IN THIS DOCUMENT:

Call for Papers - 65th IFLA General Conference

Minutes of the Executive Committee

Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information: Amsterdam, 22-26 August, 1998

To receive the Newsletter

Round Table on on Women's Issues

WOMEN AND LIBRARIANSHIP

No. 13
November/December, 1998

Call For Papers
65th IFLA General Conference

The general conference theme is "Libraries as Gateways to an Enlightened World", with RTWI's subtheme "Women Librarians in the East Asia/Oceania region". If you have knowledge or experience in the subject, please share it with us!

Proposals for papers must follow RTWI's dual objectives concerning the status of women in libraries and dealing with the information needs of and services to women. Proposals, in English, and abstracts of 200 words, also in English, may be sent to the address below by 1 FEBRUARY, 1999. Final papers should not exceed twenty minutes in length when read aloud. Proposals may be sent via airmail or fax to:

Minutes of the Executive Committee

Round Table on Women's Issues
IFLA 1998 - Amsterdam

1st Executive Committee Meeting - Saturday, August 15, 1998 2:00 - 4:00 pm.

Attendance: Lucille Thomas (U.S.), Suzine Har Nicolescu (U.S.), Mary Biblo (U.S.), Herbert Biblo (U.S.), Yoko Taguchi (Japan), Isabel Stirling (U.S.), Guest: Joan R. Challinor (U.S.)

Agenda:

General Introduction.
Adoption of the Minutes from the Copenhagen Meeting of the Executive Committee at IFLA 1997.

Reports:

Report of the Treasurer.
Isabel Stirling handed out the report for the period of September 1997 to August 1998. Yoko Taguchi mentioned additional expenses for the newsletter mailing, and the changes were made to the balance.

Report of the Program Chairs of the Amsterdam conference program:
Suzine gave a partial update of the program.

Report of the Professional & Coordinating Board meetings:
Isabel Stirling gave a report of the Coordinating Program board meeting held on Friday, August 14.

IFLA Exhibition Booth:
Tuesday, 10 am - 11 am. Mary Biblo volunteered to staff the booth. Isabel Stirling had some draft brochures to use until more finalized ones can be developed.

Elections:
Isabel Stirling requested that an election be held for a new Secretary/Treasurer. After a discussion, it was decided to do this at the second Executive Committee (EC) meeting. A second meeting was set for Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm, to be held after the RTWI program.

Future Conference Programs:
A preliminary discussion was begun about the programs to be held in Bangkok and in Jerusalem. Discussion to be continued at the second Executive Committee meeting.

2nd Executive Committee Meeting RTWI - Amsterdam IFLA Conference - August 19, 1998

Attendance:

Marta Terry, Chair,

Beth Stafford,

Yoko Taguchi,

Mary Biblo,

Isabel Stirling.

Guests:

Herb Biblo,

Kay Cassell (U.S.),

Marina Mercado (U.S.?).

Reports:

Marta Terry reported on the communication difficulties within the RTWI during the past year, and the improved avenues now available for the coming year and gave her new mailing address and telephone number. As of now, she does not have access to e-mail or fax, but will let us know when she has them.

Beth Stafford, Newsletter Editor and Information Officer for RTWI, gave a report on the meeting that IFLA had with the Information Officers. She also agreed to serve the remainder of the term as the Secretary/Treasurer. The other members of the Executive Board that were present agreed this to unanimously. (Isabel Stirling asked to step down as Secretary/Treasurer since she will be unable to attend IFLA next year in Bangkok.) It was agreed that the position of Information Officer would be combined with the Secretary/Treasurer position in the future.

Beth said that there is an urgent need to get a new person to handle the newsletter, as the job is too much with her other and additional responsibilities. A volunteer is needed.

Marta Terry led a discussion on the RTWI program that was held Wednesday morning on August 19th prior to the Executive Committee meeting. It was decided to have a combination of a call for papers along with some invitational ones. Marta Terry is the Chair of the program for Bangkok.

She will ask Maenmas Chevalit of Thailand for some suggestions on speakers. Marta suggested a theme that would focus more on information and libraries for women. She suggested a focus on "grass-roots" groups for next year's program. The KnowHow conference which will be held the week following IFLA in Amsterdam will provide more ideas to those on the Executive Committee meeting who were going to be attending (Terry, Stafford, Biblo, Taguchi).

Additional comments about future programs included the possibility of increasing the visibility of RTWI by holding joint meetings with other sections and round tables. Mary suggested one such group might be the Section on Reading for Children/ Young Adults.

Marta suggested that for Bangkok a poster session might be a good thing to hold for RTWI.

Marta discussed the need to develop a pamphlet for RTWI that would reflect the IFLA Medium Term program. She also talked about the need to contact women from more parts of the world, for example the Caribbean and South America.

Marta reported that Leena Siitonen had told her that she had collected papers from earlier RTWI conferences and that perhaps it might be possible to consider a publication of these papers.

Beth talked about IFLA net and the IFLA web pages, and how RTWI can increase its visibility by using these avenues to get information out to people.

9-16-98
Respectfully submitted,
Isabel Stirling
Secretary/Treasurer

N.B. In October it was decided that Isabel Stirling would continue to serve as Secretary/Treasurer until the meeting in Bangkok and that Beth Stafford would continue as Newsletter Editor and Information Officer until then.

Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information:
Amsterdam, 22-26 August, 1998

Approximately three hundred librarians, other women's information specialists, and representatives of local, national, and international government agencies from over eighty countries and territories gathered in Amsterdam in August for a stimulating exchange of knowledge and experience related to women's information. Hosted by the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV) located in Amsterdam, this was only the third conference of its type.

A variety of keynoted speeches, workshops, and presentations focussed on topics ranging from classification systems and collection development to indexing women's information on Internet to new resources on women available on Internet to using women's information in public policy decision-making processes.

The central thrust of the conference was to promote the visibility and accessibility of information on women in all parts of the world in order to further the goals of the Platform for Action that emerged from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Forming alliances with specialists in women's information will assist governments to achieve the goals they set at the Beijing Conference.

A follow-up conference will be held in three or four years. For more information, see:
http://www.iiav.nl/knowhow/index.html

To receive the Newsletter

Women and Librarianship, newsletter of the IFLA Round Table on Women's Issues (RTWI) is published semi-annually. To receive the newsletter or to change address, etc. send your name, address, job type, fax and phone numbers and email address to:

Articles, new items, and comments can be sent to the same address.

Please print clearly.