Global Library Statistics

I F LA IFLA JOURNAL Official Journal of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Volume 35 (2009) No. 2, pp. 89–208. ISSN 0340–0352 SAGE Publications CONTENTS Editorial: Focus on IFLA Stephen Parker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 The President’s Page Claudia Lux, President of IFLA, 2007–2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Libraries in Italy: a brief overview Mauro Guerrini with the collaboration of Giovanna Frigimelica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003–2009 Paul Sturges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Global Library Statistics Simon Ellis, Michael Heaney, Pierre Meunier and Roswitha Poll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Diffusion of Professional Norms: the impact of IFLA in South Africa Peter G. Underwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda: an impact study Elisam Magara and Charles Batambuze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Information Literacy in Students Entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium: lessons learned from an evaluation Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Effective Mentoring Shin Freedman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 REPORTS IFLA and Language Diversity Sofia Kapnisi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 International Conference of Asian Special Libraries (ICoASL 2008): Report Sanjay K. Bihani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 NEWS (with separate Table of Contents) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 SOMMAIRES 197 — ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN 198 — RESÚMENES 201 — Pефераты статей 202 . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Notes for Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Visit http://ifl.sagepub.com Free access to tables of contents and abstracts. Site-wide access to the full text for members of subscribing institutions. IFLA Journal Official Journal of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions ISSN 0340-0352 [print] 1745-2651 [online] Published 4 times a year in March, June, October and December Editor: Stephen Parker, Apt. 1C, Edifício Rosa dos Ventos, Rua Rosa Parracho 27, Cascais 2750-778, Portugal. E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Committee David Miller (Chair), Levin Library, Curry College, Milton, MA, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Sanjay Kumar Bihani, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, India. E-mail: [email protected] Galina Kislovskaya, Russian State Children’s Library, Moscow, Russian Federation. Filiberto Felipe Martinez-Arellano, University Center for Library Science Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico. E-mail: [email protected] Ellen Ndeshi Namhila, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia. E-mail: [email protected] Omnia M. Sadek, Library & Information Science Dept, College of Arts & Social Science, Sultan Quaboos University, Muscat - Oman. E-mail: [email protected] Réjean Savard, École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada. E-mail: [email protected] Christobal Pasadas Ureña, Universidad de Granada Biblioteca, Facultad de Psicología, Granada, Spain. E-mail: [email protected] Christine Wellems, Buergerschaftskanzlei, Parlamentarische Informationsdienste, Hamburg, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] Wu Jianzhong, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China. E-mail: [email protected] Stephen Parker (United Kingdom) (Editor, ex officio) Publisher SAGE, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. Copyright © 2009 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. UK: Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, and only as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Acts 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the Publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency (www.cla.co.uk/). US: Authorization to photocopy journal material may be obtained directly from SAGE Publications or through a licence from the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (www.copyright.com/). Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the Publishers at the address below. Annual subscription (4 issues, 2009) Free to IFLA members. Non-members: full rate (includes electronic version) £202/$374. Prices include postage. 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The IFLA Journal is abstracted/indexed in Library and Information Science Abstracts, Multicultural Education Abstracts, PAIS International and Sociological Abstracts. Typeset by Star Compugraphics Private Limited, Delhi, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK EDITORIAL Focus on IFLA Stephen Parker This issue of IFLA Journal is scheduled to appear In June 2009, well before the World Library and Information Congress, to be held this year in Milan, Italy, from 23–27 August. To a greater extent than usual, the issue focuses on various aspects of IFLA and its activities, starting with the President’s Page by IFLA President Claudia Lux, in which she emphasizes that one of the best ways to present new ideas and develop our profession further is through your participation in the IFLA Congress, where many of the active librarians of the world meet every year to discuss new developments. In the second paper, ‘Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003–2009’, Paul Sturges, Chair of the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) programme of IFLA, reviews three types of FAIFE activity– intervention, education and advocacy – from 2003 to 2009. Noting that, while FAIFE is still prepared to intervene in cases of threats to libraries, the predominant activity during the period was an education programme consisting of training of trainers workshops using specially written sets of learning material and dealing with the IFLA/UNESCO Internet Manifesto, Access to HIV/AIDS Information, Libraries and Transparency, and Public Access to Health Information. FAIFE’s advocacy work has centred on the creation of the IFLA Manifesto on Transparency, Good Governance and Freedom from Corruption. Claudia invites those who have the possibility to come to Milan, come up and talk with me about libraries on the agenda and your new ideas for library development. This will be last President’s Page from Claudia Lux, who hands over as President in Milan to Presidentelect Ellen Tise. The main article in this issue is specifically designed to prepare prospective Congress participants for their visit to Italy, and perhaps to compensate those who are unable to attend with a glimpse of what they may be missing. In ‘Libraries in Italy: a brief overview’, Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica continue the now established tradition of providing an introduction to the libraries of the host country for the current year’s Congress. Mauro Guerrini is President of the Italian Library Association (AIB), of which Giovanna Frigimelica is Secretary General. Although their paper begins with the statement that “the Italian library network is complex and difficult to explain”, the authors do an excellent job of describing some of the characteristics of this system, in a well-illustrated paper that covers national, university, special, public, school, and ecclesiastical libraries, providing an overview of the main historical features as well as present-day trends, including professional education, legislation and new library projects. The paper concludes with some proposals for new national services. I F LA A different aspect of IFLA’s work is dealt with in the paper on ‘Global Library Statistics’, by Simon Ellis, Michael Heaney, Pierre Meunier and Roswitha Poll. The paper describes how the IFLA Section on Statistics and Evaluation, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) committee TC 46 SC 8 ‘Quality – statistics and performance evaluation’ have joined forces in order to develop and test a new set of statistics that might be used by libraries worldwide. The final goal is that these statistics should be collected regularly on a national basis, so that there will be reliable and internationally comparable data of library services and library use. The next paper reports the results of a series of interviews and focus group discussions organized by Peter G. Underwood, Professor of Librarianship at the University of Cape Town, which aimed to assess the impact of the work of IFLA, including its role in the development of information literacy programmes, on the profession in South Africa. ‘Diffusion of Professional Norms: the impact of IFLA in South Africa’ is based on the views of South African professionals who had attended the World Library and Information Congress, 73rd IFLA General Conference, held in Durban from 19–23 August 2007. The results indicated that IFLA has a strong role to play in advice, guidance, and the development of standards; that the Congress is an important meeting place, although its influence could be Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 91–92. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105664 91 Editorial greater if it were communicated in more accessible forms; and that, particularly for younger professionals, IFLA can be a daunting organization. One of IFLA’s important activities is its involvement, often in conjunction with other organizations, in the granting of a variety of awards recognizing professional achievement in various fields. One award which is granted exclusively by IFLA is the Guust van Wesemael Literacy Prize, established by the IFLA Executive Board in November 1991 to commemorate the late Guust van Wesemael and his contribution to the promotion of literacy in developing countries. The winner of the Prize in 2007 was the National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU), which used the prize money to fund a study of the impact of the School Library Development Programme (SLDP) of the East African Book Development Association (EABDA) (represented in Uganda by NABOTU) on schools which benefited from the programme in Pallisa District. In ‘The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda: an impact study’, Elisam Magara, Associate Professor, East African School of Library and Information Science, Makerere University, and Charles Batambuze, Executive Secretary of NABOTU, report the results of their study, which established that there had been significant utilization by teachers of skills acquired from training provided under the SLDP. Although schools have made it easier for children to borrow and read books, the absence of purpose-built libraries has limited their abilities to use the library. Information literacy among a different group of students, at a different level of education, is the subject of the next paper. In ‘Information Literacy in Students entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium: lessons learned from an evaluation’, Paul Thirion, head librarian of the Libraries Network of the University of Liege, and Bernard Pochet, head librarian at the University of Gembloux, report the results of a study aiming at objectively describing the initial level of information literacy of students entering a higher education institution in the French Speaking Community of Belgium for the first time. The students’ poor results confirm that organizing an information literacy program is imperative if students are to perform well in their studies. This paper is a revision and translation of a paper originally presented in French during the World Library and Information Congress held in Québec in 2008. The final paper in this issue, which was also presented in Québec, is ‘Effective Mentoring’ by Shin 92 Freedman, Head of Acquisitions and Serials of Whittemore Library at Framingham State College in the USA. The considers the possibilities for fostering mentoring activities among early career librarians, mid-career transitional librarians, and non-professional library workers, focusing on academic librarians in a university setting. The paper describes one librarian’s mentoring activities and describes the author’s own mentoring experiences. It demonstrates how an effective mentor can help the mentee to navigate the maze of professional organizations and committees and also achieve a more global understanding of the platform of ‘libraries without borders’. We return to a consideration of the work of IFLA in the first of two reports in this issue. In ‘IFLA and language diversity’, Sofia Kapnisi, Professional Communication Officer at IFLA HQ, notes that IFLA has always viewed language diversity as a key factor. This is demonstrated by the fact that, having recently added Arabic and Chinese to its five previous official languages – English, French, German, Russian and Spanish – IFLA now has more official languages than UNESCO. IFLA members are entitled to express themselves in these languages at conferences and official meetings and in correspondence to IFLA Headquarters, and all the languages are reflected in translations and simultaneous interpretation during sessions of the annual congress. In fact, the body of translated announcements, corporate documents, reports, mailings, conference papers, etc., printed or published on the IFLA website far exceeds the seven official languages; there were altogether 54 languages represented on the IFLA website at the last count. In the second report, IFLA Journal Editorial Committee member Sanjay K Bihani summarizes the proceedings at the International Conference of Asian Special Libraries (ICoASL 2008), organized by the Asian chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and other organizations, and held in New Delhi, India, from 26–28 November 2008. The principal objective of the meeting was to provide a platform for cooperation among information professionals in Asia with a global perspective. We conclude this issue, as usual, with the News section and the International Calendar, followed by the abstracts of articles in French, German, Russian and Spanish. We still have to investigate the possibilities of adding abstracts in Arabic and Chinese! The President’s Page Claudia Lux, President of IFLA, 2007–2009 Is there any impact of IFLA on a librarians’ daily life? Is there so much to organize, to collect and catalogue, to store and present that there is no time to look at IFLA’s website www.ifla.org for new information or to read IFLA-L (www.ifla.org/II/lists/ ifla-l.htm)? So what? Libraries have many needs, first of all money for acquisition of new books and new media, ebooks and licences. Libraries need more and better space, not only for books, but for their customers and last but not least, growing virtual space. When libraries need more staff, how can IFLA help? When you are reading IFLA Journal you will be informed about some important international library developments from all around the world. Sometimes you find other channels to hear about new ideas. The idea of digitizing library material started years ago and was taken up by national libraries and research libraries all over the world and creating metadata with it for future research. IFLA can support standards of metadata, can distribute best practices in the organization and technology of digitizing processes, and can disseminate proved standards. The development of these international standards and the IFLA UNESCO guidelines on different library topics are important for librarians’ daily work. Let me give you an example, about baby reading in libraries. The idea came from a small town in England and was developed all over the world. Baby reading activities came to Singapore, developed to new standards. Then it was taken back to Europe. The idea, to support parents from the birth of their child by the library and let them become active library users, is very effective. And the use of clinics and doctors to support these activities develops libraries’ outreach. Three weeks ago I was presented with a soft textile book on baby reading by a Malaysian colleague, in which the library functions were well explained and the first baby words had wonderful pictures. So different is our I F LA Claudia Lux, IFLA President 2007–2009 library work in practice; one idea has travelled around the world and has made a new and fresh impact on people’s lives. The daily work of librarians in every small and every big library – your work – is so important. The work we build our association on. And one of the best ways to present new ideas and develop our profession further is through your participation in the IFLA Congress, where many of the active librarians of the world meet every year to discuss new developments. This year the meeting will take place in Milan, Italy, starting from Saturday August 22nd with the meetings of the standing committees of all sections of IFLA. Though the standing committees are elected by IFLA members, all our meetings in IFLA are open for guests. So welcome – if you have the possibility to come to Milan, come up and talk with me about libraries on the agenda and your new ideas for library development. And if you have not the possibility to attend the Congress, why don’t you contribute an article for IFLA Journal, so that everybody else will learn about your ideas and your practices? Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 93. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105665 93 Libraries in Italy: a brief overview Mauro Guerrini with the collaboration of Giovanna Frigimelica Mauro Guerrini Abstract The Italian library network is complex and difficult to explain. This article reports some characteristics of this system, that comprises State, university, special, public, school and ecclesiastical libraries, foundations and privately owned structures. An overview of the main historical features is given, as well as present-day major trends, such as education, legislation, new library projects, etc. Concludes with proposals for new national services. Keywords: libraries; library and information services; library education; librarianship; Italy Introduction1 Giovanna Frigimelica The Italian library network is complex and difficult to explain. Italy does not issue an annual report on the state of its libraries. The Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT – Italian National Institute of Statistics) the official statistical office, does not issue a specific annual report on libraries. The Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AIB – Italian Library Association) started the publication of a Rapporto AIB (AIB Report) only in 2001. The last report was published in 2006;2 the 2007–2008 edition, expected to be published in Spring 2009, is still in progress. This Rapporto is gradually becoming a main source for professional update and a showcase of the Italian library situation for anyone in every part of the world. This publication is the result of skilled contributions from many associates, who monitor events occurring within various professional fields and who are happy to share this information with the entire Italian library community. The extraordinary and, in some ways, entirely unique chance to host the IFLA Congress (Milan, Italy, August 23–27, 2009) is stimulating the Italian professional community to pay great attention to the international context, as strategic decisions taken during international meetings are later transferred into the national context. There is a great amount of literature published on Italian libraries. What is missing, however, is a study that gives a concise outline of the overall problems. We offer here, therefore, some characteristics of the Italian library network, a system that comprises State, university, special, public, school and ecclesiastical libraries, as well as those of foundations and privately owned structures. The Historical Context of Italian Libraries About the Authors: page 116 94 The origins of Italian libraries are quite varied and reflect the condition of the cultural and political fragmentation that always characterized the Italian peninsula up to 1861, the year when the Kingdom of Italy was established under the House of Savoy. The year 1861 marked the beginning of a great united independent State. Full unity was in fact only accomplished on 20 September 1870, with the I F LA Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 94–116. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105666 Libraries in Italy incorporation of the last areas belonging to the Pontifical State and with the celebration of Rome as capital in 1871. In the late Middle Ages, libraries attached to monasteries assumed special importance in Italy, as they did in the rest of Western Europe. Their main function was preservation and in many cases they were associated to scriptoria. Scribes working in scriptoria devoted their time to copying manuscripts, for the most part of patristic and liturgical literature. Among monastic manuscripts, those of Benedictine monasteries stood out due to the wealth of their collections. Chapter libraries, attached to the bishops’ sees, were also of great importance in that period. With the founding and spread of universities, beginning from the 12th century, and especially with the arrival of Humanism, libraries attached to the Palazzo in particular (Palatine libraries), and to the nobility (the ‘Prince’s library’) began collecting and preserving ancient literature and gave birth to a new concept of culture. This concept was based upon religious literature, law scholarship, study and rediscovery of classical authors and contemporary humanist writers, but it allowed also the spreading of recreational literature. By this time, various libraries were founded which belonged to noble families; exemplary is the Biblioteca Malatestiana (Malatestian Library) of Cesena, created according to a model that influenced even the foundation of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Apostolic Library) of Rome and which continued into the following centuries. With the spread of printing with moveable type, book production greatly increased and this resulted in the creation of numerous important libraries promoted by the nobility and the Church. During the 17th century great libraries were opened to the public. Such was the case with the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Ambrosian Library) of Milan. Important libraries were also opened to the public in the 18th century. In the 19th century, with the Unity of Italy, libraries of the pre-unity States were handed over to the Kingdom of Italy and, following the suppression of religious orders in the second half of the 1800s, several ecclesiastical library collections were confiscated by the State. Unfortunately a lot of ecclesiastical collections were scattered, sold to foreign institutes, or ended up in the studies of local dignitaries (lawyers, notaries, physicians, etc.). The Palazzo libraries of the old unitary States, and the libraries of religious orders, often became the bibliographical basis and the structure of State libraries and of the most important libraries of local bodies, for example, the National Library of Rome, previously the library of Figure 1. Biblioteca ‘Antonio Delfini’ – Modena. 95 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica the Order of Jesuits. This ‘rearrangement’ meant that libraries were established with miscellaneous book collections, which originated from different needs: no more bound to the cultural needs of an intellectual elite, new libraries were mainly intended for a wider dissemination of culture and information. In many cases no consideration was given to the lack of education of a vast part of the Italian population, that is, to the literacy of the lower classes and to scientific training in the productive fields of agriculture, crafts and industry, in which there was a widespread state of backwardness. The bibliographical heritage of the newly born Italy was therefore characterized by an important cultural and historical heritage to be safeguarded, but which was actually not very functional as regards the requirements of the contemporary situation. Libraries born out of the confluence of historical and ecclesiastical collections had therefore to be re-modelled based on use and circulation within the relevant community and adapted to the goals of the emerging English public library. From the 1800s to the 1900s During the second half of the 19th century the structure of Italian libraries was based on the Regolamento organico delle biblioteche pubbliche statali (Rules Figure 2. Biblioteca ‘Gambalunga’ – Rimini. 96 of State Public Libraries), known at the time as ‘government libraries’. This had a legal value that covered all types of library, including public libraries. The Regolamento was issued a number of times: in 1876 and in 1885. The founding of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma (Central National Library of Rome) dates to 1876. This was the result of the need to provide the new capital of the Kingdom of Italy with a general library on a large scale that could be comparable to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (Central National Library of Florence). In 1885 the National Library of Rome and the National Library of Florence were both given the title ‘Central’, and made eligible for bibliographical control and legal deposit. They were also given the task of representing all the various branches of Italian culture (humanistic, technical and scientific), and of following the main developments of national cultures. Other ‘National’ libraries that were not ‘Central’, among which were some university libraries, were given the task of representing regional culture. As regards public libraries, a census of 1863 counted 100 of them; about half of these showed as having been founded in the previous century, enlarged mostly by gifts, bequests and confiscations of ecclesiastical property; about 70 libraries Libraries in Italy did not have even as many as 10,000 books. A census of 1893 showed that public libraries had increased fourfold to 419, the most recent of which were formed from the collections of suppressed convents. Administrative law provided that the costs for a public library should be included among the optional expenditures of the local authority. This resulted in a chronic lack of financial resources for public libraries, and in the absence of a development policy for the collections. This in turn prevented the updating of the bibliographical heritage, unsuitable for the needs of a public library, because of the nature (chiefly ancient books) of the works present in the collections. This deficiency was only partly filled by the movement of biblioteche popolari (working class libraries); this, with its strongly pedagogical motivation, and in the absence of any notable and lasting support of a legal or economic nature, promoted the circulation of books in the lower classes of society. The structural development of public authority libraries only began in the 1970s, when the Italian Parliament started to grant to Regions the autonomy which had been foreseen by the Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana (Constitution of Italy). The State transferred to the newly established Regions a series of legal powers; among these was legal responsibility regarding archives and libraries of local bodies or of local interest. Decentralization was experienced by the Italian library community as a chance for innovation and the creation of a widespread model of public libraries. Many librarians and politicians wondered about the role that public libraries should play in modern society and reflected on the need to promote a functional policy in favour of public libraries. Although there were a certain number of difficulties, local decentralization marked a period of intense debate for Italian librarians. It even contributed to marking an evolution in Italian librarianship, that began to overcome its traditional attitude of being bound to scholarship, towards a new concept of library as a service with social, cultural and economic characteristics relevant to a certain territorial and user context. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a marked development in university libraries, thanks to considerable investments – originally in favour of the automation of catalogues and some services to the public and subsequently in favour of digital libraries and the gradual establishment of university library networks. Some Italian universities participated in the early 1980s in the birth, experimentation and establishment of the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN – National Library Service), a great new step for Italian libraries, which for the first time began to experience cooperation, and to think about their role in terms of cooperation and service to the Italian and international public. The 1970s and 1980s were also, and especially, marked by growth in the professionalism of librarians; the figure of the librarian of a public library, in particular, underwent a serious evolution, as did that of the librarian of a university library. They were united by the establishment of a library model based on the management and organizational culture of service to users, on quality, on the measurement and assessment of services. The National Libraries and the General Management for Books, Cultural Institutes and Copyrights Historical and political factors were, then, the reason for State libraries having an Italian distinctiveness. Italy does in fact have eight so-called ‘National’ libraries. The ‘National’ qualification is assigned to two types of university library: to libraries that carried out a national function in the old pre-unity States, drawn into the new Italian unified State in 1861; and to libraries established in the last decades of the 1900s in various cities, mainly in the South of Italy (for example Bari, Potenza, Cosenza) to mark their importance that was not always soundly motivated and not always due to specific functions. Two of these national libraries are also nominated ‘Central’ , to mark their particularly important role as national libraries in a more traditional sense: the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF – Central National Library of Florence) and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II di Roma (BNCR – Victor Emmanuel II Central National Library of Rome). The other six national libraries are: the Biblioteca Nazionale Sagarriga Visconti di Bari (Sagarriga Visconti Volpi National Library of Bari), the Biblioteca Nazionale di Cosenza (National Library of Cosenza), the Biblioteca Nazionale di Potenza (National Library of Potenza) (institutions founded in the 1900s), the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense di Milano (Braidense National Library of Milan), the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III di Napoli (Victor Emmanuel III National Library of Naples), and the Biblioteca 97 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica Figure 3. Biblioteca di Scienze Sociali – Universita’ degli Studi di Firenze. The General Management is currently divided into nine executive offices. These are: 2. Servizio II – Patrimonio bibliografico statale e non statale (Service II – State and non-State bibliographical heritage) 3. Servizio III – Istituti culturali (Service III – Cultural institutes) 4. Servizio IV – Diritto d’Autore e Vigilanza sulla SIAE (Service IV – Copyright and supervision over the Società Italiana Autori ed Editori (SIAE – Italian Society for Authors and Publishers) 5. Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico delle biblioteche italiane e per le informazioni bibliografiche (ICCU – Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and Bibliographic Information)5 6. Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori ed Audiovisivi (Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage)6 7. Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma Vittorio Emanuele II (BNCR – Victor Emmanuel II Central National Library of Rome)7 8. Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF – Central National Library of Florence)8 9 Centro per il Libro e la Lettura (Centre for Books and Reading)9 1. Servizio I – Affari generali, personale e bilancio (Service I – General affairs, personnel and budget) The development and usability of the collections is ensured through: Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN – National Library Service)10; Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana di Venezia (National Library of St. Mark’s of Venice). There are 38 State libraries to be added to the eight National libraries, making a total of 46 libraries that are under the authority of the Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali. (MiBAC – Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities). The 46 libraries work under the Direzione Generale per i Beni Librari, gli Istituti culturali ed il Diritto d’Autore (from now on General Management for Books Heritage, Cultural Institutes and Copyright),3 which is a Department of MiBAC.4 The General Management deals with State public libraries, bibliographical services and national libraries, cultural institutes, promotion of books and reading, copyright and royalties, and conservation and promotion of library collections; it also assists publishers and fosters the diffusion of Italian culture abroad; it supervises cultural institutes such as academies and foundations. 