The Indian Librarian Blog: April 2019

30 April 2019

Eighth issue of ALA, Kerala Studies Blog, published

Author of the month: Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh was born on 11 July 1956 in Calcutta and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He is the fifty fourth Jnanpith award winner. He is best known for historical fiction. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria and is the author of The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and The Ibis Trilogy, consisting of Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire. His most recent book, The Great Derangement; Climate Change and the Unthinkable, a work of non-fiction, appeared in 2016.

The Circle of Reason was awarded France’s Prix Médicis in 1990, and The Shadow Lines won two prestigious Indian prizes the same year, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Ananda Puraskar. The Calcutta Chromosome won the Arthur C. Clarke award for 1997 and The Glass Palace won the International e-Book Award at the Frankfurt book fair in 2001. In January 2005 The Hungry Tide was awarded the Crossword Book Prize, a major Indian award. His novel, Sea of Poppies (2008) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, 2008 and was awarded the Crossword Book Prize and the India Plaza Golden Quill Award.

Amitav Ghosh's work has been translated into more than thirty languages and he has served on the juries of the Locarno and Venice film festivals. His essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic and The New York Times. They have been anthologized under the titles The Imam and the Indian and Incendiary Circumstances. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, a work of non-fiction, was published in 2016 and was given the inaugural Utah Award for the Environmental Humanities in 2018.

Amitav Ghosh holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2007 he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest honors, by the President of India. In 2010 he was a joint winner, along with Margaret Atwood of a Dan David prize, and 2011 he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Blue Metropolis festival in Montreal. In 2018 the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honor, was conferred on Amitav Ghosh. He was the first English-language writer to receive the award. In 2019 Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.

Amitav Ghosh's most recent novel, Gun Island, is due to be published in 2019.

Courtesy: https://www.amitavghosh.com

29 April 2019

Open Access Journals in Astronomy

Advances in Astronomy.

Apeiron (Montreal) : Studies in Infinite Nature

Bulletin Astronomique de Belgrade

Communicating Astronomy with Public Journal

Information Bulletin on Variable Stars

International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

ISRN Astronomy and Astrophysics

Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

Living Reviews in Solar Physics

MARS : the International Journal of Mars Science and Exploration

Open Astronomy Journal

Open Access Journals in Arts

Art and Research : A Journal of Ideas, Contexts and Methods

Body, Space and Technology

Consciousness, Literature and the Arts

E-conservation Magazine

Electronic Melbourne Art Journal

Hermeneia : Journal of Hermeneutics, Art Theory and Art Criticism

International Journal of Conservation Science

Liminalities : a Journal of Performance Studies

Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide

The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

Working Papers in Art & Design

Open Access Journals in Performing Arts / Cinema

28 April 2019

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

By Jane Austen

READ e-BOOK form Project Gutenberg

Book of the month:The Alchemist

The Alchemist is a novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho that was first published in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese, it became a widely translated international bestseller. An allegorical novel, The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd in his journey to the pyramids of Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding a treasure there.

A recurring dream troubles Santiago, a young and adventurous Andalusian shepherd. He has the dream every time he sleeps under a sycamore tree that grows out of the ruins of a church. During the dream, a child tells him to seek treasure at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. Santiago consults a gypsy woman to interpret the dream, and to his surprise she tells him to go to Egypt. A strange, magical old man named Melchizedek, who claims to be the King of Salem, echoes the gypsy’s advice and tells Santiago that it is his Personal Legend to journey to the pyramids. Melchizedek convinces Santiago to sell his flock and set off to Tangier. When Santiago arrives in Tangier, a thief robs him, forcing him to find work with a local crystal merchant. The conservative and kindly merchant teaches Santiago several lessons, and Santiago encourages the merchant to take risks with his business. The risks pay off, and Santiago becomes a rich man in just a year.

Santiago decides to cash in his earnings and continue pursuing his Personal Legend: to find treasure at the pyramids. He joins a caravan crossing the Sahara desert toward Egypt and meets an Englishman who is studying to become an alchemist. He learns a lot from the Englishman during the journey. For one, he learns that the secret of alchemy is written on a stone called the Emerald Tablet. The ultimate creation of alchemy is the Master Work, which consists of a solid called the Philosophers Stone that can turn lead to gold, and a liquid called the Elixir of Life that can cure all ills. Santiago learns the Englishman is traveling with the caravan to the Saharan oasis of Al-Fayoum, where a powerful, 200-year-old alchemist resides. The Englishman plans to ask the alchemist the secret of his trade.

