   
Newsletter of the Section of Government Libraries
June/July 1999
65th IFLA Council and General Conference, August 20 - 28, 1999
Bangkok, Thailand
- Location:
- Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre- BITEC
- The Conference Theme:
- "Libraries as Gateways to an Enlightened World".
Standing Committee Meetings
- 21 August, Saturday 09:00-11.50.
- Government Libraries SC Meeting I
- Location: BITEC
-
- Agenda:
- Election of new officers
- Planning the programme for the 2000 Jerusalem Conference
- Discussion of the projected Internet Directory of Government Libraries
- Discussion of the section's listserv
- Staffing IFLA booth
- 27 August, Friday 10:30 - 12:20.
- Government Libraries SC Meeting II.
- Location: BITEC
- Agenda:
- Final discussion of the Jerusalem programme
- Preliminary discussion of the year 2001 Boston programme
Special Libraries Coordinating Board Meetings(For Elected Officers)
- Friday, August 20, 14:00-18:00.
- Location:
- Friday, 27 August 12:30-14:25
- Location: BITEC
Meetings may be attended by observers with permission of the chair.
WARNING: Bangkok traffic is very heavy.
Leave sufficient time for arrival at meetings.
Special Meetings
- Caucus.
- Caucuses, as is usual in an election year, will be held by various countries on Saturday,
21 August, 17:30 - 18:30.
- Four new members will be elected to the Executive Board. Candidates for election are:
Ms. Claudia Lux (Berlin, Germany), Ms. Khunying Maenmas Chavalit (Bangkok, Thailand)
Mr. Jeronimo Martinez Gonzalez (Granada, Spain), Ms. Ingrid Parent (Ottawa, Canada)
Mr. Jianzhong Wu (Shanghai, China), Mr. Andrei Zemskow (Moscow, Russian Federation)
- Newcomers.
- IFLA Orientation for Newcomers - Sunday, 22 August 09:00-10:20, and Monday, 23 August 10:30 - 11:50.
- Information Coordinators.
- (useful for newly elected Coordinators), Monday, 23 August, 13:00-13:50.
- Discussion groups.
- On Sunday morning, 22 August, discussion groups will hold meetings that are open to any interested participants from 10:30 - 12:00 at BITEC.
- Social Responsibilities. "The growing Gap between the Information Rich and the Information Poor, both within and between Countries".
- Internet
- Performance Measurements in Public Libraries
- Licensing
- Marketing Academic Library Services within Academic Communities: Start Up Meeting to consider Discussion Group.
Discussion groups continue on Monday, 23 August, 10:30 - 11:50.
- Corporate and for Profit Libraries discussion Group
"Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence as a Tool for Special Librarians"
- Performance Measurements in Academic Libraries Discussion Group
- Friends and Advocates of Libraries Discussion Group
- Reference Discussion Group
"The New Definition of Reference Work in the Changing Reference Culture"
- Genealogy and Local History Discussion Group
- Vendor Presentations.
- "Industry Updates". By Silver Platter, Ltd. And by Sun Microsystems Computer will take place on Monday, 23 August 14:00-15:50.
- Workshops.
- Workshops will be held on Thursday, 26 August . Of interest to the Section of Government Libraries are:
- Six Billion and Counting: Statistics for the World's People:
sponsored by the Social Sciences Libraries jointly with Government
Information and Official Publications. Contact Mel Thatcher
(thatchermp@ldschurch.org) to register. Thursday, 26 August, 09:00-13:00.
- The Use of the Internet to Access Government Publications. This may be a repeat of some of the information at last year's very worthwhile workshop on this topic. Thursday, 26 August, 13:00-17:00. Contact Jerry Mansfield e-mail: jmansfil@email.usps.gov
IFLA Membership Information.
At the beginning of 1999 IFLA had 1654 members from 153 countries, a major increase from the preceding year. Institutional membership was 1121 in 1999. Non-voting personal affiliates numbered 322.
If you need further information about Bangkok, the Special Libraries Division liaison is Ms. Sutannee Keesiri. e-mail: sutannee@nida.nida.ac.th
For further information about the conference, check the IFLANET site at:
http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/65cp.htm
Amsterdam Conference Report
Standing Committee Activities
The Standing Committee held two meetings with eight members attending. It was agreed that the SC would develop a new section brochure which would be ready for the Bangkok conference. That brochure has been completed as of January 1999 and has been distributed to SC members and IFLA headquarters. SC members will now move forward with translations into the official languages of the conference. The SC also agreed to set up a listserv for committee members to facilitate communication and this has been completed. The prototype of an online database for government libraries which was to be completed and online in 1999 has been delayed. This database will be a substitute for the printed Sauer directory which is now much outdated. Programme plans for the next two conferences in Jerusalem and Boston were discussed. It was suggested that we concentrate on special services of government libraries. Services to refugees was suggested as a sub-topic.
