Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons Section

Chair's Report

LSDP Nominations
Five nominations were received on time and 1 received too late.

Section Membership
We have gained a few new members and are now up to 75! The magic number is 81

Berlin Open Session
Vibeke has done an outstanding job of putting our program on Prison Libraries together.
Form O submitted on time.

World Summit on the Information Society
Sjoerd Koopman asked me to draft a statement for IFLA to submit to WSIS

Professional Committee December 2002

Evaluation of Sections
DOC 02-064
At this point recommendation 1a from DOC 02-064 (Resolutions from CB Division VIII) was discussed. The Professional Committee accepted the essence of resolution 1a and decided to start the evaluation of all sections in December 2007.
Ross Shimmon would write to all sections to explain the PC discussion on this resolution and ask them to think about possibilities, for instance for mergers.

Newsletter Format
Marian Koren introduced Resolution 3. The current policy is that Sections are required to produce a Newsletter both in print and electronically.
The CB recommends to the PC to default to electronic versions and only send paper copies to those who are not able to receive electronic versions.

• Sections can send their newsletters electronically;
• Paper copies will be kept as necessary for archival purposes, 8 paper copies should be sent to IFLA HQ; and
• Sections should continue to send paper copies to those Section members as long as they request that.

PowerPoint Presentations at Conferences
Winston Tabb introduced the document and asked the Professional Committees opinion on not accepting Powerpoint Presentations as papers.

He stated that just the 'slides' could not be acceptable, but asked the PC's opinion slides accompanied by an abstract. He commented that speakers were using Powerpoint more and more.

After some discussion it was decided that 'Presentation of a Paper was preferred, but Powerpoint Presentations could also be accepted but only when they are accompanied by a substantial abstract and references'.

It was also decided that John Day and Sjoerd Koopman would draft Guidelines for Speakers/Presenters, for approval at the March meeting.
These Guidelines would be sent to all Officers and posted on IFLANET.

Duration and number of Standing Committee Meeting
Winston Tabb introduced the item, explaining the history of the protests after a previous decision to shorten the time of the SC meetings.

After some discussion it was decided that the Standing Committees needed 2 SC meetings and that the 2nd one was the most important and needed 2 hours. It would not be a problem to have the meetings spread over different buildings as longs as the Divisions would be grouped together.

Document 02-083 'Future structure of the Conference' was then introduced and this discussed.

• grant sections only 1 programme every other year
• comments against this were that it could create lower attendance figures because some topics are not addressed at a certain year. Sections could then decide to have more Satellite Meetings or organise their own sub-events.
• have the opportunity for sections to 'bid' on extra time slots, which would be allocated based on quality.
• Sections would want to cooperate but don't want to be 'punished' for it in getting less time.
• if cooperation was encouraged then also 4 hours should be allocated to such sessions.

It was agreed that for a trial period of 2 years, starting in 2004, the schedule as proposed in document 083 would be applied to the conference. Winston Tabb and Josche Neven would draft a document outlining the details. Sections could only have 1 session per conference, divisional sessions could still be held.

It was decided that there would no longer be a distinction between Open Sessions and Workshops. There will be 2hr and 4hr sessions. The details of this will be in the document written by Winston Tabb and Josche Neven.

It would be made clear to Sections that having a programme at the conference is not a must. Not having a programme will have no consequences for a Section.

The document written by Winston Tabb and Josche Neven will be available as Guidelines after approval (and amendments) at the March meeting. It will be spread to all officers and handed out at the Officers Training Sessions in August at the conference.

Speakers Fund
It was decided to encourage Sections to use this opportunity now that there is a fund. If it is not used by one Division, then another Division may have the possibility to use it.

Officers Handbook - new edition
A new edition of the Officers Handbook was scheduled to be developed in spring 2003. It was decided that Ia McIlwaine would coordinate the update, with help from Wanda Dole and Marian Koren.

Governing Board December 2002

Conference planning issues
Winston Tabb reported that the discussion had surrounded two main issues: (a) duration and structure, and (b) quality. The Professional Committee was recommending that, as from 2004, the conference would begin on Sunday and finish on Thursday. It would therefore be a shorter and more compact event. It was also recommending that IFLA, through the Professional Committee and the Governing Board, should take greater responsibility for the content of the conference, again with effect from 2004. The Board would decide the plenary session topics and speakers; this reflected the views emerging from the President-elect's brainstorming session at Glasgow. One such slot would be reserved for the host country. The Committee and the Board would also have more input into the content of the programme and the conference theme. The Committee was also recommending that each professional entity would be allocated only one slot in the programme per year, whether it was planning it on its own or in collaboration with other entities. He said that it was intended by these means to ensure an evolution for the conference rather than revolution. In answer to a question from Sissel Nilsen, he confirmed that the content of the opening ceremony would remain the responsibility of the host organisation, in consultation with the Board.
The Board approved the objectives of these recommendations and the detailed proposals would be considered at the next meeting.

Conference Planning Committee

Publications Committee

The IFLANET North American mirror site based at Queens Borough Library in New York was now up and running very satisfactorily.

The Committee had considered whether or not to continue with the policy not to accept PowerPoint presentations instead of full conference papers for mounting on IFLANET. It was agreed that full papers were preferable, but members recognized that increasingly speakers at all conferences were tending to rely on PowerPoint presentations combined with brief speaking notes, in preference to a full text. It had been agreed that PowerPoint presentations would be accepted in future, provided certain conditions were met, including the provision of a full abstract and contact details of the author(s). It was recognized that this decision might well have implications in the longer term for the content of IFLA Journal.