IFLA Core Activity:
IFLA-CDNL Alliance for Bibliographic Standards (ICABS)
Background
The IFLA Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC (UBCIM) Core Activity was established thirty years ago and came to an end in 2003. The purpose of UBCIM was "to coordinate activities aimed at the development of systems and standards for bibliographic control at the national level and the international exchange of bibliographic data, including the support for professional activities of appropriate IFLA Sections and Divisions" (e.g., the Division of Bibliographic Control and the Sections on Information Technology and of National Libraries). It also coordinated the development of the UNIMARC format. Furthermore, the Programme ensured publication of reports on projects related to international bibliographic and format standards and proceedings of relevant meetings and seminars.
UBCIM was originally hosted by the British Library (1973-1989) and later Die Deutsche Bibliothek from 1990 to the beginning of 2003 then the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal took over the responsibility for both UNIMARC and ICBC (International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control, a quarterly journal of IFLA, formerly of UBCIM).
Another component of ICABS is a major part of the programme of the former Universal Dataflow and Telecommunications Core Activity (UDT). UDT supported analysis and promotion of technologies and standards as they apply to interoperability and the digital environment in the areas of networked resource discovery, information retrieval, digitization, and metadata. It worked with IFLA Sections and programmes across the Federation, but especially supported the professional activities of the Information Technology Section. It was hosted at the National Library of Canada (NLC) from its beginning in the late 1980s until it was closed in 2001. UDT also developed and then maintained IFLA's primary communications tool, IFLANET, hosted for many years at NLC. IFLANET was moved to Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique (INIST) in France in 2001 and is not part of the ICABS activity.
And finally, the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL), which has provided the main support and funding (in kind and through donations) for these Core Activities over many years, also recently established a committee to monitor digital library developments – the CDNL Committee on Digital Issues (CDI). The Committee's work on bibliographic standards and digital preservation is being folded into the ICABS mission, while the Committee's work on deposit agreements will be continued separately by the National Library of Australia.
