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61st IFLA General Conference - Conference Proceedings - August 20-25, 1995

Round Table for Management of Library Associations

Annual Report 1994

David R. Bender
Special Libraries Association
1700 Eighteenth Street N.W.
Washington DC 20009
USA
Fax: (1-202) 2659317
e-mail: sla1@cabcon.net
is Chair of the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations.

Tuula Haavisto

Finnish Library Association
Museokatu 18A
00100 Helsinki
Finland
Fax: (358-0) 6941859
is Secretary.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee held its mid-conference meeting in Budapest on 11 March 1994 at the National Széchényi Library, with 11 of the 17 members present. The meeting was held in conjun ction with a seminar on library association management, 7-10 March (see below).

Projects

Development of Activities of Library Associations in Eastern Europe (DALA)

DALA began in 1991 with the goals of supporting the creation of new and democratically established library associations in Eastern and Central Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union. An important part of the project was the gathering of information on the situation of associations in the countries of the region, the initiatives that are emerging, and the problems causing the most di fficulties in organizing the profession. Since it became obvious in the early planning stages that very little information was available in IFLA's central records, a survey by questionnaire was carri ed out by the Round Table after the questionnaire had been compiled. The survey itself was conducted by the Association of Hungarian Librarians, particularly Viola Batonyi, the Association's Secretar y for International Affairs. She also processed the very substantial volume of data collected and presented it to the Round Table meeting in Barcelona in 1993. The next step of the project was to bri ng together leading librarians of the associations to discuss problems and to learn of guidelines which could be applied in their own associations. The Round Table therefore organized a seminar in Ve szprem (near Budapest) on library association management in Budapest, attended by representatives from 29 associations including those from countries not previously active in IFLA (Albania, Byeloruss ia, and the Ukraine). Viola Batonyi, member of the Executive Committee was responsible for the organization of the seminar. Eight resolutions were submitted to the Professional Board for further cons ideration and action.
The next steps for the project could include:
  1. a one or two year programme for this part of Europe;
  2. cooperation with the Soros Foundation;
  3. preparation of a Code of Conduct for these new associations;
  4. compilation of a list of legis lative problems of these countries.
The next seminar could be organized in either Belorussia, Kazakstan, Russia, or the Ukraine in 1996.

Model Library Association Projects

The Executive Committee established cooperative effort with FEBAB (Brazil) at the beginning of 1993, but work had not yet begun. The Committee agreed that the project with FEBAB would be given until the end of 1995, and if, at that time, work had not progressed, would be reconsidered. The reasons the overall project was not progressing were the following: 1) the demands for the project in develo ping countries were too high, especially considering that voluntary workers were involved; 2) guidance from the Round Table tended to be too restrictive, especially when taking into account cultural differences; 3) the basic situations in these library associations was often very weak; 4) the idea itself was not born in the library associations concerned and therefore was not given high priority ; and 5) there were practical difficulties in transferring money and in the exchange of information. Some alternative working forms were proposed: 1) to organize seminars based on the Guidelines f or the Management of Professional Associations in the Fields of Archives, Libraries and Information prepared by Russell Bowden (UK) under a UNESCO contract in 1989; 2) to finance some ALP project s, e.g., those helping to build new library associations; 3) to find potential Model Library Associations among COMLA members, the CIS or Eastern Europe. The additional funds collected from Round Tab le members and from the Branches and Groups of the Library Association, UK could be used for other purposes, e.g., for the DALA Seminars.

Library Associations: Resource Center

It was decided that no more efforts to update the Simmons College material will be made.

Directory of Library Associations

Several efforts to produce directories of library associations are being carried out by other organizations. The Executive Committee agreed to cooperate with Anderson Rand.

Guidelines

The Executive Committee agreed to prepare shorter, practical guidelines about the library associations within IFLA, including basic information (membership types, financial sources, etc.). One sheet per association would be the maximum length. David Bender and Karen Muller (USA) would prepare a proposal for the next meeting.

Publications

Translations of the Guidelines for the Management of Professional Associations in the Fields of Archives, Libraries and Information have been published in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, Indonesian and Latvian. Viola Batonyi's survey report on the library associations in Central and Eastern Europe (see above) has been completed in Hungarian and will be translated into Engli sh.

Future Conferences

Istanbul 1995

The Round Table will organize an open session on "Organizational Changes - How do Library Associations React to the Changing World and to the New Technologies in Libraries".

Havana Meetings
Paying for Member Services
by CARLA FUNK

Abstract
The author examines the continuing challenge of balancing financial resources with membership demands for new and improved services and suggests other sources of revenue. The paper points out that t he library profession faces a special challenge because as a whole it is not well compensated. Therefore the amount of revenue generated from membership dues is limited, even if these dues are paid b y the individual's employer. Additional sources include publications: advertising revenue, special interest publications; selling the association's mailing list; continuing education courses; self-st udy programmes; career services; and grants and fund-raising.
La dirección de las asociaciones de bibliotecarios en Cuba
by OLGA HERNANDEZ GUEVARA

Abstract
The paper gives a overview to the historical background of existing associations; describes the different types and their similarities and differences; and provides a detailed survey of the Cuban Lib rary Association.