Section of Public Libraries

Annual Report 1994-1995

Ms Sissel Nilsen (Baerum Public Library, POB 82, N-1341 Bekkestua, Norway (fax: +(47-67) 539755; e-mail: sisseln@barum.folkebibl.no)) was re-elected Chair of the Section of Public Libraries. Philip G. Gill (13 Stoneleigh Close, Stoneleigh, Coventry CV8 3DE, UK; fax: +(44-1203) 414030)) was elected Secretary, succeeding Peter Borchardt (Germany).

Standing Committee and Section Membership

Standing Committee membership totals 19 from 17 countries, plus 10 corresponding members and observers. Section registration stands at 250. The Standing Committee held a mid-winter meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia on 11-13 February 1995. Ten members attended the meeting and a workshop arranged with Slovak librarians at the University Library. The Committee also visited public libraries in Bratislava, Trnava and Pistany. At the meeting the members made brief presentations on current trends in public libraries in their countries (reported on in the Section Newsletter). The Standing Committee will hold its 1996 mid-winter meeting in Thessaloniki, 28 February-3 March at the invitation of the Greek Library Association. The meeting will be combined with a conference for public librarians.

Projects

Unesco Public Library Manifesto - Promotion

The major project of the Section during 1994 was the revision of the Unesco Public Library Manifesto, which was approved at the Unesco PGI meeting in Paris in November 1994. The next step was its promotion. The Section printed 3000 copies of a well-designed Manifesto brochure in the original English text. This was widely distributed during the Istanbul Conference. IFLA Headquarters has requested the national library associations to translate the Manifesto into their own languages, preferably in cooperation with the National Unesco Commissions, and also asked them to make local and national government aware of the Manifesto and to include the ideas in their relevant plans and strategies. The Manifesto has already been translated in several languages, and this work is continuing. The promotion plan for 1996 is to write letters to National Unesco Commissions and to library schools throughout the world. The Section also plans to make an international poster which could be copied locally.

Guidelines for Public Libraries

The Guidelines were published in 1986 and the Standing Committee has been considering their revision. It was agreed that detailed guidelines were no longer appropriate, and therefore the SC proposed producing an annotated Manifesto linking practical proposals to the principles in the Manifesto. A small Working Group was set up to make the draft.

National Information Policy

A small Working Group (Françoise Danset (France), Peter Klinec (Slovakia), Charles Hanson (USA), and Hellen Niegaard (Denmark)) has been established to carry out a survey in 1996 on national information policies, especially focusing on the status of public libraries and how they are included in the already formulated National Information Policies. The objective is to account for the role of the state and local administration in production of information, the way it is controlled and recorded, the availability of information to library users, and the role of public libraries. The Working Group has suggested that other libraries, not only public libraries, be included in the survey, since research libraries were more often included in National Information Policies.

Unesco Pilot Libraries

The Standing Committee has been trying to arrange for an evaluation of pilot libraries established by Unesco in India, Nigeria and Columbia. It has been difficult to identify anyone to carry out the evaluation in Nigeria. Unless this can be resolved by the next Standing Committee meeting, the project will be dropped.

Publications

Public Library News is issued three times a year. Its editor is the Section Secretary, Philip Gill.

Future Conferences

Copenhagen 1997

A satellite meeting with the theme "Performance Measurement" will be held in Berlin, Germany, 25-28 August 1997, immediately preceding the IFLA Conference in Copenhagen. Planners for this event are Norbert Kamp (Germany) and Peter Borchardt (Germany). The open session will focus on "Public Libraries and Lifelong Learning".

Istanbul Meetings

Open Forum

At the Open Forum of the Division of Libraries Serving the General Public, Tulin Saglamtunc gave a paper on public libraries in Turkey, and Hellen Niegaard (Denmark) gave a brief report on promoting the Unesco Public Library Manifesto.

Open Session

The Section collaborated with the Sections of Libraries for the Blind and Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons and the INTAMEL Round Table in the presentation of a series of papers on the theme, "New Technologies: How Does This Influence the Library Services?" The Standing Committee's contribution to the programme were the papers by Luis Oliveria Machado on the network of public libraries in Portugal; Chris Batt (UK) on the applications of the Internet in public libraries; and Claudia Lux (Germany) who gave a futuristic view of the librarian as Cybrarian and prophesied the development of the virtual library. About 150 persons attended this first part of the session.

Workshop

The Section, in cooperation with the Section on Library Theory and Research, held a workshop on research in public librarianship. The Section arranged for papers on the recently published major study on public libraries in England and Wales, with papers by Bob Usherwood and Phillip Gill presenting the points of view of a researcher and a practitioner respectively.

Papers presented

The Library of the Future: Public Libraries and the Internet
by CHRIS BATT

Abstract:
This paper considers the possible potential for service development offered by the Internet to public libraries. It describes the traditional models of network access and their lack of relevance to public libraries and describes current research being undertaken by public libraries to assess the value of the Internet to their services. Finally, it presents a range of new service paradigms and suggests that public libraries will become even more central to people's lives than they are today.

Vom Bibliothekar zum Cybrarian - die Zukunft des Berufs in der Virtuellen Bibliothek
by CLAUDIA LUX

Abstract:
Are we going into Cyberspace now? The traditional library and our traditional behavior is obsolete. We are changing to an automated library. Some librarians have already created the electronic library and we are talking of the next big step: the Virtual Library. We must prepare ourselves mentally to be able to manage future Virtual Libraries.

Portuguese Public Libraries Network
by LUIS OLIVEIRA MACHADO

Abstract:
The Portuguese Public Libraries Network has the objective of endowing the population with a facility which, while giving them access to information, also provides them with working and leisure spaces. These factors are essential for the cultural and economic development of the communities. These libraries possess a variety of books, periodicals, and audiovisual materials such as compact disks and video cassettes, which are on loan. In general, they are meant to be comfortable, pleasant places where useful information can be found. Cataloguing, as well as loan management and acquisition of documents, will be totally computerized. Libraries will be interconnected through the Public Libraries Network which gives the possibility of access to national and foreign databases. The paper presents the major guidelines of the RILP project, its philosophy and architecture, standard characteristics and logical support, levels for normalization, training and support policy, implementation and financing.

Modern Turkish Public Libraries: Recent Developments
by TULIN SAGLAMTUNC

Abstract:
The paper provides general information on the present situation of public libraries in Turkey. The problems confronted within the filed of public librarianship are discussed. Various attempts undertaken for the development of public libraries in recent years, including the extension of services, are described.

Latest Revision: May 29, 1996