Information Technology Section
Strategic Plan
2006-2007
Mission
The Information Technology Section (ITS) serves to promote and advance the application of information technologies (IT) to library and information services in all societies and countries, through activities related to standards, education and training, research, and the marketplace.
Goals
1. ITS will investigate, evaluate, and communicate knowledge and practical advice about new technologies that have significant potential for library services, but which have not been widely adopted for different reasons.
Professional priority: (l) Representing libraries in the technological marketplace.
Actions:
1.1 Explore solutions and applications for library personalised services such as electronic reference services, electronic document delivery and recommender systems. These topics will be addressed by the Project Resource pages on Third Generation Library Information Systems.
1.2 ITS will pay special attention to the integration of library and information services into heterogeneous applications and institutional service-sites (compare also 4.1)
2. ITS will investigate, evaluate, and communicate knowledge about applicable IT for access to information resources, with special attention to needs regarding regions where telecommunication networks are of low capacity, or are not easily affordable.
Professional priority: (d) Providing unrestricted access to information.
Actions:
2.1 Support updating of the database resulting from the Project Information technology training needs assessment in developing countries (2000-2004) and initiatives such as workshops related to the subject.
2.2 ITS wants to serve the progress of IT-use in small libraries with special interest in developing countries. Focal point is the introduction to and the usage of Open Source Software in those libraries - based on tutorials and on an executable Toolkit. Results should be presented on IFLA 2007.
3. ITS will identify and promote standards, guidelines and best practices for the management of information and IT resources and improve efficiency and service level of library operations. This includes issues such as metadata and data structures, data manipulation techniques and long-term availability of electronic information.
(Professional priority: (i) Promoting standards, guidelines, and best practices)
Actions:
3.1 Promote dissemination of standards, best practices and experiences in topics such as open source software, DCMI, MARC, XML, digital preservation and metadata. These will be addressed in conference events and information dissemination through the Tech Watch web pages.
3.2 Liaise with major standard bodies and development groups.
4. ITS will promote data standards and protocols that will improve interoperability between systems and facilitate data exchange between libraries and other sectors of information creation.
(Professional priority: (f) Promote resource sharing)
Actions:
4.1 Monitor projects and recommend best practices regarding the integration of library management systems with other applications such as courseware, portals and digital repositories. Especially focussed is the topic of standardized search interfaces (eg. SRU/SRW) and machine to machine services communication (SOAP, WSDL). These will be addressed in conference events and information dissemination through the Tech Watch web pages.
5. ITS will encourage and support projects within the scope of the strategic plan by maintaining close contacts with other IFLA sections and Core Activities, as well as with other international associations and organizations focused on IT.
(Professional priority: (h) Developing library Professionals)
5.1 Liaise with other IFLA Sections and encourage ITS membership to provide exchange and feedback on new or revised IFLA standards, guidelines and studies.
5.2 Liaise with other national and international associations to enhance dissemination and cross fertilization of activities.
5.3 Liaise with IFLA ALP (Advanced Librarianship Programme) to support initiatives towards promoting Information technology competencies.
