Padma Shri Dr. S. R. Ranganathan's 133rd Birth Anniversary Celebration on 12th August, 2025

Dear All, 

This is to inform you that the Department of Library & Information Science, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, organized the National Librarian's Day celebration on the occasion of Padma Shri Dr. S. R. Ranganathan's 133rd Birth Anniversary on 12th August 2025, from 03:00 PM to 04:00 PM, through Google Meet. On this occasion, the department invited Dr. M. G. Sreekumar, Director, Libraries, Jio Institute, as a special guest to deliver the theme talk on “The Changing Landscape of Learning Paradigm and Next Generation of Libraries.” 

The programme commenced with a welcome address by Prof. Akhandanand Shukla, DLIS, CUTN, followed by a brief introduction to the programme, the department, and its faculty members. Prof. S. Thanuskodi, Head of the Department, in his presidential address, highlighted the significance of National Librarian's Day and the contributions of Dr. S. R. Ranganathan to the profession. After his address, Dr. K. G. Sudhier, Assistant Professor, introduced the resource person to the audience. 

The resource person, Dr. M. G. Sreekumar, delivered an engaging and insightful talk on “The Changing Landscape of Learning Paradigm and Next Generation of Libraries.” In his presentation, he discussed the historical context and evolution of libraries over millennia, changing user behaviors—especially among digital natives—emerging and current trends in libraries, and the role of technological advancements, with a focus on AI applications in libraries. He also spoke about best practices in library services as well as the professional competencies required for librarians to remain relevant and impactful. There was an active Q & A session after the lecture where Dr. Sreekumar answered the queries.

The invited talk was coordinated by Dr. K. G. Sudhier, Assistant Professor, DLIS, CUTN, and was attended by more than 66 LIS professionals, students, and scholars from across the country. The event concluded with remarks by Dr. S. Ravikumar, Associate Professor, DLIS, CUTN, who summarized key points from the discussion and delivered the formal vote of thanks. He expressed gratitude to the participants for their active engagement and to Dr. M. G. Sreekumar for his enlightening presentation. Ms. Doli Basumatary, MLIS 3rd Semester student, served as the rapporteur for the programme.

The glimpses of the program is given below: 

Department thanks to all who attended the program across the country and taken the benefit to listen Dr. M. G. Sreekumar on the occasion of National Librarian's Day.

Job Achievement by Ms. Usha Aind

Dear All,

We are pleased to inform you that Ms. Usha Aind, a graduate of the MLIS program (2022-2024 batch) and an alumnus of the Department of Library & Information Science at Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, has been appointed as a Library Intern at the Central Library, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD).

The Department extends its heartfelt congratulations to Ms. Usha Aind on this accomplishment and wishes her continued success in her future endeavors.

Understanding Systematic Literature Review

Dear All, 

We are delighted to inform you that Department of Library & Information Science, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur has organised a special online lecture series “Anveshan: An Online Lecture Series in LIS for Research Scholars." The 10th lecture in the series was held on 9th August 2025 (Saturday) from 03:00 to 04:30 PM via Google Meet. Prof. Shriram Pandey, Professor & Head, Department of Library and Information Science, Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh, was invited as the resource person and delivered a lecture on the topic “Understanding Systematic Literature Review.”

The programme commenced with a welcome address by Prof. Akhandanand Shukla, DLIS, CUTN, followed by a brief introduction to the programme, the department, its faculty members, and the resource person. 

In his lecture, Prof. Pandey highlighted the growing importance of systematic review papers and their increasing demand in scholarly publications across various domains. He emphasised that systematic reviews are fundamentally different from bibliometric studies and require collaboration and subject expertise. He outlined the purpose of systematic reviews and discussed common mistakes in literature reviews, such as adopting a “pick and choose” approach from a single database, organising literature solely in chronological, reverse chronological, or thematic order, and relying on a single database or dataset to identify research gaps. Further, he explained the key benefits and challenges of systematic reviews, noting their role in identifying prolific authors and establishing relationships among research contexts—something traditional reviews often fail to achieve. He clarified the differences between a literature review, a systematic literature review, and a meta-analysis, and discussed various types of literature reviews and review methods. 

Prof. Pandey stressed that a literature review is a journey from the known to the unknown, making it essential to adopt the correct methodology. He demonstrated various sources of data for systematic reviews, including bibliographic databases, websites, journals, and books. He explained how to develop a search strategy using synonyms, abbreviations, and Boolean operators, and presented the standard format of a systematic literature review paper. He particularly stressed the adoption of the PRISMA methodology, which he described in detail. Additionally, he discussed methods of data extraction and analysis, including descriptive analysis and literature classification, and outlined the sequential steps for conducting systematic reviews. He also shared examples of both paid and free tools useful for this process. Towards the end of the session, Prof. Pandey gave a practical demonstration of conducting a systematic review. During the question-and-answer session, participants raised queries about the limitations of keywords in titles and the restrictions of search results in open-access databases, which he addressed comprehensively.

The lecture was coordinated by Prof. Akhandanand Shukla, DLIS, CUTN, and attended by 48 participants. Dr. K. G. Sudhier, Assistant Professor, shared his insights on the topic and delivered the formal vote of thanks. Ms. Komal Sahu, Senior Research Fellow, served as rapporteur for the programme.

The glimpses of the program is given below: 

Department thanks to all who attended the program and taken the benefit to listen Prof. Shriram Pandey on the important aspects of literature review.

Successful Completion of Open Ph.D. Viva-Voce of Mr. Suman Barath P., PhD Scholar

Dear All, 

We are pleased to inform you that Mr. Suman Barath P., Ph.D. Scholar of the Department successfully defended his open Ph.D. viva-voce held at the Smart Classroom on 6th August 2025 at 11:00 AM. His research topic was: "Role of Public Libraries in Bridging the Digital Divide in Kerala: A Study based on Librarians' and Users' Perspectives." Mr. Suman Barath presented his research in detail and satisfactorily answered the queries raised during the open viva-voce. Prof. Udayan Bhattacharya from the Department of Library & Information Science, Jadavpur University, West Bengal, served as the external examiner for the viva. 

Dr. K. G. Sudhier, Assistant Professor and Research Supervisor, was the Convener of the session. The session was attended by Prof. S. Thanuskodi, Head of the Department, other faculty members, research scholars from the Department and other departments, postgraduate students, non-teaching staff, and staff from the Central Library.

The Department congratulates him on the successful completion of his Ph.D. viva-voce.

Job Achievement by Mr. Yogendra Malviya

Dear All,

We are pleased to inform you that Mr. Yogendra Malviya, a graduate of the MLIS program (2022-2024 batch) and an alumnus of the Department of Library & Information Science at Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, has been appointed as Professional Assistant at the Learning Resource Centre of Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad.

The Department extends its heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Yogendra Malviya on this accomplishment and wishes him continued success in his future endeavors.