Bibliography Section

Review of activities 2003-2004

by
Bohdana Stoklasova and Talbott Huey

Mission

The Bibliography Section furthers universal bibliographic control (UBC) by promoting standards and best practices in the production, content, arrangement, dissemination, and preservation of bibliographic information. In the context of UBC the Section is particularly concerned with the work of national bibliographic agencies. It is also concerned with the promotion of the importance of the discipline of bibliography to library professionals in all types of libraries, to publishers, distributors and retailers, and to end-users. While taking full account of technological capabilities, the Section will ensure that its solutions are not necessarily dependent on particular technologies.

The Section is closely associated with the other sections within the Division of Bibliographic Control and, where appropriate, it cooperates with other divisions and sections.

Standing Committee Membership and Officers

106 associations, institutions, and personal affiliates are currently members of the Section. The Standing Committee of 21 members takes the lead in establishing and implementing policies and programmes. The members for 2003-2005 represent Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Norway, Russia, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Chair Bohdana Stoklasova and Secretary Talbott Huey were re-elected for two-year terms at the Berlin conference, and Alan Danskin was named Information Coordinator.

Actions 2003-2004

Following the new strategic plan for 2003-2005 drafted at the Berlin conference, the Section has taken or will take in 2003-2004 the following actions in pursuit of stated goals:

Goal 1. Extend the provision of universal bibliographic control by advocating and promoting the production of national bibliographies.
Actions: 1) The Section was active in preparing a well-attended session on current issues and trends in bibliographic control presented in Berlin by Division IV.

2) Section Chair Bohdana Stoklasova organized a successful Division IV day-long workshop at the Berlin conference on subject gateways, and presented a paper describing a short survey on subject gateways in relation to national bibliographies.

3) A working group led by Maja Zumer organized a well-attended session on electronic national bibliographies during the Berlin conference.

4) Unni Knutsen has arranged a programme on best practices in the national bibliographies of the Latin American/Caribbean area to be presented at the World Library and Information Congress in Buenos Aires. Similar programmes will be planned for the conferences in Seoul (2006) and Durban (2007).

Goal 2. Improve the quality and consistency of bibliographic control by advocating implementation of the recommendations of the International Conference on National Bibliographic Standards (ICNBS) and by developing specific guidelines to facilitate such implementation.
Actions: 1) Efforts are under way to arrange for translation of ICNBS Recommendations into as many languages as possible.

2) A working group led by Maja Zumer in cooperation with other sections of Division IV working group has begun to develop guidelines for electronic national bibliographies for agencies inexperienced in national bibliographic work, with interim results to be presented at Oslo in 2005.
Goal 3. Promote cooperation with the publishing industry in the provision and preparation of bibliographic information.
Actions: 1) The Section is cooperating with the IFLA-International Publishers Association joint steering group to continue to encourage publishers and the book trade to assist as much as possible in developing national bibliographic information.

2) The international survey on CIP currently being conducted by the Library of Congress and supported by the Section will be reviewed and analyzed in a presentation at the Buenos Aires conference.
Goal 4. Publicize the work of the Section.
Actions: the Section’s web page displays minutes of the Steering Committee meetings, the strategic plan, the annual reports, the ICNBS Recommendations, and the two newsletters published each year, in addition to photos, addresses, and other relevant materials.

See http://www.ifla.org/VII/s12/sb.htm

Goal 5. Promote membership in the Section and extend the geographic scope of representation on the Standing Committee.

Actions: Several Berlin conference attendees from countries which have never had representation in the Section expressed interest in joining the Section.

Latest Revision: March 04, 2004