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Satinder
Kaur Ramdev Memorial Trust for the Advancement
of Librarianship (SATKAL) established by Prof.
Jagindar Singh Ramdev (A Sikh Intellectual, NRI
of Chicago) in memory of his late wife in April
2000 organised its Annual Function of 2005 at
the intellectual hub of India- the India
International Centre, New Delhi on December 20,
2005. The function was inaugurated by Hon'ble
Shri Jagmohan, Former Union Minister for Tourism
and Culture, Government of India, the chief
guest of the function, amidst the exotic
ambience of the dignitaries. Dr (Mrs) Devinder
Kaur, President, SATKAL delivered the welcome
address. The message of Prof. Jagindar Singh
Ramdev, Founder Patron, SATKAL who could not
join from Chicago was read by Mr Buta Ram
Kashyap, the Vice-President of SATKAL. More than
150 library and information science
professionals from different parts of India
attended the function.
The
SATKAL Awards for the year 2005 were also
conferred during the function. Dr Rajwant Singh
Chilana, Associate Professor of Library
Administration and South Asian Studies
Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana
Champaign was awarded with the Punjab National
Librarian Award, Mrs K C Ramola, Chief
Librarian, State Central Library, Chandigarh
received the Best Women Librarian Award and the
Young Librarian Award was given to Mr Rajesh
Kumar Chandrakar, Scientific and Technical
Officer, INFLIBNET, Ahmedabad. On this
auspicious occasion, the festschrift volume in
honour of Professor Jagindar Singh Ramdev,
Founder Patron, SATKAL entitled "Digital
Information Resources and Networks on India :
essays in honour of Professor Jagindar Singh
Ramdev on his 75th Birthday" was also released
by the Chief Guest, Hon'ble Shri Jagmohan. The
volume is a collection of twenty six research
papers and a number of tributes contributed by
several friends, professionals and well wishers
of Professor Jagindar Singh Ramdev who is a well
known Librarian, teacher, renowned author,
researcher and philanthropist besides a pioneer
in establishing SATKAL.
Mr
Jagmohan in his address greatly applauded the
efforts of Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev in
establishing SATKAL to promote librarianship and
urged the LIS community to accept the challenges
of the changing times to provide the better and
efficient services to the users. Mr Jagmohan
opined that it is a rare oppportunity to find a
Trust which is run by the contribution of a sole
person, he was greatly impressed by the
philanthropist work being done by Prof. Jagindar
Singh Ramdev. The SATKAL Annual Lecture was
delivered by Dr H K Kaul, Director, DELNET-
Developing Library Network, New Delhi. He spoke
on "Librarians as Knowledge Workers in the 21st
century" and emphasised on the need to train the
current day Library professionals who can act as
Knowledge Workers. A panel discussion on
"Library Services : a myth or Reality " was also
organised. Prof. P B Mangla, Former Head, Dept
of Library and Information Science, University
of Delhi chaired the session. Prof. Rajwant
Singh Chilana, Dr T A V Murthy, Prof. Roshan Lai
Raina and Dr S P Singh. Ms Sangeeta Kaul,
Network Manager, DELNET and a member of SATKAL
trust was the Organising Secretary for the
SATKAL Annual Function 2005. |