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Annual Report 1999
Graham P Cornish
Sara Gould
5 April 2000.
Staffing
Staffing remained constant in 1999. The Office for UAP and International Lending continues to share an office and staff resources with the British Library Copyright Office. Together, the office has six staff (5.3 FTE):
| Graham Cornish |
UAP Programme Director and British Library
Copyright Officer |
| Sara Gould |
UAP Programme Officer (50%) |
| Judy Watkins |
British Library Copyright Office |
| Pauline Connolly |
UAP Research Officer / BL Copyright
Office (80%) |
| Richard Ebdon |
UAP Research Officer / BL Copyright Office |
| Tracy Bentley |
Office Administrator / PA |
Activities
UAP Seminars
Two successful UAP Seminars were held in 1999:
- UAP in South East Asia
Held 25 August 1999, Bangkok, during the IFLA General Conference. This represented a follow-up Seminar to an earlier UAP Seminar held for the same region in 1995. Speakers from the same countries - in some cases the same speakers - attended and gave an overview of progress in their region in the area of resource sharing, interlibrary loan, library development and access to published material. This was the first time a second UAP seminar had been held in a region, and offered the chance to assess progress in library development since 1995. Proceedings are being published.
- UAP in Latin America
Held Buenos Aries, 21-24 September 1999, participants attended from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico. This was the first UAP session to be held in this region and was highly successful with some very professional presentations and an opportunity to understand many of the complex library and information provision issues of the area.
Interlending & Document Supply International Conference
The Office has been joint organiser of this Conference since its inception: the 6th in the series was held in Pretoria, 25 - 29 October 1999, and the proceedings are being published by the Office. The 7th will be held in Ljubljana in 2001, organised jointly with the National and University Library in Ljubljana.
UNESCO/IFLA Survey on Digitisation and Preservation
This project carried out in conjunction with IFLA PAC had three strands, and the major part of the work was carried out in 1999:
- a survey by questionnaire of current digitisation activity around the world. Results published as "IFLA/UNESCO Survey on Digitisation and Preservation" compiled and edited by Sara Gould and Richard Ebdon under the direction of Marie-Therese Varlamoff. Boston Spa, IFLA Office for UAP and International Lending, 1999. ISBN 0953243958. International Preservation Issues, No 2.
- A report on digital preservation activities: joint article by Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff and Sara Gould, published on UNESCO website, and in International Preservation News, May 2000.
- Development of the IFLA/UNESCO Directory of Digitised Collections. This directory lists major cultural heritage collections which have been digitised, and provides access to the collections itself. Developed in the framework of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme, the site will build into a "virtual library" of digitised cultural collections.
IFLA Voucher Scheme
The Voucher Scheme continues to be a popular solution to the challenges of paying for interlibrary loan transactions between countries. The number of new libraries joining the Scheme continues to grow, as does the number of countries having participating libraries, and the number of vouchers both sold and redeemed. During 1999, the list of participating libraries on Iflanet has been overhauled, and a useful system for refunding redeemed vouchers via OCLC for OCLC IFM customers has now been implemented. No progress was made on plans to establish an electronic voucher scheme.
Twinning between libraries
The UNESCO-supported project to develop and maintain a database for matching libraries seeking twinning partners ended in December. Regrettably, our final conclusion was that the labour intensive work involved in matching libraries, communicating with applicant libraries and maintaining the database cannot be justified by the very small number of successful partnership which have emerged. A final report has been submitted to UNESCO, and it remains to be seen whether further work will be identified in this area.
International Guidelines
In 1999, guidelines were developed to assist libraries in sending interlibrary loan requests by email. The guidelines can be applied to single or ad hoc requests which are sent between libraries in the form of standard email messages, and are designed to be used alongside existing national or regional guidelines.
We have also developed a list of ILL response codes which aim to overcome linguistic barriers when unsuccessful requests are returned to the requesting library. The most common reasons for non-supply have been given a numeric code, which can be used in place of natural language. The codes will be supported by translations into a wide range of languages.
International Conference on Repository Libraries
The Office co-sponsored the International Conference on Repository Libraries "Solving collection Problems through Repository Libraries" which was held in Kuopio (Finland) in May 1999.
CLM
The Office continues to supply the Secretariat for the Copyright & Other Legal Matters Committee including its listserv and information service.
Publications
- "Solving Collection Problems through Repository Strategies: proceedings of an international Conference held in Kuopio, Finland 9-11 May 1999". Edited by Pauline Connolly, 1999. ISBN 0 95 32439 4X Price £20.00
- "The Digital Library: challenges and solutions for the new Millennium: proceedings of an international conference, held in Bologna, Italy, June 1999". Edited by Pauline Connolly and Denis Reidy. Boston Spa: IFLA Offices for UAP and International Lending, 2000. ISBN 0953243974 Price £20
- "IFLA/UNESCO Survey on Digitisation and Preservation", compiled and edited by Sara Gould and Richard Ebdon under the direction of Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff. International Preservation Issues, No 2, 1999. ISBN 0953243958.
- UAP Newsletter, No 27, May 1999; No 28, November 1999.
- National Libraries of the World: an address list. 4th edition, ISBN 0953243966.
Co-operation
Within IFLA:
- PAC: UNESCO project on digitisation
- Section on Document Delivery and Interlending: Email guidelines, ILDS International Conference
- Discussion Group on Repository Libraries: international conference on repository libraries; survey on repository libraries
- Section on Serials: application for IFLA funding to develop a Directory of Electronic Contents Services. This application was unsuccessful.
With other organisations:
- UNESCO: Survey on Digitisation & Preservation joint with PAC.
- UNESCO: support for IFLA Twinning Database
- International Committee for the Blue Shield. The Office was instrumental in setting in motion the mechanism to form a UK and Ireland Blue Shield Committee. This initiative was much appreciated by the many sectors involved in this.
Attendance at Conferences and Meetings
| Place |
Date |
Subject |
| Paris |
13-14 January |
Meeting on UNESCO/PAC/UAP Digitisation Project. SG & RE |
| New Orleans |
11-14 March |
Museums on the Web International Conference |
| Kuopio, Finland |
9-11 May |
International Conference on Repository Libraries. GPC |
| Paris |
16-18 June |
Meeting on UNESCO/PAC/UAP Digitisation project. SG & RE. |
| Bologna |
16 June |
The Digital Library: challenges and solutions for the new Millennium conference. GPC |
| Prague |
7-9 July |
LIBER Conference. GPC |
| Henley, UK |
9 July |
Meeting with Joan Challinor to discuss library twinning. SG, PC |
| Keele, UK |
22 July |
ARLIS UK & Ireland Annual Conference, presentation on access & holdings. SG |
| London |
15 Sept |
Start-up meeting for National Blue Shield Committee. GPC |
| Buenos Aires |
20-24 Sept |
UAP Seminar for Latin America. GPC |
| Paris |
7-8 Oct |
Meeting to discuss IFLA/UNESCO Survey project. RE |
| Utrecht |
20-21 Oct |
European Conference on Preservation of Digitised Cultural Heritage Collections. SG & RE |
| Pretoria |
25-29 Oct |
6th Interlending & Document Supply International Conference. GPC |
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