Newsletter of the Section on Regional Activities: Asia and Oceania

12 : 1 (JUNE 2000)

IFLA News

Headquaters

IFLA's Secretary General Honoured

Ross Shimmon said he was 'astonished and delighted to receive the award'. He was particularly pleased of the recognition it gave to librarians and libraries in the UK.

He expects to receive the medal at Buckingham Palace later in the year. (Josche Neven, Reference 2, Wed, 5 Jan 2000)

EB and PB Announcements

Professional Board
Ralph Manning, Chair
Winston Tabb, Vice-chair and financial officer
Hans-Christoph Hobohm
Glenys Willars
Ia McIlwaine, Liaison to CLM
Christopher Wright
Wanda Dole
Lis Byberg, Liaison to FAIFE
Adolfo Rodriguez

Membership Development Committee
Kay Raseroka, Chair
Børge Sørensen
Claudia Lux

Conference Planning Committee
Ingrid Parent, Chair
Jeronimo Martinez
Ralph Manning
Nancy John (Resource person)

Publications Committee
Claudia Lux, Chair
Kay Raseroka
Hans-Christoph Hobohm
Ross Shimmon, ex-officio
(Josche Neven, Reference 2, Wed, 15 Dec 1999)

Regional Office

IFLA ROAO Awards

The collection of IFLA conference bags displayed at the "IFLA Academic Exhibition" during the 65th IFLA Council and Annual Conference in Bangkok were put up for auction and had raised some seed money to start this award. Some additional donations were collected locally, and by the agreement of authorities involved, the 3 unused air tickets of the IFLA 1999 Conference grantees were also donated to support this initiative.

In cooperation with the IFLA Round Table on Mobile Libraries (RTML), two awards were announced in December 1999, one to support a presenter from Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam (The IFLA ROAO Award for the Best Paper about Mobile Libraries); the other one to support a presenter from Thailand (The IFLA ROAO Award for the Best Paper about Mobile Libraries - Thailand). The announcement of the RTML "CALL FOR STORIES & MEMORIES ABOUT MOBILE LIBRARIES / BOOK MOBILES / FLOATING LIBRARIES / TRAVELLING LIBRARIES" (Thelma H. Tate, Reference 2, Thu, 18 Nov 1999) was attached with the award announcement.

Seven papers were received from authors of two countries; Thailand and Vietnam. They all will be added to the proceedings which will be published by the RTML. By sharing the awards, four presenters will make their way to present the papers at the workshop "Telling Mobile Libraries' Story: Collecting the Past to Build a Future" to be held during the 66th IFLA Council and Annual Conference in Jerusalem. (Pensri Guaysuwan)

Division III

Submission on Division 8

31 March 2000

Marjorie E. Bloss
Chairman, Advisory Group on Division 8
Vice President for Library Operations
Center for Research Libraries
6050 South Kenwood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
USA
(773) 955-4339 (fax)

Re: IFLA RSCAO comments on regional structure

Dear Marjorie

As Chair of IFLA's Regional Section: Asia and Oceania I am writing in response to the call for submissions to the Advisory Group on Division 8. These comments are made in the light of RSCAO's discussion of the issue at its March 2000 meeting in Beirut, Lebanon.

1. Summary of comments

   In summary, RSCAO members propose that the existing regional sections and the Division be maintained. Members support the principle of greater participation of IFLA's regional membership into the other professional groups and make several suggestions for changes to the operation of IFLA standing committees and to IFLA's funding structures to enable this to happen. A clearer strategy for membership in the regions needs to be developed and communicated, and linked in a transparent way to a single line in the organisation's budget.

   RSCAO proposes that gradual change of this nature be introduced within the existing structure and the success (or otherwise) of these changes monitored before any more radical alteration to the regional sections is made. In principle, Division 8 should only be abolished if members from the regions are better catered for elsewhere in the IFLA organisation than they are in the regional sections.

2. Regional response to abolition proposal

   The Advisory Group may be interested in some quantitative data on the subject of the abolition of Division 8, representing broader views than standing committee members or those delegates present at the IFLA Conference in Bangkok. Following the publication of a news item on the subject in Asian Libraries, the editor of the journal received 203 messages in response. Of these, 60% were from Europe/North America, 25% from Asia/Oceania and 15% from Africa and the Caribbean. 70% of all respondents absolutely opposed disbanding the Division, with no alternatives proposed; 25% recommended some changes (similar to those proposed below) but with no clear consensus on the preferred structure; 5% agreed with the proposal to disband, but with a single 'under-developed countries' section. All in this category were from North America.

3. The regional and divisional structure: a ghetto, or not?

   Advisory Group members are probably well aware of the difficulties inherent in using terminology such as 'Third World' and 'developing countries' to describe the groups of countries located south and east of the US and Europe. These terms are inexact and misleading. The Asia-Pacific region, for example, encompasses both highly developed (Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, etc.) and very underdeveloped (Burma, Laos, Bhutan, etc.) countries. Librarians in the region come together as members with common regional interests, not as a ghetto, but as a microcosm of the international library world. The same parallels can be drawn for the continents of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

   Moreover, use of words such as 'Third World' and 'developing countries' is not only misleading. It is based on a fundamental perception of the relative position and importance of the two groups with the underlying assumption that the 'First' or 'developed' world contains all the solutions and models to which other countries should aspire. At best, such a view is naïve and old-fashioned.
   The regional diversity described above is the best example to hand of the way in which the process can work in a different direction. RSCAO members are in agreement with (indeed, take for granted) the view expressed elsewhere by Dr Gorman, that:

   '... Britain is not Thailand, Germany is not Cambodia; but Thailand and Cambodia can work together, unimpeded by British or German interference, to begin developing locally appropriate solutions to common problems. This is one of the great advantages of regional groups in any professional body, and one hopes that IFLA will continue to recognise this ...'

   At present the Asia/Oceania regional section provides a forum where general professional interests can be pursued in just such a way. An example of this in practice is the highly successful middle management work attachment scheme where candidates are placed in appropriate host libraries in countries elsewhere in the region: Burma to Thailand, Papua New Guinea to Malaysia, Nepal to India. The Advisory Group on Division 8 should be cautious of assuming that because no 'First World' country is involved, nothing is happening in the regional sections.

   In its discussion RSCAO members agreed that regional section membership is still perceived as one of the major benefits available to new IFLA members from countries in regions other than the US, UK and Europe. It is not seen as a 'ghetto-ising' influence. On the contrary, the regional sections are seen either as appropriate forums for particular sorts of activities (for example, developing country projects such as are carried out by ALP) or as an important influence in creating the kind of synergy described above.
   Advisory Group members may be aware of a high level of interest from members in the Russian Federation (including Moscow) in becoming involved in the Asia/Oceania Section, while there is already an active member from Siberia on the Committee.