Section of Government Libraries Programme Report
Some 45 persons attended the open Session in Amsterdam held on Wednesday 19 August from 15:00 - 17:30. The following papers were presented on the theme of: "Privatization and Government Libraries".
- Edward Valauskas. Internet Mechanics, Chicago, IL, USA, introduced the programme with "A review of Privatisation".
Abstract: "Privatisation and outsourcing provide both opportunities and threats to libraries, especially libraries in governments around the world. Creative and intelligent understanding of the role of libraries within organizations, with plenty of quantitative evidence to support the key roles of the staff and collections, will prove the best tonic for survival."
- Suzanne Burge, UK Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, London, "Much pain, little gain: privatisation and UK government libraries."
Abstract: The paper begins with an account of the introduction of the concepts of privatisation and market testing in UK government libraries. It looks at a number of case studies, of the Department of Health, the Ordnance Survey, the Export Market Intelligence Centre of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Transport, each of which illustrates different aspects of the process. It then goes on to examine government librarians' attitudes to privatisation, based on a research study carried out in 1993, and updated by a smaller study in 1996-97. It ends by considering the present situation and the effect of a change of government in the UK on the Civil Service generally and government libraries in particular.
- Nancy John, University of Ilinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA. "Providing Outsourced Internet Services to a Government Agency."
Abstract: This paper looks at library outsourcing from a different perspective - the role of librarians as the suppliers of outsourced services. As a case study of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) University Library, it discusses UIC's efforts at providing outsourced services to a variety of clients in the corporate and governmental sectors. Through examination of the evolving relationship between the UIC librarians and their clients, we are able to discern the kinds of contributions that the library profession is uniquely positioned to offer because of its understanding of the fundamental nature of information and the basic habits of information-seekers.
- Cindy Hill, Sun Microsystems, USA , "Outsourcing at Sun Microsystems".
This presentation looked at the 9 years that a group was outsourced at Sun Microsystems for what were thought of as Peripheral areas. Eventually it was realized that library services were performed better when they were done in-house and the group became regular employees of Sun Microsystems."
The full text of the papers (save for that of Cindy Hill) can be seen on IFLANET at : http://ifla.org/IV/ifla64/64cp.htm
Membership of the Section of Government Libraries
Membership of the Section on Government Libraries as of January 1999 is 85. The Standing Committee currently has nine members and is permitted to have up to 20 members. Four members will be leaving the Standing Committee this year; R. Aars-Nicolayse, J. Bernstein, W. Fink, and E. Valauskas. We encourage you to recommend new members to the Standing Committee. Members are elected for a four year term and must be recommended by two institutional members or one association member.
Current members of the Standing Committee are:
| Name |
|
Election |
Year
of Term |
Fax
|
| Ms. R. Aars-Nicolayse |
Oslo, Norway |
1995 |
1st |
(47) 22343161 |
| Ms. J.R. Bernstein |
Albuquerque, NM, USA |
1995 |
2nd |
(1) 505 2779813 |
| Mr. S. Bouffange |
Paris, France |
1997 |
1st |
|
| Ms. S. Burge |
London, UK |
1995 |
1st |
(44)(171) 8655670 |
| Mr. W. Fink |
Munich, Germany |
1995 |
2nd |
(49) 89 1258439 |
| Ms. S. Kagoda-Batuwa |
Arusha, Tanzania |
1997 |
2nd |
(255) 57 4255 |
| Ms L. Olson |
Stockholm, Sweden |
1997 |
1st |
|
| Ms. I. Peltonen |
Helsinki, Finland |
1995 |
1st |
(358) 0 1604759 |
| Ms. Z.P. Sorokina |
Moscow, Russia |
1995 |
1st |
(7) 095 9252451 |
| Mr. E.J. Valauskas |
Chicago, IL, USA |
1995 |
2nd |
(1) 312 3630023 |
We welcome the new Standing Committee members elected in 1999:
| Ms. Anne-Lise Haugeto, Oslo, Norway. | B.R. Klaverstijn. The Hague, Netherlands |
| Nancy Bolt, Denver, Colorado, USA. | Ms. Christine Wellems, Hamburg, Germany |
Looking to the Future
- 66th IFLA Council and General Conference, Jerusalem, Israel, 2000
- 67th IFLA Council and General Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2001
- 68th IFLA Council and General Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, 2002.
- 69th IFLA Council and General Conference. Berlin, Germany, 2003
Publication of this Newsletter
This Newsletter is published once a year in June/July and sent to all members of the Section of Government Libraries. Articles about and of interest to government libraries are most welcome. Please send articles to the editor by April of 2000.
Judith R. Bernstein, Newsletter Editor
e-mail: rosen@unm.edu
|
