PLAN: Our plan is to establish a library of books, softwares, research papers, etc related to IT in Orissa. As a start we will have a physical location in Bhubaneswar. Later we may have branches in other cities. Our next targets will be from Berhempur, Rourkela and Sambalpur.
LOCATION RATIONALE: The library will be located in one of the IT institutions (among the dozen or so private Engg colleges, MCA granting institutions, govt colleges, universities, OCAC, IIIT precursor, etc.). The exact location will be chosen based on which institutions gives us the maximum facilities (room, shelves, a librarian, Internet connection, etc.) We believe if we have 1000 books which at $50 a book will be worth $50,000 (or 21 lakh rupees), the various institutions will compete against each other to give us a good deal as having the library in their campus will increase their visibility. From our point of view, it will save us time and the hassle of constructing a building, operating the library, etc. etc.
USERS: The library will be accessible to any OITS member or student member. Recall that BBSR now has several private engineering colleges offering B.E in CS, several MCA granting institutions, and 3 colleges offering B.Sc in Computer Science (hons). The library will have a big impact on the faculty and students of these institutions and may play a role in influencing IT companies decisions to have a location in BBSR.
BOOK COLLECTION DRIVE:
(a) IT faculty: Publishers in the US send complementary copies
to instructors and professors and over the year they have a lot
of books that they don't use or have multiple copies of the same
book. Oriya faculty should try to donate these books. They may
also collect books from their colleagues in the same institution
or at other institutions. Others who may have faculty friends may try
to collect books from those friends. (Same goes about softwares.)
Also, IT faculty should also have a selection of their papers in the
library. This will be beneficial to both the faculty whose papers
will be in the library and students/faculty in Orissa who may browse them
and decide to pursue research in a similar field.
As an example, Prof. Chitta Baral was able to collect 49 books
in one day from his shelves and from one of his colleagues.
(b) IT professionals: Besides contributing some books (which may not
be as many as the faculty) they can contribute software packages
and manuals (or product use books) from their company.
(c) Students: Students can try to collect books for this cause
from their faculty, or start a collection drive through the
Indian association in their respective universities.
(d) Others: Can contribute any IT books they may have or can
collect from their friends who may have such books.
COMPUTER DONATION: We would also like to have your spare computers (486 or above) in the library.
SHIPPING MODALITIES
Our society just started and we really have very little money.
So any help in bearing part or all of the shipping cost
will be really useful. This is just a request. Even without that
we will really appreciate your donation of books.
(i) Manoj Sahu,
Saucon Village Apt, 13 Duh Drive, Apt# 112,
Bethlehem, PA - 18015, USA.
(email -- manoj@aluxs.micro.lucent.com)
(ii) Chitta Baral,
934 Totonaca Lane, El Paso, TX 79912, USA.
(email -- chitta@cs.utep.edu)
(iii) Himanshu Baral, 903 Joan Ct,
Naperville, IL 60540, USA.
(email -- rbaral@lucent.com)
(iv) Purna Mohanty,
1235 Wildwood Avenue #128, Sunnyvale, CA 94089, USA.
(email -- purna@pico.apple.com)
(v) Rabi Mahapatra,
1410 D Summit Street, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
(email -- rabi@cs.tamu.edu)
or you can directly ship the books to
Dr. S. P. Mishra, President OITS.
147, Kanan Vihar HIG Colony
Bhubaneswar, 751031, INDIA.
(email -- spmisra@beta.iopb.stpbh.soft.net)
(please send us a list of books you sent and when for our records)
If you are in a metropolitan area we may be able to pick the books
from you personally through a volunteer. Please send a message
to occ@cs.utep.edu if you need a volunteer to pick the
books from your place or office. (May be you can volunteer
for your area.)
You can also mail it to one of the following addresses in US