   Further afield, it is clear that members of all three regional sections share many common concerns and have the opportunity to share solutions with each other. This synergy is a persuasive reason for keeping the three sections in an organisational whole. The natural and economic barriers which impede the regional sections' communication with each other - for example distance, language and poor telecoms infrastructure - should not be used as a reason for dismantling the structure.

   RSCAO members noted that the concept of Divisional representation remains unchanged under the proposed new Professional Committee structure, whereby the interests of sections can be represented through a single Divisional representative. It was felt that representation on the Professional Committee for the regional sections as an organisational group remains extremely important. The SC members present strongly endorsed the need for the regional sections to retain Divisional and Professional Committee representation within the IFLA organisation.

4. Integration of regional section membership into the IFLA organisation

   It remains true that there is not enough interaction between IFLA's membership in the regions and the other seven divisions of IFLA. RSCAO members saw an opportunity for such interaction to be enabled through ex-officio membership of other Standing Committees. It was suggested that a mechanism be established to allow RSC members to be elected ex-officio to other sections' SCs. This would be an arrangement initiated by the RSCs themselves. The RSCs would decide whom from their own membership should be nominated to join another SC whose work is of interest to the RSC in question. That nominated member should attend the SC meetings of the other section, report back to their own RSC and be a liaison person between the two sections.

   RSCAO members saw this as a means of achieving better integration of the regional sections into IFLA work. However integration is a two-way process; there may be times when it is appropriate for advanced country professionals to be integrated into the work of developing country libraries, as well as for developing country professionals to be integrated into work going on in advanced countries. For this reason the Advisory Group may wish to consider the process in reverse: an SC member from one of the other seven Divisions joining the RSCs in an ex-officio capacity to attend their meetings and liaise between the two groups.

5. Scheduling of SC meetings

   It was noted that to achieve this integration an altered scheduling of SC meetings at conferences is necessary to avoid overlap between meeting times. This is a perennial problem which has been brought to IFLA HQ's attention before, and is one of the main reasons preventing interaction between sections at present.

   RSCAO members offered to have its meetings scheduled in the evenings if necessary.

6. Simultaneous interpretation

   RSCAO supports the extension of simultaneous interpretation at Conferences to as many groups and venues as possible. The Committee notes the clear wish of Chinese colleagues to continue an active involvement with IFLA, including through the presentation of conference papers, and regrets that Chinese is not yet an IFLA official language.

7. Strategy and finances Much could be done to promote IFLA membership and commence the 'integration' process of drawing regional members into the body of IFLA by:
   • developing a clear strategy for the regional membership
   • communicating the strategy
   • linking the strategy to a defined and regular source of funding

   The last point is perhaps the most important. There are already in existence a number of disparate sources of revenue which are used to support the developing country membership of IFLA. Examples include the various awards and grants provided to developing country members, the 'President's fund' discussed by Robert Wedgworth, specific purpose donations made by national libraries (eg, the National Library of Australia), as well as conference attendance funds currently handled by the ALP Office. However not all regional members are aware of these. IFLA as a corporate institution remains remote from them.

   We recommend that existing and future contributions and sponsorship be aggregated (while acknowledging their separate sources) into a single budget line and be given a specific name. The name could perhaps use the word 'foundation' or 'fund' and form the basis of an ongoing campaign for specific-purpose sponsorship and donations. The programme should be actively publicised as a new IFLA strategy - awareness of it is a key to its success. Existing donors would be reassured of the final use of their contribution. Potential donors would be attracted by the higher profile given to their donation through a named fund. The regional membership would also have tangible evidence of IFLA's support for developing countries.

   The IFLA Treasurer and IFLA HQ would take responsibility for the disbursement and management of these funds but decisions on their use (excluding those made for a specific purpose) should be done in close consultation with the regional membership, using the mechanism of the Regional Offices and Regional Standing Committees.

   Although this is a period of financial uncertainty for the IFLA organisation, it is also a time to make strategic decisions about IFLA's future direction. There can be no better time to develop a clearly focused strategy for the development of membership in the regions. A timely and well-communicated investment in the integration process described above will attract new membership and boost IFLA's credibility in the regions.

   Finally, RSCAO members are strongly in favour of greater participation of regional membership in the mainstream of IFLA. If this process can be well entrenched in IFLA operations and can be seen to be successful, a more defined role for the regional sections can be foreseen in future. Such a scenario could involve a stronger role for the Regional Offices in implementing IFLA's regional strategy, with the regional standing committees working in an advisory capacity to the Regional Offices, perhaps with a specific mandate for 'developing country' initiatives.

   Until that time the Regional Division and regional sections should stay in place.

   Yours sincerely

   Amelia McKenzie
   Chair, IFLA RSCAO

RSCAO

Report on RSCAO activities

This is the first time the RSCAO has met in West Asia, and the first time any IFLA activity has been held in Lebanon. Librarians from many Muslim and Arab countries will not be attending the IFLA Conference in Israel in August, so the RSCAO's programme was held in Beirut to enable Muslim and Arab colleagues to take part in an IFLA programme.

The first day of the RSCAO meeting was held in the Saab Medical Library of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon's largest university, and the second day was held in the library of the University of Balamand, 80 km north of Beirut near Tripoli.

Eight RSCAO members and two official observers travelled to Beirut for the meeting and seminar:

Amelia McKenzie, Australia (Chair)
Rashidah Begum, Malaysia (Secretary)
Russell Bowden, Sri Lanka (Member)
Gary Gorman, New Zealand (Member)
Elizabeth Fong, Fiji (Member)
Hilda Nassar, Lebanon (Member)
Pensri Guaysuwan, Thailand (Regional Manager)
Maria Laosunthara , Thailand (Special Advisor)
Birgitta Sandell, Sweden (ALP Office)
Sjoerd Koopman (IFLA Headquarters)

Observers from Thailand and Lebanon were also present for parts of the meeting.

The meeting first dealt with routine business, including the following items:

• Consideration of conference papers
• Approval of applications for RSCAO's scholarship and attachment schemes.
• Current and future projects
• Discussion of IFLA's regional structure

The Committee held the second day of its meeting in the Library of the University of Balamand, in the north of Lebanon near the city of Tripoli. The day ended with a tour around Balamand University library, a visit to the nearby twelfth century monastery of Balamand, and a walk around the ancient and busy centre of the city of Tripoli. Members are indebted to Ms Sameera Bashir, University Librarian of Balamand University and her staff for their kind hospitality.

'Networking for library development in the Arab states' (2-4 March 2000, Beirut, Lebanon)

The RSCAO-organised seminar 'Networking for library development in the Arab states' followed the RSCAO meeting and was held from 2-4 March. The programme for this seminar was developed in consultation with RSCAO's Lebanese member, Hilda Nassar of the Saab Medical Library, American University of Beirut. Over 100 participants from Lebanon and the Middle East region attended, and the seminar was opened by Dr Mohammed Madi, Director- General of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture. Dr Madi spoke warmly of the role of libraries in a society's culture, and described the work being done to re-establish the National Library of Lebanon.

