Indian Theological Library Association (ITLA)

Triennial Conference 2005

Theme:  Information Resources Management in the IT era

Date : October 4 – 7, 2005  

Venue: NBCLC, Bangalore

 The following are the proceedings of Indian Theological Library Association, Triennial Conference 2005 held on October 4-7, 2005 at National Biblical Catechetical and Liturgical Centre (NBCLC), Bangalore.

 This conference was funded partially by the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), South Asia Theological Research Institute (SATHRI), and Asia Theological Association (ATA).

 Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall represented Bibliotheques Europeennes De Theologie (BETH - European Theological Libraries) in this meeting. Karnataka State Archives Department offered its help by displaying the copies of rare collections in the conference.

 In the history of ITLA, this was the first ever conference attended by librarians from colleges affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College, Accredited by Asia Theological Association and Catholic Seminaries in India.

Day 1 : 04-Oct-2005

The participants arrived at the conference venue, NBCLC, Bangalore. The inaugural function was held at 6.00 pm with a traditional Indian style welcome song presented by NBCLC choir. The inaugural function began with prayer by Fr.John Mathews, Librarian Orthodox Seminary, Kottayam.

Due to ill health Dr. Samson Prabhakar, Director, SATHRI could not participate in the conference.

Mr. Yesan, the Executive Secretary, ITLA, welcomed the dignitaries and participants to ITLA triennial conference, after which the guests were invited to light the lamp as a sign of respect.

Mr. Chacko in his presidential address expressed the need of resource sharing among the libraries and services to the theological community. He also presented the history of ITLA and its future plans to offer better services to the theological community in India. He officially declared the conference opened.

Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall delivered the keynote address and brought greetings from BETH and Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries (ABRAPL). She expressed her continues support from BETH to ITLA in the future. Ms.Villy Yephomi and group gave a special song.

Dr. Ivan Satyavratha greeted the participants on behalf of ATA and wished the conference success.

Dr. ARD Prasad, the Associate Professor at DRTC, Bangalore was invited to introduce the theme of this conference namely, “Information Resource Management in the IT era”. The reason for choosing this theme was to create awareness among theological librarians and equip them to have better resource management in the Information Technology era.

Finally, Mr. Stephenson thanked the dignitaries and participants. Mrs. Elizabeth offered the closing prayer. The NBCLC choir led the delegates in singing national anthem to mark the conclusion of the function.

Mr. Stephenson

Keynote address Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall

Day 2 : 05-October 2005

Devotion : Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall       

Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall took the morning devotion and also led the singing session. She spoke from the scripture encouraging us.

Session I:   

Theme           : Open Access to Information and Electronic Resources

Presenter      : Dr. ARD Prasad

Speaking on the theme, “Open Access to Information and Electronic Resources” Dr. Prasad explained the latest movement which calls every one’s attention towards open access to information. It was an eye opener to many of the participants. He also brought to the notice of the delegates the many electronic resources available on the web for academic purposes.

Session II:

            Theme           : Library Consortia

            Presenter      : Dr. Devika P. Madalli

Dr. Devika explained to the participants the Library Consortia and its relevance to India context. This aroused interest among librarians to form a consortium to subscribe to various online databases in future. It was well presented and well received by the delegates.

Session III:

            Theme           : Open Source Digital Libraries

            Presenter      : Dr. ARD Prasad

Dr. ARD Prasad gave a power point presentation on “Open Source Digital Libraries” and it was well received. Dr. Prasad affirmed that a good number of Open Source Digital Libraries around the world and that they are available for readers at no cost. He encouraged theological librarians to develop digital libraries for religion and theology.

Session IV & V

Theme           : Personality Development and Time Management

Presenter      : Dr. Prince Aravind

Dr. Aravind conducted various practical sessions to motivate the librarians in the subject. Through this session the participants learnt

-          To identify the purpose of life in the world and our accountability to the creator.

