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

April 1997,
Volume 18, No. 2
ISSN: 1025-5680

Reports From The Chair

Last news from the Beijing Conference

This number will give a very interesting overview of the situation of medical information in China.

IFLA 97 in Copenhagen: a year of change for our Section

The Copenhagen Open Session Program

A joint workshop with EAHIL to celebrate the birthday of the European association

EAHIL and IFLA are linked together and cooperation and collaboration have always been obvious: some members of the Section belong to EAHIL too - Christine Deschamps, Monica Cleland as Secretary and Jean-Philippe Accart as Chair of the Section - and one joint-workshop with EAHIL was organized in 1993, during the IFLA conference in Barcelona.

As 1997 will be the birthday of EAHIL it is a good opportunity to celebrate this event with the venue of a Workshop. The idea was launched by Monique Cleland, past EAHIL President and Secretary of the Section.

The topic of the Workshop

It appears that libraries and documentation are subject to restricted budgets, that technology gives now a large number of various possibilities to obtain documents, to consult data all over the world; that libraries and librarians share experiences without frontiers. What are the implications of such technology in our profession? And particularly in our fields? It is usually supposed that the technology is a considerable advancement professionally speaking. Have we thought to the strictly human point of view?

The proposed workshop will consider both aspects and will be the best opportunity to have a common reflection on this matter.For information contact:

Coordinators:

Alice Norhede

Jean-Philippe Accart

Jean-Philippe Accart
Chair

From the Editor

Articles from three distinctly different journals offer good insights on the topics that interest all librarians today.

The first is entitled "The future of the library profession."
It was written by Virginia Walsh, executive director of the Australian Library and Information Association, and published in the first issue of the 1997 IFLA Journal (23:13-16). She makes this statement:

The evolution of modern information technologies has spawned a new lexicon. Librarians have been called warriors on the information superhighway, cybrarians and navigators in the knowledge economy. While few can legitimately claim such status in cyberspace, all need to aspire to this goal. These new information technologies provide threats and opportunities to the global library community. We must exploit the opportunities or risk our marginalization in this prevailing world.

She includes comments on content regulation, copyright, traditional roles, and libraries in developing countries, concluding with sense of community. Throughout she calls for maintaining a balance in our library activities, reminding us that we must "work towards the common good of all our peoples."

The second is a series of short articles in the March 1997 issue of Scientific American (276: 50-83). This special report, "The Internet: bringing order from chaos," addresses many of the thorniest questions facing users and librarians today.

Clifford Lynch discusses searching on the Net--pointing out that the World Wide Web "was not designed to support the organized publication and retrieval of information, as libraries are." He says the Net is not a digital library but that something much like our traditional library services will be needed if we are to organize what he calls the anarchy" of the Internet.

"Going digital" is described by Michael Lesk who points to the many technical, economic and legal obstacles in building an electronic library. The benefits for libraries, he states, can be enormous. Rare and fragile books can be used by students and scholars around the world when they are on the Web and many can use them simultaneously. Another great boon to libraries facing budget restrictions will be the saving of space. He makes this interesting observation:

Expanding library buildings is increasingly costly. The University of California at Berkeley recently spent $46 million on an underground addition to house 1.5 million books an average cost of $30 per volume. The price of disk storage, in contrast, has fallen to about $2 per 300-page publication and continues to drop.

A major obstacle to digitizing materials is copyright. Until libraries are allowed to share digital copies of works as easily as they do the hard copies, libraries will be unable to digitize much of their collections. Cost factors are an ever present reality and he asks if users from outside the institution should share in the cost of making digital copies available.

Another difficult issue, "Preserving the Internet," is the topic outlined by Brewster Kahle. He discusses the issues of intellectual property, privacy, establishing standard formats, etc. The entire series is thought provoking and well worth reading.

The third is an entire issue of Daedalus with the title "Books, bricks, & bytes." The issue, Fall 1996, celebrates the centennial of the New York Public Library and it offers a range of topics that will greatly interest librarians.