The seminar programme included papers from all parts of the Asia/Oceania region. A wide range of topics was covered by speakers from the region, including shared databases in the South- west Pacific region, the WHO health information network in the Eastern Mediterranean, interlending practices in the Middle East, the Malaysian national network infrastructure and use of the Internet in Syria. Several papers dealt with the possibilities and prospects for cooperation between libraries in the region. With time left for discussion between the papers, question sessions during the seminar were particularly lively with debate on topics such as censorship of the Internet in some Arab countries, the role of the private sector in developing networks and the need to attain regional self-sufficiency in document supply.

The seminar was held with the assistance of the IFLA Advancement of Librarianship Programme. The seminar organizers, Amelia McKenzie and Hilda Nassar, were successful in attracting sponsorship from several of the major international library and database vendors, including Silver Platter, Elias, Swets and the Swedish library furniture company BTJ. A short vendor session during the seminar programme attracted a great deal of interest.

RSCAO members were warmly welcomed in Lebanon, with our Lebanese library colleagues eager to show their visitors as much of their beautiful country as possible. In addition to a packed social programme, visits were arranged to sites of interest in Beirut and areas to the north. Sadly, Israeli bombardment of Tyre and Sidon in the south and Baalbek in the north prevented trips further afield. A highlight of the time in Beirut was a guided tour around the reconstruction sites of Central Beirut, a hugely ambitious project to completely restore and reconstruct the central district after the loss and damage suffered during the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1992. Beirut itself is still a busy and thriving city, with a cosmopolitan balance of East and West. We were privileged to be able to visit several outstanding historical sites in the northern part of Lebanon, including Byblos, the ancient city of Phoenicia. Byblos was known for its production of papyruses, and was the source for the Greek word for book - an appropriate place for librarians to visit.
(Amelia McKenzie, Chair, IFLA RSCAO)

IFLA Video

Presents in a 20 minute video, IFLA activities and projects from which have emerged innovative library outreach services.

The video was shown at the Eleventh Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians, 26-28 April 2000 and will be shown again at the 66th IFLA General Conference in Jerusalem, 13-18 August 2000. Interested viewers should contact the stand of the IFLA Regional Section for Asia and Oceania in the Poster Session Area for the schedule of the video showings and information concerning availability of the video. (Maria LaoSunthara)

RSCAO Forum

"Knowledge is the cornerstone of development" [1] is a recent quotation from a document on "The Indigenous Knowledge and Development Network (IK-network)[which] promotes the integration of indigenous knowledge in development... The IK-network aims at the sharing of information among various stakeholders in development and to contribute to the challenge of knowledge development". The IK-network was one of hundreds of Non-Government Organisations [NGOs] at the Global Knowledge Conference II in Kuala Lumpur held a few weeks ago.

To elaborate further on the scene: "Empowerment includes the process of enabling people to make decisions, take part in decision-making, enabling people to speak and fight for their basic civic, political, economic and cultural rights. Key activity in empowering people, enabling the people to obtain access to knowledge, information" [2]. "The knowledge revolution has enormous potential to empower people and communities, offering even remote areas a level of access to information and know-how previously unimaginable. Knowledge enables people to build coalitions to support their interests and communicate them to government."[3].

Such developments were made startlingly clear by the Malaysian National Information Technology's Secretary: "The following assumptions were stated: 1. Information and knowledge from the basis for decision-making and action, particularly in development. Assimilation of information and knowledge will lead to right action development. 2. Quality of decisions is dependent upon quality and quantities of information. Although there is abundant information, the quality of information must be assessed. 3. Access to information and knowledge enables improvement of QOL (Quality of Life) provided an enabling framework is in place". [4] (to be continued)

More Authors Need be Recognized

Dr G E Gorman, FLA
School of Communications & Information Management
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600, Wellington 6015
New Zealand
Tel +64 (0)4 463 5782
Fax +64 (0)4 463 5446
Email gary.gorman@vuw.ac.nz (Gary Gorman)

A Note From Russia

Despite the fact that only recently scientific schools in librarienship and bibliology have been established in the Asia part of Russia, we can state that they have worked diligently, resulting in progress in tracing native book culture found in Russian books in collections abroad. Not only has groups of specialists engaged in this research grown in number, involving representatives from the National Republics of Yukutia, Burjatia, Khakassia, Tiva , but also the scope of research has expanded, both geographically and thematically.

Russian books appeared in the Asia/Pacific region almost simultaneously with the Russian fleet, first of all in Japan, Australia, Oceania. Libraries of Russian embassies, receiving periodicals and books, became specific points of preserving and spreading Russian book culture. Not only Russian diplomats, but also sailors and travellers were among those who transmitted Russian books into the region. If one takes as an example Siam, that established diplomatic relations with Russia about a century ago, some representatives of Siam nobility could get acquainted with our book culture while studying in Russia. Among them we should distinguish Prince Chakrabon who received the rank of colonel in Russia, married Ekatherina Desnitskaya and then became the Minister of Military Affairs in his own country. In 1911 a large group of Siamese young men came to Russia to get military education. Contacts among our countries (cultural as well) have remained stable up to now.

Returning from the past to the current period of time, we can add that we maintain traditionally good contacts with our nearest neighbours: China, Mongolia, Korea. Very interesting facts about Russian books usage in Korea were presented at the Symposium KORUS'99, organized in Novosibirsk. Now we are getting ready for KORUS'2000.

Since 1988, here, in the region of Siberia and the Russian Far East, there has been functioning a regular Conference "Makushin's Readings", dedicated to the memory of an outstanding Siberian bibliologist, Peter Makushin. While in 1988 the number of participants were only 37 from 5 cities of the region, this year 145 specialists from 20 cities have already sent their papers to the Conference Organizing Committee.
Nowadays one must admit the fact that "regional" investigations have exceeded the limits of purely local significance. Since 1996 library and information specialists have had the opportunity to earn a Scientific Degree in Librarianship, Bibliology and Information Science in the region, on the basis of its largest library, the State Public Scientific Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science.

We think that we have a real chance to coordinate efforts in preserving our mutual cultural heritage. We would be glad to offer our assistance to any specialist having scientific or practical interest in this field.
Please, use the following addresses to contact us:

1. Sergei A. Paichadze, Professor
   The State Public Scientific Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science
   e-mail: knigoved@spsl.nsc.ru
2. Olga P.Fedotova, SC Member IFLA Section Asia/Oceania
   e-mail: fedot-st@online.nsk.su (Olga P. Fedotova)

PAC

CONFERENCES

• Preservation Management
  It was held in co-operation with ECPA (European Commission on Preservation and Access) and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. It took place in The Hague, April 18-21 and gathered one hundred and thirty attendants from forty countries. MTV chaired one of the sessions.

