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IFLA Journal
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Contents
IFLA REPORTS
IFLA NewsFrom the IFLA Secretariat
From the Executive Board
From the Professional Board
From the Divisions, Sections and Round Tables
From other Organizations
Reports of Meetings
From IFLA's Patron Sponsors
Publications of International RelevanceMiscellaneousInternational CalendarAbstract SheetThe Future of the Library ProfessionWalsh, VirginiaAbstractFocusing on threats and opportunities to the global library community as posed by modern information technologies, the author surveys issues to be addressed: the regulation of content of online information; copyright issues in the new environment of digitization; the continued provision of traditional library services; and the interests of developing countries. The author stresses that with the advent of new information technologies there is no longer a neat delineation between the library and archive profession, and effective partnerships should be developed with other members of the information sector, including archivists.Two Professions, One Future: Archivists and LibrariansHermans, RichardAbstractThe article focuses on the digital information environment and how it will impact the archival management profession. Covered are the image of the profession; the education and training of staff; the strategic position of the profession in relation to the information market; financial means; and providing services to users. The author stresses that because archivists and librarians are operating in the same field, that of information provision, the integration of bothe professions will be an important contribution to the development of that field.Meta-DataQuéau, PhilippeAbstractThe revolution of information and communication requires UNESCO in general and PGI in particular to focus on contents, the key axis of PGI's renewed mandate. This will include promoting access to as many significant public bits as possible to the world at large, and to weave as many significant virtual links as possible across the enormous complexity of the global Web. A brief review of activities to be undertaken under this mandate is given. Different projects worldwide aim at reinforcing accessibility of public domain information. UNESCO should play a key role in coordinating the various initiatives that are now flourishing in numerous Member States. Information institutions which are the natural focus for access to information needed for development have not been able to meet their potential in many developing countries. A major thrust of PGI will be to help mobilize and empower information professionals toward the goal of using information technology to pool and increase their resources and provide their clients with access to immense stores of needed information at community, national and international levels.Barriers to Technical Solutions: Institutional, Policy and Legal Barriers to Information Support to Development ProjectsPerkins, MarkAbstractThis is an updated version of a paper presented to the ALP/Government Libraries Workshop at IFLA '96. While the Internet is touted as the solution to many problems including developmental the article sets out to show how such problems do not have technical solutions as the problems themselves are social. Issues addressed include censorship, privacy, copyright, training, literacy and the political/economic power to utilize information.The Library as a Key to Exploiting Economic Resources: Global Competence in the Library Oils the LockDakars, HazelAbstractThe UK National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) system is the most comprehensive exponent of competence-based qualifications. It has been developed to increase the skills of the UK work force and so improve the country's economy. NVQs are competence-based qualifications which reflect the needs of the workplace and are best assessed there. They measure whether a person can carry out his/her work to the defined national standards of best current practice. Occupational standards of competence and NVQs have now been launched for the information and library services sector. The gains to be made by using these standards globally as Human Resource Management (HRM) tools are indicated. Their development and use is described. The author draws upon research she carried out in South Africa to indicate the types of challenges which may need tackling if the UK standards or qualifications are applied elsewhere in other cultures. Overall, she advocates considering their use in other countries within the professional culture of librarianship. An update provides recent developments during 1996 in the use of NVQs in countries other than the UK.The Continuing Education Customer: Key to Effective Programme DevelopmentWeingand, Darlene E.AbstractCustomer service is more than a goal, more than an ideal, and much more than the jargon of the '90s. It is, in its basic form, good business practice. Whether a business is profit or non-profit, with products that are tangible or intangible, customer service is the axis around which all other operations must revolve. It is a focus on the customer service that must drive the design of today's continuing education programmes and those of the 21st century; it is the focus of the customer that will be a key factor in whether continuing professional [library] education [and, therefore, libraries] survives, and thrives, in the new millennium.A Methodology for the Identification of Information Needs of UsersDevadson, Francis Jawahar and Pandala Pratap LingamAbstractIdentification of information needs is essential to the design of information systems in general and to the provision of effective information services in particular. But it has been found to be a difficult task as it is almost investigative or detective work. In order to identify information needs one should adopt various methods to gather information on the many factors that influence the information needs. No single method or tool will serve entirely. A careful selection and blending of several techniques depending on the user whose need is being studied is necessary. In fact, the "information needs identifier" should study, prepare and equip him/her self thoroughly to perform the task of identifying information needs. A formal step by step procedure which can be adopted to study the information needs of a majority of users is proposed in this paper. In addition to gathering and recording the information needs, a careful analysis should be made to distil actual needs from the data gathered. It is hoped that the methodology presented here would be easy to perceive and be translatable into practice. It is to be noted that the methodology would become clearer and clearer as each step is put into practice enhancing the understanding of the scenario and help in fine tuning the procedure to suit particular situations. Moreover it has been found that the proposed methodology is not only useful in identifying the information needs, but also has a profound impact on finding ways and means of satisfying such needs. In other words, the information needs identifier would discover, as a by-product, several ideas, tools, methods and techniques of satisfying the users in meeting their needs.The Impact of an IFLA Pre-Session Seminar: A Review after Six YearsThomas, BarbroAbstractThe 56th IFLA General Conference, held in Stockholm, Sweden, 18-24 August 1990 was preceded by a Pre-Session Seminar on the theme, "Public Library Policy". The article provides a brief overview of papers presented at the Seminar and offers illustrations on what has been done in the intervening six years to implement the resolutions of the Seminar.
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