   
School Libraries and Resource Centers Section
Minutes of the IFLA Conference 2001, Boston
Meeting of Saturday August 18
Present committee members: Tove Pemmer Saetre (Norway), Børge Hofset (Norway), Ingrid Kjellqvist (Sweden), Barbara Imroth (United States), Kathy Lemaire (United Kingdom), Anne Clyde (Australia), Diljit Singh (Malaysia), Inci Önal (Turkey), Thordis T Thorarinsdottir (Iceland), Thora Kr. Sigvaldadottir (Iceland), J. Linda Williams (United States), Karen Usher (United Kingdom), Madeleine Duparc (Switzerland, observer), Lesley Farmer (United States, observer), Glenys Willars (United Kingdom, chair of the section), Alexandra Papazoglou (Greece, secretary of the section)
1. Welcome
The chair of the section Glenys Willars welcomes everyone present.
2. Introduction of the committee and election of officers
Members of the committee introduce themselves. This is an election year and the section will elect its new officers. Glenys Willars nominates Tove Pemmer Saetre as the new chair of the section. Alexandra Papazoglou and Linda Williams second her. Tove is elected as the new chair of the section. Tove nominates Glenys Willars for the position of the secretary. Glenys Willars is elected as the new secretary of the section. Alexandra Papazoglou nominates Linda Williams as the new information officer and Linda is elected as information officer.
3. Approval of agenda
The agenda is being approved.
4. Apologies for absence
A new member from Ethiopia could not attend the meeting. He has made two translations of the manifesto in Ethiopian. Apologies also from: Colette Charrier-Ligonat, James Henri, Ms Zinn.
5. Attendance of observers
Observers are welcome to the meeting and so are their contributions.
6. Approval of the minutes of the meeting held in Jerusalem, August 2000
The minutes of the meeting held in Jerusalem are approved.
7. Matters arising from the minutes
Alexandra explains that the Jerusalem minutes were not posted on IFLANET, as IFLANET did not respond to the mail. Glenys explains that the National Library of Canada will no longer support IFLANET. Two organizations, UNESCO and INYST have offered to host it. The National Library of Canada is evaluating them.
8. Scheduling of meetings and programme of the Section
The section will have two committee meetings, an open session on Monday (programme is presented) and an open forum of Division III to attend (programme is presented). On Thursday school library visits have been scheduled.
Proposals for projects have to be approved at the next committee meeting.
Books for All: a 27-year-old joint UNESCO and IFLA fundraising project for the purchase of books in developing countries. The idea is to guarantee that the right type of books will reach those that need them. Three years ago an advisory board was established to decide the future of Books for All. It is an important project for IFLA. The decision for its future will be announced at the Berlin conference. The section has already supported the project by offering money. For the past years Glenys Willars represented the section on the advisory board. Glenys asks for a new volunteer. Barbara Imroth accepts to represent the section on the Books for All advisory board.
The Section of Education and Training has proposed for the Berlin conference a joint workshop with the Section of School libraries and Resource centers. It could focus on the education and training of school librarians.
The committee needs to nominate a liaison between the Section of School libraries and Resource centers and IASL, since Dianne Oberg who was the liaison until now is no longer a member of the committee. Kathy Lemaire is asked to play that role and she accepts.
IFLA booth: Tuesday 11-12. Glenys and Alexandra offer to represent the section
9. Medium Term Programme: review and revision in relation to IFLA's Priorities
Previously the Medium term Programme was established for a period of four years. A new IFLA policy requests a strategic plan every two years. The two-year programme of the section will have to be decided at the next committee meeting. It will have to comply with IFLA's list of professional priorities. The section's last Action plan is being examined in case it needs to be revised in the light of the new IFLA list of professional priorities. Glenys distributes a discussion document (see Appendix) to help the process of the creation of a new Mid-Term Plan. The members of the committee start a discussion on the importance of the training of teachers in the use of the school library. A link needs to be established between library schools and teaching institutions.
A smaller group of the committee members will meet during the conference to discuss the strategic plan of the section for 2002-2003.
Since the Resource Book of the section was published, a variety of new material has appeared. It is necessary to update the resource book. It can be done electronically.
Anne Clyde informs that IASL has established an International school library day which is the 4th Monday in October. The section should publicize the day through the Newsletter and encourage local activities.
10. Chair's report
New members: Glenys expresses her concern because very few new people were nominated to the section. More national library associations need to send members to the committee.
It is also important to encourage new corresponding members to be part of the committee.
Anne Clyde points out to the fact that given the IFLA rules and regulations it is difficult for interested individuals to become committee members.
Promotion of the manifesto:
- African/Arab Conference on Public and School Librarianship (see Appendix for the programme)
Organized jointly by IFLA, UNESCO and the Rabat School of Information Science, 19 - 21 September 2001 Ecole des Sciences de l'Information, Rabat, Morocco
This conference is aimed at librarians and government representatives engaged with public and school libraries at a managerial and decision-making level, as well as educationalists from African and Arab countries.