• Collecting and Safeguarding the Oral Tradition. Khon Kaen, August 16-19
  It was the official pre-seminar of IFLA Conference in Thailand and gathered sixty eight participants from thirty six countries.

• Cultural Heritage at Risk : Paris, UNESCO, September 23-24
  This conference was organised by UNESCO with the collaboration of ICBS. One hundred participants from forty countries were present and MTV, as a member of the International Working Team for Cultural Heritage at Risk, chaired one of the sessions.

• Symposium 2000
  Thirteen meetings were held to prepare this symposium which is to be a post seminar of the IFLA Jerusalem Conference on "Managing the Preservation of Periodicals and Newspapers". The seminar will be hosted by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, August 21-24, 2000, and MTV is Chair of the organising committee. It is organised jointly by IFLA PAC, IFLA Section on Preservation and Conservation, IFLA Round Table on Newspapers and IFLA Section on Serial Publications.

• Prévention 2000
  This seminar is organised by the CNRS (French National Scientific Research Centre) with the collaboration of the French Committee for the Blue Shield. It will be held in Draguignan, Var (South of France) in November 2000. Three preparatory meetings have already been held.
  (Extracted from the PAC Annual Report 1999, Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff, Reference 2, March 1, 2000 )

UAP

Sending ILL requests by email

While many structured messaging systems require requests to be formatted according to strict rules, many hundreds of 'free-form' ILL requests sent between libraries have no such stricture, and all the elements of the request are given in the body of the email message.

The IFLA Office for International Lending was asked to produce some guidelines to help interlending staff to format such requests in a standardised way, which should ensure that all requests contain all of the required elements, and that the information is given in a standard format which will help speed up the processing of such requests. The Guidelines can be consulted at
http://www.ifla.org/VI/2/p3/g-ill.htm
All comments will be welcomed.
(Sara Gould, Reference 2, Wed, 16 Feb 2000)

FAIFE

IFLA/FAIFE report of the Kosova Libraries Mission

International support in terms of funding and professional assistance is now needed to reconstruct libraries and a functioning library network. One might rightfully ask, why bother about libraries, in a situation when people lack even houses, heating, electricity and other truly basic commodities? Library services can be an important, and fairly easily applicable, tool in the promotion of reading, education and culture in a region with few or no other offerings and a population with a large share of children and youth. Libraries can, not least in an area like Kosova, provide local gateways to knowledge, reflect the plurality and diversity of society and support the process of democratisation.

The Kosova Library Mission proposes a three to four year action plan, Kosova Library Project 2000+, for the rehabilitation and enforcement of libraries in Kosova. The plan includes short-term projects and attempts to point out longer-term strategies.

The plan suggests the formation of a time- limited body, a Kosova Library Consortium, which should include both local doers, major international donors and international organisations providing professional expertise and advice. A more elaborate and detailed action plan on Kosova libraries could be developed within this framework.

The action plan includes a proposed range of 11 special programmes to be established, each covering different needs and aspects of library activities. The suggested programmes vary in nature and financial weight. An initial and very rough estimate of the funding needed for basic short-term measures amounts to around DM 14 million.

One programme lines out the structural basis on which the rehabilitation process can be founded. The five programmes requiring the most immediate initiative and a heavy part of external funding are a Mobile Library Programme, a Reconstruction Programme, a Professional Training and a Development Programme, a Books and Reading Programme, and an Information Technology Programme. There are important correlations between these programmes. The reconstruction of buildings is a longer-term task, which may take some years. Therefore mobile library services are suggested as a fairly immediate compensatory initiative. The buildings themselves have no value without books, technology or qualified library professionals.

A Cultural Heritage Programme aims to provide practical solutions to urgent preservation and security needs. A Children and Youth Programme and an Open Access Programme are of a more library political nature with the aim to reform and strenghten certain important aspects of the societal role of libraries. The last two programmes are suggesting the establishment of specific tools to ensure and promote local involvement and participation. (Carsten Frederiksen, Reference 2, Wed, 10 May 2000)

Other Sections

Section on Cataloguing

News in the Region

India

Training on Modern Technologies

Indian Railways Information System

The Ministry of Railways, the Railway Board being the supreme body for the vast network needs to declare the National Rail Museum as the National Centre for its publications. The same agency needs to try to acquire publications brought out by other Ministries which have a bearing on Railway working. The document procurement and keeping up to date information needs constant attention. As such it would be worthwhile to create a separate work station/ section for these, so that information can be shared for productivity.

On 16th April, 1853 the first train on Indian soil moved between Bombay and Thane, a distance of 34 kms and signaled the beginning of the "Railway Era" in India. This was exactly 27 years after the introduction of world's first Railway system. After independence, there were 42 railway systems consisting of 13 class-I railways, 10 class-II railways and 19 class-III railways. Among these were included 12 lines owned by ex-Indian states varying from 5 miles to 1395 miles. By 1951, the newly born Indian Railways regrouped and reorganised 42 independent railway systems into 6 Railway Zones. On subsequent review on the basis of work load and convenience, 3 more zones were created. At present there are over 62,000 route kms. and more than 7,206 railway stations which handle around 3,800 million passengers and 380 million tons of goods in a year.

The National Rail Museum has over 25,000 records which include books, original files, manuscripts, maps, drawings paintings and glass negatives which pertain to these 42 railway companies operated in the past and form the present network of Indian railways. Over 40,000 records/publications have been indentified for transfer to the National Rail Museum from 150 Railway Libraries for preserving these records for posterity and for providing library services to a large number of its employees and research scholars in their work and research. (Jaipal Singh)

Malaysia

IFLA/SLB Pre-conference

Seventeen renowned speakers presented papers covering the following areas:

1. Library Services for the Blind: Experiences from the Region.
2. Mobile Library.
3. Latest Trends in Library Services for the Blind.
4. Digital Audio Information System.
5. Computerised Braille Production.
6. The Digital Library.
7. Tactile Production.

We heard about the lack of basic services in many countries, contrasted with well developed services elsewhere. We were told of excellent examples of co-operation and knowledge transfer. There were some good case studies. We had a look at the digital future, and the possibilities it opens up for our vision of a world library of special formatted materials for the blind.

The pre-conference identified priorities for the Section as:

1. Working with other IFLA Sections to improve their understanding of "Libraries for all".
2. Publishing "Best Practice Standards".
3. Developing a World Catalogue of alternate format materials.
4. Providing training and networking opportunities to share good practice and knowledge in new technology.

Seven companies/organisations involved in the manufacturing of special equipment for the blind and information providers also exhibited their products. The delegates were shown the latest equipment in the market and shared some light on the development of future products for the blind.

