Management of Library Associations Section

2nd meeting of the Executive Committee

19-21 February, 2004 Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Rome, Italy

Minutes

1. Welcome

Chair Christina Stenberg (Swedish Library Association) called the meeting to order and welcomed those present to the 2^nd Standing Committee meeting of the IFLA Management of Library Associations Section. She thanked Andrea Paoli and the Association of Italian Librarians for their outstanding efforts in organizing the meeting.

Maria Cristina Di Marino, the Vice-President of the Association of Italian Libraries (AIB), then welcomed the group to Rome and reaffirmed the association’s commitment to IFLA and their intention to promote awareness and knowledge of the role of IFLA in Italy. She thanked the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Roma and their Director, Mr. Avallone, for providing the venue; the Institution of Comune di Roma and the Colibrì Company for their sponsorship; and the AIB Secretariat for their support.

Executive Committee members present were:

Norma Y. Amenu-Kpodo (Commonwealth Library Association)
Edita Bacic (Croatian Library Assoc.)
Arlene Cohen (Pacific Islands Assoc. of Libraries and Archives, Guam), Secretary
Keith Fiels (American Library Assoc.)
Carla J. Funk (Medical Library Assoc., USA)
Britt-Marie Häggström (DIK Association)
Jennefer Nicholson (Australian Library and Information Assoc.), IFLA Info. Coord.
Alicia Ocaso (Uruguayan Library Assoc.)
Andrea Paoli (Association of Italian Libraries)
Jan-Ewout van der Putten (Netherlands Public Library Assoc.)
Tuula Ruhanen (Finnish Research Library Assoc.)
Sinikka Sipilä (Finnish Library Assoc.)
Sabine Stummeyer (Berufsverband Information Bibliothek e.V.)
Winnie Vitzansky (The Danish Library Assoc.)
Duane Webster (Assoc. of Research Libraries, USA)

Observers present were:

Susan E. Fox (American Association of Law Libraries)
Janice R. LaChance (Special Libraries Association)
Kelly Moore (IFLA Headquarters)
Gabriella Poppi (European Association for Health Information and Libraries)
Dilshod Yusupov (Uzbekistan Library Association)

2. Approval of the Agenda

Jennefer Nicholson asked that we add the MLAS Strategic Plan to Item 7: MLAS Annual Report, as Item 7b. Winnie Vitzansky asked that we include Item 17a: Twinning Proposal, under Item 11: Report from Working Group on National Association Membership Fees meeting, and we move Item 11 after Item 16: Possible MLAS supported Association President’s Discussion Group. She also asked that under Item 10: Report on IFLA Buenos Aires Program, we discuss the proposed parallel conference, The First Social Forum of Information, Documentation and Libraries, planned for Buenos Aires during the same time as the IFLA Conference.

3. Apologies for absence

We received apologies for absence from

Gerard Briand (Association des Bibliothecaries Francais)
Boris Marshak (ELNIT Assoc.)
Jill Martin (CILIP: The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals)
Henriette Seydou (Association Nigérienne des Bibliothécaires de la Lecture Publique)
Gwenda Thomas (Library and Information Assoc. of South Africa).

4. Approval of Minutes from the 1^st MLAS Standing Committee meeting, 1^st session, August 2, 2003 and 2^nd session, August 8, 2003, Berlin, Germany.

The minutes were amended as follows: under Item 1: Welcome, show that Jennefer Nicholson, Tuula Ruhanen, Sinikka Sipilä and Sabine Stummeyer were in attendance at both sessions; under Item 7: Financial Report, on the second line, change the date from June 30, 3003 to June 30, 2003; under Item 11: Reports on Publications, in the last paragraph, second line, change Sabine Stummeyer to Susanne Riedel; and under Item 12b: Report on IFLA 2003 Berlin Programs, in the last paragraph, third line, change Gillian Hallam (USA) to Gillian Hallam (Australia). The minutes were approved as amended.

5. Financial Report

Treasurer Carla Funk distributed a Financial Report indicating a net balance of US $ 7,945.93 as of January 31, 2004, 2003 in an interest bearing account. From January 1, 2003 through January 31, 2004, the account has earned US $ 77.91 in interest. Since the last report on September 30, 2003, US $ 300.00 has been disbursed for Guidelines brochure translations. Also, US $ 788.05 was disbursed in June 2003 for the MLAS reception at the IFLA 2003 Berlin Conference, not previously reported.