As it turns out, the caravan must make an extended stop in Al-Fayoum in order to avoid increasingly violent tribal wars taking place in the desert. There, Santiago falls in love with Fatima, who lives at the oasis. During a walk in the desert, Santiago witnesses an omen that portends an attack on the historically neutral oasis. He warns the tribal chieftains of the attack, and as a result, Al-Fayoum successfully defends itself against the assault. The alchemist gets word of Santiago’s vision and invites Santiago on a trip into the desert, during which he teaches Santiago about the importance of listening to his heart and pursuing his Personal Legend. He convinces Santiago to leave Fatima and the caravan for the time to finish his journey to the pyramids, and he offers to accompany Santiago on the next leg of his trip.

While the alchemist and Santiago continue through the desert, the alchemist shares much of his wisdom about the Soul of the World. They are mere days away from the pyramids when a tribe of Arab soldiers captures them. In exchange for his life and the life of Santiago, the alchemist hands over to the tribe all of Santiago’s money and tells the soldiers that Santiago is a powerful alchemist who will turn into wind within three days. Santiago feels alarmed because he has no idea how to turn into the wind, and over the next three days he contemplates the desert. On the third day, he communicates with the wind and the sun and coaxes them to help him create a tremendous sandstorm. He prays to the Hand That Wrote All, and at the height of the storm he disappears. He reappears on the other side of the camp, and the tribesmen, awed by the power of the storm and by Santiago’s ability, let him and the alchemist go free.

The alchemist continues to travel with Santiago as far as a Coptic monastery several hours from the pyramids. There, he demonstrates to Santiago his ability to turn lead into gold using the Philosopher’s Stone. He gives Santiago gold and sends him off. Santiago begins digging for the treasure at the foot of the pyramids, but two men accost him and beat him. When Santiago speaks to them about his dream vision, they decide he must have no money and let him live. Before leaving, one of the men tries to illustrate the worthlessness of dreams by telling Santiago about his own dream. It concerns a treasure buried in an abandoned church in Spain where a sycamore tree grows. The church is the same one in which Santiago had his original dream, and he finally understands where his treasure is. He returns to Spain to find a chest of jewels and gold buried under the tree, and plans to return with it to Al-Fayoum, where he will reunite with Fatima, who awaits him.

Courtesy: Spark Notes

26 April 2019

'Vanara: The Legend of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara' by Anand Neelakandan

Baali and Sugreeva of the Vana Nara tribe were orphan brothers who were born in abject poverty and grew up as slaves like most of their fellow tribesmen. They were often mocked as the vanaras, the monkey men. Sandwiched between the never-ending war between the Deva tribes in the north and the Asura tribes in the south, the Vana Naras seemed to have lost all hope. But Baali was determined not to die a slave. Aided by his beloved brother, Sugreeva, Baali built a country for his people. The capital city, Kishkindha, became a beacon of hope for emancipated slaves from across the world. It was a city of the people, by the people, for the people, where there was no discrimination based on caste, creed, language or the colour of skin. For a brief period in history, it seemed as if mankind had found its ideal hero in Baali. But then fate intervened through the beautiful Tara, the daughter of a tribal physician. Loved by Baali and lusted after by Sugreeva, Tara became the cause of a fraternal war that would change history for ever.

The love triangle between Baali, Tara and Sugreeva is arguably the world's first. Written by Anand Neelakantan who gave a voice to Ravana in Asura, Duryodhana in the Ajaya series and Sivagami in the Baahubali series, Vanara is a classic tale of love, lust and betrayal. Shakespearean in its tragic depth and epic in its sweep, Vanara gives voice to the greatest warrior in the Ramayana-Baali.

Courtesy: https://penguin.co.in/

25 April 2019

Author of the month: Arundhathy Roy

Arundhati Roy was born on 24 November 1961 in Shillong Meghalaya. She is best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997). She wrote for movies and television shows. She wrote the screenplays for In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989), a movie based on her experiences as a student of architecture, in which she also appeared as a performer, and Electric Moon (1992). Roy began writing her first novel, The God of Small Things, in 1992, completing it in 1996. The book is semi-autobiographical and a major part captures her childhood experiences in Aymanam, in Kottayam district, Kerala. The publication of The God of Small Things catapulted Roy to international fame. It received the 1997 Booker Prize for Fiction and was listed as one of The New York Times Notable Books of the Year. It reached fourth position on The New York Times Bestsellers list for Independent Fiction. The book recieved good reviews from major global media such as New York Times, Lose Ageles Times, Toronto Star, Time, The Guardian, etc. She published her second novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness after twenty years of her debut. She wrote many non fiction books dealing diverse content.

