School Libraries and Resource Centers Section

Minutes of the Standing Committee meetings held at the IFLA Conference in Berlin, Germany

2 and 8 August 2003

Present:
Chair Tove Pemmer Saetre, Secretary Glenys Willars and 32 members and observers:

Jennifer Morrison - Glasgow, Scotland
Dianne Oberg - Canada: doberg@ualberts.ca
James Henri - Hong Kong, China: james@cite.hku.hk
Stephanie Hoyle - Scotland: Stephanie.Hoyle@highland.gov.uk
Randi Lundvall - Norway: rlundvall@hotmail,com
Margaret Tye - 84, Fearnhead Lane, Warrington, UK
Kathy Lemaire - UK: Kathy.Lemaire@SLA.org.uk
Madeleine Duparc - Switzerland: madeleine.duparc@edu.ge.ch
Colette Charrier-Ligonat - France: c.charrier@wanadoo.fr
Claude Morizio - France: morizio@inrp.fr
Blanche Woolls - USA: bwoolls@wahoo.sjsu.edu
Barbara Immroth - USA: immroth@gslis.utexas.edu
J.Linda Williams - USA: jw177@aol.com
Vincent Liquete - France: VLIQUETE@aol.com
Lucy Gildersleeves - UK: l.gildersleeves@ucl.ac.uk
Virginia Dike - Nigeria: epseelon@aol.com
Thordis Thorarinsdottir - Iceland: thordis@ismennt.is
Helle Barett - Sweden: helle.barrett@malmo.se
Aleksandra Erlandsson - Sweden: aleksandra.erlandsson@malmo.se
Olga Gromova - Russian Federation: lib@1september.ru
Anne Clyde - Iceland: anne@hi.is

1. Tove welcomed everyone to the meeting, members and observers. She described the issues that face the Section during this conference.
2. Members and observers introduced themselves. A list of all those present appears at the end of the minutes
3. The agenda was approved after the addition of a report by the Information Officer. Kathy Lemaire suggested that the Committee discuss the situation of school libraries in Germany. It was later agreed that a special meeting, to be advertised in IFLA Express, would be held during the week and German school librarians would be invited to meet with the committee.
4. Apologies for absence were received from Vincent Liquète and Dalia Naujokaitia for the first meeting, Margaret Baffour-Awuah, Sandy Zinn.
5. The committee welcomed observers and their contribution to discussion. It was clarified that observers have no voting rights.
6. The Standing Committee:
• The new standing committee was introduced and new members welcomed.
• Nominations were called for the positions of chair and secretary. For both positions a ballot was required. Anne Clyde was elected as Chair. James Henri was elected as Secretary. James will also be the Treasurer.
• The role of information officer was discussed and members were asked to consider whether they would like to take on that role. It was agreed later in the conference that the position would be shared by Karen Usher and Vincent Liquète, who would also produce the section’s newsletter.
7. The minutes of the meetings held in Glasgow 2002 were approved as a correct record. The acceptance was moved by Barbara Immroth and seconded by Kathy Lemaire.
8. Matters arising from the minutes:
• Kathy Lemaire queried the allocation of time for meetings in the future. It was clarified that the earlier suggestion had been changed and meetings would be the same length as this year.
• Kathy noted that the IASL Conference for 2005 will be held in Hong Kong.
Helle Barrett expressed support for the section’s pre-conference in Oslo 2005.
• James Henri raised the issue of regional conferences and the possibility of IASL and IFLA joint working in Oslo.
9. Scheduling of meetings and programmes:
• Glenys outlined the programme for the open session and Claude Morizio explained the organisation of the off-site workshop. Tove thanked James and Claude for their work in planning the workshop
• Tove reminded the committee about the Open Forum meeting of Division III on Tuesday.
• IFLA booth staffing was arranged. Tove and Glenys would be there, and other members would be welcome to help.
  
