UAP Newsletter

Archive - Historical Material

News from the UAP Office

New Projects

International Lending: principles and guidelines for procedure

The current guidelines were developed in 1987, and are now looking old and out of date. Together with the Section on Document Delivery and Interlending, we will be updating the guidelines in the near future. Copies of the new guidelines will be available from the Office, and also at our poster session at the IFLA Conference in Jerusalem.

Projects Update

IFLA VOUCHER SCHEME

The complete list of participating libraries can be found at:
http://www.ifla.org/VI/2/p1/partcpnt.htm
or a paper copy can be obtained by contacting Tracy Bentley

IFLA/UNESCO Survey on Digitisation and Preservation

The results of the survey, already available in English, will soon be published in French, Spanish and Russian and will be available, free of charge, from Richard Ebdon at the UAP office.

The British Library and UAP have developed a freely accessible database consisting of a searchable list of cultural heritage collections. The main criterion for collections to be included in the directory is that the works have been digitised from a non-digital original copy, thereby excluding "born digital" works. The directory offers access to major digitised cultural collections world-wide and allows institutions to submit their own collections for inclusion. In this way the directory will grow and eventually cover all significant collections in libraries and other cultural institutions. The Directory is available on the UNESCO web site at: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mow/

Conference Reports

The Right to Read: Visually Impaired Readers and the Rights Holders 1 March 2000, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The conference was held by the SEDODEL (Secure Document Delivery for Blind and Partially Sighted People) Consortium with support from the IFLA Section on Libraries for the Blind and addressed the problems encountered by visually impaired people in accessing information.

The conference was well attended with participants from many different sectors. When the conference was planned it was hoped that the new draft directive could be thoroughly discussed but, unfortunately, agreement has still not been reached.

Dick Tucker from the FORCE Foundation gave a paper titled "How do VIPs read?" He first asked how sighted people read to which the answer was daily, easily, whenever and wherever they want to. He illustrated, with the use of OHP slides, how difficult it was for partially sighted to read both text and graphics. He concluded that they read with great difficulty. Less than 2% of published work is available to them but that digital technology could be the answer for some.

Judy Watkins continued by addressing ways of overcoming the copyright hurdle of making material easily available to VIPs. She discussed the current EU exceptions, outlining their benefits and problems. Although licences could be one solution she pointed out that these also can create problems as well as being beneficial. New technology is overcoming some of the problems of accessibility to information but Judy stressed that this, in turn, is creating new problems related to copyright and the reluctance of rights holders to give permission for their material to be available electronically. These problems point to the need for a solution to allay the fears of both rights owners and users.

Geert Bormans and Cathy Rundle then demonstrated the SEDODEL system as a technical solution. Geert gave an overview of the SEDODEL background and discussed the accessibility and availability of electronic information.

Cathy then demonstrated the SEDODEL Document Reader System using JAWS technology. She pointed out the difficulties that VIPs would have finding their way around an unstructured document and then displayed a transformed document that made navigation much easier.

The meeting was opened for discussion, a summary of which has been published with the papers in a report. A copy of the report, free of charge, can be obtained by contacting Pauline Connolly.

Forthcoming Events

LIBRARY TWINNING

The outline of our programme is provided below, but we would be interested in hearing from any other organisation which is involved in library twinning if you would like to have some input into the workshop.

The IFLA UAP Office has recently reached the end of a three-year UNESCO-sponsored project to develop and maintain a database which would match potential twinning partners. There has been great interest in the project, but the results have not really justified the resources spent. We are therefore keen to explore what needs exist in this area, and how best those needs should be met.

Workshop Programme:

Papers:

1. Physics Astronomy Mathematics: Asia Pacific Forum.
   David Byrne, PAM-APF, Corporate and Commercial Services, Information Systems & Services, British Telecommunications.

2. The ALA Sister Library Programme.
   Sarah Long, President ALA.

3. Is there a need for a library twinning focal point?
   The IFLA Twinning Database and beyond.
   Pauline Connolly, IFLA UAP Core Programme

If you have an interest in this area and will be attending the Jerusalem Conference, please contact Sara Gould at the UAP Office.

UAP at IFLA 2000

INTERLENDING AND DOCUMENT SUPPLY CONFERENCE

Watch the UAP home page for further details!

Publications

New Publication
from the IFLA Office at Boston Spa

Edited by Pauline Connolly and Denis Reidy

Traditional library functions are facing major changes and the purpose of the conference was to exchange ideas and experiences at this stage of transition towards the development of the digital library. Papers presented covered the practical aspects of the organisation of the digital library including copyright, standards and protocols, electronic publishing and electronic document delivery. In addition a number of existing digital library projects were demonstrated. The proceedings are published in English but Italian abstracts are also included.

ISBN 0 9532439 7 4
PRICE £20.00

Parabaik and Megabyte: Measuring Progress in Library Development in South East Asia
Papers from two seminar held during the 65th IFLA General Conference, August 20-28 1999, Bangkok.

Edited by Sara Gould

Two related workshops were held during the IFLA Conference in 1999. The first, sponsored by the Section on Document Delivery and Interlending, took as its theme "The Role of Document Delivery and Interlending in South East Asia". Three speakers, from Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong, gave presentations on the state of interlending in their own countries, and these were followed by a discussion of interlending in libraries in South East Asia.

The second, run by the IFLA Core Programme for UAP was organised as a follow-up to an earlier seminar which took place in 1995, also in Bangkok. The papers from that workshop have been published as "From Palm Leaves to PCs: library development in South East Asia", edited by Sara Gould and Judy Watkins, 1995.

The UAP Workshop held in 1999, and reported on in this publication, was able to build on that earlier seminar. Where possible, the same speakers returned in order to report on progress since 1995, and presentations are included from seven countries, together with an overview of the UAP Programme and some information about the IFLA Regional Section for Asia and Oceania.

ISBN 0 9532439 8 2
PRICE £5.00

Interlending and Document Supply.
Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference held in Pretoria, South Africa, 25-29 October 1999

Edited by Sara Gould

The Sixth International Conference on Interlending and Document Supply brought leading experts from all over the world to South Africa, to discuss latest developments in the field and common concerns. Almost 200 librarians from 25 different countries, including Africa and the developing world, met to consider all aspects of document delivery and interlending, under the theme, "Empowering society through the global flow of information."

The globalisation of information is a trend which seemingly threatens to disempower the developing world. Yet, properly harnessed, it could be the gateway to the information superhighway, even for disadvantaged countries. The recent developments in information technologies are also having a profound impact on ILDS services.

The Conference provided a sounding board for these issues with opportunities to be informed and learn from others, and provided a comprehensive overview of the major developments and best practice in this field at this stage. The challenge to the delegates and readers of the proceedings is to find from these developments those that will contribute best to the improvement of their own interlending and document supply, as a means for excellent service to their users.

ISBN 0 9532439 9 0
PRICE £20.00

A complete list of current publications for sale may be requested from the Office. In addition, the following titles are available free of charge:

• National Libraries of the World: an address list - 4th Edition new in 1999
• IFLA Fax Guidelines

All publications can be ordered by contacting Richard Ebdon.

Communications

Programme Officer
Sara Gould

Research Officers
Judy Watkins, Pauline Connolly and Richard Ebdon

Officer Administrator
Tracy Bentley

The Office is fully linked to the Internet system. All staff can be reached on a general E-mail address:
IFLA@bl.uk
and individual members of the team can be reached by using the formula:
firstname.lastname@bl.uk.

The general office telephone number is +44 1937 546124 (which is also the number for Richard Ebdon). Other numbers are:
546123 (Graham Cornish)
546255 (Judy Watkins)
546254 (Sara Gould and Pauline Connolly)
546465 (Tracy Bentley)

The UAP Office has a home page on the WWW at:
http://www.ifla.org/VI/2/uap.htm

The UAP newsletter can be received electronically by contacting Pauline Connolly.

Published by
The IFLA Offices for UAP and International Lending

ISSN 0264 - 2441