Minutes: Interim Standing Committee Meeting I August 18, 2001, Boston

Reference Work Section

Introductions & attendance: Members of the Standing Committee and Observers introduced themselves. All members of the SC present except for apologies received from Diane Kresh. A total of 37 individuals attended the SC meetings.

Announcements: The SC can have up to 20 members, but the SC needs more geographic balance Various meetings at the IFLA conference were announced.

Annsofie's Report: Some history of the Discussion Group's transformation to a SC was provided. (See "IFLA Discussion Group on Reference Work: a 4-year perspective" elsewhere in the newsletter.) In March the IFLA PB converted the Discussion Group into a Standing Committee and an Interim Standing Committee was established. The Coordinating Board of Division 5 to which the SC belongs approved candidates for the interim with the idea that more individuals could be added during and after the Boston conference.

Election of Interim SC officers for 2001-2003: Annsofie Oscarsson was elected as chair, Marty Kesselman was elected Secretary/Treasurer, and Cathy Wojewodzki as Information Coordinator.

Financial Report: No funds have been given to the SC but 720NLG are available for this year.

Strategic Plan for 2002/2003: The Strategic Plan replaces the Medium Term Program of the past. It consists of 3 parts -- mission, priorities and action plan and should be linked to the IFLA List of Professional Priorities that we reviewed at the meeting. It was decided that Annsofie, Marty and Cathy meet between the two SCs and develop a draft plan. Some brainstorming produced the following list of ideas:

• Develop a listserv for the SC.
• Develop a website that keeps track of late breaking news regarding reference -- "RefWatch."
• Raise awareness and consciousness about reference and marketing reference services effectively. How can we make ourselves more visible? It was noted that we are the "hidden secret" in the library.
• What is professional work in reference work these days?
• State of the art of what reference work is like in various parts of the world.
• Investigate what guidelines exist for reference service.
• Problem of vocabulary -- in some languages there is no word for reference service, sometimes vocabulary can be limiting -- we are the only profession that has the name of the place we work as part of our title.
• Knowing our competition -- survey and evaluation of the numerous web-based services providing reference-like services.
• Need to market the new SC -- develop a brochure.

Boston Conference Matters: Program is Monday. It was noted that IFLA has not included PowerPoint presentations on IFLANET and that we should add these presentations to the Reference Work SC website. Cathy as information coordinator and responsible for the SC website will look into this. [It was later learned that IFLANET has chosen not to mount PowerPoint presentation files.] Also noted were several poster sessions related to reference services and a workshop by the Social Sciences SC covering electronic reference service at MIT.

Glasgow Conference: We agreed on a workshop entitled, "How to Start a Virtual Reference Service in Your Library." Anne Lipow will coordinate the workshop and locate an off-conference site. Several ideas were expressed for topics including those mentioned already during the brainstorming on the strategic plan. Additional ideas: (1) Making Ourselves Visible, (2) Who needs our services and how do we get ourselves out there? and (3) Knowing the Competition.

Interim Standing Committee Meeting II, August 20, 2001, Boston

Boston Open Session: There was an overflow crowd of over 300 persons, which demonstrates great interest in the SC. Need for simultaneous interpretation was noted

MISSION

The Section on Reference Work brings together practitioners, educators, and researchers in the field of library reference service from around the world to exchange ideas, knowledge, and experience. The Section organizes meetings and workshops during the annual conference and in the IFLA regions, fosters the development of international standards and guidelines for service, disseminates current information on reference trends, and sponsors research and pilot projects to promote high-quality state-of-the-art reference service.

PRIORITIES

1. Focus on user-centered reference services.
2. Organization and staffing of reference services
3. Ethics and the provision of high quality service
4. Impact of the digital environment on reference services
5. Reference collections in a digital world
6. Continuing education of reference librarians
7. Provide a forum for information on the nature of reference work in different parts of the world.
8. Marketing/Visibility of library reference services

ACTION PLAN

1. Develop a listserv for the SC.
2. Develop an informational brochure in English (first year) and translate it into French and German (second year).
3. Produce an annual newsletter and work towards producing two newsletters per year.
4. Organize programs/workshops/discussion forums for the Glasgow and Berlin IFLA conferences.
5. Develop and maintain a website for the SC on IFLANET.
6. Investigate the development of a current awareness website for up to date reference developments and trends.
7. Investigate what guidelines exist for electronic reference around the world.
8. Determine which other units within IFLA we might cooperate with on programs and projects.
9. Investigate how the SC might review the state of the art of reference work in countries around the world.

Tasks: Cathy, as Information Officer, will develop the information brochure and website. Once the open session and workshop details are complete, Cathy will also edit the newsletter for the Spring in cooperation with the chair and secretary. Marty will initiate the listserv at Rutgers University.

Workshop for Glasgow: Anne will coordinate and plan for a site in Scotland for the workshop. Topic is "How to Start a Virtual Reference Service in Your Library."

Open Session for Glasgow: Topic decided on is Globalization of Reference Services with the following possible themes:

• Cultural differences and reference.
• Reaching out to multicultural populations
• New roles for reference librarians.

• Cooperation / Collaboration of reference services.

Bodil Wohnert, Andrea Delumeau, and Josje Calff will be responsible for developing the open session.

SC Project Submitted: The SC is submitted a request for a small project to the CB to identify guidelines that exist for electronic reference services. Vera Fullerton will direct the project.

Brainstorming for Berlin: One additional topic involved Libraries and the role of reference librarians in helping to build democracy.