Information Outlook, Vol. 6, No. 12, December 2002
The 2002 IFLA Review
IFLA Returns to Scotland
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) returned to its roots in Scotland last August for the 68th edition of its annual conference. The conference, held in Glasgow, bore little resemblance to the first one.
In 1935, 65 IFLA delegates from 26 countries met in Madrid and Barcelona. At that conference, there were 65 delegates from 26 countries. The Glasgow conference had 4,765 participants from 122 countries, including 1,082 first-time attendees.
Among the many attendees were SLA members. Here are some of their reports on the event:
Standing Committee Member to the Section of University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries and Information Literacy Section
By Jesús Lau
The kilt was in evidence at all formal sessions of the IFLA conference in Glasgow. In fact, some members of the host organizing committee wore their kilts at all times. And the melancholy music of bagpipes could be heard at most of the formal ceremonies.
The city was packed with librarians and other information professionals. A taxi driver commented, "It seems that everyone in Glasgow this week is a librarian." The IFLA conference program had more than 200 presentations, poster papers, and product demonstrations, as well as several social events sponsored by the organizing committee and the major vendors. The theme of the meeting was "Libraries for Life: Democracy, Diversity, Delivery."
The conference program was generally quite good, and the meetings I attended had excellent speakers. I may be a bit biased because my own session, the User Education Roundtable, went very well. The speakers were on the topic, wrote good papers, and had great communication skills. The theme "Developing Librarians as Teachers" was explored in four papers and in a hands-on workshop, "Becoming a Librarian-Teacher: What Does It Take?" Most of the papers can be downloaded from IFLANET at www.ifla.org.
The other section, University Libraries, is the largest section in IFLA, so it covers a lot of ground in the program.
The sessions, workshop, and discussion group centered on the following topics: the impact of alternative scholarly publishing and the Budapest open access initiative; marketing library services to academic communities; the impact of change on academic libraries' staff; and the role of the university library in promoting democracy and diversity. Most speakers submitted papers, which can be downloaded from IFLANET.
Jesús Lau can be reached at Jlau@Uv.Mx / Jlau@Uacj.Mx. He has been an SLA representative as Standing Committee Member to the section of University Libraries and other General Research Libraries since 1998 and chair of the Information Literacy Section since 1998.
Education and Training Section
By Judy Field
The Education and Training section responded to the call to have members attend the various regional meetings and determine how the different sections could collaborate with the regional groups. As a result, several collaboration proposals are being developed and will be presented to the section for action in Berlin in 2003.
Consideration is being given to updating Miriam Tees' writings about appropriate components to be included in a library management course. A request to cooperate with the Education and Training section was conveyed by Rejean Savard, chair of the Management and Marketing section. The committee open forum on Monday, called "Think Locally, Act Globally: Enhancing Competencies for a Diverse World," was well attended; of 30 papers submitted, 18 were accepted. These presentations dealt with the learning styles in Library and Information Science programs, global information ethics, and how to promote effective learning using Blackboard. The workshop on Thursday was held at the University of Strathclyde; the theme was "Driving Change in the Profession." It included presentations on benchmarking and research assessment, as well as a brief presentation on the status of LIS education in the host country, the United Kingdom.
Judy Field can be reached at aa4101@wayne.edu. She has been a member of the Education and Training section for three years.
Classification and Indexing Section
By Marcia Lei Zeng
The Classification and Indexing section's program, "Compatibility and Integration in Subject Retrieval," was very well attended and received. The three papers presented in the program were "Subject-Based Interoperability: Issues from the High-Level Thesaurus (HILT) Project" by Dennis Nicholson, UK; "Subject Retrieval in Distributed Resources: A Short Review of Recent Developments" by Martin Kunz, Germany; and "Ensuring Interoperability Among Subject Vocabularies and Knowledge Organization Schemes: A Methodological Analysis" by Lois Mai Chan and Marcia Zeng.
The section also offered a full-day workshop, "Interoperability: Exchange of Information between Libraries, Museums and Archives," at which speakers from six European countries presented papers. At the standing committee meeting, members reported on the development of classification and subject vocabularies in their respective countries. The reports will be included in the section's newsletter.