98 Libraries in Italy Digitale Italiana (BDI – Italian Digital Library); the website Internet Culturale (Cultural Internet); and the website in progress Il Pianeta Libro (Planet Book) in the State public libraries. Biblioteca Digitale Italiana (Italian Digital Library)11 The digitization of historical catalogues has been singled out, considering that Italy lacks bibliographical information in digital format relating to historical collections owned by public libraries. Moreover the BDI Committee takes into account that digitization of such information is not only a service but also a preservative activity. The availability of this information would be essential both at national and international levels; it would also be important as a guide to further orientate digitization programmes in the country. On the basis of these ideas, underlined in the feasibility study, two pre-programmes on music resources and serials have been started. Internet culturale (Cultural Internet) Internet culturale (Cultural Internet)12 allows access to the SBN, historical catalogues (with digitized cards of the Italian bibliographic heritage), specialized catalogues and foreign catalogues. It also permits to search and directly display images, texts and other digitized contents belonging to libraries, organizations and institutions. ‘Central’ was added in 1885. Since 1870 it has received by legal deposit a copy of all works published in Italy. The Bibliografia Nazionale Italiana (BNI – Italian National Bibliography) From 1886 to 1957 the BNCF published the Bollettino delle pubblicazioni italiane ricevute per diritto di stampa (Newsletter of Italian Publications received by Legal Deposit) which from 1958 became the Bibliografia nazionale italiana (BNI – Italian National Bibliography). BNCF is responsible for the compilation of the BNI. This initiative begun in 1958 and BNI is today published monthly in four series: monographs, periodicals, doctoral theses, children’s books. BNI is also available for a fee on CD-ROM with quarterly updates and with monthly online updates, or on an exclusively online basis. With law no. 662 of 1996, MiBAC financed Arricchimento dei servizi della Bibliografia Nazionale Italiana (ARSBNI – Enrichment of the Services of the Italian National Bibliography). II Pianeta Libro (Planet Book)13 This is a project to promote the Italian publishing output in Italy and in the world, with the cooperation of Italian publishers. The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF – Central National Library of Florence) The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze traces its origins to the private library of Antonio Magliabechi. This collection contained approximately 30,000 volumes and was bequeathed in 1714, in his will, “to the universal benefit of the city of Florence”. In 1737 it was decided that it should contain a copy of all the works that were printed in Florence and since 1743 those of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1861 the Magliabechiana was joined to the Palatine Library (formed by Ferdinand III of Lorraine and continued by his successor Leopold II) and took the name of National Library. The name Figure 4. Biblioteca comunale – Vobarno (BS). 99 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica BNCF intends to link a bibliographical record to digitized images from the edition in hand and to allow its free access on the Internet. The pages of about 70,000 volumes published in Italy after 1994 can be browsed by BNI number and read on the web: it is foreseen that digitization and optical recognition for full text research will be possible for indexes, title pages, and the preliminaries of the books described in the BNI. There will also be 5,000 digital copies, with a total of about 1,250,000 pages, of volumes missing from the collections of the BNCF in consequence of the 1966 floods. In 2008 title pages and indexes of about 40,000 volumes were already accessible. BNCF is the leader in the creation of records for the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN – National Library Service). The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma (BNCR – Central National Library of Rome) After the unification of Italy and the transfer of the capital from Florence to Rome, Ruggiero Bonghi, Minister for Public Education in the Minghetti Government, wished to establish a national library in the capital. It was decided to use the 16th century Figure 5. Biblioteca Salaborsa – Bologna. 100 palace that the Jesuits had built for the Collegio Romano as its seat. The library, named after Victor Emmanuel II, was opened on 14th March 1876 with book collections mostly coming from libraries of suppressed convents (1873). Its collections were increased, not only through purchases, but also with Italian publications from the obligatory legal deposit of printed material. In 1886 the Library began to publish the Bollettino delle opere moderne straniere (Newsletter of Modern Foreign Works). The Centro Nazionale di Informazioni Bibliografiche (National Centre for Bibliographical Information) was set up in the Library. This promotes and edits the Indice Generale degli Incunaboli (IGI – General Index of Incunabula), published in the series Indici e cataloghi (Indexes and catalogues). The growth of the collections made it necessary to find a new building. The first projects date from 1912; the Castro Pretorio area was eventually chosen in 1958. The new building was opened on 31 January 1975, a century after the library’s foundation. Since 1987 the BNCR has formed part of the SBN; since 1991 it has been doing retrospective cataloguing of its 16th century volumes. Since 1990 the Centro Nazionale per lo Studio del Libraries in Italy Figure 6. Istituzione Biblioteca Classense – Ravenna. Manoscritto (National Centre for the Study of Manuscripts) contains microfilms of all the manuscripts kept in Italian libraries and in other libraries of bodies that wish to participate in this service. At the moment BNCR owns about 6 million bibliographic resources. Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico delle biblioteche italiane e per le informazioni bibliografiche (ICCU – Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and for Bibliographic Information) The Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and Bibliographic Information (ICCU) got its current name in 1975 when it replaced the Centro Nazionale per il Catalogo Unico (National Centre for the Union Catalogue), created in 1951 with the task of cataloguing the national bibliographical heritage. Its aim is to arrive at a union catalogue of all Italian libraries; this is sought through cooperation with different types of library (State, university, local authority, etc.). ICCU looks after the National Library Service (SBN), the network that links the libraries of MiBAC and of other ministries, those of local bodies, universities and other institutes which contribute to the creation of the Italian joint catalogue. Moreover, the Institute promotes and coordinates national censuses of the manuscripts of Italian editions of the 16th century present in the country’s libraries. 101 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica ICCU has another important task: the responsibility for addressing, producing, spreading and adapting to the Italian situation the international standards (for example, those of IFLA) for cataloguing different types of material, from manuscripts to multimedia resources. In brief, the ICCU is responsible for: • promoting and coordinating cataloguing and documentation and overseeing the unification of methods • publishing and overseeing the sale and spread of the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries • corresponding with public and private foreign bibliographical institutes, and with international bodies working in the sector. Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori e Audiovisivi (Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage) The Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori e Audiovisivi (Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage), formerly the Discoteca di Stato, is the main public collection of sound documentation. It guarantees the preservation and enjoyment of a patrimony made up of works published on tape and on magnetic and optical disc, CD-ROM and audio and video DVD. It oversees the steady increase of historical collections and the update of other collections through legal deposit, in cooperation with record companies: from classical to folk music, from jazz to rock, from orally narrated fairytales to historical speeches. The collection is composed of about 200,000 supports, such as wax rolls, discs, tapes, CD-ROM and DVD, plus a collection of tools for sound reproduction and a library. The tape library is composed of recordings, for the most part unpublished, made directly by the Institute or other bodies, for example by universities. Since 1992 a catalogue of the new entries is available online on the SBN network. In 1999 the Museo degli Audiovisivi (MAV – Museum of Audiovisuals), was established within the Discoteca di Stato, “with the task of collecting, preserving and ensuring the public enjoyment of sound, audiovisual and multimedia material that was created with traditional methods or with advanced technology”. Istituto Centrale per il Restauro e la Conservazione del Patrimonio Archivistico e Librario (Central Institute for the Restoration and Preservation of Archives and Books) The Istituto Centrale per il Restauro e la Conservazione del Patrimonio Archivistico e Librario (Central Institute for the Restoration and Preservation of Archives and Books) comes under the MiBAC and evolved from the unification of the Istituto di Patologia del Libro (Central Institute for Book Pathology) with the Centro di fotoriproduzione, legatoria e restauro degli Archivi di Stato (Centre for Photocopying, Binding and Restoration of the State Archives). The Central Institute for Book Pathology, founded in 1938, carries out functions of research and provides guidelines and technical coordination in the field of preservation and restoration of books. It has research laboratories, owns a specialized library and a museum, and promotes the diffusion and development of knowledge on book preservation and restoration through conferences, seminars and congresses. Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN – National Library Service) The Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale was born in the 1980s. SBN is the most widespread network of Italian libraries; it is promoted by MiBAC, Regions and universities. It is coordinated by the ICCU, whose aim is the creation of one union catalogue of Italian libraries (called Indice). Its members include (in 2008) over 3200 State, university, local body, public and private institution libraries, of general or specialist nature and in various fields, gathered into 61 poli (nodes).14 Figure 7. Children’s corner – Biblioteca ‘Antonio Delfini’ – Modena. 102 Member libraries share the same database model and the same bibliographical format (SBN-MARC). Libraries in Italy Above all they share the same idea of cooperation and the same objectives: to provide citizens with a joint national catalogue containing millions of records, and the related services of resource searching, finding and circulation. At the end of the 1970s Angela Vinay, director of ICCU and AIB President, drew up the project for the National Library Service clearly and farsightedly; SBN was to be primarily focussed on three premises: 1. Bibliographical control based on a national book archive and on a national bibliography; this was not to be limited to the mere reception and description of current publishing output, but to work towards the retrospective cataloguing of books published in the past. This would have made it possible to build a more or less exhaustive integrated structure of documentary collections and controlled descriptions of the resources collected. 2. Universal availability of publications based on a national service of interlibrary loan (ILL) and on the support of related international programmes. 3. Professional education of librarians entrusted to innovative academic programmes. The SBN Network The first local poli (nodes) were activated in 1985. These are formed of one or more libraries and linked to the union catalogue, also known as Indice SBN (SBN Index). In 1992, with the start of Indice SBN, the Italian national network was created. Initially, the Indice SBN only held identification (essential) details of the bibliographical records; starting from 1992, it contains a complete bibliographic description. SBN supports standardization and cataloguing simplification; these are considered the basic necessity for the provision of services to users and for the participation of Italy in the world programmes of Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC) and Universal Availability of Publications (UAP). The creation of an integrated union catalogue was not foreseen; in the 1980s coding of cataloguing data was still a goal to be achieved. Angela Vinay writes: Before SBN the majority of [Italian] librarians did not know the national cataloguing rules Figure 8. Istituzione Biblioteca Malatestiana – Cesena. or even, in some cases, use any rules for the description of documents. Cataloguing in SBN coincided therefore, for many, with learning RICA (Regole italiane di catalogazione per autori; Italian Cataloguing Rules for Authors) and ISBD.15 Libraries that form part of SBN are gathered into local nodes; each pole consists of one or more libraries, grouped on a territorial basis, that manage all the services with automated procedures through terminals linked to a server. The network has a stellar architecture that foresees communication between a central network (Indice) and the peripheral poli (nodes). When the user accesses the Indice he can search a bibliographic resource, find it in the SBN libraries that possess it and read its bibliographic record. SBN libraries work independently and at the same time are united in a cooperative system based on a national network. The main functional characteristic that makes this integration possible is shared cataloguing. In SBN a resource is catalogued only by the first library that acquires it. Other libraries take its bibliographic record from the Indice SBN and add the local call number. One of the most important projects in recent years was the copying of the Catalogo Cumulativo 1886– 1957 of the Bollettino delle pubblicazioni italiane ricevute per diritto di stampa dalla Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (CUBI – 1886–1957 Cumulative Catalogue of the Newsletter of the 103 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica Italian Publications received by Legal Deposit by the Central National Library of Florence), into the Indice SBN: CUBI was compiled in 1968 and describes Italian publishing output from 1886 to 1957, for a total of 639,590 entries, arranged first by class and then by name of the author. The copying of the CUBI was carried out by BNCF Indice SBN and involved a retro-conversion of the records into ISBD format and their entry into the Indice. The work begun in June 1998 and was completed in November 2000. The Indice SBN comprises three main databases, which are: 1. Base dati Indice–Libri moderni (Modern Books Data Base). It is the main and the largest database; it is in constant growth. It contains information regarding books published since 1831, and old and modern periodicals. In September 2008 it contained 3,051,966 personal authors and collective bodies, and 9,031,143 titles showing more than 42 million call numbers in SBN member libraries. 2. Base dati Indice–Libri antichi (Antiquarian data base). It contains information on books published Figure 9. Biblioteca comunale – Nembro (BG). 104 from the beginning of printing with moveable type up to and including 1830, the year conventionally adopted at the international level as the demarcation line between early printed and modern material. In September 2008 the database contained information on 665,147 titles and 1,820,235 call numbers. 