Srinagar, Aug 8 (KNO) : Central University of Kashmir (CUK) Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir Wednesday said libraries are not only the backbones of Universities, but also a mirror of the respective educational institutions. He also emphasised upon the importance of librarian and library staff in the era of technology driven smart libraries. Prof. Mir was speaking at the valedictory session of the three day long 3rd International Conference of Asian Libraries organised by the Central Library of CUK and Asian Library Association (ASIALA), New Delhi at Nowgam-I academic block of the varsity here.
"No doubt, internet based technology has revolutionised the library systems around the world, but the importance of a librarian is not diminished by the gadgets. In order to run the smart libraries successfully and effectively we need smart librarians and allied staff as well," Prof. Mir said. The Conference was attended by 250 participants across India. Academicians, scholars and students from different Universities presented papers on the conference themes and related topics. Discussions followed each session of the conference in which participants gave important suggestions regarding improvement of working of libraries. The theme of the Conference was "Building Smart Libraries: Changes, Challenges, Issues and Strategies."
Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Siddique who was the guest of honour appreciated the efforts of CUK for organising such event. He shed light on many contemporary aspects like gene editing, smart libraries and artificial intelligence (AI) etc. He said, "AI is going to have a huge influence ion libraries in the coming years." Former Jamia Millia Islamia, librarian, Dr. Gias Makhdoomi, read out the recommendation of the conference.
The recommendations focussed on coordination and sharing of resources among the Universities around the country and also urged librarians to work with integration. Dr. Nabi Hassan, Librarian IIT Delhi gave a detailed account of the three-day conference.
CUK Librarian, Dr. Abdul Majeed Baba thanked the participants, delegates, Deans and heads, organisers and especially Vice-Chancellor of the CUK for making this conference a success. He also thanked media both print and electronic for covering the proceedings of the conference. He expressed a deep sense of appreciation for paper contributors, resource persons, various committee heads and for all the teachers and officials of the University for their support and cooperation. At the end, mementoes were given to the organisers of the conference by Prof. Siddique. Proceedings of the event were conducted by the Assistant Librarian, Ms Huma Ahangar.