Programs for the 2003 IFLA conference were discussed. The section will present a program on the changing roles of subject access tools and a workshop on the new edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and the DDC German translation. A joint division workshop on subject gateways is also proposed.
Currently there are two working groups in this sectionone on guidelines for multilingual thesaurus construction, chaired by Gerhard Riesthuis, The Netherlands, and one on subject access approaches used by digital collections and information directories, chaired by Marcia Zeng. The working group on subject access reported its progress at the Division IV Open Forum. As of July 2002, the group had collected data from 14 countries, in seven languages, from a total of 50 resources. The group plans to extend its data coverage to more countries and languages. Depending on this group's outcomes, a working group on subject access tools available online could be formed in 2003.
Marcia Lei Zeng can be reached at mzeng@kent.edu. She has served on the standing committee of the section on Classification and Indexing since 1997. This is her second term, which will go to 2005.
Cataloguing Section
By Dorothy McGarry
The IFLA Cataloguing section had a very active meeting in Glasgow. In addition to its two standing committee meetings and a number of working group meetings, it presented an open program and participated in a workshop.
The program focused on what FRBR can bring to information interoperability. The papers were "The Basis for a Record in Major Cataloguing Codes and the Relation to FRBR," "Data Mining MARC to Find FRBR?," and "Report on the Successful AusLit: Australian Literature Gateway Implementation of the FRBR and INDECS Event Models, and Implications for Other FRBR Implementations."
The working group on Anonymous Classics has completed part one (a revision of the previous publication) and submitted the information for publication on IFLANET (www.ifla.org). Work is continuing on Asian and African anonymous classics, as well as those of some other countries.
The working group on Guidelines for OPAC displays has been continuing work on the guidelines and hopes to have something available for worldwide review within a few months.
The ISBD review group finished its revision of ISBD(M), the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Monographic Publications, to bring its mandatory and optional provisions into line with the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records.
The 2002 revision is available on IFLANET. This and the other ISBDs will be revised to incorporate FRBR terminology. The review group approved the ISBD(CR), the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Serials and Other Continuing Resources, for publication and later loading onto IFLANET. Several areas of potential revision to the ISBD(ER), the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources, were discussed. The source of information will be changed somewhat to make it more cataloger-friendly. Area three will be deleted, and an option will be available for the use of area five for remote-access as well as direct-access resources. The proposals will be written up and placed on IFLANET for worldwide review. Proposals by a subunit of the review group discussing the use of multiple ISBDs are available for comment on IFLANET. The ISBD(CM), the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Cartographic Materials, will be worked on again now that the ISBD(ER) results are available. Work on optional data elements has been completed for ISBD(NBM), the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Non-Book Materials and will soon commence for ISBD(A), the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Older Monographic Publications (Antiquarian) and ISBD(PM), the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Printed Music.
The ISBD review group has been given permission by the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) for Revision of Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) to have access to the JSC documents as they are put out. In this way, the ISBD review group can determine which documents would have an impact on the ISBDs and can send comments to the JSC in the same time frame as the JSC's constituent bodies.
A working group on a Multilingual Dictionary of Cataloguing Terms and Concepts has been formed to work on terms in different languages for the same concepts. Such a dictionary will enable easier translations and better communication among cataloguers internationally and could help bring some of the cataloguing rules closer to each other.
The working group on The Use of Metadata Schemes has been looking at about a dozen schemes to determine which data elements are common to them. The data elements will also be examined in terms of the FRBR mandatory data elements. The working group hopes to finish its work by the end of this year.
A new working group on FRBR has just been formed. Among other tasks, it will monitor the implementation of FRBR worldwide and will oversee an ongoing revision of the FRBR conceptual model. The Cataloguing section also participates in a working group on functional requirements and numbering for authority records, and is, among other things, looking at a virtual international authority file. This type of file would allow each national bibliographic agency or other cataloguing agency to use whatever form of name it wishes as its established form and to have access to the forms used by other agencies.
A group met to plan an international conference of cataloguing rulemakers, which will be held in Frankfurt, Germany, in July 2003. Several people involved in the revision of each of the major cataloguing codes will meet to see what steps can be taken to bring the codes closer together, in view of the internationalization of cataloguing records and rules.
