Bhubaneswar: Due to this coronavirus pandemic lots of precious lives were lost within the past one year, and the numbers just keep on adding. The Library and Information Science (LIS) fraternity also have lost several our dynamic and dedicated library professionals due to Covid-19 infection and resultant complications. LIS Profession in India has a tiny population compared to Education Sector. More than 60% of the LIS professionals are working in private institutions where they have neither job security nor retirement benefits. Unfortunately, the second wave of Covid-19 is taking the lives of LIS professionals in a more significant number across the country. Different professional groups are reporting one after the other deaths of the professionals. It has also been reliably learnt that many of the professionals are still struggling in hospitals for their survival. While the families of those working in government and well-established institutions were mostly compensated adequately and supported, those who were in most of the private establishments received very meagre support or sometimes, almost nil. In this situation, a group of LIS Professional Associations and publishing companies have come together and decided to assist the Covid affected professionals and the deceased professionals’ families. A mission has been established for this purpose which is known as HelpLIS-Mission. The website (www.helplis-mission.org/ ) of HelpLIS-Mission was lunched during a webinar held on Sunday 06th June 2021, 11AM. In the welcome Address Dr. Akhtar Parvez, organizing secretary of the mission talked about the aim and objectives of HelpLIS Mission. The main objective of this mission is to help COVID affected Library professionals & their families. For this purpose, the mission will create fund generation through donations from LIS professionals, professional associations and publishing industries as explained by Dr. MG Sreekumar, the Chairman of the HelpLIS-Mission. Dr. P.V. Konnur, President, LIS Academy presented very nicely on the web portal of the HelpLIS Mission which was developed by LIS Academy, Bangalore is record time of 72 hours. A few Professional Associations i.e., MANLIBNET, LIS Academy, ASIALA, Odisha Library Academy (OLA), MPLA, SALIS, ADINET and a few corporates i.e., Informatics India Ltd, Balani Infotech, Bharat Book Bureau, and Total Library Solutions are acting as the founding partners of this mission. Hope all the Library Associations in India and other corporates will be coming together and exhibit their solidarity to the Librarian community. President of Odisha Library Academy Dr. Banamber Sahoo in his address expresses the full cooperation to HelpLIS-Mission to achieve its goals and all members of OLA feels proud to be part of this mission.
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