Genealogy and Local History Section

Annual Report 2002-2003

The Genealogy and Local History Section membership has grown to twenty-two associations, institutions and individuals. Our goal of increasing interest and membership in our areas of interest has had a large degree of success.

With the passing of the baton from the interim standing committee to the regular standing committee and the election of officers at the World Library and Information Congress. Berlin, August 1-9, 2003, the section moved to another phase of existence within the structure of IFLA.

Officers elected are:
Chair: Melvin Thatcher
Secretary: Ruth Hedegaard
Treasurer: Janice McFarlane
Information Coordinator: Colette O'Flaherty and
Newsletter editor: Harriet Kasow.

Much of the work in the first half of 2003 was concentrated on establishing a good open session at the Berlin conference.

We had received twelve responses to our call for papers on the theme: "Cooperation among Archives, Libraries and Museums".

After a hard decision the follwing 4 papers were chosen:

1. Benefits of archives, libraries and museums working together
   Archives, bibliothèques et musées : les bénéfices de la coopération
   RUTH HEDEGAARD (Vendsyssel Historical Museum and Archives, Hjoerring, Denmark)
2. Cooperation and Change: Archives, Libraries and Museums in the United States
   Coopération et changements : les centres d'archives, bibliothèques et musées aux États-Unis
   ROBERT MARTIN (The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington DC, USA)
3. If we can do it, so can you. The UK North Yorkshire digitisation project
   Si nous pouvons le faire, vous le pouvez
   ELIZABETH ANNE MELROSE (North Yorkshire Country Library, Northallerton, England)
4. Library innovation is hard work. Lessons from a Norwegian case study
   Le travail d'innovation en bibliothèque n'est pas une chose facile: leçons d'une étude de cas norvégienne
   BOZENA RASMUSSEN (Gjerdrum Public Library, Gjerdrum, Norway) and TORD HØIVIK (Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway)

The value of the section to IFLA was amply demonstrated by the attendance of over one hundred librarians at its open session during the Congress. The theme of the session, "Cooperation among Archives, Libraries, and Museums" proved to be timely and of high interest with a lively question & answer session following the presentations.

Peter Borchardt, a member of the German National Organizing Committee and director of the Centre for Berlin Studies provided a personally very interesting guided tour of the Centre, and its holdings and services for interested participants.

The standing committee has reviewed and revised the strategic plan of the section for the period from 2004-2005. The committee will focus on collecting information about the status of genealogy and local history support in national library associations, holdings and services in national libraries, and guidelines for best practices as steps towards realizing the section's mission to promote genealogy and local history librarianship, collections, and services.

The standing committee is very concerned about the potentially negative impact of data privacy directives and legislation on the freedom of access to genealogy and local history information and the ability of libraries to serve the needs of their patrons in these popular subject areas. Through its GENLOC listserv and in cooperation with entities within and outside of IFLA, the committee seeks to identify the critical issues and to promote the formulation and adoption of responsible positions by library associations, libraries, and other information providers and their government policy makers and legislators in order to ensure that legitimate data privacy needs are addressed without unduly compromising freedom of access to information.

At the Berlin conference the theme for Buenos Aires was decided to be: "Resources for Immigrant History: Their Origins, Lives, and Contributions." We have sent out Call for papers and hope to be able to make a good and prosperous open session in 2004.

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