3. Base dati Indice–Musica (Music data base). It contains information regarding manuscript music, printed music, librettos for music published from the 16th century, and sound recordings of over 500 public and private libraries. It is the main source for the retrospective national bibliography of music. In September 2008, the database included 656,764 items. The databases can be consulted on the Web at http:// opac.sbn.it/opacsbn/opac/iccu/informazioni.jsp. The Anagrafe delle biblioteche italiane (Registry Office of Italian Libraries) is very important. It contains information on Italian libraries and their essential information: address, size of the bibliographic collection, type of collection and services to users. Since September 2008 the libraries covered by the database numbered 16,421. Libraries in Italy Catalogue The OPAC SBN (SBN OPAC) is the public interface of the Indice, the union catalogue of the libraries that participate in the SBN. The OPAC SBN contains: descriptions of the resources acquired by SBN libraries starting from the years around 1990 or from the entry of that individual library into SBN; other documents of the 16th to the 20th centuries; and descriptions of books recovered from paper catalogues dating to before 1990. The database of OPAC SBN is updated weekly. OPAC SBN allows to: • identify the resources in which you are interested • select libraries that have those resources and access the record of the individual library • access local catalogues for additional information on the availability of the resource • access the online loan service or document delivery (ILL SBN) if the library provides such a service • access authority records (Voci di autorità) in the authority file, controlled form of names created to grant univocity and uniformity of access points in the catalogue. At the present time, just a part of the records for persons are recorded and researchable. There exist only authority records for authors and only for a small part of them. EDIT16 – Censimento delle edizioni italiane del XVI secolo (Census of 16th century Italian editions) The EDIT16 database, created within the sphere of the census of 16th century Italian editions project, aims at documenting Italian printed production of the 16th century and of making a survey of the patrimony in the possession of Italian libraries. It contains descriptions of books printed between 1501 and 1600 in Italy, in all languages, and printed abroad in Italian. Approximately 1200 Italian libraries, as well as the Biblioteca Statale della Repubblica di San Marino (State Library of the Republic of San Marino) and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Apostolic Library) participate in EDIT16. EDIT16 also contains information on authors, publishers, uniform titles and printers’ devices (digitized images of the devices are also available). In September Figure 10. Project of the Central Public Library – Turin. 2008 the database contained approximately 62,500 bibliographic records of early printed books, 36,000 of which provide shelf marks in participating libraries; about 25,000 authority records of authors; approximately 5500 records of publishers, typographers and booksellers; and approximately 2200 records of printers’ devices. University Library Networks16 The situation is a rather complex one. Universities of Centre-North Italy have well-organized and efficient library networks. Among these are the Universities of Trent, Milan, Genoa, Pavia, Padua, Bologna, Florence and Siena. Universities of Southern Italy have difficulty in organizing themselves, in spite of some praiseworthy exceptions. This just confirms the historical gap between the different areas of the country, although a certain activism does emerge in the South and in the islands. Only a part of university library networks participate in SBN; among university library networks that do not participate in SBN, Aleph ILS is a popular choice. Other universities still use different software, without participating in any cooperative program. MAI (MetaOPAC Azalai), created in 1999, allows a cumulative query of about 250 Italian (SBN and other networks) library catalogues, offering a partial coverage of university library catalogues. 105 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica A census of Italian university library networks, held in 2007, resulted from the convergence of interests between the Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane (CRUI – Conference of Italian University Rectors) and the Gruppo interuniversitario sul monitoraggio dei sistemi bibliotecari di ateneo (GIM – Interuniversity Group on Monitoring of University Library Networks).17 Investigated universities numbered 74 (73 of whom provided answers), the data being referred to 2006. Formal establishment of library networks appears by now to have been almost completed at national level. In fact only two universities declared that they formalized the existence of the library network in any of their by-laws. from 84,510 in 2002 to 80,614 in 2006. As regards the collections, the GIM estimated about 1,075,000 annual acquisitions and 209,000 active subscriptions to print periodicals for 2006. Total expenditure on bibliographic material for 2006 was EUR 116,448,425. Eighty-three percent of university libraries provide lending and reference services, while 76 percent provide document delivery services. Reorganization of Italian universities in recent years led to a decrease in the number of university libraries from the 1345 estimated for 77 universities in 2002 to 1227 for 73 universities in 2007. The number of service points also declined from 1902 to 1553 in the same period, and this process allowed to reduce costs while offering the same quality. The commitment of Italian universities towards open access became a concrete reality with the signature by 72 of 77 rectors of Italian universities of the Dichiarazione di Messina (Messina Statement)19 in November 2004. The impact of this document on the situation of Italian universities was, however, less than expected, due to the lack of a national policy in support of open access and, above all, of a related “organizational infrastructure at national level that could support coordinated research and study projects inherent The total space assigned to university library services is estimated at 696,000 square metres. The total number of reading places declined slightly Figure 11. Biblioteca ‘San Giorgio’ – Pistoia. 106 National cooperation initiatives for access to electronic resources18 are focussed on the activities connected with dealing with suppliers, while collection, preservation, and document delivery policy issues find it hard to make progress. Libraries in Italy to the reform and diffusion of the scientific communication system, within whose scope funds for supporting repositories could be allocated”20. In spite of this, in 2007–2008 a strategy of selfarchiving showed a gradual and significant step forward in Italy. In July 2008, there were in fact 40 Italian archives indexed in the OpenDOAR, the Directory of Open Access Repositories.21 Public Libraries22 According to statistics compiled by ICCU,23 there are 4918 public libraries, most of which (4797, nearly 98 percent of the total) belong to municipalities. Of the remainder, 55 are owned by Regions, 10 by Provinces, 24 by consortia and associations of corporate bodies and 9 by unions of municipalities. As in the case of university libraries, there is a considerable gap between the various areas of the country: more than half (51 percent) are located in Northern Italy, 20 percent in the Centre and 29 percent in the South (the extent of the imbalance is to be related to the population to be served). Although public libraries of Southern Italy are not always functional, in certain areas of the South they are beginning to be a consolidated reality. Public libraries in medium to large size cities are usually part of a local urban library network that includes a headquarters and branches situated in various areas of the city (for example Trent, Milan). Some Regions de facto impose the creation of local library networks (for example Tuscany Region), usually on a provincial or inter-municipal basis, with a resulting clear improvement in the quality and efficiency of the service to citizens. Public libraries offer a host of services, and bibliographic resources are available for reading on site or for loan. In most cases (58 percent) book collections do not exceed 10,000 volumes. Almost one third (32 percent) of the libraries have collections of 10,000 to 100,000 volumes, while only 3.3 percent exceed that threshold. As regards attendances, the only information available at national level comes from the ISTAT investigation:24 in 2006 11.7 percent of the population of 11 years of age and older (6,100,000 people) state they had been in a library at least once in the 12 months preceding the interview. Of these over half did so exclusively for reasons of study and/or work (51.7 percent), 36.4 percent only for recreational purposes, and 10.5 percent for both purposes. Libraries are used more in the NorthEast (16.1 percent), the North-West follows with 13.5 percent; the Centre is at 11.1 percent. Lesser percentages are found in the South (7.7 percent) and in the Islands (9.4 percent). The Regions with the highest rate of library attendances are Trentino Alto-Adige with 28.8 percent and Valle d’Aosta (27 percent). A far way off we find Emilia Romagna (16.1 percent), Sardinia (14.6 percent), Lombardia (14.5 percent) and Veneto (14.2 percent). The lowest rate is found in Campania (6.2 percent). The ISTAT survey showed that people go to the public library to borrow books (59.1 percent), read and study (44.5 percent), get general or bibliographic information (42.4 percent) and, to a lesser extent, consult catalogues (11.8 percent), borrow newspapers, magazines or other printed material (7.4 percent), and borrow audio-visual material (8.5 percent). A comparison with the data for 2000 shows an increase in the number of users who attend libraries to read/study (from 40.6 percent to 44.5 percent) and to borrow audiovisual material (from 4.2 percent to 8.5 percent), while there is a decrease in the number of users who go to libraries to get information (from 43.8 percent to 42.4 percent). Ecclesiastical Libraries25 Ecclesiastical libraries are an important element of the Italian scene. The Annuario delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche italiane (Yearbook of Italian Ecclesiastical Libraries), published by the Associazione dei Bibliotecari Ecclesiastici Italiani (ABEI – Association of Italian Ecclesiastical Librarians) in 1995, with constant updates published in the Notiziario dell’ABEI (ABEI Bulletin), records the existence of 1469 libraries in a presumed total of at least 5500 existing ecclesiastical institutes. These libraries are of various types: diocesan, chapter, monastic and convent, parochial, seminary, of theological faculties (these are in fact university libraries), of institutes of religious sciences, of ecclesiastical academies, of Catholic associations and ecclesial movements.26 Ecclesiastical bodies often have a complex structure, which is reflected in their libraries. The oldest libraries are the chapter and monastic libraries, that usually possess important and rare documents 107 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica of a liturgical, biblical and canonical nature. Then there are the modern functional libraries of the Roman ecclesiastical universities that have hundreds of thousands of volumes and the most sophisticated computer technology. And then the libraries of religious schools, not to mention the more modest parish libraries, with a limited range of activities. Among libraries of the same type the size of the patrimony can differ greatly. The total bibliographic patrimony of the ecclesiastical libraries amounts to about 30 million volumes and the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) recently launched an online cumulative catalogue, called CEIBIB.27 School Libraries28 School libraries are rather uncommon, especially in compulsory education schools (primary and middle schools). A fair number of Italian high schools (lyceums) have book collections available to teachers and students, but these often come with no catalogues. Moreover, economic resources are few as are study spaces and especially skilled and stable personnel. Many school librarians are teachers who look after the library. Figure 12. Biblioteca ‘Sandro Penna’ – Perugia. 108 In recent years Italy has worked hard to raise school attendance, reaching 93 percent of students registered in high schools;29 the rise in school at-tendance has, however, been accompanied by a still disturbing rate of school dropouts (20 percent), that increase at the university level. Meanwhile, Italian schools are still strongly affected by an ‘imperfect’ autonomy, inasmuch as they are still lacking in dynamism and creativity; they are also suffering from the effects of financial cuts at the central level and from the uncertainty that weighs on the entire system. All this translates into a whole series of organizational and management problems coming at a high cost to teaching and the quality of the education. The institutional answer to the problem continues to be that of using teachers who are no longer suitable for teaching due to serious health reasons, but suitable for other functions and tasks, among which are libraries (as well as in the school secretariat, in the branch offices of the Ministry, in laboratories, etc.) In 2007, the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Ministry for Public Education) initiated the project ‘Amico libro’ (‘Book Friend’)30 with the aim Libraries in Italy of spreading good practices in promoting reading; eligible schools were rewarded with a oneoff sum of EUR 1000 for purchasing new books. Almost half (4214) of all schools answered the announcement of the project, of which twothirds (2751) were primary and secondary schools, among which were Istituti comprensivi (institutes that include many levels of teaching), elementary schools and kindergartens. Participation was considerably imbalanced in favour of the North and the Centre: this highlights a disturbing gap, due to the fact that even new means of communication see the centre-north schools more ready to grasp opportunities and incentives offered to schools. For example, only the northern Province of Bolzano has regulated the field of school libraries with the provincial law of 7th August 1990, no. 17.31 Other Libraries Many foreign universities, especially those of the United States, have a library in Italy, especially in Florence and Rome. Moreover, the library of the European University Institute, specializing in social and juridical subjects, is located in Fiesole (Florence). Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Apostolic Library) The origins of the library, located in the Vatican City, date to the early centuries of the papacy. The current library took shape with the humanist Pope Nicholas V (1447–1455), who organized a large collection of codices, the first nucleus of the Vatican Library. Pope Sixtus IV gave it juridical form through the bull Ad decorem militantis ecclesiae (15th July 1475). The library has acquired numerous manuscript and book collections: the library of Fulvio Orsini (1657), the library of Queen Christina of Sweden (1690), and the private libraries of numerous pontiffs. The Vatican Library specializes in humanities (history, history of art, classic literature, philology); it has volumes in many languages and in various alphabets. The patrimony consists of: 1,600,000 ancient and modern printed volumes; 8,300 incunabula (of which 65 are on parchment); 150,000 manuscript codices and archival papers; 300,000 coins and medals and about 20,000 art objects. Access is granted only to university teachers and scholars. Documents cannot be borrowed. The catalogue of the modern printed volumes Figure 13. Biblioteca ‘Tiraboschi’ – Bergamo. is online since 1985, and includes over 800,000 records. Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Ambrosian Library) The Biblioteca Ambrosiana, located in Milan, was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo in 1609, and is one of the first public libraries of Europe. It was conceived by its founder as a study centre: he in fact desired that the library should be near to other cultural institutions, such as the Collegio dei Dottori, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery. The cardinal collected many Greek, Latin and vulgar codices for his library and also codices in various oriental languages. Among these are the precious collections from such religious institutions as the Benedictine monastery of Bobbio, the Agostinian convent of Santa Maria Incoronata and the library of the Metropolitan Chapter of Milan; there are also volumes from important private collections. There is also an Arab and Oriental collection of great importance and the Codice Atlantico (Atlantic Code) of Leonardo of Vinci. Biblioteca Sala Borsa (Sala Borsa Library) The Sala Borsa Library, inaugurated in Bologna in December 2001, opens a rich and fascinating cultural and multimedia space inside Palazzo d'Accursio, the old historical seat of the municipality that faces onto Piazza Maggiore, centre and heart of Bologna. With a collection of 260,000 resources, it is one of the largest Italian public 109 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica libraries as regards to contemporary bibliographic resources. Since its opening it has lent over 5 million resources thanks to its 60,000 active users.32 This library was the only Italian library highlighted among 100 new library buildings of 39 countries, through photographs and detailed descriptions, in New Library Buildings of the World (2nd ed.), published for IFLA by Shanghai Scientific & Technological Literature. Two Projects for New Libraries Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura (BEIC – European Library of Information and Culture) The ‘Milano Biblioteca del 2000’ Association was founded in 1997 with the aim of promoting the creation of a European Library of Information and Culture, with its seat in Milan, occupying an area of 20,000 square metres. The international competition for its design, announced by the Municipality of Milan in 2001, was completed on 9th November 2001. The competition was won by the architect Peter Wilson of Münster, Germany. The final project was handed over on 18th April 2006 and the executive plan was consigned on 4th March 2008. Currently, the project ran aground for lack of funds. Biblioteca civica centrale di Torino (Central Public Library of Turin) In March 2001, an international jury chose the project of architect Mario Bellini for the Cultural Centre of Turin, including the new Central Public Library and the headquarters of the foreign cultural institutes, along with a restaurant and several other commercial services. The new Central Public Library (19,000 square metres) will take the form of a large multimedia centre. It will be able to house around one million resources (including around 300,000 in open access areas) and will be totally wired up to be able to offer the public the instruments and resources of new technologies. It will be equipped with seats for 1,500 people, individual study stations and rooms for group activities. Legislation33 Legal Deposit The new law on legal deposit (law no. 106 of 15th April 2004) replaces the law of 1939 and subsequent amendments of 1945. On 3rd May 2006 the D.P.R. (Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica – President of the Italian Republic Decree) no. 252 was issued: ‘Regolamento recante norme in materia di deposito legale dei documenti di interesse culturale destinati all’uso pubblico’ (‘Regulations on the Norms Regarding the Legal Deposit of Documents of Cultural Interest Destined for Public Use’), in force from 2nd September 2006. AIB contributed useful suggestions and proposals for the necessary amendments to the 1939 regulations. However, the law of 2004 did not really deal with today’s problems of legal deposit; the context has indeed quite changed from that of 1939. Law 106/2004 therefore presents both positive and negative aspects. The positive aspects are: Figure 14. Rome, Florence and Venice, 1929: first conference of the International Federation of Library Associations. 110 • clear identification of the goals which should be achieved with legal deposit • statement of the need for two levels of archive: national and regional Libraries in Italy • transfer of the documents from the printer (simple executants) to the publisher (responsible for the work) • full list of the different types of documents to be deposited for the formation of the archive, including also digital-born resources and web distributed resources. The inclusion of electronic resources, in agreement with the latest IFLA/UNESCO guidelines of 200034 still has a taste of avant-garde; few laws of European countries include web distributed resources at present, because of the obvious difficulties of preservation, description and control of them. At the moment, however, a real digital repository does not yet exist. The new legal deposit regulations are important because they increase the coverage of the national publishing output, especially as regards so-called lesser publishing and as regards the extension of the deposit requirement to graphics and electronic resources, excluded until now from the legal deposit, and for the positive effects on the national bibliographical services as a whole. Each Italian Region has seen to the identification of the libraries and other cultural institutes that should receive regional publishing output.35 Criteria for choosing depository libraries therefore vary from Region to Region. Copyright A process for reorganizing laws regarding intellectual property and copyright started in 2002. Its aim was to adapt and bring Italian legislation into line with the general principles of the European Union. The work of revising the text of the law in force (633/1941) on copyright has been intensified in recent years, thanks to a specially formed Commission within the MiBAC Permanent Consultative Committee36 (ex art. 190 of l. 633/1941). In 2005 the Commission in office at the time tried to prepare a systematic reform project that was innovative in its form and content, but without success. It did however produce a draft that was judged negatively by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers then in office. The aim of the Commission in office for the three-year period 2007–2009 was to promote a serious discussion in order to arrive at transparent and shared solutions. Representatives of the AIB contributed to the drawing up of the proposals of the Working Group ‘Libere utilizzazioni’ (Free Uses); these proposals, together with those of other working groups were first inserted in wiki and then in the final document ‘Proposte per una riforma del diritto d’autore – Proposals for a Reform of Copyright’37 delivered to MiBAC in December 2007. A correct application of the laws in force on copyright for libraries means limiting the activities of users, such as the reduction to 15 percent of the contents that can be photocopied and the prohibition to reproduce and lend printed music. Italy, like several other European countries, was convicted by the European Commission for not having applied the European Commission directive 92/100/CE on public reading libraries (the law required to charge a fee for loans made in public libraries). Following the sentence, the Italian government amended the national regulation in force, introducing the principle of remuneration of publishers for loans in State and local body libraries and establishing a national fund of EUR 3 million. The fund is financed 80 percent by the State and 20 percent by Regions. The main reform proposals made by the AIB, and shared with the other associations participating in the ‘Free uses’ Working Group. are: • lawfulness of reproductions in order to aid the preservation of the works in library collections • making available the backup copy in the place of the original • gratuitousness of reading of works or playing of pieces of works of any type, carried out for cultural advertising in public libraries or in similar cultural institutes, after communication to owners of copyright • legality of reproduction of indexes, summaries, abstracts, covers, etc. in OPACs • communication to the public of orphan works or of those no longer on sale • reproduction by libraries and communication to the public in favour of users with physical disabilities • increase of the percentage of pages that can be reproduced for personal-only use • lawfulness of electronic document delivery for personal-only use. 111 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica Professional Education and the Library Profession38 In Italy, as elsewhere, higher education is considered the basic path for the education of librarians. The Italian university system currently includes 80 universities associated with the CRUI. Many universities offer graduate courses in cultural heritage studies and some a postgraduate degree in archival science and librarianship. Other universities offer annual master’s courses; the University of Florence, for example, has a 2-year master’s course. Since 1997, the University of Udine, in consortium with other Italian universities and, since 2007, the Università La Sapienza of Rome, offers a PhD program in bibliography, librarianship and archival science. The Scuola Superiore per archivisti e bibliotecari (SSAB – Special School for Archivists and Librarians) of La Sapienza , once the only Italian postgraduate course in the field, now completely restructured, offers a very varied series of studies. Updated information on education opportunities in this field can be found through the AIB-WEB Formazione professionale (Professional formation) list.39 The profession of librarian does not have juridical recognition in Italy, nor does it have a precisely defined educational curriculum. Every individual administration adopts different criteria for hiring new staff. In this difficult context, Italian librarians and AIB have tried to contact labor unions and bodies that own libraries to define professional profiles. Professional Associations Associazione italiana biblioteche (AIB – Italian Library Association) The Italian Library Association (AIB) is the professional association of Italian librarians. It was founded in 1930, with the name of Association of Italian Librarians, and it took its current name in 1933. It has about 4000 members, mainly librarians, but membership is also open to libraries and to persons or bodies interested in the field (students, international libraries, private companies, etc.). Corporate bodies (local and otherwise) form approximately 10 percent of the members. The Association has among its objectives the promotion of the organization and development of libraries in Italy; AIB works through commissions 112 and study groups and through the organization of congresses and conferences. The institutional structure of AIB is divided into a Comitato Esecutivo Nazionale (CEN – National Executive Committee) composed of seven members; CEN is flanked by the College of Arbitrators and the Union College, and Comitati Esecutivi Regionali (CER – Regional Executive Committees), these too with seven members each, all elected every 3 years. Regional sections have financial and political autonomy. They draw up activity programmes on the basis of the ‘Programmatic lines’ expressed by the CEN. The Consiglio nazionale dei presidenti regionali (CNPR – National Council of Regional Presidents), presided over by the President of AIB, has a fundamental role in the coordination of regional activities and supports the CEN in its decisions. As the representative association of the professional community, AIB manages and maintains the Italian roll of librarians. Registration in the Roll on the one hand certifies the professional skill of its members and on the other offers users a certification of their actual skills. It publishes two periodicals: Bollettino AIB (AIB Bulletin): a 4-monthly bulletin; it deals with librarianship issues with special attention to the international sphere and to innovations in the field. AIB notizie (AIB news): this is the association’s newsletter, dedicated to news, information on the association and its activities, subjects of interest that emerged from online discussion lists, etc. AIB organizes a National Congress every year. In 2008 it had arrived at its 55th edition. The annual national congress also hosts Bibliocom, a fair of products and services for libraries. The AIB official website, AIB-WEB (http://www. aib.it) provides institutional information and documents on the activity of the Association, and also news on libraries and library professions. Among the major services are the Repertorio degli OPAC italiani (Index of Italian OPACs), on whose basis MAI was created; and Segnaweb, an index of websites selected by Italian librarians, useful for the information services of public libraries, but also directly for citizens. Libraries in Italy Associazione dei bibliotecari ecclesiastici italiani (ABEI – Association of Italian Ecclesiastical Librarians) The Association of Italian Ecclesiastical Librarians (ABEI), gathers together librarians of Italian ecclesiastical libraries. It promotes librarianship studies, publishes Bollettino ABEI, a 4-monthly bulletin, and promotes professional courses. It also sponsors ACOLIT. Autori cattolici e opere liturgiche. Una lista d’autorità (Catholic Authors and Liturgical Works. An Authority List) three volumes of which have already been published. The first volume is entitled Bible, Catholic Church, Roman Curia, the Pontifical State, the Vatican, Popes and Anti-Popes (1998); the second is Religious Orders (2000); the third, Liturgical Works (2004); the fourth, in course of preparation, is dedicated to the Fathers of the Church and will come out presumably at the beginning of 2010. Vendors Mention should be made of the presence of important vendors of bibliographic resources and services that contribute to spreading Italian books in the world: among these are Casalini Libri, with headquarters in Fiesole (Florence) and Licosa, with headquarters in Florence. A Current Overview of Italian Libraries The current situation of Italian libraries probably reflects the more general problems and characteristics of our society: almost half of the libraries are located in the North; the remainder are located between the Centre and the South; there are no complete statistics regarding public libraries Figure 15. Rome, 14–18 September 1964: AIB hosted the 30th Session of the IFLA Council. 113 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica and surveys highlight a lack of homogeneity in geographic distribution and in the quality of services. All the information and indicators worsen gradually as we go from the North to the South of Italy; about half of the libraries possess less than 5,000 resources, a quantity that is insufficient for assuring even a basic access to culture. Lack of homogeneity of services and weak structures characterize Italian libraries, in spite of the undoubted points of excellence, especially within public and university libraries. In this problematic condition of deficiency, a sort of parallel and private national Italian bibliography has even emerged – I Libri – created by Casalini Libri. I Libri has been most successful – so much so that several library management softwares have implemented an import function for it. National Services National services carry out an irreplaceable function even if currently lacking and inadequate, but they need to make radical changes. What proposals can be put forward? National Library of Italy and Italian National Bibliography The establishment of a single National Library of Italy is to be desired. This would encompass at least the current BNCF, BNCR, ICCU, the Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori e Audiovisivi and the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro e la Conservazione del Patrimonio Archivistico e Librario. This Library would be guaranteed autonomy from a scientific, financial and administrative point of view. The State should concentrate its resources on the infrastructural services that are required for a National Library of Italy and for an Italian National Bibliography. Bibliographic control should be timely, distributed (but with a central agency that coordinates the bibliographical process), using skilled personnel. A first step in this direction is the upcoming creation of a single SBN node that will encompass BNCF and BNCR. Creation of Retrospective Databases Structural and coordinated interventions are needed so that a full (from the first book printed in Subiaco to the latest novel published in Milan) 114 catalogue of Italian bibliographic production is available. What is required is a National Retrospective Bibliography to ensure bibliographic control of Italian publishing output of the past. A network needs to be created to preserve and make available the national cultural production in the various fields of knowledge, with a programme for completing the retrospective part that is now in existence; this programme should be realized through an efficient and coordinated system of legal deposit and through collaboration with universities, research centres and academic publishers. So as to include electronic resources, institutional repositories could be established under the National Library of Italy. Current legislation on legal deposit (l.106 of 2004) offers contradictory elements such as uncertainty of funding and omits crucial themes regarding digitization. Drafting and Dissemination of Norms and Standards Individual libraries and individual areas of cooperation should concentrate on cultural projects and services, not bibliographic, descriptive, or semantic norms and guidelines. This task should be accomplished by the National Library of Italy, which should provide librarians with updated, controlled and trustworthy working tools. Management of a National Authority File An authority file of Italian authors and of anonymous Italian works (concepts that certainly are not easy to define) has been created by ICCU, but is still at an early stage. The authority file should be based on a real integration of the various specialized libraries and on the cooperation of publishers (as happens for example in Great Britain). This work is basic and essential for the preservation and development of our culture. Final Comments The complex situation of Italian libraries and the variety of bodies that manage them would require the establishment of a framework transversal to libraries of various types, possibly under the protection of a professional agency, in cooperation with university research structures. Italian libraries, like the entire cultural field, receive funding that is often inadequate to the service mission and to their information and cultural function. Libraries in Italy Moreover, the gap between the North and South of the country remains unresolved as regards the quality of sites and services. In the last 20 years, however (and notwithstanding frequent negligence and confusion), numerous bodies (MiBAC, universities, municipalities, provinces, dioceses, etc.) have invested in the functional restructuring of historical libraries (for example, the Municipal Library of Trent, the Classense Library of Ravenna), in the inauguration of modern libraries that respect the quality standards established by IFLA (for example, the National Library of Bari, the Biblioteca Sala Borsa of Bologna, the Library of the University of Bolzano, numerous libraries of the University of Venice, the Biblioteca di Scienze Sociali of the University of Florence, the Biblioteca San Giorgio of Pistoia) and in the presentation of projects for new libraries (for example the University Library of Genoa). Again in the last 20 years there has been a considerable professional growth in Italian librarians, who, in many cases, have attained a commendable level of quality, due to the spread of librarianship in Italian universities, the introduction of professional courses by AIB, Regions and private agencies, the spread of periodicals specializing in LIS and the participation of an increasing number of Italian librarians in the international scientific and professional debate. Notes and References 1. Some parts of the text are taken from the AIB Report 2005–2006 and AIB Report 2007–2008. A note indicates the author and the original title as they appear in the Report. I would like to thank Enrica Vadalà and Giuliano Genetasio for their help in editing the text. Thanks to Roberto Ventura and Carlo Bianchini for the cooperation. 2. Associazione Italiana Biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2005–2006, edito da Vittorio Ponzani; direzione scientifica di Giovanni Solimine, Roma, AIB, 2006. Information on annual reports is available at http://www.aib.it/aib/editoria/rbib/ rbib.htm 3. http://www.librari.beniculturali.it/genera.jsp 4. http://www.beniculturali.it/ 5. http://www.iccu.sbn.it/ 6. http://www.dds.it/ 7. http://www.bncrm.librari.beniculturali.it/ 8. http://www.bncf.firenze.sbn.it/ 9. http://www.ilpianetalibro.it/generaNews.jsp?id=96 10. http://www.iccu.sbn.it/genera.jsp?s=5&l=it 11. http://www.iccu.sbn.it/genera.jsp?s=18&l=it 12. http://www.internetculturale.it/ 13. http://www.ilpianetalibro.it/ 14. http://www.iccu.sbn.it/moduli/poli/poli.jsp?s=5 15. La cooperazione. Il servizio bibliotecario nazionale. Atti del 30° Congresso nazionale della Associazione Italiana Biblioteche. Messina, Università di Messina, 1986. p. 241. 16. Text prepared by Gabriele Mazzitelli and Serena Spinelli. I sistemi bibliotecari di ateneo: la nuova indagine GIM. In: Associazione italiana biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2007–2008, a cura di Vittorio Ponzani, Roma, AIB, 2009. 17. http://gim.cab.unipd.it/ 18. The activity of CARE (the group for Coordinating Access to Electronic Resources), formed within the sphere of the agreement between the CRUI and the consortiums and purchasing groups operating in Italy, among these CIPE, Ciber, Caspur e Cilea should be noted, http://www.crui-care.it/ 19. http://www.aepic.it/conf/viewappendix.php?id= 49&ap=1&cf=1 20. Maria Cassella. Il ruolo del bibliotecario nei depositi istituzionali. Biblioteche oggi, vol. 25(5) (2007) 3–14. 21. http://www.opendoar.org/countrylist.php?cContine nt=Europe#Italy 22. Text prepared by Stefano Parise. Sull’identità della biblioteca pubblica: una discussione. In: Associazione italiana biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2007–2008, op. cit. 23. The data are taken from the registry of Italian libraries managed by the Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and for Bibliographic information (ICCU) of MiBAC, http://anagrafe.iccu.sbn. it/index.html. Consultation carried out on January 21, 2009. 24. http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/non_ calendario/20070510_00/ 25. Text prepared by Fausto Ruggeri. Biblioteche ecclesiastiche. In: Associazione italiana biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2005–2006, cit., p. 92–93. 26. The inventory can be consulted on the ABEI website; the libraries censored are 55,599. http://www.abei. it/index.php?file=ecclesiastiche.php&sezione=Bibli oteche%20Ecclesiastiche&menu=Repertorio%20ge nerale%20-%20Dbase 27. http://www.ceibib.it/ 28. Text prepared by Luisa Marquardt. La biblioteca nella scuola. In: Associazione italiana biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2007–2008, op. cit. 29. Source: Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione 2006. 30. http://www.pubblica.istruzione.it/eventiprogetti/ amico_libro.shtml 31. Cfr. http://www.provincia.bz.it/intendenza-scolastica/ Ordinamento/pagine/19.htm 32. Information updated to 31st December 2007, http:// www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/documenti/8019 33. Text prepared by Anna Maria Mandillo, Legislazione. In: Associazione italiana biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2005–2006, Rome: AIB, 2006, p. 19–22; Luca Bellingeri, Rosa Maiello, et al. Normativa e politica bibliotecaria. In: Associazione italiana biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2007–2008, op. cit. 34. Internet Manifesto. http://www.ifla.org/III/misc/ internetmanif.htm 115 Mauro Guerrini and Giovanna Frigimelica 35. For an analysis of the law see Paola Puglisi, Deposito legale, la bicicletta nuova. Bollettino AIB, vol. 47(1/2) (2007) 11–41, available also at the URL: http://www. aib.it/aib/boll/2007/0701011.htm 36. Cfr. The entry in Wikipedia: Permanent Consultative Committee for, par. 7: Special commissions, work groups and the limited commission, http://it.wikipedia. org/wiki/Comitato_consultivo_ permanente_per_il_ diritto_d’autore 37. http://www.spettacolo.beniculturali.it/dipart/autore/ moduli/Proposte%20per%20una%20riforma%20del %20diritto%20d’autore.pdf 38. Text prepared by Claudio Gamba and Piera Colarusso. Il riconoscimento della professione di bibliotecario. In: Associazione italiana biblioteche. Rapporto sulle biblioteche italiane 2007–2008, op. cit. 39. http://www.aib.it/aib/form/form.htm3 About the Authors Mauro Guerrini is Professor of Library Science at the University of Florence, Department for the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and Dean of the Master in Archivist, Library Science and Cataloging. He has been President of the Italian Library Association (AIB) since 2005, a Professor at the University of Udine from 1992 to 1999, and at the School for Archivists and Librarians of the University of Rome La Sapienza from 1999 to 2001; he has also taught at the universities of Pisa and Pavia and on many professional courses. Prior to assuming academic positions he was librarian at the public libraries of San Marcello Pistoiese (Pistoia) (1980) and Montecatini Terme (Pistoia) (1980–1981) and, successively, Director of the Library and Museum Leonardiano in Vinci (Florence) from 1981 to 1992. A graduate in Italian Literature from the University of Rome La Sapienza, Professor Guerrini obtained the Diploma of Librarian and the Diploma in the Conservation of Manuscripts at the School for Archivists and Librarians (University of Rome La Sapienza) and later the archivist certificate at the Sovrintendenza Archivistica in Florence. He is Editor 116 of ACOLIT (Catholic Authors and Liturgical Works) and author of many publications; he is also a member of the editorial boards of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly and other journals. He has been a member of AIB (Italian Library Association) since 1979, ABEI (Italian Catholic Library Association) since 1994 and IFLA (University of Florence) since 1998. He is Chair of the AIB Committee on Cataloguing and a member of the IFLA ISBD Review Group and the IFLA Cataloguing Committee. He may be contacted at: University of Firenze, Dipartimento di Studi sul Medioevo e Rinascimento, Piazza Brunelleschi 4-50121 Firenze, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]; mauro. [email protected] Website: http://www.meri.unifi.it/ CMpro-v-p-111.html Giovanna Frigimelica has been Secretary General of the Italian Library Association (AIB) since February 2009. She previously worked for the AIB since 2006 as librarian in the special library of the Association, in charge of following the publishing workflows of AIB monographs and journals, and of the marketing of promotional advertisement and sponsorship. Graduated in 2001 in Conservation of Cultural heritage (LIS syllabus) from the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, she worked from 2001 to 2005 for an outsourcing agency as librarian in several libraries (mostly public) of Treviso and Venice provinces. Since 2000 she cooperates with the board of AIB Website for the maintenance of several pages, and she maintains a personal website with online resources on LIS: http://www.frigimelica.it/vrd/vrd. htm. Due to this interest, she has been a speaker in some training courses about library web design and Internet searching skills from 2004. She may be contacted at: Associazione Italiana Biblioteche, Casella postale 2461, I-00185 Roma AD, Italy. Tel. +39 06 4463532. Fax: +39 06 4441139. Mobile +39 333 7644084. skype: aib.frigimelica E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.aib.it Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003–2009 Paul Sturges Paul Sturges is Professor Emeritus, Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, UK and Professor Extraordinary, University of Pretoria, South Africa. His central professional commitment since the mid-1990s has been to intellectual freedom issues. He has been Chair of the IFLA FAIFE Committee since August 2003 and was a consultant to the Council of Europe on freedom of expression and public access points to networked information, and also on library legislation, 1997–2001. He drew up the Council of Europe guidelines on public access and freedom of expression in networked information and was Project Leader for the Privacy in the Digital Library Environment project, financed by UK Re:source, 2000–2001. He has travelled widely throughout the world, giving lectures and conference presentations, and leading workshops on intellectual freedom topics. His more than 150 articles, reports and books deal with a variety of issues in information science, with a strong About the Author continued on page 122 Abstract Reviews the activities of the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) programme of IFLA from 2003 to 2009, based on three types of activity: intervention, education, and advocacy. FAIFE is still prepared to intervene in cases of threat to the stock, services and staff of libraries, but this was not the predominant form of activity during the period. With the aid of a grant from Swedish Sida, FAIFE has developed an education programme consisting of workshops using specially written sets of learning materials. These first dealt with the IFLA/UNESCO Internet Manifesto and Access to HIV/AIDS Information. Further sets of learning materials, on Libraries and Transparency, and Public Access to Health Information, have since been developed. The workshops, facilitated by FAIFE trainers, train local trainers to disseminate the message more widely in their own country and region. The centre of FAIFE’s advocacy work has had the creation of the IFLA Manifesto on Transparency, Good Governance and Freedom from Corruption. A model of participative policy development, leading into training workshops, and a consequent strengthening of the advocacy capacity of the library profession can now be identified. Keywords: IFLA; FAIFE; free access to information; freedom of expression; training By 2009 it is fair to say that the importance of the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression Core Activity (FAIFE) to IFLA has become widely accepted in professional circles. The maturing process in the library and information profession generally has been accompanied by a shift in emphasis in professional discourse away from a preoccupation with technical matters towards a growing interest in all aspects of the role of information in human life. Whilst in the discipline of library and information science (LIS) this is capable of being a detached and academic interest, in the profession as a whole it takes the form of urgent day-to-day ethical reflection on a range of issues crucial not merely to the profession, but to society as a whole. The issues include censorship in all its traditional and modern forms, equitable access to information, intellectual property, the management of electronic access to information, privacy and secrecy, freedom of expression and other contentious subjects. The emergence of a reflective, socially engaged profession requires an appropriate response from the profession’s organizations. The locus of much of this response in IFLA has been within the FAIFE Core Activity, which has sometimes been referred to as IFLA’s ethical conscience. FAIFE was founded by an IFLA Council resolution passed at the Annual Conference in Copenhagen 1997. This was based on an explicit commitment to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, especially Article 19, which states that: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to I F LA Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 117–122. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105667 117 Paul Sturges seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The FAIFE Committee was formally established in 1997 and an Office in Copenhagen was opened in July 1998 (where it remained until its functions were transferred to IFLA HQ in The Hague in early 2007). The story of FAIFE’s early years is embedded in the first Chairman’s published account of the changing politics of the information professions (Byrne 2007). Most of the issues discussed in this article already appear there in some detail, or are clearly prefigured, and it is to Byrne that a reader should look for accounts of FAIFE’s policies and activities previous to 2003. Three forms of activity were identified during the period prior to 2003 to enable coherent pursuit of the intellectual freedom priorities of FAIFE. These were: intervention, education and advocacy. This account of FAIFE from 2003–2009 will use these forms of activity to structure a description of the evolving nature of what FAIFE has done over the years. The intention will be to show how FAIFE has interpreted and developed its role as IFLA’s ethical conscience. Intervention The working group that preceded FAIFE (the Committee on Access to Information and Free Expression – CAIFE) was charged to set up an area of activity designed to protect libraries from the assaults of the censor. The problem with this, both then in the mid-1990s and now in the late 2000s, is that it is difficult to identify many instances of censoring activity directed specifically toward libraries. This statement needs some clarification and justification. In the USA there has been a persistent tradition of ‘challenges’ to library stock and acquisition policy, mostly on the part of Christian and rightwing political activists. The ALA’s excellent Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has fought these challenges case-by-case, supported librarians who stood up for intellectual freedom, and created advisory materials, most notably the various editions of the Intellectual Freedom Manual (Krug 2002). The point is that in the USA the challenges are both open and vigorously contested. Elsewhere, the problem is much more insidious, to the extent that many librarians either don’t realize that they operate with censored collections, or actually prefer to have things this way. 118 More significant is the fact that censorship actually bites long before a document enters or does not enter the library. It is the author, the publisher or the printer who meets censorship directly. By the time a book reaches a library it has almost invariably achieved a legally accepted and protected status. Its presence in a library may be challenged by some member of society or a group, but this is unlikely to be supported in a legal forum. Thus for instance, the removal of a volume of allegedly pornographic photos by Robert Mapplethorpe from the Library of the University of Central England by West Midlands Police in 1997 could not be sustained in law. Likewise the attempt to bring an Italian children’s librarian before a court of law for lending a controversial book to a schoolchild in 2005 (when that book was actually on a Ministry of Work and Welfare recommended list) was also fruitless. The library is at the end of a chain of either approval or censorship that means the collection may lack significant material, but the material that it does hold is legal. As over the years it became clear that this was the case, what scope did that leave for FAIFE as an intervening activity? The answer to this question is that there is plenty of intervention to be done, but that it is usually in response to a wider incidence of the suppression and censorship of information in some country or region, of which the implications for the library are only one part. Take for instance the question of Cuba. Suffice it to say that a very dedicated and vocal lobby, led by The Friends of Cuban Libraries, campaigns against the Cuban government on the grounds that it persecutes the providers of tiny independent ‘front parlour’ libraries that contain anti-regime material. Whilst FAIFE, and presumably IFLA generally, support anyone who sets up a library, however humble and for whatever purpose, this issue has proved thoroughly intractable. Amongst a number of other fact-finding visits to countries which are the site of contentious issues, FAIFE organized a mission to Cuba, in 2001 (Seidelin 2001). Little immediate easing of the situation has resulted, despite the exercise of considerable tact, careful investigation, and the suggestion of undramatic but positive lines of action. The suppression of information and communication in Cuba has many aspects, as information suppression does everywhere, and the Cuban independent libraries are a comparatively small part of a broader problem. The hope is that in Cuba and elsewhere good seeds have been sown by FAIFE, but germination looks likely to be a slow process. In nurturing the Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003–2009 process along, FAIFE looks to partnership with relevant international NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and International PEN. A more recent intervention took on a global issue that has a regional heart to it: this is the question of the Danish cartoons. The publication in 2005 of cartoons allegedly slandering the Prophet Mahommed, the Islamic faith and its believers resulted in protests, many of them violent, in many parts of the world. Libraries, although never specifically challenged, were nevertheless involved in the sense that they gave access to newspapers and other potentially inflammatory materials. FAIFE’s initial response was a highly successful plenary debate at the Seoul World Library and Information Congress in 2006, and an article examining ways of looking at the problem (Sturges 2006b). This was followed up with a conference on the Role of Libraries in Freedom of Expression, Tolerance, and Access to Information at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, 7–9 October 2008. The organization and programme of this conference were deliberately put in the hands of local partner organizations so that it could be a vehicle for an informed exploration of regional and Islamic views of the issue. Despite that, some participants were able to convince themselves that the conference contained yet more of the ‘North’ preaching to the ‘South’, and insensitivity to local views. The conference was not put on with thanks in mind, but it did expose the extent to which even the most sensitive of interventions can be a thankless task. There is also the matter of Internet filtering. Whilst it can be reasonably expected that whatever enters the library collection is both legally published and deliberately selected as suitable for the library’s clientele, the same does not apply to Internet resources that a reader might access on computers provided for public use by the library. In very few countries do the police and security services have, as yet, the capacity to control and regulate what is available to their citizens via the Internet. By default the Internet makes real the Article 19 right to information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Libraries as supporters of Article 19 therefore support unfiltered Internet access: or do they? Detail available in FAIFE’s World Report series, with the most recent version edited by Bothma (2007), is open to the reading that the library profession worldwide operates, for the most part, quite comfortably in a filtering regime. FAIFE does not accept this and has spoken out against the most egregious examples, most notably in the People’s Republic of China, and will continue to do so. However, because there is a widespread acceptance of Internet filtering systems, especially for material available to children, which is supported by a mixture of law, administrative practice, policing, and librarians’ cooperation, it is clear that public statements alone will not bring about wholesale change. Additional routes have to be used. This leads us to education. Education A profession that is arguably complaisant over filtering and not uncomfortable with censorship can be seen as in need of education. Education is certainly something that FAIFE has long seen as an essential part of its contribution. For that reason the Chair, other Committee members, and now IFLA’s Senior Policy Adviser Stuart Hamilton, use speaking opportunities at conferences and seminars to develop ideas relating to intellectual freedom for an audience. For example, the annual BOBCATSSS conferences, which provide an audience largely made up of students and LIS academics, have provided particularly good opportunities. Publication of papers written for the purposes of such presentations has also made the ideas they contain available to a wider readership (Sturges 2005 and 2006a). Worthwhile though this may be, it in no way constitutes a programme of education on intellectual freedom topics. FAIFE has, however, since 2005 had the financial means to undertake a more extensive and systematic education programme. The finances form part of a generous grant from Swedish Sida for intellectual freedom activities in the developing world. A tentative beginning at a conference in Costa Rica in the Spring of 2007 saw Barbara Jones (the FAIFE Committee’s Secretary) and Committee member Loida Garcia Febo offer participants a workshop on the subject of the IFLA/UNESCO Internet Manifesto. The workshop was an enormous success. It was oversubscribed (a workshop really shouldn’t have more than 25–50 participants to retain a claim on the name). Those who took part were clamorously delighted to learn in a participative atmosphere about an open and positive approach to providing public Internet access. What is more, there was obviously a basis for 119 Paul Sturges similar activity in other suitable countries. In the first place, the enthusiasm of Mexican colleagues who had attended the Costa Rica conference, and the steadfast support of IFLA’s Latin American Caribbean Regional Office, made it possible to use Mexico as a testing ground for the spread of the workshop activity and its subsequent extension to Brazil and onwards. In early 2007 it was already quite clear that FAIFE had tested out a sustainable educational activity, inspiring and training trainers who could extend the activity through one country’s professional community, or take it across frontiers into other countries. The use of the Internet Manifesto for this purpose was aided by the existence of a set of guidelines for interpreting and using the Manifesto, which had been developed by FAIFE at a meeting of experts in London in March 2006. However, the guidelines were not a template for an Internet Manifesto workshop, even though they provided plenty of help. Something more explicitly directed towards workshop activity was needed. In response to this need FAIFE held a meeting in Dubai in July 2007 in which experts were brought together not only to draft learning materials for Internet Manifesto workshops, but a second set of materials for Access to HIV/AIDS Information workshops. The rationale for these HIV/AIDS information materials is that the virus can only be fought completely effectively by the provision of good information; information that library services can partner the health services and health NGOs in providing. A common style was developed for these two sets of materials, outlining and providing content (including PowerPoint slides) for lectures and interactive learning. They have since been used by FAIFE presenters throughout the developing world. Perhaps the most interesting example was an Internet Manifesto workshop held at the Center for Documentation and Research in Abu Dhabi in February 2008. IFLA presence in the Arab world has never been as apparent as it might be and this event could be considered a breakthrough. The materials have also been translated into various IFLA languages and used by presenters not directly provided by or financed by FAIFE. The capacity for independent use of the materials exists because they have been made available through the IFLA website. This, in turn makes it possible for their use by independent learners to improve their knowledge of the topics, whether to help them in a formal course of study or simply for 120 their continuing professional development (CPD). The train-the-trainers aspect of FAIFE’s workshop programme was taken a step further when in December 2007 a ‘Trainers the Trainers Workshop’ was held in the USA at Wesleyan University and Queens Library in New York. A small number of professional leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America was trained to become organizers and trainers in their own regions. This has since had excellent effects, with activities completed during 2008 in several countries (Nigeria and South Africa, for instance) and planned in others. A particularly substantial activity was that in the Philippines. In June 2008 a South East Asian train-the-trainers workshop was held in Manila, followed by a Philippines national conference on the Internet Manifesto, which functioned as a large scale equivalent of the workshops more normally provided. The success of the workshops programme in 2007 and the first part of 2008 has inspired its expansion and its further development. The HIV/AIDS Information workshops were so well received in a number of African countries, that it became clear that there was scope for a broader Public Access to Health Information workshop programme. At The Hague in October 2008 FAIFE and IFLA’s Health and Biosciences Section took the first steps by developing an outline for such materials to cover information on infectious disease and immunization, diet and nutrition for health, the problem of alcohol and drugs, and the prevention of accidents – traffic accidents in particular. During 2009 the writing and piloting of the materials will be completed. A fourth set of materials on Libraries and Transparency, Good Governance and Freedom from Corruption (‘Transparency’ for short) were outlined at yet another experts meeting in November 2008 at Karlsruhe in Germany. The writing of these materials was completed by the end of the year and they can be found in more than one IFLA language on the IFLA website. Probably the last requirement for any programme of professional activity is that it should be evaluated. FAIFE took steps in 2008 to provide for this element. A 2-day meeting in The Hague in October 2008 drew up an evaluation matrix that could be applied to FAIFE’s workshop programme in the first place, but subsequently, with necessary adaptation, for other IFLA projects. During 2009 this will be used in a much more highly structured version of FAIFE’s workshop programme. In 2007 Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003–2009 and 2008 the programme was expanded widely, as quickly and as effectively as possible. Evaluation was, however, rather basic. The 2009 programme concentrates on a number of well prepared countries (the Philippines, Peru, Nigeria, and Russia will be the main ones). In each a national trainthe-trainers workshop is followed by a programme in which the new trainers will be formally tasked to take what they have learned back to their home region and put on workshops there. At the end of the year the programme in each country will be reviewed using the evaluation matrix as a basis. The knowledge and understanding gained from this can then be applied in subsequent years in any number of national and local programmes based on FAIFE’s learning materials and methods of delivery and evaluation. Advocacy The advocacy element of FAIFE’s work has not been neglected in this concentration on education. Until 2008, 2002 had been the advocacy high spot for FAIFE with the issuing of the Glasgow Declaration on Libraries, Information Services and Intellectual Freedom. In 2008 the IFLA Governing Board accepted a new Manifesto from FAIFE, on Libraries and Transparency, Good Governance, and Freedom from Corruption. An extended and very thorough process was used in an attempt to ensure that IFLA’s entry into a rather unfamiliar policy area was as sound and well-considered as possible. The Croatian Library Association (CLA) agreed to link a FAIFE short conference on libraries and the struggle against corruption in connection with its annual freedom of expression seminar in December 2006. Papers from FAIFE, CLA and Transparency International speakers were followed by substantial debate. The outcomes from the conference included a ‘shopping list’ of points that might form part of an IFLA policy document. This list was used as a basis for a second event in August 2007 held in partnership with the Goethe Institute and the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) as a Durban Congress pre-conference in Johannesburg. The outlines of a Manifesto were developed on the basis of the papers and discussions at the pre-conference, and after several drafts, the obtaining of expert opinion and redrafts, the Manifesto was accepted by the Governing Board in 2008 and is now IFLA policy. There have been some comments suggesting this was a very long and possibly over-elaborate process, but there are no apologies for this. FAIFE was simultaneously making policy on behalf of IFLA, creating a document that could be a basis for FAIFE workshop activity, and developing an advocacyrelated model. The need for good national and institutional policy, in addition to international policy, is manifest. It is a constant and sadly longestablished tradition for librarians (particularly those from developing countries) to bemoan the fact that they are undervalued and not listened to by their governments. Attempts to sell libraries as progressive institutions capable of making a contribution to society far beyond their core educational and leisure roles are