The section's strategic plan, with its 10 goals and various action items, was reviewed.
Dorothy McGarry can be reached at dmcgarry@ucla.edu. She has been a member of the Standing Committee of the IFLA Cataloguing section since 1995.
Library Theory and Research Section
By Wilda Newman
This year, before attending the IFLA Conference, my husband and I spent a week in Wales. We visited a number of places, including Hay-on-Wye—"the city of books." "This little medieval market town on the English border emerged from the sleep of centuries in the 1960s when an eccentric and enterprising bookseller filled the fire station, cinema, and empty shops with secondhand books. His lead was followed by other dealers, who have made Hay into a magnet for bibliophiles from around the world." (Wales: The Green Guide, Michelin Travel Publications, p. 164). For me, this town's rebirth through books symbolizes what IFLA does every year somewhere in the world.
The Library Theory and Research (LTR) program at the conference was convened at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Center (SECC). LTR presented two workshops. The workshop on Wednesday, August 21, entitled "Public Library Politics—An International Perspective," was opened by the LTR chair, Kerry Smith. Bob Usherwood (study project head) gave a preliminary report on this study (see LTR Newsletter, Dec. 2001, at http://www.ifla.org/VII/s24/news/news1201.pdf ). His report was followed by thematic group discussions (reported back to all attendees) and plenary discussion. Thursday's workshop was presented by the LTR and Statistics sections, and complemented the Wednesday event. The following are preconference details of these programs:
· August 21—"Political Perceptions of the Public Library—An International Study."
Delegates attending the workshop had the opportunity not only to hear about the preliminary results from some groundbreaking research but to contribute to the research project themselves. The workshop focused on an international study that seeks to illuminate the political processes involved in public library decisionmaking. In particular, it aims to provide information on governments' attitudes toward public libraries in terms of
- their value for individuals and groups in society
- their contribution to the democratic process
- their contribution to economic development
- their contribution to policy priorities
The study promises to get behind the decisionmaking process by attempting to discover the factors, individuals, and organizations that influence policymakers when they make decisions about library services. Volunteers in a number of countries are already involved in this project, and some of them were present at the workshop to talk about the situation in their countries.
Bob Usherwood (University of Sheffield, UK) and Kerry Smith (Curtin University, Australia) presented a brief introduction on how policymakers perceive public library and information services in different parts of the world.
Workshop participants were divided into small groups to discuss and test the major themes arising from the research. Each group was given a small booklet containing some research findings to stimulate discussion. (This strategy has already proved very successful in other projects undertaken in the department at Sheffield.)
The final report from the study, which should be published in time for the 2003 IFLA conference, will take into account the views expressed by these delegates. The workshop provided a unique opportunity to record and share experiences on an under-researched aspect of library management. The final report will be prepared by Bob Usherwood (see www.ifla.org/IV/ifla68/prog02.htm).
· August 21—"Northumbria Lite—Measuring Impact and Outcomes."
The workshop began with a background and introduction by Roswitha Poll (University and Regional Library, Muenster, Germany) on measuring impact and outcomes. John Sumsion (Loughborough University, UK) looked at estimating the economic value of library benefits, and Bob Usherwood focused on demonstrating the social impact of public libraries through qualitative research.
Two segments followed the opening of the workshop, both of which included plenary papers and concurrent workshops with plenary feedback. A concluding paper was presented.
The LTR standing committee held two business meetings, both focused primarily on conference planning. Details for the Glasgow meeting were finalized, and work on the strategic plan 20012003 and action items was completed. The committee reviewed the Glasgow Declaration and IFLA statements. Additional information can be found at www.ifla.org/IV/ifla68/council-res.htm.
Discussion also covered LTR programs for upcoming conferences in Berlin (2003), Buenos Aires (2004), Oslo (2005), and Seoul (2006). Both meetings included discussion of the section's newsletter, listserv, and website, as well as the LTR leaflet.
Wilda Newman can be reached at wildanewman @yahoo.com. She has served in the Library Theory and Research Section since 1998.
Statistics Section
By Pauline Rothstein, Ph.D.
