May 19, 2012 : Central University of Punjab organised an E-Resource Awareness Programme in order to initiate a discussion on the advantage and reliability of e-resources in the procurement of information and knowledge for academic purposes on 19 May, 2012 at its City Campus. The Vice Chancellor Prof. Jai Rup Singh welcomed the guests and spoke about the recent infrastructural strides of the university and also CUPB’s aim of consolidation of research and academics through e-resource management and open access to research publications. He also delved upon the university’s decision to impart instruction in 26 courses in all from the coming academic session and the plan for the upcoming spacious library having 8000 square meters as plinth area involving total expenditure of Rs. 30 crore. Dr. R. K. Chadha, Joint Secretary, Parliament of India, New Delhi was the chief guest on this occasion and shared his views on commitment of the government towards open access to knowledge and information through a custom consortium programme and easy access to hardware through Aakash programme. He initiated a call for the academic community to participate in this open-movement and commended the effort of CUPB towards e-resource awareness programme. Guest of Honour Dr. Jagdish Arora, Director, INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad also discussed usefulness of an open access programme and the technicalities of MoU involving setting up of an ETD laboratory and easy access to the installed material. Prof. P. Ramarao, Dean Academic Affairs thanked the distinguished guests for their participation in the programme.
Central University of Punjab also signed a memorandum of understanding with INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad in order to enhance open access to university research publications and to check the menace of plagiarism in research and academic publications. The MoU will enable online access to university research and publications through Shodhganga, a programme initiated by INFLIBNET to provide a platform for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses and make it available to the entire academic community in open access. The repository has the ability to capture, index, store, disseminate and preserve ETDs submitted by the researchers.
Some important international publishers like Wiley Blackwell, Science Direct, Taylor and Francis, Springler Link, Project Muse and J-Gate Custom Content for Consortium also made their presentations about e-resources available with them. The presentations were followed by an interactive feedback session during which the resource persons allayed the queries and observations of the faculty, students and visiting participants. Prof. P. S. Ramana proposed a vote of thanks expressing gratitude towards the special guests, various publishers, participants, faculty and students for their cooperation. The aim of the programme is to take forward University’s commitment to the upgrading of faculty and students belonging not only to the campus but also the neighbouring institutions of the region as a whole.