On the whole, this pre-conference was the biggest gathering of professional library service providers for the blind in South East Asia. The delegates who were treated to an extravagant cultural show, sumptuous local delicacies and an informative study visit to the Alma Primary School for the Blind enjoyed themselves very much. They had a wonderful time in Penang and brought home fond memories of our beloved country.
(S.P. Kiwa, on behalf of the Section of Libraries for the Blind, Reference 3)

Nepal

Nepal Enters the ISBN World

A programme was held at the Tribhuvan University Central Library, Kirtipur on the 26th of January 2000 to mark the introduction of ISBN in Nepal. Former Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala, inaugurated the program. Speaking as the Chairperson of the ceremony, Tribhuvan University Vice Chancellor, Mr. Naveen Prakash Jung Shah lauded the role played by T.U.C.L. in serving the intellectual community and praised its painstaking effort in obtaining the authority to act as the ISBN National Agent Office. Welcoming the distinguished guests, T.U.Central Library Chief, Mr. Krishna Mani Bhandari, on behalf of the organizing committee, narrated the struggles and vicissitudes the T.U.C.L. went through to get the ISBN Office. The President of Nepal Publishers and Booksellers Association (NBPAN), Mr. Govinda Shrestha and Sectetary, Mr. Madhav Lal Maharjan, highlighted the importance of ISBN systems. The messages sent by Mr. Hartmut Walraven, Director of the International ISBN Agency, Berlin; Mrs. Anke Lehr, Chief, ISBN National Agency, Germany and Mr. H.K. Kulay, Director, Print Foundation, Norway were also read on their behalf on the occasion.

Upon the recommendation of the Nepal Publishers and Booksellers' Association (NBPAN), the International ISBN Agency, Berlin, Germany gave authority in June 1999 to the Tribhuvan University Central Library to act as the National Agency in Nepal. The TUCL Nepal has been assigned the National Agency/ country code # 99933. Soon after the inauguration ceremony, the publishers in Nepal went in full force to the TUCL with application forms to get ISBN numbers for their forthcoming books.

With this, the intellectual community as well as the book traders in Nepal have found themselves extremely happy and are assured of finding their intellectual creations in the international market place. They commended the TUCL for its efforts and termed this event as a landmark in Nepal's bookpublishing, processing and booktrading history.
(Krisna Mani Bhandari)

Conferences Seminars Workshops

Reports from the Conferences

International Conference on National Bibliographic Services (ICNBS)

This was a major event (117 participants from 71 countries) to commemorate the 1977 UNESCO International Congress on National Bibliographies, the recommendations of which influenced the development of national bibliographies over the last twenty years. ICNBS had the aim to review and update the 1977 recommendations.

The outcome was a set of 23 recommendations regarding:

• Legal Deposit
• Coverage of the National Bibliography
• The Presentation and Timeliness of the National Bibliography
• International Standards Used
• Future Activities

Recently the recommendations of the 1998 ICNBS Conference were ratified by UNESCO's General Conference, which underlines their importance and broad applicability.

Ingrid Parent, a member of the Planning Committee for the ICNBS Conference, and a member of the IFLA Executive Board, commented: "I am delighted that UNESCO has endorsed the ICNBS recommendations and has recommended that the Member States of UNESCO adopt and implement them. Those recommendations will provide strong support to national bibliographic agencies in their efforts to acquire and disseminate information about their published heritage".

The new recommendations are posted at: http://www.ifla.org/VI/3/icnbs/fina.htm

Further information is available from:
Marie-France Plassard
IFLA UBCIM Programme
c/o Die Deutsche Bibliothek
Adickesallee 1
D-60322 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
E-mail: iflaubcim@dbf.ddb.de (Reference 2)

IFLA Last Year

Collecting and Safeguarding the Oral Traditions

The conference program dealt with various aspects of collecting and safeguarding oral traditions, optimal equipment for field recordings, storage and preservation issues, safeguarding records, digitization for wider access, and the role of libraries as repositories.

Included in the conference program for Wednesday 18, August 1999 was an excursion to Mahasarakham University Research Institute of Northeastern Arts and Culture, the Sirindhorn Isan Information Center, the Academic Resource Center, including a reception and a traditional performance.

The detailed programme and other distributed documents, including the texts of all the papers that were submitted, are available on CD-ROM from the Academic Resource Center of Mahasarakham University, Maha Sarakham 44000, Thailand. IFLA is currently considering publication of the Conference Proceedings in printed form. For more information please contact John McIlwaine, Chairman, Standing Committee of IFLA Section on Preservation & Conservation, School of Library, Archive & Information Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT U.K.
(Surithong Srisa-ard)

Upcoming IFLA Conference

66th IFLA Council and General Conference
Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18 August 2000

"The people of the book invite the keepers of the book."

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Israeli National Organising Committee and the Israeli library community, we warmly invite all IFLA members to Jerusalem for the 66th Conference in the year 2000.

The IFLA Conference is the most important professional international event within the library and information community. It brings together delegates, experts and suppliers from all over the world, to meet, exchange ideas, share experiences, introduce new technologies and to influence the development of libraries and information centres, both nationally and globally.

The Israeli National Organising Committee has chosen the theme:

"Information for Co-operation: Creating the Global Library of the Future"

for the 66th IFLA Conference in Jerusalem. The key word of the theme is co-operation, towards which we shall all be aiming.

It is to these goals - - international, multilingual, multicultural co-operation throughout the library and information community - - that the 66th IFLA Conference in Jerusalem commits itself and invites all of its colleagues throughout the world to participate, contribute and celebrate in Jerusalem in the year 2000.

Jerusalem, the venue of the conference, is best characterised by its name- - Yerushalayim - - in Hebrew, which means "city of peace". The city has a history of over 4000 years and is holy to the three monotheistic religions - - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is famous for its beauty and unique atmosphere - - a blend of ancient and modern. Jerusalem is the most suitable setting for the 66th IFLA Conference, especially in the year 2000, the start of a new millenium and a new beginning.

The Israeli library community is waiting to welcome you all warmly in Jerusalem.

Sincerely,

Sara Japhet, President
Bluma Peritz, Vice-President
(Reference 1)

Satellite Meetings

Satellite Meeting of the Section on Library Services to Multicultural Populations with the Section of Libraries for Children and Young Adults.

9-10 August 2000, Holon, Israel

For more information contact:

Souad Hubert
Bibliothèque Publique d'Information
Centre G. Pompidou, 19 Rue Beaubourg
75197 PARIS Cedex 04
France
Tel: +33-1-44784527
Fax: +33-1-44781215
E-mail: hubert@bpi

Marketing Libraries with a Focus on Academic and Large Libraries

August 2000 (dates will be announced). Haïfa, Israel. Section on Management & Marketing

For more information contact:

Réjean Savard
École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l´information
Université de Montréal
C.P. 6128, succursale A
Montréal (Quebec), H3C 3J7
Canada
Tel. +1-514-343-7408
Fax +1-514-343-5753
E-mail: savardr@ere.umontreal.ca

The 16th Annual International Conference of Parliamentary Libraries

9 August 2000, Athens, Greece. Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments and sponsored by the Hellenic Parliament.