In January 2003, the treasurer was notified by IFLA Headquarters that our Section would receive about US $ 393. in administrative funds sometime in the next few months.

6. MLAS Chair Report from the Governing Board

Christina Stenberg reported she attended the one day Governing Board planning meeting on December 3, 2003. At the meeting, they defined their priorities as A) funding for libraries, B) digital divide and access issues and C) illiteracy and computer literacy and aliteracy and D) political understanding, recognition of libraries and their roles. For each of these priorities, associated actions were developed. (IFLA Document GB 03-272, December 2003). She also reported there are efforts to have IFLA play a larger, more proactive role in being a global voice and to develop alliances with other groups, in addition to the traditional professional development role of creating professional standards and guidelines.

The MLAS Standing Committee suggested that at the National Library Association meeting during the IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires Conference, these priorities be addressed

Christina also reported that more nominations are needed for the FAIFE and CLM Committee positions.

7. a. MLAS Annual Report, January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2003

Jennefer Nicholson suggested that we link the MLAS Annual Report to our MLAS Strategic Plan. The group agreed and Christina Stenberg will bring Jennefer’s suggestion to the Governing Board meeting as a model for all sections.

Jennefer Nicholson suggested we look at prioritizing our MLAS Strategic Plan. We also need to compare our priorities to those of the IFLA Governing Board and try to work in concert with them. Winnie Vitzansky, Carla Funk and Jennefer Nicholson will work on a prioritized list of actions and develop a spreadsheet to show the status of our work.

Britt-Marie Haggström suggested that our budget also be linked to the MLAS Strategic Plan. The money can be kept separate, but in the MLAS Financial Report, the expenses can be linked to our goals. Carla Funk offered to do this.

The group decided that in our next MLAS Strategic Plan to change the last sentence of the Mission statement to read: MLAS is the meeting place of all library associations and welcomes the participation of all library associations, both IFLA and non-IFLA members.

8. Information Coordinators Report

a. Special Libraries Association MLAS Listserv status report

The MLAS Listserv continues to grow with 271 members as of January 12, 2004. Arlene Cohen took over the responsibility of Moderator and can update the list, as necessary.

The need for a closed listserv for MLAS Standing Committee members was discussed. At this time, the group decided it was not necessary; but, if one was needed, it could be set up and Jennefer Nicholson offered to do it.

b. IFLANET MLAS WWW site

Susan Fox asked that we obtain statistics on the hits to our IFLA MLAS site and Arlene Cohen will ask IFLA headquarters for this information. Jennefer Nicholson, our Information Coordinator, wants to have a more consistent and professional style to our documents and felt they should all be in text format on the WWW site. She will work with the IFLA webmaster to achieve this.

Sabine Stummeyer suggested that we have a place on our WWW site to put pictures of our MLAS meetings and activities. Sabina and Jennefer will look at the possibilities.

9. Reports on MLAS Publications

1. MLAS Membership brochure

Jennefer Nicholson passed out a draft of the updated brochure. She asked for any comments or changes to the text by February 29, 2004. Alicia Ocaso offered to translate it into Spanish. Once it is translated, she will have the brochure designed and printed by ALIA for the IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires Conference.

2. MLAS Newsletter

Jennefer Nicholson passed out a draft outline of the next MLAS Newsletter and the group made some suggestions for additional items. Jennefer is planning to publish the issue after this Mid-year meeting. She will also put it on our IFLA MLAS WWW site.

3. Status of translations of Guidelines brochures

Jennefer Nicholson is coordinating the translations of all brochures with the translators. Once a style and format is determined, the brochures already on the IFLA MLAS WWW site will need to be reformatted for consistency. Jennefer will work on this and then forward them to the translators for checking. The first priority will be the Spanish translations and Alicia Ocaso will work on them. Alicia felt the translation of the Advocacy brochure might need to be updated and she will work on that one first.

4. Thórdis T. Thórarinsdóttir’s idea of a brochure with recommendations for library associations on presenting, implementing and adapting IFLA Manifestos and other documents.

The group discussed another brochure and decided that the Advocacy brochure really covered this; however, we might want to update it to add some text about the IFLA Manifestos. It was suggested that ideas for implementation of each of the IFLA Manifestos be written and linked to the Manifesto as a separate associated document. Christina Stenberg will take this idea to the next IFLA Governing Board meeting

5. Status of translations of key IFLA documents including the MLAS Strategic Plan, 2003-2005

Jennefer Nicholson will coordinate the translation of the MLAS Strategic Plan 2003-2005 into Spanish, German, French, Russian and possibly Chinese. We then discussed the various IFLA Manifestos and the need for their translation as well. Christina will bring this idea to the IFLA Governing Board meeting.