The conference will be open to participants from elsewhere.
Working languages will be English and French, with simultaneous interpretation.
The fee for registration is US$100 per person, which includes all conference documentation, refreshments, lunches and conference dinner.
The main topics of the conference will be the latest developments in public and school libraries. Key elements are the promotion of various IFLA/UNESCO publications for those sectors:
The Public and School Library Manifestos, the new Public Library Guidelines and the School Library Guidelines (draft).
The situation worldwide will be discussed with special reference to the situation in African and Arab countries. Speakers will therefore be drawn from local and regional librarians and educationalists as well as those involved in the work of the IFLA Sections.
The event is made possible thanks to generous support from UNESCO, the US National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) and the IFLA Programme for the Advancement of Librarianship (ALP).
The Ecole des Sciences de l'Information in Rabat contribues its ressources.
The British office of UNESCO is also interested in promoting the manifesto.
New IFLA structure: IFLA does not allow for round tables anymore.
Glasgow conference: there will be a reception organized by the school librarians' of Scotland to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the section. Glenys is in contact with the group and helps with the plans.
Kathy Lemaire suggests that she invites the member of the Scottish Parliament responsible for school libraries to give a speech at the reception.
11. Secretary's report
The secretary produced the minutes of the Jerusalem conference and one Newsletter (July 2001). She did not have any response in her efforts to post both items on IFLANET. Followed up the division's CB activities.
12. Progress report on projects
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Research project on the role of the Principal and School Librarian in an information literate school community:
The project was funded by the School Section and examined how principals and librarians work together. The report, an IFLA publication, is ready for publication and its distribution is to be announced soon.
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Guidelines for School Libraries: It was hoped to have a draft of the guidelines, but it was not possible for the members of the working group to have a meeting. The working group could meet in the fall to work on this project.
Meeting of Friday 24 August
Present: Tove Pemmer Saetre (Norway), Børge Hofset (Norway), Ingrid Kjellqvist (Sweden), Kathy Lemaire (United Kingdom), Inci Önal (Turkey), Thordis T Thorarinsdottir (Iceland), Thora Kr. Sigvaldadottir (Iceland), Madeleine Duparc (Switzerland), Vincent Liquette (France), Helle Barrett (Sweden),Margatet M. Tye (United Kingdom), Cheryl Sanderlin (United States) Glenys Willars (United Kingdom), Alexandra Papazoglou (Greece)
The action plan for the years 2002-2003 is being discussed, revised and approved by the committee (see Appendix)
Barbara Imroth has attended the Books for All advisory board meeting and as she is unable to attend today's meeting she sent her report which is briefly discussed (see Appendix)
13. Future conferences
Glasgow: A joint workshop with the Children's and Reading Sections was suggested. We will join the Children's section at the end of the meeting to discuss the practical issues. The idea is to have a few presentations and then discussion groups with the participants.
The Glasgow conference will be a big celebration for the section. All previous chairs of the section will be invited. The year 2002 marks also the 75th anniversary of IFLA and the 125 years of the UK library association. The theme will be Libraries for life: democracy, diversity and delivery. The sub theme: building on the past and investing on the future. The opening session, the open sessions and the guest lectures will be more linked to the overall theme.
Tove suggests as the section's theme: democracy, lifelong learning and diversity. How the skills acquired in the school library will help students to become responsible citizens and life long learners.
Also suggested is the theme of the importance of the school library in education.
A third theme: how school libraries influence democracy.
Glenys informs that this year the section received around twenty papers but most of them were not directly linked to the theme the section had established. Some sections invite specific speakers. We, as a section, can do the same but at the same time we can also have a call for papers. We usually have a representative from the host country. In the Glasgow conference it will be someone from Scotland.
The Children's section will have a model children's library staged in the exhibition area. Any elements of our work could go into that exhibit.
Joint workshop: a case study on how school libraries influence reading through their programme.
Berlin 2003: The committee is interested in the joint workshop with the Education and training section. It will be interesting to explore the changes in education and school libraries in Germany, in East Europe.
Buenos Aires 2004
To be discussed in the next year's meeting.
14. Future projects
- Proposal for a leaflet about the history of the section; vision of school libraries and their development; 5.000 copies to be produced and distributed at the Glasgow conference. The budget will be 2.000 guilders. If not approved for funding by the coordinating board, ROTNAC will sponsor it.
- Leaflet that presents the role of the school library in education (the school library in teaching and learning)
- Guidelines
- Reception in Glasgow: one or two students could be invited to participate. Also classes from around the world (through a questionnaire)
15. Any other business
Tove thanks Glenys and Alexandra for their work as chair and secretary respectively.
Appendix
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