-          To plan to

o       Increase time with being in the presence of the Lord and

o       Avoid time robbers

-          To plan and execute responsibilities

-          To develop habits (1 Timothy 4:15)

-          To forgive one another

Session VI : ITLA Constitution:

Mr. Yesan presented a draft copy of ITLA constitution for members to discuss. Mr.Chacko Chacko moderated the discussion. Dr.Penelope Ruth Hall gave her input to improve the contents of the constitution. After much discussion the constitution was adopted.

Special Cultural Event:

The ITLA delegates were invited for a special cultural program organized by NBCLC. Dr.Penelope Ruth Hall was the guest of honour in the event. The delegates enjoyed the presentations by students of NBCLC.

Day 3: 06-October 2005

Dr. Ivan Sathyavratha led the morning devotion and brought valuable insights from Bible. It was a thought provoking meditation.

Session I:

Theme: Open Source Software for Libraries and open Digital Repository

Presenter: Dr. ARD Prasad

In this session Dr. ARD Prasad gave a presentation on Open Source Software for Libraries and open Digital Repository. It was informative. Also he introduced the Open Digital Repositories to the delegates.

Session II:

            Theme           : Dspace – Digital Library Software

            Presenter: Dr. Devika Madalli

In this session Dr. Devika Madalli presented, Dspace – digital library software for developing digital libraries for theological resources. It was well appreciated as it inspired the librarians to use this software for creating digital libraries in future.

Session III : Business Meeting - Election of Executive Committee:

As per the constitution of ITLA, the President invited nominations from the floor of the house. Fr.John Mathews proposed the same committee to continue and it was seconded by Fr.Thiruthuvadoss. It was unanimously approved that the same committee would serve another term i.e., 2005-2008. As per the new constitution the following two more members were elected:

1.      Fr. John Baptist Saldanha, St. Josephs Seminary, Mangalore

2.      Mrs. Laltlani, Aizwal Theological College, Aizwal

The members of the Executive Committee for the term

2005 – 2008 are as follow:

President :

Mr. Chacko Chacko – UBS, Pune 

Vice President:

Mrs. Elizabeth Kamalavadanan – GLTC, Chennai  

Executive Secretary/Treasurer:

Mr. Yesan – SAIACS, Bangalore   

Members:

Mr. Stephenson Manuel – SABC, Bangalore                   

Mrs. Mary Victor – UTSM, Pune                                         

Fr. John Baptist Saldanha – St. Josephs, Mangalore     

Mrs. Laltlani PC – ATC, Aizwal                                          

The Business Meeting ended with a prayer by Fr. Thiruthuvadoss.

Session IV:

            Theme                       : Cross Cultural Communication in the theological world

            Presenter      : Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall, BETH

The summary of Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall’s presentation is as follow:

-          God communicates cross culturally

-          Respect the other culture

-          Resources for one another

-          I need you, may be you need me

-          Bring relationships in the community

-          Research often utilized

-          Reward for one another.

Field Trip:

            A field trip was organized to visit the following libraries in Bangalore.

-          Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK) Central Library

-          United Theological College

-          South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies

-          Southern Asia Bible College

Day 4 : 07 October 2005

Mr. Chacko took the morning devotion from Galatians. He highlighted on the following points.

-          Life is a solo but there is a chorus

-          Self examination

-          Share the resources with one another

-          Extend a helping hand

-          Knitting together for one cause

Session I :

            Theme           : Conservation and Preservation

            Presenters   : Mrs. Usha Suresh, Director, Karnataka State Archives Department

                                      Mr. Jai Simha

Mrs. Usha Suresh, with her rich experience in the Karnataka State Archives Department spoke on the conservation of rare books in the library. The delegates found it well informed presentation. Mr. Jai Simha spoke on preserving the rare materials in the library to prolong the life of valuable documents. He brought few preservative items to demonstrate how preservation is done.

Summary of the presentation by Ms. Usha and Mr. Jaisimha:

Preservation means all actions taken to increase the life of expectancy of manuscripts/books.

Preventive Conservation means all indirect actions taken to increase the life of ...

Curative Conservation means all direct actions taken to increase the life of….

Restoration means all forms of direct actions aimed at enhancing the messages carried out by (on) damaged manuscripts/books.