For more information contact:

Eleni Mitrakou
Hellenic Parliament,
Serials Department
218 Lenormant Ave. Athens, 11528
Greece
E-mail: mitrakou@parliament.gr

Special Meeting of the Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments

17 August 2000, Ramallah, Palestinian Authority. Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments.

For more information contact:

Richard Paré
Library of Parliament
Wellington Street
OTTAWA, Ontario
Canada
Tel: +1-613-9923122,
Fax: +1-613-9967092
E-mail: parer@parl.gc.ca

The Alexandria Vision and Today's Challenges: Developing Partnership

August 2000 (dates will be announced), Alexandria or Cairo, Egypt. Section on University Libraries and General Research Libraries.

For more information contact:

Ms Kirsten Engelstad
National Office for Research Documentation
Academic & Special Libraries
P.O. Box 8046 Dep
N-0030 OSLO
Norway
Tel: +47-23118900
Fax: +47-23118901
E-mail: kirsten.engelstad@rbt.no

Managing the Preservation of Newspapers

Paris, Symposium at Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 21 - 24 August, 2000

Preliminary Programme

An international conference organised by IFLA's Core Programma on Preservation and Conservation, Section on Preservation and Conservation, Section on Serial Publications, Round Table on Newspapers with the support and cooperation of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) and Ville de Paris.

Eleven years after the First International Symposium on the Preservation of Serial Literature organised at the Library of Congress, IFLA wishes to assess the changes that have occurred since 1989. Sessions will concentrate mainly on preservation policies, reformatting, financial issues, electronic items and shared preservation. The last day will offer participants the opportunity to visit various preservation sites of the BnF.
Working languages will be French and English

For more information contact:

Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff
IFLA-PAC
Bibliothèque nationale de France
E-mail: marie-therese.varlamoff@bnf.fr (Reference 1)

2001 Boston USA

67th IFLA Council and General Conference
Boston, USA, 16-25 August 2001

68th IFLA General Conference
Glasgow, 2002

69th IFLA Council and General Conference
Berlin, 2003

70th IFLA General Conference
Buenos Aires, 2004

71st IFLA Council and General Conference
Expressions of interest are invited, 2005

72nd IFLA General Conference
Seoul, 2006

Invitation to Potential Hosts for the 73rd General Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in the Year 2007 (see http://www.ifla.org/iv/tohost.htm for details)

Other Events

THE FACETS OF DIGITAL REFERENCE
The VRD 2nd Annual Digital Reference Conference

"The Facets of Digital Reference" will highlight digital reference service in all contexts: libraries and information centers, education, Intranets, the commercial sector, government, and more. Building on the success of the VRD 1999 Digital Reference Conference with over 250 attendees from across the globe (http://www.vrd.org/ conferences/VRD99/conf99.html), this conference will explore the nature of Internet- based, human-mediated information service in all areas, as well as examine issues in providing digital reference and expert information service.
For more information regarding the VRD 2000 Annual Digital Reference Conference, please contact the Virtual Reference Desk at 800-464-9107 or vrdconf@vrd.org. (Extracted from VRD Conference, Reference 2, Tue, 4 Apr 2000)

GLOBAL 2000: The Information Age: Challenges & Opportunities

16-19, October 2000, Brighton, U.K.

The Information Industry from a Global Perspective

GLOBAL 2000 information:
http://www.slaglobal2000.org
email: global2000@sla.org
phone: 1-202-234-4700, Ext. 628 or Ext. 676

The trends shaping the information industry transcend international boundaries. Copyright infringement, the role of the Internet in information distribution, rising journal costs, knowledge management- - these issues affect information professionals around the globe. Don't miss your chance to shape the information future and network with colleagues around the globe!

For more information, visit the GLOBAL 2000 website at:

http://www.slaglobal2000.org,
send e-mail to global2000@sla.org, or
call 1-202-234-4700, Ext. 628 or Ext. 676.
(Extracted from Cathy Montalvo, Reference 2, Fri, 7 Apr 2000)

Mass Deacidification in Practice

Mass deacidification is one of the options available to extend the useful life of paper materials. After years of careful research and testing, mass deacidification has now established itself as a viable preservation choice. At this point in time, several different processes are being used in large-scale projects at major institutions.

The aim of this conference is to present examples of how mass deacidification can be applied in practice. Representatives from libraries and archives with considerable experience with one or several different processes will share their views on the role of mass deacidification in preservation management They will discuss why a particular process was chosen and which materials are selected for mass deacidification. Papers will focus on issues like the place of mass deacidification in a preservation policy, its relation to other preservation measures, workflow, logistics, costs and organizational aspects. There will also be papers devoted to recent scientific research and new developments.

In addition to papers by experts, a trade exhibition will be organized of different companies specializing in mass deacidification.

Venue and EXPO 2000

The conference will be held at the State Archive of Lower Saxony located in the Castle of Bückeburg (its oldest part dates from the 13th century). The conference will also provide an excellent opportunity to visit the world fair EXPO 2000 in nearby Hannover (1 June - 31 October 2000, http://www.expo2000.de). This can be easily reached by train (37 minutes, direct connection http://www.bahn.de/home/index.shtml).

For more information please contact:

European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA)
P.O. Box 19121
NL-1000 GC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
tel. ++31-20-551 08 39
fax ++31-20-620 49 41
e-mail: ECPA@bureau.knaw.nl
http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa
Main sponsor: Neschen AG http://www.neschen.com/
(Extracted from Anne Muller, Reference 2, Tue, 7 Mar 2000

International Paper Contest

The American Society for Information Science (ASIS), International Information Issues Special Interest Group, is holding a competition for papers to be submitted for the Annual Conference in Chicago, IL, 13-16 November, 2000.

The Theme is:
Practical collaborative applications of digital library or information science and technology in advancing communications, information and knowledge in the developing world.

The paper topic could be at the country or regional level, and could include projects supported by government, non-government organizations, international organizations, professional associations and/or academic institutions. Papers could present practical experiences in areas such as, but not limited to, the following: development of electronic resources across networks, cooperative projects to avoid duplication of efforts, sharing of resources between information institutions and providers, bringing access to information to distant and disadvantaged communities.

There will be six winners. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges, consisting of Dr. Trudi Bellardo, Hahn, University of Maryland; Dr. Ben-Ami Lipetz, State University of New York at Albany; and Dr. Bahaa El Hadidy, Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida. The prize for each winner is a two-year individual membership in ASIS. In the case of multiple authors, the principal author will be awarded the ASIS membership.

Paper Presentation:
Winning papers will be presented at a Conference Session, moderated by Nathalie Leroy, Dag Hammarskjold Library, United Nations. Discussion leader will be Ms Sylvia Piggott, of the Joint World Bank-International Monetary Fund Library, Washington, D.C. If winners cannot attend the Conference, their paper will be read on their behalf by an ASIS member.