Members of the Statistics Standing Committee who attended the preconference on "Statistics in Practice" at Loughborough (LISULibrary Information and Statistics Unit) reported on its success. A conference description is available at www.lisu.ac.uk. This event was sponsored in cooperation with the Library Research and Theory Section of IFLA. The impetus for this preconference was a study confirming our members' perception that there is little or no training for librarians in statistics and the practical application of statistics. Next year the section will again co-sponsor a preconference on statistics, as well as a postconference meeting in Vienna on performance measurement and statistics in library management.
Projects reported on at this meeting included benchmarking in Germany, benchmarking academic libraries by type and subject in France, collecting data on electronic resources in France, collecting statistics online for Paris libraries, and the change from central to borough administration for Paris public libraries. U.S. representatives reported on the Association for Research Libraries (ARL) measurement and statistics program, and the LIBQUAL + (TM), an ARL New Measures Initiative and e-metrics project. The U.S. representatives reviewed the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) standard for library statistics (see www.niso.org), and all librarians were invited to send comments. The Russian representative announced a collection of Russian websites in English at www.iliac.org, as well as the new server for intellectual statistics at the Russian National Library for Science and Technology. Norway has gathered statistics according to the new ISO standard; Sweden collects statistics only for research libraries. Canada does not collect special library and school/children's library statistics. In Andalucía, Spain, the public library system is conducting a user survey through its new network of eight public libraries. The UK representatives reminded us of new LISU, Library and Information Statistics Unit at Loughborough University publications, including one on school libraries and libraries for children. For the first time in the UK, higher education statistics can be filed online, where errors can be more easily detected.
The Statistics Standing Committee established two working groups: Roswitha Poll convened the group on qualitative measures, while Mike Heaney was convener for the group to redefine the scope of the Statistics Section.
At the second meeting of the standing committee, a report was presented on the new section scope statement. Committee members agreed to change the name of the section from the Statistics Section to the Statistics and Evaluation Section. This name reflects the group's current work, including its active interest and involvement in joint projects with other IFLA sections. Several members volunteered to translate the new English brochure into French, German, Russian, and Spanish. Progress on the qualitative measures project can be found through a link to Roswitha Poll's library from the Statistics section Web page on IFLANET. Also on this page is an invitation to attend and/or submit papers for the 5th Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services, a Pre-IFLA Conference in the UK.
Our main session on Thursday, chaired by Wanda Dole, our section chair, was an all-day workshop and paper presentation, co-sponsored with the Library Theory and Research Section and the editorial board of the Northumbria conference (the site of the preconference). These presentations will be published as Performance Measures and Metrics. The workshop room was packed with people—clearly, the Statistics section is involved with issues of concern to a large audience. Next year we expect to involve even more IFLA attendees in our programs.
Plans for upcoming conferences in Berlin (2003) where we will sponsor a session on cost analysis data and in Buenos Aires (2004) where we will work with the Public Libraries Section to plan a program on using statistics for advocacy in public libraries were discussed.
Pauline Rothstein can be reached at prothste@ramapo.edu.
Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section
By Donna Scheeder
The Library and Research Services for Parliaments section held its 18th pre-IFLA conference in London on August 1415, 2002, and then proceeded to Glasgow. The London meeting took place at the House of Commons Library under the leadership of Priscilla Baines, librarian. The agenda included presentations on the challenges facing the House of Commons Library and the work of the Parliament and Constitution Center and the Parliamentary Information Management Services. The intranets of the Swedish, Norwegian, Latvian, and Slovenian parliaments were discussed in a panel session. A highlight of the event was a reception at the Tate Gallery.
The Glasgow program spanned a variety of topics. A daylong research seminar covered such issues as cheap and effective needs assessment, dealing with clients in a political environment, working with committees, and collaboration. The panel on e-democracy and e-government featured a member of the Scottish Parliament. The section spent a day in Edinburgh that included a debate on a motion that parliamentary democracies get the information services they deserve. Fiona McLeod, MSP, MCLIP, spoke to the assembled audience. A full day of management workshops allowed participants to choose from a variety of session topics, including the staff of the future, client liaison programs, and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Delegates developed plans for future section programs and services.
Donna Scheeder can be reached at DSCHEEDER@crs.loc.gov
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