Aundhathy Roy recieved many price for her literary life. Roy won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay in 1989, for the screenplay of In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones. Her debut novel itself recieved the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997. In 2002, she won the Lannan Foundation's Cultural Freedom Award for her work "about civil societies that are adversely affected by the world's most powerful governments and corporations". In 2003, she was awarded "special recognition" as a Woman of Peace at the Global Exchange Human Rights Awards in San Francisco.Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May 2004 for her work in social campaigns and her advocacy of non-violence. In January 2006, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award. In November 2011, she was awarded the Norman Mailer Prize for Distinguished Writing. Roy was featured in the 2014 list of Time 100, the 100 most influential people in the world.

Books by Arundhathy Roy

The God of Small Things (1997)
The End of Imagination. Kottayam (1998)
The Cost of Living (1999)
The Greater Common Good (1999)
The Algebra of Infinite Justice (2002)
Power Politics (2002)
War Talk (2003)
An Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire (2004)
Public Power in the Age of Empire (2004)
The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Conversations with Arundhati Roy (2004)
The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy.(2008)
Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy (2010)
Broken Republic: Three Essays (2011)
Walking with the Comrades (2011)
Kashmir: The Case for Freedom (2011)
The Hanging of Afzal Guru and the Strange Case of the Attack on the Indian Parliament (2013)
Capitalism: A Ghost Story (2014)
Things that Can and Cannot Be Said: Essays and Conversations (2016)
The Doctor and the Saint: Caste, Race, and Annihilation of Caste, the Debate Between B.R. Ambedkar and M.K. Gandhi.(2017)
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

24 April 2019

Open Access Journals in Architecture

1. ACE : Architecture, City and Environment

2. Archnet-IJAR : International Journal of Architectural Research

3. Bulletin of the Polytechnic Institute of Jassy, Constructions, Architechture Section

4. City & Time

5. Field : a Free Journal for Architecture

6. Footprint

7. Middle East Technical University Journal of the Faculty of Architecture

8. Multi : The RIT Journal of Plurality and Diversity in Design

9. Open Urban Studies Journal

10. Places : Forum of Design for the Public Realm

Open Access Journals in Archaeolgy

1. Archeologia e Calcolatori

2. E-Keltoi : Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies

3. Geochronometria

4. Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries

5. Journal of Caribbean Archaeology

6.Papers from the Institute of Archaeology

7. Rosetta

Open Access Journals in Applied Science / Technology

20 April 2019

Open Access Journals in Agriculture

19 April 2019

Open Access Journals in Acoustics

1. Acoustical Science and Technology

2. Advances in Acoustics and Vibration

3. EURASIP Journal on Audio Speech and Music Processing

18 April 2019

SLA launches national level competition to celebrate World Book and Copyright Day

School Library Association (SLA) launches two national level competitions to celebrate World Book and Copyright Day 2019. The first competition is design a mascot for India which inspires everyone to read. Any school-going child in India can participate. No registration fee is required. Last date for online registration and submission of entries is 20 April 2019. The first three national level winners will be presented each with a memento and a certificate. The entries of the first three winners and other selected entries will be published on the SLA website and be used as reading promotional materials. The second competition is write a story and share it with the world. This is also for school child and no fee is required. For more details and registration visit http://www.slaindia.org/ .

17 April 2019

LibriVox: A source for free audio books

LibriVox is a group of worldwide volunteers who read, record and distribute free domain books. It was founded in August 2005 by Hugh McGuire. The objective of LibriVox is "To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet". As on April 2019 it has a collection of 12,788 books most of the books are in English language but many non English books are also available. Thes books are available in MP3 and Ogg Vorbis file formats. LibriVox is associated with Project Gutenberg from where the project gets some of its texts, and the Internet Archive that hosts their offerings. The website has a catalogue of its collection. You can browse by author, title, genre/subject and language. You can further filter your search using adavanced search option. You can download and listen free audio books at https://librivox.org/ .

