Newsletter of the IFLA Section of Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries (On-line)

March 1996,
Volume 17, No. 2
ISSN: 1025-5680

Welcome to Beijing

We chose Beijing as a place for the conference because Beijing is a city with long history and splendid cultural heritage. In this beautiful city librarians from all over the world can take the opportunity to enjoy the heritage, work together intensively on pursuing strategies to meet the challenges faced by the international library community and share professional experiences. We are now starting preparations in order to offer you a pleasant conference environment and many opportunities to enjoy the beauty of the country. Chinese librarians are looking forward to meeting you in August 1996 in Beijing.

The theme of the Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries Section program will be "East Meets West in Medical Librarianship. The speakers will include:

Developing Medical Library and Information Science Education in China.

Liu Xiao-chun and Fang Ping, Changsha Medical University

A Decade of Partnership in Library Education Between McGill University and China Medical University.

Frances Groen, McGill University

Training and Selecting of Successors for Medical Library Directors in the People's Republic of China.

Xiong Dizhi and Ma Li, Shenyang Medical University

Access to Biomedical Information from the East in NLM's Databases.

Lois Ann Colaianni, U.S. National Library of Medicine

The Impact of Professional Values on Llbrary Performance

Mariam Ginman, National Library of Health of Finland

Other highlights of the conference include the number of libraries that can be visited. Among those with especial interest for medical librarians are:

• National Library of China : A legal deposit library of the national publications. provides services for the reading boies at various levels and the general public.

• Peking University Library : one of the key university libraries in China. Department of Library and Information Science . Peking University, one of the earliest educational institutions for library and information science in China.

• Tsinghua University library : one of the key university Iibraries specialized in technology and engineering. It is the IFLA institute member.

• Beijing Normal University Library : founded in 1917, one of the key university libraries in China.

• CPC Central Committee Party School Library, a training school for senior leading members of the Communist Party of China.

• Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications: famous for telecommunication and networking development on campus.

• Beijing Agricultural University Library, an appointed library of collecting the FAO publications.

• Institute of Science and Technology Information of China (ISTIC) : a research center of science and technology information and documents in China.

• Documentation And Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences : the library of China. Academy of Sciences, now the IFLA institution member.

• China Ethnic Library : demonstrates the different cultures of the Chinese national minorities.

From The Chair

Each member of the Biomedical Section is aware of the responsibility to maintain the life of the Section by encouraging membership, developing participation, and organizing high quality programs at every annual Conference.

During the two Standing Committee meetings in Istanbul last August, we worked together. Even though our Section is not as large as many others within IFLA, we appreciate its importance and believe in its service to medical librarianship. Our Section has an audience and we want to continue to encourage medical librarianship all over the world. We love our jobs!: it is as simple as that!

Membership provides the chance to travel every year to some part of the world and to meet our colleagues, offering them a program and giving them an opportunity to participate and tell their views and opinions. At every IFLA Conference I have attended, in Paris, Moscow, New Delhi, Barcelona, Havana, and Istanbul, we were confronted with social or political problems. How can we help our colleagues who are working in very bad conditions? One of our responses was to bring them our ideas and exchange our experiences. This will continue to challenge us in future conferences.

It is a great honour to be chosen Chair of the Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries Section of IFLA. Our Section is one of the newest, being established in 1978 (IFLA began in 1902). During my two-year term I wish to develop exchanges with colleagues, get to know them better and give them a chance to speak of their situation and their jobs. All Section members have worked hard during the past winter to propose an interesting and imaginative program for Beijing.

From The Editor

The NUS Library System is made up of six libraries that serve 56 teaching departments in eight faculties and four postgraduate schools. The Libraries are fully automated and hold collections of nearly two million volumes, including nearly 19,000 current periodicals and 12,500 AV programs. The University has more than 18,000 students and 31,000 registered library members.

The University is celebrating its 90th anniversary. A special display in the Medical Library showed the changes and growth of that library, the oldest within the University. The display traced the evolution from the manual to the computerized system of its services from cataloging to circulation. Also on display were some library "antiques"--a card catalog, visiblex, microfiche reader, calculator and typewriter. These contrast with the current Library's MEDLINE CD-ROM service, online catalogs, and World Wide Web stations.

The Libraries have many special features including an internally-developed database with citations to articles and other publications relating to Singapore, another database with examination papers, content pages of selected journals as well as journal titles, and an extensive research collection of materials pertaining to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and ASEAN.

Not only were the collections and services impressive. I was graciously received and welcomed by the Library Directors and Staff and had a wonderful visit and tour.

London 2000

The Congress will be held July 2-5, 2000 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London, located opposite Westminster Abbey and near the Houses of Parliament. Full details will be forthcoming this fall at the various international meetings of EAHIL, AHILA, and PAHO.

Jean-Philippe Accart also promises more news on the Beijing Conference in the next issue of the Newsletter.

As editor, I again invite you to participate in the Newsletter. Please send your news of librarians, libraries or issues and concerns to: