and Communication Technology(ICT), human resource development and training with emphasis on information literacy, the ability to handle digital environment efficiently with the latest digital tools and techniques.  It also conducts Quiz programmes for library and information science students of post-graduate level.

 COURSE CONTENT

SALIS felt the need of the hour of library professional. In consonance with one of its objectives, SALIS has formulated the course content on the following topics viz.:

• Knowledge Management
• E-publishing
• Managerial skills
• ICT, Digital tools/techniques
• Web resources
• Information Literacy
• E-resources
• Internet applications
• Technical Writing
• Meta data

 

Collaborating Institutions

SALIS organized programmes jointly with many reputed organizations. Some of them are:

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras
• Anna University
• Karunya University
• B.S. Abdur Rahman University, Chennai
• Delhi Technological University
• RTM Nagpur University
• IIHMR, Jaipur
• JIIT, Noida
• Jaypee University of Information Technology , Waknaghat, Distt-Solan, H.P.
• Jaypee University of Engineering and Technology, Raghogarh, Guna (MP).
• Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore
• National Engineering College, Kovilpatti
• KLN College of Engineering, Madurai
• Sri Krishna College of Engineering & Technology, Coimbatore
• Connemara Public Library, Chennai
• Madras School of Social Work, Chennai
• JBAS College for Women, Chennai
• Sr. Xaviers’ College, Palayamkottai
• PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore
• Heavy Water Plant, DAE, Govt of India, Tuticorin

 

LECTURE SERIES

Besides about 70 lectures arranged on various emerging topics  in LIST, SALIS also conducted a series of programmes cum lectures on Personality Development  for the LIS professionals. Regular monthly lectures are being organised on emerging topics by the various chapters of SALIS. The importance of soft-skills for our professionals was felt out; hence a series of lectures on various skills were conducted in every month. Some were listed below:

Mr.K.Mohan, AGM, RBI delivered a lecture on “Effective Communication”
Mr.K.Mohan, AGM, RBI delivered a lecture on “Stress Management”
Dr.S.Thenmozhi, Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Directorate of Distance Education, Universty of Madras spoke on “Self-esteem and self-awareness”
Mr.Muthaiah Ramanathan, Mind Dynamics Centre on “Public Speaking”
Ms.Aysha Onterio, spoke on “Time Management”
Ms.J.S.Gunavathy, Lecturer, Madras School of Social Work, Chennai spoke on “Project Proposal Writing

INFORMATION LITERACY PROGRAMME

To promote the reading habits and use of ICT,   SALIS regularly organises Information Literacy programmes for corporation school children

TRAINING PROGRAMMES

SALIS offers the following services:

• Setting up Libraries and Information Centres
• Library Automation
• Database Creation and Maintenance
• Application of ICT in Libraries
• Knowledge Management
• Digitisation
• Digital Library
• Institutional Repositories
• Web Designing
• Library Portal
• Customised Library and Information Services
• Human Resource Development
• Information Literacy Programmes
• Community Information
• Evaluation of Library Services
• Training programmes on Various LIST and ICT topics

PARTNERSHIP WITH UNESCO

SALIS has organized a series of programmes on Information Literacy  at Chennai, Nagpur and Delhi jointly with UNESCO.

SALIS undertaken a project on ‘Developing an E-Learning Portal for Awareness Raising on Information Literacy Competency Development Skills for Southern Asia’.
More details of the project can be found it ‘http://salisonline.org’
E-GROUP

SALIS E-Group has been established it E-Group for exchange of information and ideas among the members. It is one of the active e-groups in India.

 SALIS Success Story

Continuous need based programmes for professional development in emerging new areas and
Professional Skill Development

Encouraging, recognizing, felicitating and  honouring the LIS Professionals

Exchange of knowledge, ideas and dissemination of latest information through SALIS E-group, newsletters, journals, web site and blog

Giving various roles to deserving members on rotation such as EC/GC members in various capacities, resource persons for SALIS programmes, Editorial Advisory Board members for SALIS publications, etc

Accountability, Transparency, integrity and honesty in all the transactions

Passion and Commitment to work among the members

Collective decision making process and sharing responsibility

No special privileges to EC/GC members

Slogans   

SALIS Family
Team SALIS
To Reach the UnReached
Innovate and Serve
Quality
Professionalism
Together we can build knowledge Communities