Special Address:

A special address was given by Dr. Siga Arles, Director Consortium for Indian Missiological Education. In his speech mentioned that United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia has a plan to develop a program to improve the documentation of Christianity in Asia. He recommended ITLA to look at this for future plan.

Valedictory:

Though the valedictory program was simple, the participants of the felt a sense of satisfaction with input from various scholars and experts. In the closing ceremony the participants gave their feedback to ITLA and its future course of action. The delegates expressed their thanks and recommended to organize region wise programs to strengthen the local libraries. The director of NBCLC was also present on the occasion.

Acknowledgement: ITLA expresses its gratitude to ATLA, BETH, SATHRI and ATA for their support in making this event a successful and look forward to working together for mutual benefits. ITLA also thanks all the participants for taking time to attend this historic event.

Departure:

After lunch, the delegates left the conference venue with a rejuvenated spirit to implement the many insights gained during the conference into their libraries for the theological community in India.

This conference resolved on the following:

1. To have a follow up between the two triennial meetings and to plan for the future.

2. To publish a directory of resources i.e. union catalogue.

3. To send the library staff for one month intensive course

4. To have a workshop for the students of the seminaries and the respective seminaries can host this and ITLA can send resource persons

5. To have a newsletter once a year.

6. To plan for resource sharing and interlibrary networking.

7. To circulate the new arrival list to the libraries.

8. To create a digital library for Religion and Theology. Mr. Yesan at SAIACS to initiate this project.

9. The librarians would honour the letter brought by an user from other libraries.

10. ITLA to take associate membership with other associations so that ITLA members could participate in their programs.

Special Presentations by:

ALICE : A library software for automation was presented by Softlink Asia Ltd, Delhi. This company gifted notepad, pen and brochure to distribute along with the conference kit.

NIRMALS: This library software is developed by NICE owned by Mr. Venugopal the former Librarian of Bharathidasan University, Trichy.

INFORMATICS:  A Bangalore based company gave presentation on SLIM++ software and Proquest Religion Database.

EBSCO: Mr. Prathap Das from Hyderabad gave presentation on EBSCO and its products for theological libraries.

BOSCO Infotech: Bosco Infotech presented its software E-Blis.

The participants of ITLA Triennial conference 2005

Annexure I: List of Participants

Resource Persons:

1. Dr. ARD Prasad, DRTC, Bangalore

2. Dr. Devika Madalli, DRTC, Bangalore

3. Dr. Penelope Ruth Hall, BETH

4. Dr. Prince Aravind, Consultant

5. Mrs. Usha Suresh, Director, Karnataka State Archives Department

6. Mr. Jaishimha, Curator, Karnataka State Archives Department

Conference Committee:

1. Mr. Yesan, SAIACS, Bangalore

2. Mr. Stephenson Manuel, SABC, Bangalore

3. Fr. John Neelankavil, DVK Central Library, Bangalore

4. Mrs. Rita Wesley, UTC, Bangalore

Advisory Committee:

1. Dr. ARD Prasad, DRTC, Bangalore

2. Dr. Devika Madalli, DRTC, Bangalore

3. Mr. Chacko Chacko, UBS, Pune

4. Mrs. Elizabeth Kamalavadanan, GLTC, Chennai

5. Mr. Yesan, SAIACS, Bangalore

6. Mr. Stephenson, SABC, Bangalore

7. Mrs. Rita Wesley, UTC, Bangalore

8. Fr. John Neelankavil, DVK, Bangalore

In Association With:

American Theological Library Association

(http://www.atla.com)

BETH (European Theological Library Association) http://www.theo.kuleuven.ac.be/beth/

Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries (ABTAPL) http://www.newman.ac.uk/abtapl/

Documentation Research Training Centre http://drtc.isibang.ac.in/DRTC/index.html

South Asia Theological Research Institute (SATHRI)

Asia Theological Association (ATA) http://www.ataasia.com

Karnataka State Archives Department http://kannadasiri.kar.nic.in/archives/

Recorded by Mr. Yesan, Executive Secretary, Indian Theological Library Association

E-Mail: itla_in@yahoo.com or yesans@gmail.com