Peter Lyman asks "What is a digital library" followed by James H. Billington who reviews the history of the Library of Congress and the outlines his ideas for the future. He states that the "new electronic superhighways are a public good, merit public support, and must do more than offer entertainment and high-priced information on demand to the well-to-do at home or in the office."

There is a wealth of information here for the issue includes discussion of libraries and publishers, the question of leasing, cataloging, public libraries and a selection of papers on libraries in various countries.

Three of the papers offer insights and challenges to our profession I would urge readers to study all three. Kenneth E. Carpenter writes on librarianship in a searching piece entitled "A library historian looks at librarianship" and asks, why those libraries that are particularly important cultural institutions "are not entrusted to librarians."

Reading on you will find Peter R. Young's "Librarianship: a changing profession" and "The yin and yang of knowing" by Marilyn Gell Mason. Much to read and much more to ponder.

Call for Comments and Ideas

Your ideas can make a difference. Please contact the Chair or the Editor.

Lucretia W. McClure

A Joint Workshop with EAHIL (European Association for Health Information and Libraries), in Copenhagen, on September 4, 1997 !

These images came back to the fore, as I read a brief presentation of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) International Panel set up to assist the Library's in its long range planning activities'.

The vision outlined in the article is echoed in the same issue of the EAHIL Newsletter in the message from EAHIL current president, Elisabeth Husem, at the occasion of the celebration of EAHIL tenth anniversary (2). Both articles envision a wide network of systems, libraries, librarians, health providers, with the sponsoring of educational and information programs, strengthening cooperation", increase [of] communication" and information [exchange]" (1). Such programs can be achieved only through the strengthening of the individual units themselves and through their participation at all levels. To recall the metaphor above, the pearls building at the local level and the snowball rolling through intentional exchange should help achieve the visions outlined.

At a time when the communities of Europe were already struggling to build on the foundations laid down for a unified Europe, a group of medical librarians were working to do their part, in their constituencies, to get ever so closer to the realization of the vision! Pearls building for international snowball rolling! As recalled by Elisabeth Husem, it is in the context of the 1987 IFLA conference in righton, that EAHIL was born. The links between IFLA and EAHIL have thus been strong from the very beginnings of EAHIL. It has seemed fitting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of EAHIL with a workshop in the context, again, of the annual IFLA general conference. It should not come as a surprise, that several EAHIL members have been active in the Section of Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries of IFLA. Indeed, "Think globally, act locally is another saying which can be linked to the vision expressed. It is in part through the activities of IFLA, and more particularly for health sciences librarians, through the IFLA Section of Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries that a truly international dimension can be added to the aims and goals of EAHIL with the [establishment] of bilateral agreements between libraries, library associations, etc. (2) As a concrete illustration of all of this activity, one can find on the Internet, a direct link between EAHIL and IFLA Section of Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries.

1. News from Outside Europe, "NLM Intentional Programs - USA", in NEWSLETTER to European Health Librarians, January 1997, No. 38, p.16.

2. "News from our Association", "Letter from the President - EAHIL", 10 years!, in NEWSLETTER to European Health Librarians, January 1997, No. 38, p.5.

It has been the wish of the workshop organizers to focus strongly on things to come rather than to teach techniques with existent technology, rather than to review the use of current tools recently developed, or even to discuss well established programs. Where are we heading, what technology will supersede existing tools, how are we going to be affected in our working habits, in our understanding of existing information gathering devices? What will be required in regard to our continuing education needs? How can we prepare ourselves for the uncertain technological world in which we are progressing?

Eminent information professionals have been invited to lead the workshop discussion groups, after the presentation of their view and understanding of what is in store for us in the 21st century. The issues which will be discussed represent broad concerns and could be of interest to any librarian and information specialists in any field. The workshop is indeed open to all of those interested in the field of information and communication. Everyone is warmly invited to sign up and register for the workshop which promises to be a highlight of the IFLA Section of Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries program in Copenhagen.