16 April 2019

Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture is having access to 85 Wiley Journals via Wiley Online Library

WILEY ONLINE LIBRARY is one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resource with over 4 million articles from 1,600 journals, 21,000 books, and hundreds of multi-volume reference works, laboratory protocols and databases. Know more at https://www.wileyindia.com/

13 April 2019

ePG Pathshala : A portal for open educational resources for all post graduate courses

e-PG Pathshala is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, under its National Mission on Education through ICT (NME-ICT) being executed by the University Grands Commission. It is a part of Digital India initiative. It disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals, and a variety of other print and non-print materials for students, teachers, parents, researchers and educators.The content and its quality being the key component of education system, high quality, curriculum-based, interactive e-content in 70 subjects across all disciplines of social sciences, arts, fine arts and humanities, natural & mathematical sciences, linguistics and languages have been developed by the subject experts working in Indian universities and other research & development institutes across the country. Every subject had a team of principal investigator, paper coordinators, content writers, content reviewers, Language editors and multimedia team.

You can access ePG Pathshala at https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in . The content of the portal has divided in to seven Categories;

▪ Arts & Humanities

▪ Languages

▪ Engineering and Technology

▪ Life Science

▪ Medical and Health Sciences

▪ Physical and Basic Sciences

▪ Social Sciences

Under each category individual subjects are given;

▪ Arts & Humanities : Architecture, Buddhist Studies, Comparative Literature, Comparative Study of Religions, Planning, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Visual Arts.

▪ Languages: Chinese, English, Hindi, Japanese, Russian Studies, Sanskrit ( Acharya and Vyakarana ), Sanskrit (MA) , Spanish, Urdu.

▪ Engineering and Technology : Analytical Chemistry / Instrumentation, Computational Science, Computer Science, Electronic Sciences, Human Resource Management, Information Technology, Management, Material Science, Risk / Disaster Management .

▪ Life Science : Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Botany, Food and Nutrition, Food Technology.

▪ Medical and Health Sciences : Bioinformatics, Biophysics, Museology and Conservation, Pharmaceutical Science, Physical Education Sports and Health Education, Social Medicine and Community Health, Zoology

▪ Physical and Basic Sciences : Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Jyotish-ganit, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics

▪ Social Sciences : Adult Educated, Anthropology, Business Economics, Commerce, Criminology, Economics, Education, Forensic Science, Geography, Hotel and Tourism Management, Human Rights and Duties, Indian Culture, Law, Library and Information Science, Linguistics, Media and Communication Studies, Political Science, Population Studies, Psychology, Public Administration, Social Work Education, Sociology, Women Studies / Gender Studies.

epg Pathshala can be access through mobile app. ePathshala mobile app is available through especially developed mobile app interface on Android, iOS and windows platforms for wider access and contains textbooks and other e-books as E-Pub 3.0 and Flipbooks in English, Hindi and Urdu.

To download, Android app,

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.gov.epathshala

To download, Windows app,

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/apps/e-pathshala/9nblggh5x1xw

9 April 2019

The Internet Archive : An ocean of knowledge

The Internet Archive is a non-profit initiative to build digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. It provided free access to students, researchers, scholars and the general public. The internet archive aims to provide universal access to all knowledge. It started archiving internet resources in 1996 and now it participating with more than 450 libraries and other agencies to archive the resources. It has more than twenty years of web history through the Wayback Machine .

As of April 2019 it had archived 330 billion web pages, 20 million books and texts, 4.5 million audio recordings, 4 million videos, 3 millon images and 20,000 software programs. Any one with a free account can archive media to the Internet Archive. Books has special attention by this website. They atarted to digitize books in 2005 and today there are 1000 new books are uploading each day from different centers across the globe. Books published prior to 1923 are availble for download and modern books can be borrowed through Open Library site.

To know more and access ocean of knowledge visit https://archive.org/

3 April 2019

The National Academic Depository ( NAD ) for Digital Preservation of Academic Awards

The National Academic Depository ( NAD ) is a digital dtabase of academic awards provided by the Governement of India under Digital India initiative. It is an inter-operable system for strorage, retrieval, authentication and verification of academic awards. National Academic Depository (NAD) is a 24X7 online store house of all academic awards viz.certificates, diplomas, degrees, mark-sheets etc. duly digitised and lodged by academic institutions / boards / eligibility assessment bodies. NAD not only ensures easy access to and retrieval of an academic award but also validates and guarantees its authenticity and safe storage. National Academic Depository comprises of two interoperable digital depositories viz. CDSL Ventures Limited (CVL) and NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML). These digital depositories have ensured hardware, network facilities and software of prescribed quality for smooth and secured operationalisation of NAD.