Other Publishing Opportunities:
Submitted papers will be considered for posting on the SIG III web site as pre-publications. In addition they will also be considered for inclusion in the ASIS Bulletin, based on the decision of Editor-in-Chief, Irene Travis, Ph.D. Papers will also be reviewed for inclusion in such publications as a special issue of the International Information and Library Review, subject to the usual peer refereeing process.

Information for authors:
Only papers by a principal author who is a citizen of a developing country are eligible. The papers should be original, unpublished, and in English. We encourage submissions from librarians, information and network specialists, and educators involved in the creation, representation, maintenance, exchange, discovery, delivery, and use of digital information.

ASIS Copyright Policy:
ASIS will have the non-exclusive right to publish any of the papers submitted on its web site or in print, with ownership and all other rights remaining with the author.

Deadline for Submission of Full Papers:
Authors are invited to submit manuscripts, not to exceed 6000 words, by August 31, 2000. Authors are encouraged to submit papers electronically. For more information or to submit manuscripts, please contact Nathalie Leroy by e-mail at the following address: leroyn@un.org (Ian M. Johnson, Reference 2, Hong Xu, sigiii-l@asis.lib.indiana.edu, Sun, 26 Mar 2000)

ALP News

Attachment And Scholarship Programmes

Report from Partcipant

A Report of Studying in the Hongkong Polytechnic University Library

By Liu Ping

This January, I was fortunate to get support from IFLA to study the Hongkong Polytechnic University Library for one month. I'd like to report my experiences as follows:

1. The general situation at Hongkong Polytechnic University Library is that Hongkong Polytechnic University possesses a library system with complete materials, advanced equipment, and comprehensive services.

   Hongkong Polytechnic University Library, namely Pao Yue-Kong Library, 14,000 square meters, is a six-storeyed building, and has 2,794 seats.

   Library holdings are about 1,074,759 volumes. Its book funds are HK$40,000,000 per year.

   The library has 160 staff and 10 sections. The sections are: Acquisitions, Bibliographic Control, Circulation, Information Services, Media Services, Serials, Special Collections, Systems, Photocopying Unit, Bindery.

   The library changed their system from DRA to INNOPAC in 1997, because DRA cannot process materials in Chinese. It took about one year to change the system from DRA to INNOPAC. The library staff have said that INNOPAC has more comprehensive function and it is very flexible.

(to be continued)

Winners for the Year 2000

One-month Attachment

1. Md. Nasiruddin (Bangladesh)
2. Mr. Shivayogi S. Bhusaraddi (India)
3. Ms. Mary Warus (Papua New Guinea)

Three-month Information Technology Course

1. Ms. Zhang Jingbo (China)
2. Mrs. Lilia F. Echiverri (Philippines)

Application deadline for next year is February 1, 2001.

Contact:

Mrs. Daruna Somboonkun
ALP Scholarship and Attachment Programme Coordinator
23/2 Wudthakard 39, Wudthakard Road, Jomthong
Bangkok 10150, Thailand
Tel/fax: (662)4767736

Miscellaneous

Awards

Best IFLA Newsletter Award

The jury for this competition will be the Chair of the PB, Ralph Manning. He will judge all IFLA Newsletters issued in the current year (1999/2000) and received at IFLA Headquarters before the 1st of July 2000.

The best IFLA Newsletter:

• is issued at a regular and timely basis;
• deals with the matters on the agenda of the Section or Round Table it is attached to;
• contains a substantial part of editorial items;
• contains a substantial part of relevant IFLA-news;
• has an attractive lay-out;
• has an electronic equivalent up on IFLANET.

(Reference 1, April 4, 2000)

Award for Best LIBRI Student Paper

Since 1950, through 50 volumes, LIBRI International Journal of Libraries and Information Services has been a leader among scholarly journals in the international library world. As part of its strategy to remain one of the premier library journals, LIBRI is issuing a call for "Best Student Paper of 2000." This competition supports LIBRI's goal of publishing the best articles from the next generation of library and information science professionals. We are proud once again to recognize the very best article with this special award.

Students at all levels* are invited to submit articles with clarity and authority. For 2000, there is no stated theme. Research papers should address one of the significant issues facing today's librarians and information professionals. Case studies, best practices, and pure research papers are all welcome.

Length: approx. 5000 words
Language: English
Deadline: May 31, 2000

The best paper will be selected by a panel consisting of the members of the Editorial Board, the Advisory Board, and other international experts. The paper will be judged on the basis of:

• originality of thought and observation
• depth of research and scholarship
• topicality of problems addressed
• the international readership of the journal

The article will be published in the 2000:3 issue. The author of the winning article will be honoured with an award of 500.00 USD and with a complementary subscription to LIBRI for 2001. If the quality of competition warrants, some papers may be designated as honourable mention and the authors will receive complementary subscriptions to Libri for 2001.

Manuscripts should be sent to the LIBRI Editorial Office, Statsbiblioteket, Universitetsparken, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

* Exception: Senior information scholars returning to school for additional degrees outside the field of library and information science are not eligible for this award.
(Reference 2, Wed, 10 May 2000)

Information Technology

IFLANET

NEW ON IFLANET

http://www.ifla.org/I/whatsnew/cal00.htm

IFLA Officers are invited to send key dates pertaining to conferences, workshops, deadlines for submission of papers, and other calendar information for IFLA related activities.

Submissions must also include a brief description, contact information, email and/or URL for each.

For further information contact:

Louise Lantaigne
IFLANET@ifla.org
(Lantaigne Louise, Reference 2, Fri, 5 May 2000)

Programme for Jerusalem

The Programme for IFLA's General Conference in Jerusalem (13-18 August 2000) is now available on our website IFLANET.

Included is the Professional Programme with the authors/titles of papers to be presented. The full texts of the papers, including their translations into the different IFLA languages are going to be made available on a daily basis. Please take a look at: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/66cp.htm
(Sjoerd Koopman, Reference 2, Mon, 8 May 2000)

IFLA's Annual Report now available on IFLANET

The Annual Report of IFLA is now available on IFLANET at http://www.ifla.org/V/cdoc/ann99.htm
(Sophie Felfoldi, Reference 2, Mon, 8 May 2000)

WWW

Centre for Lifelong Learning

November 8, 1999
http://www.africanews.org/science/stories/19991108_feat7.html

A digital library for the benefit of users throughout Africa, went on-line today, 3 November 1999

The library is being established by TSA and the Association of African Universities in collaboration with netLibrary, a private American company. It will provide Internet access to African users throughout the continent to a library of full-text books at no cost to the user.

As far as use is concerned, persons in any Africa country with a server having an African domain, will be able to access the library via http://www.AfricaEducation.org/adl/. Servers such as those with a .com suffix which cannot be identified as African should provide the Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning with their IP address range so that the service can become accessible free of charge to their subscribers also . Users will then be able to open an account with the library free of charge.

The library will be made available to people using the Internet in Africa only. As Internet access expands in Africa, the e-book collection will grow and accommodate user needs.