10. Officer reports:
• Tove, in her Chairperson’s report, outlined activities through the year. Her report had been distributed by email.
• he Secretary reported, concentrating on the dissemination of the School Library Guidelines at the Caribbean Conference in May 2003 and the forthcoming conference in September for South-East Asia.
  Translations of the Manifesto and the Guidelines continue to be made.
• The Information Officer reported. A newsletter had been produced, but Linda Williams apologised for the lack of communication because of her work difficulties.
• Minutes will be distributed through the listserv. School-L@infoserv.inist.fr
11. Strategic Plan:
    Tove discussed the Section’s strategic plan for 2002-2003 and was pleased to note that all of the actions had been completed, apart from those which are on-going. She suggested that a working group consider the revisions needed for 2003-2004. Such a group would include Anne Clyde and James Henri the new Chair and Secretary. Tove asked for other volunteers. The meeting took place during the week.
• The second meeting of the Section Standing Commitee was held on 8 August 2003. Monika Schäfer, the librarian from Canisius College Library in Berlin, was welcomed. She described her library in a private school and invited Section members and observers to visit during the conference week. She and other representatives from Germany presented a picture of school librarianship in our host country. They stressed that Germany is a federal state and school libraries are a local concern, as are most educational and cultural matters. This makes for great diversity in school library provision around the country, and it is impossible to generalise about German school librarianship from local examples. Further, there are no reliable statistics related to school libraries in Germany at the national level. Representatives discussed the situation in Hesse, Bavaria, Stuttgart, and Berlin, amongst other places.
  
  Anne and James asked that committee members tell them of any areas they are interested in, such as conference planning for 2004 or 2005. This will make it easier to form sub-committees to organise particular events or projects.
  
12. Anne Clyde led a brainstorming session on the Section’s strategic plan for 2003-2005. The following were among the points raised, in no particular order of priority:
• The new IFLA President’s theme will be "Libraries and Lifelong Literacy". Her priorities are advocacy, partnerships and alliances, continuing professional education, and lifelong literacy (including reading and basic skills). The following were among relevant topics mentioned: International benchmarking; Relationships between sections; Regional developments; Tools for education and development. The relationship of IFLA Sections to other relevant organisations, including IASL, was discussed, and the question was raised (but not answered): Do we want to make such relationships more formal?
• Tove described the evaluation of sections which will be carried out by IFLA. She also noted the changes to the conference, including length.
• In relation to the advertised dates of conferences (for example, the Buenos Aires conference), Anne said that it is difficult for employers to understand why a committee member needs to be away for longer than the advertised duration of the conference, when meeting take place outside those dates. It was agreed that this matter will be taken to the Co-ordinating Board.
• Paolo Odasso said that the School Library Guidelines are being translated into Italian. He described his role and the difficulties with the absence of school librarians in Italy. Guidelines need to be used in a practical way. IFLA could build a framework for evaluating the library in learning, the integration of information literacy, and the collection of examples of best practice.
• Helle Barrett discussed collaboration between school, public and academic libraries. A Swedish translation of the School Library Guidelines exists, but requires local interpretation.
• Kathy Lemaire supported the importance of evaluation. The meeting agreed that evaluation of school library programmes should be a priority.
• Zohra Ibrahim provided information about school libraries in Malaysia.
• Glenys suggested that the Section consider producing practical materials, with other sections and IASL, to support practitioners.
• Members were asked to email Anne and James with ideas for the strategic plan.
• Anne mentioned other proposals, including the development of an advocacy kit for promoting the School Library Manifesto and Guidelines to help people who are conducting workshops, and to provide the basis of quality control. A bid for small project funding to do this will be put to IFLA.
• International School Library Day will promoted. It is the fourth Monday in October each year.
• Constanza Mekis asked of there is a survey of how teachers use school libraries. As the next IFLA conference is in Argentina there is an opportunity to visit Chile, and perhaps have a pre-conference in Chile.
• Anne Clyde is to contact the Chair of the Library Visits Committee for the 2004 IFLA conference in Buenos Aires, to try to ensure that school library visits are incorporated into the visits programme.
13. Conferences:
• Buenos Aires 2004:
  Anne described the plans for 2004 and 2005. In 2004 there is a possibility of working with the Children and Young People’s Section, possibly also with FIAFE.
• Oslo 2005:
  Ellen Sundt said that the Ministry of Education in Norway is willing to support a pre-conference in 2005, and Helle pledged the support of Scandinavian Colleagues. Anne reported on the possibility of collaboration with the Reading Section with a suggested theme of A strategy for the Decade of Literacy: roles for stakeholders. Tove offered to help with the organisation.
14. Kathy Lemaire provided information about the European Group for School Libraries who are creating a focus for the advocacy of literacy, and asking for support from Governments in relation to the IFLA/UNESCO school library manifesto. Their next meeting is on 31^st October in Rome.
15. Tove thanked everyone for their valuable contributions and hard work during the conference.