Features of NAD

It operates in fully online mode.
Allow lodging of Academic awards in a digital format, maintaining the integrity of access to the database and of the awards lodged in the database.
Allow students to retrieve their lodged academic awards at any time.
Allow employers and other person with prior approval of the concerned student to verify the authenticity of any academic award.
Maintain the authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of the database.

Stakeholders of NAD

Students/other award holders.
Academic Institutions/Boards/Eligibility assessment bodies.
Verifying entities i.e. banks, employer companies (domestic and overseas), Government entities, academic institutions/universities/boards/eligibility assessment bodies (domestic and overseas) etc.
Ministry of Human Resource Development/ University Grants Commission.
Depositories.

Academic Institutions under NAD

Central Universities.
Central Higher Educational Institutions and institutions empowered by an Act of Parliament or State Legislature to grant degrees.
Central Higher Educational Institutions awarding diplomas.
State Universities and Deemed to be Universities approved for participating in NAD by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Private Universities approved by University Grants Commission.
Institutions approved by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) for participating in NAD.
Central Board of Secondary Education, State Education Boards and other school boards.
Eligibility test conducting bodies such as bodies listed by name by UGC and shall include University Grants Commission (UGC) for National Eligibility Test (NET) and CBSE for Teacher Eligibility Test (TET).

Academic awards to be covered under NAD

Any certificate or degree or diploma including related mark sheets, transcript or evaluation reports or provisional certificates, as the case may be, granted by an Academic Institution.
Certificate, degree, diploma for skill development issued by approved institutions.
ll certifications by National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned bodies which shall include all training courses/short term and long term certificate courses/any other courses as offered by institutions and as approved by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) for participating in NAD.
Mark sheets, certificates issued by the school boards.
Certificates issued by eligibility test conducting bodies.

Services by NAD

Register Academic Institutions/Boards/Eligibility Assessment bodies.
Register students based on Aadhaar / Unique NAD ID.
Register verification users.
Allow Academic Institutions/Boards/Eligibility Assessment bodies to upload the academic awards issued by them.

Allow Academic Institutions/Boards/Eligibility Assessment bodies to map/link the academic award to the NAD Accounts of Students concerned.

Allow students to view the academic awards linked to their respective account.

Allow students to download/print an authenticated copy of the academic award.

Allow verifying entities to verify the authenticity of the academic award (subject to prior student consent)

For more information visit official website of National Academic Depository at https://nad.gov.in

2 April 2019

SWAYAM PRABHA: Free DTH channel for education

The SWAYAM PRABHA is a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting of high-quality educational programmes on 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite. This project ia part of the Digital India initiative. Every day, there will be new content for at least four hours which would be repeated five more times in a day, allowing the students to choose the time of their convenience. The contents are provided by National Programme for Technology Enhanced Learning ( NPTEL ), all Indian Institute of Technology , University Grands Commission, Consortium for Educational Communication ( CEC ), Indira Gandhi National Open University ( IGNOU ), National Council for Educational Research and Training ( NCERT ) and National Institute of Open Schooling ( NIOS ). The INFLIBNET Center maintains the web portal of SWAYAM PRABHA.

SWAYAM PRABHA provide learning resources to support school, college, university education and life long learning. For school education from ninth level to twelveth level resources are telecasting. Modules are for teacher's training as well as teaching and learning aids for students to help them understand the subjects better. It also help students in preparing for competitive examinations for admissions to professional degree programmes. In the higher education level curriculum-based course contents at post-graduate and under-graduate level covering diverse disciplines such as arts, science, commerce, performing arts, social sciences and humanities, engineering, technology, law, medicine, agriculture, etc. are provided. These courses can meet the needs of life-long learners of Indian citizens in India and abroad.

Official Website of SWAYAM PRABHA: https://www.swayamprabha.gov.in/

1 April 2019

SWAYAM: MOOCs initiative of Digital India

Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has initiated SWAYAM ( Study Webs of Active Learning for Aspiring Minds ) under Digital India initiative to facilitate MOOCS ( Massive Online Open Cources. The SWAYAM portal provides online learning resources and tries to reduce digital divide in the information age. The portal hosting all the courses from ninth standard to postgraduate level by eminent faculties of national institutes like IITs, IIMs, central universities, etc. SWAYAM is an opportunity for all citizen of India to do life long learning. The students of school or college or university can attend the classes of SWAYAM 24X7 and can expand the horizon of knowledge. All courses would be offered free of cost under this programme however fees would be levied in case learner requires certificate.

SWAYAM website : https://swayam.gov.in/
SWAYAM mobile app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.gov.swayam.app

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