A bequest for academia’s posterity

by Dilshan Boange

The ever increasing digitalisation which has spurred an entire e-reading culture is yet to render redundant the value of a printed book. This truth holds true not just for mass market publications but also academic material to aid research work which begins in most cases with textual sources even for academic disciplines that involve intense field research.

March 27 saw the launch of ‘Compendium of Postgraduate Research’ by Mrs. Sriyani Ileperuma, at the National Library and Documentation Services Auditorium, amidst a gathering of academics and senior personalities in the library and documentation services sector in Sri Lanka.

Compiler

The compiler of this Compendium was inarguably motivated by her passion to provide a publication that will act as a guide with invaluable bibliographic and indexical worth to researchers at postgraduate level.

As I listened to the speakers who graced the podium that morning such as the Director General of the National Library – Sunil Walimuni, it became evident that this self made initiative to produce this compendium was a painstakingly time consuming task demanding immense diligence and incisive expertise as a documentarian versed in the intricacies of the science of Information Documentation, which obviously no layman to the subject can achieve.

Sriyani Ileperuma is presently a Deputy Librarian at the University of Peradeniya. She has contributed 26 years to date to the sector of library services and her research is mainly focused on the provision of scientific information for research.

Awards

Among the credentials she possesses are several local and international awards for her contribution to widen horizons in the field of information provision for scientific research. Her services to the broader arena of academic research includes serving in the Study Group XIII of the National Science and Technology Commission (NASTEC) from 2007 to 2011, Committee for Ethical Clearance at the PGIS from 2006 to 2014 and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and as a Standing Committee member of the Science and Technology Libraries section from 2007 to 2011.

In addition to that she is also a visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Science and the PGIS, University of Peradeniya, teaching research methodology and information literacy. Her publications prior to this compendium include several research papers in local and international journals.

She currently serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Information Development published by Sage Publications in the United Kingdom.

Research abstracts

The publication presents the meticulous collection of research abstracts which the compiler had collected over a period of five years and categorised under ten boards of study. The academic disciplines include Geography, Sociology, and Economics to name but a three. In her speech the compiler stated that her editorial interventions with regard to even corrections of grammar or typography were minimal in order to ensure the integrity is not displaced

In his keynote address Prof. Piyadasa Ranasinghe, professor of Library Sciences from University of Kelaniya stated that the publication will be useful to policymakers on subjects such as Economics.

In his commendation to Mrs. Ileperuma for the work she has accomplished in this publication, Prof. Ranasinghe made a captivating simile setting out the pragmatic application related to academic research and the compendium’s value to academia.

The esteemed professor said that ‘librarians are navigators in the sea of information, and must have lighthouses.’ It is therefore inarguable that Mrs. Ileperuma’s publication will surely serve many on their voyages to reach new horizons of knowledge in the days ahead