6. Status of listing of regional association meetings for posting on MLAS Listserv and WWW site

No report as Jill Martin was unable to attend the meeting.

10. Report on IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires program and planned parallel meeting

The MLAS will be allotted one two hour slot for an our Open Session. After some initial planning, the original theme presented to IFLA HQ on Form P was IFLA resolute, and so what? Implementing IFLA policies in national politics. The group discussed the program and all agreed it should be focused on advocacy and the title should be changed. The group then discussed the content of the session.

Alicia Ocaso asked that the group consider Hector Gros Espiell, a noted human rights expert and professor from Uruguay, as a speaker for the session. After some discussion, the group felt that he should actually be considered as a possible plenary speaker during the conference, providing a broader forum for his voice. Christina Stenberg and Alicia will write to Ross Shimmon asking that he be put on the main program. If he cannot be on the main program, we will have him speak at our Open Session. If he is on our program, the group agreed to support his hotel accommodations.

Alicia Ocaso, Winnie Vitzansky, Sinikka Sipilä and Tore Kr. Andersen met at WSIS Conference in Geneva in December 2003 and discussed other program possibilities. It was decided we would have speakers discussing how national library associations have worked in their respective countries to advocate and implement WSIS and IFLA initiatives. We will try to finalize speakers from Finland, Denmark, Malaysia, Thailand and Russia and formulate a new theme. Sinikka will work with Alicia, Winnie and Christina to finalize the program and provide IFLA Headquarters with Form O by March 1, 2004.

Jennefer Nicholson offered to create a MLAS Toolkit consisting of our Guidelines brochures, the MLAS Strategic Plan 2003-2005 and other materials as a handout to the Open Session participants. They will be available in several languages with Spanish being the priority for translation.

The group then discussed the parallel meeting that had been brought to our attention. It appears that The First Social Forum of Information, Documentation and Libraries will be held in Buenos Aires from August 26-28 at the same time as the IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires Conference. Christina and Alicia will speak with the IFLA Governing Board about how to work with the organizers of this parallel meeting. The group agreed that at a minimum, we should pass out our MLAS Toolkits at the parallel meeting, if possible.

Christina also mentioned a meeting being planned for Latin American library associations members the same weekend that the IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires Conference begins. Christina will write to the Chairman of the Latin American Section expressing interest in attending their meeting. Christina will also write to all Latin American library association presidents inviting them to the MLAS meeting. The group then discussed having a meeting outside the IFLA Conference venue for library associations after our first MLAS Standing Committee meeting. Christina will follow up.

11. Report from National Association Membership Fees Working Group meeting

In response to a request from IFLA to the MLAS made at the IFLA 2003 Berlin Conference to address the issue of dues restructuring by forming a National Association Membership Fees Working Group (Fees Working Group), the IFLA MLAS Standing Committee recommended Christina Stenberg, Duane Webster, Jan-Ewout van der Putten, Norma Amenu-Kpodo, Alicia Ocaso and Gwenda Thomas to be members of the group. They were appointed and were joined by Ross Shimmon, Alex Byrne, R. Ramachandran, with Ingrid Parent as Chair and Kelly Moore as Secretary. The Fees Working Group met on December 1-2, 2003 in The Hague and Kelly Moore distributed the minutes of the meeting to the Fees Working Group for discussion.

The Fees Working Group minutes reflected the hope that a draft proposal could come out of this MLAS meeting for consideration by the IFLA Governing Board at their March 2004 meeting, with the possibility that a proposal could be listed on the agenda for Council to be put for voting at the IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires Conference in August. To this end, the MLAS Standing Committee devoted a full day to discussing this significant issue.