For further information, contact Paul West, Director CLL at Technikon SA at e-mail address LibraryAdmin@AfricaEducation.org
(Extracted from Cisler, Reference 2, Tue, 16 Nov 1999)

Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information

The January 1, 2000 edition of the "Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information" is available at: http://library.usask.ca/~dworacze/SUBJIN_A.HTM

The page-specific "Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information" and the accompanying "Electronic Sources of Information: A Bibliography" (listing all indexed items) deal with all aspects of electronic publishing and include print and non-print materials, periodical articles, monographs and individual chapters in collected works. This edition includes 1,095 titles. Both the Index and the Bibliography are continuously updated.

Introduction, which includes sample search and instructions how to use the Subject Index and the Bibliography, is located at: http://library.usask.ca/~dworacze/SUB_INT.HTM
(Marian Dworaczek, Reference 2, Wed, 5 Jan 2000)

AHDS Digital Library

The Archaeology Data Service is pleased to announce the opening of its Digital Library.

Already on the shelves you will find:

• the first 22 volumes in the Council for British Archaeology's Research Report series, held in PDF format, including such important titles as "The Iron Age in the Irish Sea Province" edited by Charles Thomas, Philip Rahtz's "Excavations at St Mary's Church Deerhurst", Richard Reece's edited volume on "Burial in the Roman World", and many, many more. These volumes have been out of print for years although many are still key books on reading lists. Now they are available to all on-line.

• the first 15 volumes in the CBA's Occasional Papers series, again as PDF files. This series includes seminal titles in the history of British Archaeology, such as The Erosion of History.

In our Library the books you want are never out, and there is plenty of room on the shelves for more. If you are publishing digitally then lodge an archive copy with the ADS.

To visit the ADS Library point your web browser at http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue and click on The Library. To offer us a digital publication email info@ads.ahds.ac.uk
(Extracted from Reference 2, Mon,17 Apr 2000)

Canadian Biographies

Looking for Canadian biographies?

Memorable Canadians http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/bioindex/ is the new Web-based biographical index available through National Library of Canada's Web site http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/. You can now search a growing database of over 200 eminent Canadian personalities using any of four efficient indexes: name, subject, endeavour and electronic resource.

For more information please contact:

Susan Globensky
National Library of Canada
(613) 943-1119
susan.globensky@nlc-bnc.ca
(Sophie Felfoldi, Reference 2, Thu, 20 Apr 2000)

Publications

New IFLA Publications

The fourth edition of the International Directory of Libraries for the Blind is printed from a database which is maintained by the Japanese Society for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (JSRPD) on behalf of the IFLA Section of Libraries for the Blind. The most current information is available via Internet http://dserver.dinf.ne.jp:591/.

The original database was set up for the third edition of the International Directory of Libraries for the Blind published in 1990, and which was based on all the entries of the first and second editions. In addition to occasional updates, the contact address and telephone/fax information was updated in 1998 by referring to the online database of the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

The Directory is arranged alphabetically by countries. Within countries, individual organizations are also arranged alphabetically. Each organization has a unique entry number. An alphabetical list of 242 organizations in 78 countries and an index of 82 different languages follow the datasheets.

'Libraries for the blind are essential to the learning culture of every society and because learning and information are not limited by boundaries, it is important that libraries for the blind cooperate to support each other in making information accessible and available to those unable to read print. Blind people depend on libraries to collect, organize and make the information they need accessible to them. The 4th edition of the Directory of Libraries for the Blind, undertaken with the support of libraries for the blind from around the world, assembles information about the participating libraries and facilitates both communication and cooperation. It is a first step towards the vision of a world library of alternate format materials, ' as Rosemary Kavanagh, Chair of the IFLA Section of Libraries for the Blind says.

Bibliographic Details

International Directory of Libraries for the Blind / Ed. by Misako Nomura and Mayu Yamada. [International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions]. * 4.ed.. * München : Saur, 2000, XXIV, 252 p. 21 cm (IFLA Publications ; 90)
(Josche Neven, Reference2, Thu, 20 !pr 2000)

Parabaik and Megabyte: Measuring Progress in Library Development in South East Asia

Papers from two seminars held during the 65th IFLA General Conference, August 20-28 1999, Bangkok. Edited by Sara Gould

Two related workshops were held during the IFLA Conference in 1999. The first, sponsored by the Section on Document Delivery and Interlending, took as its theme "The Role of Document Delivery and Interlending in South East Asia". Three speakers, from Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong, gave presentations on the state of interlending in their own countries, and these were followed by a discussion of interlending in libraries in South East Asia.

The second, run by the IFLA Core Programme for UAP (Universal Availability of Publications) was organised as a follow-up to an earlier seminar which took place in 1995, also in Bangkok. Representatives from seven South East Asian countries were able to present an overview of resource sharing and library development in their own country, and participants were encouraged to consider how these might be improved. The papers from that workshop have been published as "From Palm Leaves to PCs: library development in South East Asia", edited by Sara Gould and Judy Watkins, 1995.

The UAP Workshop held in 1999, and reported on in this publication, was able to build on that earlier seminar. Where possible, the same speakers returned in order to report on progress since 1995, and once again, presentations are included from seven countries, together with an overview of the UAP Programme and some information about the IFLA Regional Section for Asia and Oceania.
(Richard Ebdon, Reference 2, Tue, 2 May 2000)

Drafting Committee: Pensri Guaysuwan Maria LaoSunthara Poolsook Pariwatraworawute Secretariat: Malee Siangthai Editor: Pensri Guaysuwan Melinda Lyons Nancy Bishop References: Extracted from IFLANET (http://www.ifla.org) Extracted from IFLA-L@INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA NCBM Outreach, no 17, (October-December 1999) Your free subscription to IFLA RSAO Newsletter is sponsored by IFLA ALP Core Programme Contributors: Rashidah Begum Richard Billeaud Krisna Mani Bhandaei Russell Bowden Richard Ebdon Marian Dworaczek Olga P. Fedotova Sophie Felfoldi Carsten Fredeiksen Joelle Gare Gary Gorman Sara Gould Pensri Guaysuwan Ian M. Johnson S.P.Kiwa Sjoerd Koopman R. P. Kumar Maria LaoSunthara Lantaigne Louise Amelia McKenzie Cathy Montalvo Anne Muller Josche Neven Liu Ping Jaipal Singh Daruna Somboonkun Surithong Srisa-ard Marie-Therese Varlamoff Hong Xu Widharto Printer: Thammasat University Press This Newsletter is published twice a year in June and December by IFLA's Regional Office for Asia and Oceania. It is a major communication tool for IFLA members in the region. Please share your ideas and experiences by sending your contributions or suggestions to Pensri Guaysuwan, Regional Manager, 118 Charansanitwong 63, Bangkok 10700, Thailand. Tel: (662) 4242760, Fax: (662) 8817033, E-mail: iflaroao@alpha.tu.ac.th