University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries Section

Minutes

Standing Committee II
Saturday, 23 August 2002, Glasgow, Scotland

Attendance:

Observers:

Regrets:

The Standing Committee proceeded with the Agenda as distributed and begun at the meeting of August 17, 2002.

1. Pre-Conference – approximately 22 attendees – See Minutes of meeting of August 17.
2. Barbara Ford reported a popular session with approximately 80 attendees.
3. University Libraries with Management and Marketing Discussion Group – approximately 350 attendees.
• Evaluations were "very good" or "exceeded expectation". Managing change continues to be a priority interest.
• Strength was multilingual participation but translations in Spanish and French were not highest quality
• Vote of thanks to Sue McKnight for her presentation
4. University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries, FAIFE, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, Brazil.

Approximately 25 attendees; good rating on the evaluation forms; wide variety of points of view.

Performance Measurement Discussion Group: Mirja Iivonen reported about 200 participants attended the meeting of the performance measurement discussion group, and that there was a lot of discussion, showing considerable interest in this topic.

The Chair asked for general comments on the Section meetings in Glasgow, and emphasized the importance of publicizing events well in advance. The Chair expressed concern that the convenors need to make arrangements well in advance. The Chair felt we should receive the papers early to assure quality control, to provide the opportunity of editing, and to provide greater homogeneity to guarantee that IFLA’s image is well maintained. Cristoba Pasadas also stated that all those responsible for programs should submit a report to the Newsletter for publicizing these activities. He asked that those responsible for sessions provide copies of these papers for inclusion in IFLANET. All evaluation forms of these programs should be returned to the Chair.

Sue McKnight commented that it was very difficult to guarantee the quality of papers, unless a convenor knows the quality of a speaker in advance. The Chair commented that it was important to guarantee the quality of speakers. It was noted that a preview of a power-point presentation or abstract does not guarantee a high quality speaker.

Action: All those responsible for sessions should:

• Send summary to Sue McKnight, Information Coordinator
• Contact participants for copies of papers and send these to Sue McKnight for inclusion in IFLANET

Sue McKnight noted that the IFLA editorial committee invites suggestion for recommendation of publications in the IFLA Journal. The Chair announced that each Division may recommend three to five of their conference papers for publication. The Committee recommended the papers of following authors:

• Sue McKnight
• Jean-Claude Guédon
• John Stephen Town Fong

#12 BERLIN PROGRAM, 2003

The Chair reminded members of the Standing Committee that the conference would include:

• Open session on Information Literacy
• Workshop on the Scholar’s Portal
• Discussion Group on Evaluation and Quality Issues (if approved by PC)

1. Regarding the First Year Experience as an open session, the Chair felt that this topic was more appropriate for the meeting in 2004. At the same time, the topic of information literacy would be relevant for the Berlin meeting. The topic of information literacy is very relevant to the priorities of the incoming president, Kay Raseroka. This would be joint venture with the Information Literacy section and many other IFLA and non-IFLA bodies as appropriate. The newly created working group on Information Literacy of the Section will work with the newly created Information Literacy Section. It was agreed to move the topic of the First Year Experience to the Buenos Aires meeting, and program planning on this topic be set up immediately.

2. Speaking on the Scholar’s Portal, the Chair thought the new working group on Information Technology could share responsibility for this session. Physical facilities should be well equipped (internet connection, data projector) for this off-site workshop, to be held, if possible, at a University in Berlin. Heinz Fuchs will work on this issue for the Berlin meeting.

3. Discussion Group or Evaluation and Quality Issues. General discussion followed on the new IFLA structure and the value of collaboration with other sections.

Regarding the Performance Measurement Discussion Group, the Chair informed the Committee that this Discussion Group has ended in Glasgow and is renamed, Evaluation and Quality Control in Universities and Research Libraries. The Statistics Section has broadened their mandate to measurement and evaluation. There was general support for this proposal that will encourage collaboration.

Action: The Berlin Programme was determined.

The Chair reported on the issue of the President Elect’s general planning session. The results will be available soon on IFLANET for consideration in the new strategic plan of the section.

The discussion on the strategic plan focused on the following issues:

• The Chair further proposed that the Section considers a membership survey.

• The Executive Team will draft a new strategic plan by the end of the year for 2003-2004.

• The changing environment in universities – especially in relation to teaching and learning – was seen as a major challenge facing university libraries today – electronic content was seen as a huge component of this change. It was noted that in the electronic environment, structured electronic documents for learning were essential.

The Committee returned to the discussion on the establishment of Working Groups at the pre-conference meeting: The Chair asked for volunteers for the Groups. He encouraged members to act as spokespersons in their countries and professional contacts on these issues.

#15. ELECTION: 2003

In 2003 new Standing Committee members and officers will be elected.

Project on Information Literacy Materials in Spanish

Cristobal Pasadas, as head of the project, reminded Standing Committee members of the follow-up of the project’s results during the Simmons College Workshop in Boston Meeting. In Glasgow he has to report some delays in the final draft of a basic model for an information literacy tutorial; at this point, he feels a more important final outcome for the project would be the identification and translation/adaptation of a good text on web-based instruction. The Standing Committee unanimously endorsed this proposal, which will be brought to the CB and the PC for a final decision.

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 12:15 p.m. thanking all Standing Committee members for their work and dedication and all observers for their presence, as well as wishing all a most pleasant travel back home.