Dr. A. M Baba sums up the proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Libraries held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi during 23-26 February 2010. Two Kashmir University Assistant Professors were awarded at the function.

The journey of the International Conference of Digital Libraries (ICDL) began in 2004. It was in this year that the first ICDL event was inaugurated by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam Former President of India. After the enormous success of the First event, the second ICDL was held in 2006. This Conference was extremely well received among the National and International Participants. It triggered a large number of Digital Library Projects in India aimed at bridging the Digital Divide. The successes of the two previous ICDL’s have encouraged to conduct third ICDL 2010 to visualize how Digital Libraries will shape the information paradigm. The third International Conference on Digital Libraries (ICDL) 2010 jointly hosted by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) New Delhi in partnership with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) held at India Habitat Centre New Delhi during 23-26 February 2010. The Conference was inaugurated by Honorable Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Kapil Sibal. Attended around by Six hundred participants from forty Countries including Library Professionals, Educationists, Media Persons and other Eminent Guests, the four day event made a promising beginning.
 In his welcome note Dr .R.K Pachauri, Director General TERI stated that rapid pace of development of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the manner in which the information and knowledge will be disseminated using these technologies will play a major role in the evolution of   Society in the present century. Dr. Deana Marcum from Library of Congress USA gave a perspective on Digital Library and referred to emerging tools like Wikis and role of blogs in Library services. Prof. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, stated that ICT provides us with vital, dynamic and functional needs to reach out to a large mass of Student population with diverse interests. Prof. Balakrishnan emphasized the need for relooking at copyright laws in new information environment and enacting laws to regulate Digital Objects. Smt. Purandeshwari, Minister of State, HRD emphasized that Library should be transformed into Digital Libraries at the earliest. Kapil Sibal reiterated that judicious selection of Information Resources for digitization, traditional Library tools versus Digital Library Tools, socialization of Libraries, development of hybrid Libraries and up gradation of Librarians skills are necessary. The inaugural session ended with the vote of thanks by Dr. Debal Kar, the Organizing Secretary of the Conference.

The Conference provided a platform and enabled interaction among Digital Library Experts, Researchers, Academics and Students. It facilitated creation, adoption, implementation and utilization of Digital Libraries and their future contribution towards shaping the information paradigm. It also enabled developed and developing countries to bridge the Digital Divide through Knowledge Sharing.
Near about forty internationally renowned speakers exchanged their views. There were few awards for best papers and best posters. There was a tough competition in selecting best papers and best posters of high international standard.
Poster award committee, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Jean- Marc, Visited the poster sessions. They discussed, reviewed and finalized the winners. Kashmir University feels proud that two Assistant Professors of the Department of Library & Information Science namely Miss Rosy Jan and Nadeem Akhter bagged the best poster award 2010 during the Conference. Rosy Jan and Nadeem Akhter Khan were awarded for their work and poster presentation entitled “ Harvesting Capability of Google Scholar: A Comparative Study of three Major Journal Lists- Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ), high wire and Bio Medcentral”.
The valedictory function was held on 26th February and some important dignitaries from University Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Ministry of Culture and Vice- Chancellors were present during the function.

(Dr. A.M Baba, Deputy University Librarian, represented University of Kashmir in the Conference. Feedback at abmbaba@kashmiruniversity.ac.in)

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