During the Fees Working Group meeting, the group decided that no matter which system is finally used, it must be fair, transparent, provide a direct link between IFLA and the associations, encourage more associations to join, and produce approximately the same revenue for IFLA as is currently brought in. Given these assumptions, the Working Group decided to try a model of dues based on an associations expenses and a request was sent to all National Associations to provide a their financial data by January 14, 2004. Kelly reported about 50% of member associations provided information

A proposed list of Band rates for testing purposes was shown in the Fees Working Group minutes. They were based on total operating expenses, in local currency and averaged over 3 years and are shown below:

After looking at the rates shown above and following much discussion, the MLAS unanimously recommends that the Fees Working Group and the IFLA Governing Board further modify the association fee proposal to:

1. Adjust revenue target to provide for incorporation of Core Activities and additional advocacy activities in the IFLA organization and operating budget;

2. Support the Governing Board in their move toward a business model that is less reliant on dues revenues; and

3. Add additional Bands for associations with operating expenses over 100,000 Euros.

There were two other proposal modifications that received varying degrees or support. These were:

4. Provide a lower cost category for associations with budgets between 5,000 and 25,000 Euros; and

5. Provide a no cost affiliate category for legally constituted associations with budgets of 5,000 Euros or less.

The Fees Working Group will be meeting again on March 16, 2004, just before the IFLA Governing Board meeting. At that meeting, they will discuss the MLAS Standing Committee’s recommendations and develop a proposal to present to the IFLA Governing Board.

12. Report on WALA Conference and MLAS guidelines for participation in local and regional conferences

Christina Stenberg attended the conference in Accra Ghana, November 2003 and reported it was very successful. She noted the SCECSAL Conference is planned for June 4-9, 2004 in Uganda. This would be a good opportunity for Henriette Seydou to represent the MLAS, although there are no MLAS funds available. Christina asked that if anyone was able to find some travel funding to support Henriette, please let her know. This continues to be a serious problem and MLAS guidelines for participation in local and regional conferences will be discussed at the next MLAS Standing Committee meeting.

13. Report on World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva, 10-12 December 2003.

Winnie Vitzansky reported on the WSIS and discussed what IFLA had learned about global advocacy while working within the WSIS framework. She presented Kay Raseroka’s proposal dealing with telecenters, a crucial element in the partnership between libraries and the telecommunications sectors. There will be a workshop held in Buenos Aires, but outside the IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires Conference venue to exchange experience and lay the foundation for partnerships between telecentres and libraries.

14. Status report on the MLAS reaction to Creating a Green Light for IFLA paper by Marian Koren.

Winnie Vitzansky reported that the Compass paper is a followup to the Green Light paper. After some discussion, the group agreed that the IFLA Governing Board should develop a Strategic Plan based on the Compass paper. Christina will take our suggestion to the next IFLA Governing Board meeting.

15. Status of New Librarians Discussion Group and MLAS role in supporting them

The MLAS was asked to adopt this new discussion group and we warmly welcome sponsoring them. Andrew Cranfield and Stuart Hamilton are taking a leadership role in establishing the group and their Strategic Plan was distributed. We discussed ways we could support them and Sabine Stummeyer offered to act as liaison. They have a meeting planned for March 2004 with Christina Stenberg and Winnie Vitzansky and Sabine will try to attend this meeting.

They are planning a program for the IFLA 2004 Buenos Aires Conference and they plan to produce a brochure about their group for distribution at the conference. At this time, they need some funding support for this and the group decided some funding could be available from the MLAS. We also discussed having the brochure put into the MLAS Tool Kit planned for distribution at our Open Session, although it would need to be translated.

16. Possibility of an MLAS supported discussion group for President’s of Library Association

This will be addressed through E-mail.

17. MLAS 2005 Mid-year meeting

Jennefer Nicholson passed out a proposal for holding our next Mid-year meeting in Canberra, Australia from Thursday, February 3 through Friday, February 5, 2005. The program is structured to include workshops on library association management on Saturday, February 6, 2005, where representatives of library associations, particularly from the Asia and Oceania regions, would be invited to attend. To this end, she is approaching the Australian government for funding to support attendance from these regions. The MLAS Mid-year meeting would also be just after the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Online Conference in Sydney, allowing MLAS Executive Committee members to attend this conference as well.

18. Announcements

Winnie Vitzansky announced that Finn Vester’s paper "Politicians and Librarians Behind the Same Wheel," presented at the Management of Library Associations & Library Theory and Research - Workshop during the IFLA 2003 Conference in Berlin will be published in the forthcoming issue of the IFLA Journal.

Arlene Cohen announced that the 2^nd edition of the Directory of Libraries and Archives in the Pacific Islands was just published, thanks to a very generous IFLA grant.

19. Adjournment

The Chair expressed her appreciation to the MLAS Standing Committee for their dedication to the MLAS. She thanked all the participants for their thoughtful work in addressing the difficult issues and accomplishing much during this past three days. She also thanked Andrea Paoli and the Association of Italian Libraries (AIB) for all their efforts in graciously hosting our meeting.