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Preparing Documents for Publication on IFLANET

Spanish translation

Information Coordinators and other contributors should follow the following procedures and guidelines when preparing documents for, or submitting changes to IFLANET.

1. Supported electronic file types

IFLANET can accept documents in the following formats only:
  • MS-Word / Excel /PowerPoint (do not convert to ASCII text)
  • PostScript and Encapsulated PostScript
  • Adobe Acrobat PDF files

IFLANET cannot accept files in desktop publishing formats (i.e., PageMaker, Quark XPress, InDesign) or in other proprietary formats. Information Coordinators wishing to supply database information to IFLANET are requested to contact IFLANET Administration directly.

If graphics are embedded in a document, they should be made available as separate files. File formats should be GIF, JPG, JPEG, TIF or TIFF. Proprietary graphics formats such as Corel cannot be converted by IFLANET Administration.

If materials are to be compressed for transfer, please use common compression formats (WINZip preferred).

2. Required administrative metadata

To help identify materials sent for publication on IFLANET, all texts should include the following administrative metadata:
  • author(s)/organization name(s)
  • Information Coordinator's name
  • IFLA Unit or other affiliation
  • descriptive document title
  • email address
  • mailing address/phone number

3. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) Support

Information Coordinator's and other contributors should not do their own HTML mark up. In practice, it is very difficult to maintain consistency across IFLANET when many individuals engage in HTML coding independently. It takes more time to modify documents received in HTML format, than to mark them up in their entirety. Please send only supported electronic formats.

4. Supplying information about document structure and placement

To facilitate HTML mark up and placement of documents on IFLANET, Information Coordinators and other contributors must provide information about their documents' structures and proper location. While standard templates are used on IFLANET, information about a document's structure is required to construct it appropriately (a simple way of providing structure information is to send a paper version, if available, along with the electronic text).

Please provide the following information about document structure and placement:

  1. Indicate what the document is, and where it should go on IFLANET. Please provide the specific URL of the page from which the new page should be linked.
  2. Indicate where graphics, if any, should be placed in the document.
  3. Indicate what the linkages are among components in multi-component documents.
  4. Indicate what the linking text is on the "parent" page from which the new document links (that is, the string of words that should be active as the link).

Modifying existing documents

When modifying existing documents, please be very specific as to what page, and where on that page, you want changes to be made. IFLANET Administration deals with hundreds of requests per year to modify the many thousand of pages on IFLANET. Thus, it is imperative TO BE SPECIFIC. In addition to the information outline in Section 4, please include the following information when making changes:
  1. Include the URL of the page you want modified. Please include the filename as it exists on IFLANET.
  2. Indicate clearly what paragraphs are to be changed or replaced.
  3. Indicate clearly what links are to be added, or removed (include the URL).
  4. Please supply linking text.
For large documents that are being updated, such as address lists, please send only the changes to the document and not the entire document once again. Re-marking up an entire document for a small number of changes is highly inefficient. Send changes only and specify where they are in the document.
Note: Please provide URLs and filenames when referencing documents and pages on IFLANET. This is the most efficient way of identifying pertinent pages out of the thousands that are maintained by IFLANET Administration.

5. Databases

Database projects, which can be resource intensive, will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Please contact IFLANET Administration directly to discuss the possibility of creating databases of materials.

6. Non-electronic submissions

Information Coordinators should submit their documents in electronic format where possible. In cases where this is not possible (e.g., lost files, non-Roman characters), paper documents will be scanned and converted to PDF for delivery through IFLANET. Please ensure that paper versions are of high quality or they will not be able to be scanned well enough for inclusion on IFLANET.
Note: IFLANET personnel will not re-key or OCR paper documents.

7. Sending files to IFLANET Administration

The following methods are acceptable for sending files to IFLANET Administration.

8.1 Electronic Mail Attachments

Simply attach the document to a notification message and send it to: IFLANET@ifla.org. Please provide URLs and filenames when referencing documents and pages on IFLANET.

8.2 CD-ROM, DVD-ROM

Electronic files can be sent to IFLANET on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM using the IFLANET postal address in The Hague, clearly labeled as to their contents. An index file describing the contents of the CDs should also be included.

Please send them to:
IFLANET Administration
P.O. Box 95312
2509 CH The Hague
Netherlands

8. Response times and important dates

The response time of getting materials onto IFLANET is generally 48 hours of receipt in the IFLANET mailbox. This turnaround time applies during the "low season," which is from September to April of each year. In the "high season," from May to August, as the Conference approaches, the response time can lengthen to seven to ten days because of the sheer volumes involved. If you have numerous changes to make, please take these response times into account. Please do not leave all modifications and additions to your materials until just before the Conference.