generally unsuccessful. The reasons for this are clear. Library advocates in developing countries approach officialdom with weak claims that are difficult, or even impossible, to substantiate and they lack persuasive skills. To stand some kind of chance they need good arguments, persuasively put, and some evidence of the ability to deliver what they promise. The FAIFE policy-making process was thoroughly consultative and used multiple iterations of policy ideas to produce strong documentation. This is a sound example, but it is the way that this process leads into professional activity once the policy has been established that is important. Workshops that spread the message through the profession and give opportunities for participative learning are the best way to anchor new ideas in the professional community. A convinced profession should be expected to make partnerships, find sponsors and actually initiate activity for instance in a field like transparency and anti-corruption campaigning or Internet access management. Approaches to government, international aid and lending agencies, and partners in civil society are more likely to succeed when there is existing activity, a knowledgeable and committed professional community and clear policy. Advocacy training will be a major priority in IFLA from 2009 onwards. This is an important and potentially enormously effective development. A profession of skilful advocates can be a formidable force. Advocacy training is, however, more than just a matter of public speaking, networking and political activity. All the elements that FAIFE has been developing in its own policy making and educational activity are needed too. In that sense, the way has been paved for the advocacy development programmes that can now be expected. As far as FAIFE is concerned there are many other access-related policy areas into which it 121 Paul Sturges can enter. The issues of access to information for rural populations, farmers and socially excluded groups loom large. Libraries can play an enormous role in these areas, just as they can in relation to health information and the creating of transparency – the areas already entered by FAIFE. There is also the question of information literacy. The more FAIFE’s programme develops it becomes clearer that there is a sequence that only begins with countering censorship and related forms of suppression of freedom of access to information and freedom of expression. There is also a clear need to develop and foster systems and institutions that can actually deliver the products and content of intellectual freedom. The institutions, such as libraries, in turn reveal the need for users to be able to make good use of access. Helping to create able and discriminating readers who can decode what is made available to them is the next responsibility for information professionals. Linking FAIFE’s approach to programmes of information literacy development begins to seem like a natural outcome of all the work that has been done under FAIFE’s aegis since 1997, let alone since 2003. There is no problem for the FAIFE Committee and the Chair who takes office in 2009 to find areas of activity. There is so much that cries out to be done, with advocacy at its heart. Conclusion FAIFE’s activity 2003–2009 is described here with great pride. There was actually even more good work than there has been space to describe. FAIFE’s fruitful cooperation with IFLA’s Genealogy and Local History Section on access to personal data for historical, family history and other purposes has not been mentioned. Nor has the article touched on the continuing cooperation with the IFLA Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters (CLM) on the crucial intersection between intellectual property matters and intellectual freedom. So much has been done and so many inviting and important possibilities still offer themselves. The most remarkable thing about this is that although FAIFE had its Copenhagen Office for the early part of this period, during the better part of 2007, when the programme was building to new levels of intensity, there was no fulltime professional support. This is not to devalue the excellent work of IFLA HQ staff on FAIFE’s part, or Stuart Hamilton’s end of year planning and reporting to Sida. It does, however, reflect enormous credit on the small number of Committee members and 122 associates of FAIFE who not merely kept the activity going, but constantly expanded and improved it. IFLA is very fortunate indeed to have such people working on its behalf. The years 2008 and 2009, with the expertise and energy of a Senior Policy Adviser able to give something like half his time to FAIFE, have seemed like complete luxury. There were of course downsides to such a whirl of activity. Decisions often had to be made fast and the work done by those who had made themselves available. There were a few differences of opinion along the way (Kagan 2008: 236), but overall, IFLA can feel that its ethical conscience has indeed been stimulated and that fresh ways of offering socially committed professional leadership have been explored and developed. References Bothma, T. (2007) Access to libraries and information: towards a fairer world. IFLA/FAIFE World Report Series VII. The Hague, Netherlands: IFLA. Byrne, A. (2007) The politics of promoting freedom of information and expression in international librarianship: The IFLA/FAIFE project. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. Kagan, A. (2008) An alternative view on IFLA, human rights and social responsibility in international librarianship. IFLA Journal, 34(3) 230–237. Krug, J. (2002) ALA and intellectual freedom: a historical overview. In: Office for Intellectual Freedom, Intellectual freedom manual. Chicago: American Library Association, pp 3–32. Seidelin, S. (2001) Libraries in Cuba: an IFLA/FAIFE report on free access to information in Cuba. Copenhagen: IFLA/FAIFE. Sturges, P. (2005) Understanding cultures, and IFLA’s Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) core activity. Journal of Documentation, 61(2) 296–305. Sturges, P. (2006a) Why intellectual freedom matters. In: Information, innovation, responsibility: Information professional in the network society. Proceedings of the 14th BOBCATSSS Symposium, 30 Jan–1 Feb 2006, Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn: Department of Information Studies, Tallinn University. pp 431–439. Sturges, P. (2006b) Limits to freedom of expression? Considerations arising from the Danish cartoons affair. IFLA Journal, 32(3) 181–188. About the Author continued emphasis on the developing world and Africa in particular. He is joint author with Richard Neill of The Quiet Struggle: information and libraries for the people of Africa (Mansell, 2nd ed., 1998), author of Public Internet Access in Libraries and Information Services (Facet, 2002) and joint editor (with John Feather) of the International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2003). He may be contacted at: e-mail: [email protected] Global Library Statistics Simon Ellis Abstract When IFLA needed reliable data about libraries and their services worldwide, it became apparent that there are no such data. Therefore, the IFLA Section on Statistics and Evaluation, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) committee TC 46 SC 8 ‘Quality – statistics and performance evaluation’ have joined forces in order to develop and test a new set of statistics that might be used by libraries worldwide. The final goal is that these statistics should be collected regularly on a national basis, so that there will be reliable and internationally comparable data of library services and library use. Keywords: library statistics; impact of libraries; international standards; performance indicators The Starting Point Michael Heaney The initiative started at IFLA 2004 in Buenos Aires when the IFLA President and President-elect visited the Statistics and Evaluation Section. They needed library data for the World Summit on the Information Society and asked the section to identify ‘robust’ global library statistics for that purpose. But there are at the moment no such statistics. Pierre Meunier Roswitha Poll About the Authors: page 130 A study undertaken by Teresa Hackett for IFLA prior to the Geneva round of the World Summit on the Information Society, and compiled primarily from UNESCO and LIBECON data, had already revealed the incompleteness and weakness – and the diminishing relevance – of the available library statistics.1 The UNESCO Division of Statistics published three series of library statistics on a rolling triennial basis: national libraries, other major non-specialized libraries and public libraries. The most recent (as of September 2005) was Libraries of Institutions of Tertiary Education, 1996–2000. The basis for UNESCO’s collecting activity was the Recommendation Concerning the International Standardization of Library Statistics adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in 1970. The data which were gathered emphasized collections, buildings and simple usage figures. But the pervasiveness of electronic information resources has reduced the ability of such traditional statistics to reflect the provision of information to the world’s citizens. The traditional statistics are also not best suited to demonstrating the impact and outcome of libraries. The LIBECON project, undertaken by the UK Institute of Public Finance with funding from the European Union, provided more detailed information for Europe and included figures from a few countries outside Europe. In addition to the UNESCO data, it collected data on, among other things, virtual usage, seating, workstations and sources of funding. Although the results of the project are maintained on the LIBECON website2, the project itself is now finished and not likely to be renewed. I F LA Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 123–130. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105668 123 Ellis et al. So, considering that the existing data were outdated, insufficient, and in any case not up-to-date, the IFLA Section on Statistics and Evaluation decided to pursue new reliable ‘global’ library statistics – certainly a long way to go. The first step was a grant from IFLA for an initial meeting of section members with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics in Montreal in January 2006. The Programme When designing the projected set of ‘global’ library data, various interests and requirements had to be considered. IFLA’s main interest in statistics is to show the overall value of libraries for society, while the UNESCO Institute for Statistics focuses on libraries’ role for literacy and information literacy in a country and underlines the importance of allowing for problems of data collection in developing countries. The ISO group as third partner stresses the need of standardized definitions and data collection methods. Thus, from the very first, the demands on the new statistics showed a broad spectrum: • to cover the full range of library services, traditional and electronic • to show the libraries’ role in society and culture • to demonstrate the impact of libraries on the population • to facilitate comparison on a national and international basis • to produce plausible results for publications and promotional activities • to do all that with a limited number of measures, that ought to be easily available in all countries. In addition, two diverse targets of library statistics had to be considered in the selection of ‘global’ measures. 1. Statistical data at the level of the individual library are indispensable for the internal management. They show the relation of input and output and therewith the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the library. 2. A compilation of library statistics on a regional or national level aims at promoting the libraries’ role and activities and justifying public expenditure for libraries. Regional/national statistics, when presented to policy makers, 124 funding institutions or the general public, will influence the strategic planning for libraries, and will create and maintain confidence in the effective functioning of libraries. By setting data of library usage in relation to literacy and education in a country, statistics can even demonstrate the impact of libraries on the population. For the goal of ‘global’ library statistics, only such measures have been considered that are meaningful if compiled on a national basis. It was evident that finding a dataset that would comply with all these issues could not be an easy task. The Long Way The IFLA Section on Statistics and Evaluation instituted a project group of section members for getting in contact with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics in Montreal. Members are: • Michael Heaney, Oxford (till 2007 Chair, now Secretary of the Section) • Pierre Meunier, Montreal (responsible for the contacts in Montreal) • Roswitha Poll, Münster (Chair of ISO TC 46 SC 8, responsible for the cooperation with ISO) The first project meeting was in January 2006 in Montreal. The UNESCO Institute was represented by Simon Ellis ((Head of Science Culture and Communications Statistics) and his colleagues Lydia Deloumeaux and S. Venkatraman. There was consensus on the following issues: • to proceed in the direction of a minimum statistical dataset • to restrict the project to public and academic libraries (it was deemed too daring to believe in the feasibility of collecting school or special libraries’ statistics worldwide) • to rely on the pool of well-tested and precisely defined statistics available in the international standard ISO 2789.3 The meeting produced a first list of possible measures, which Roswitha Poll was commissioned to take to the appropriate ISO group for further work. The ISO meeting in May 2006 resulted Global Library Statistics in a detailed list with definitions, based on the international standard ISO 2789. The list was then discussed and enlarged or shortened (as such lists usually are) in the IFLA Section’s meeting in Seoul in August 2006. In a second meeting of the project group in January 2007 in Oxford, the partners decided to test the dataset in Latin America and the Caribbean and to present the results in an IFLA post-conference in Montreal in 2008. The group also devised a list of performance indicators, setting the measures in the dataset in relation to socio-demographic data collected by the UNESCO Institute and other international agencies. The next months were spent on preparing the trial in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Trial The first step for a scoping study in Latin America and the Caribbean was to assess • what library statistics were already collected in the countries • what institutions could be addressed for filling out the statistics questionnaire. At first sight, it seems easy enough to do this, but it proved one of the most problematic tasks of the project to find out which unit in a country is collecting what library statistics. Libraries are not all under the same authority. Most of them serve a specified institution (university, college) or community and are funded by those institutions or communities, but also by ministries, private organizations, foundations . . . Other institutions may be responsible for the mission, functioning, or legal regulation of libraries in their domain. Therefore various institutions and organizations will feel responsible – if at all – for collecting data about the libraries within their authority. Libraries’ and librarians’ associations also are often involved in library statistics. Thus, in every country, the following bodies might be engaged in collecting library statistics, often separately for different types of libraries: • national or regional statistical units • ministries (culture, education, research) • libraries’ and librarians’ associations. It may even happen that the same, or nearly the same statistics are collected by different bodies. For the projected survey in Latin America and the Caribbean, a contacts database for library statistical information was compiled from manifold sources. This did not include individual libraries, but those units which were known or could be expected to collect library statistics on a national scale. Information from IFLA colleagues in the region was a valuable contribution to the compilation of the contacts database. A questionnaire asking for the defined dataset was prepared in English and Spanish and sent out in July 2007 to the countries. Data collection and analysis took place during the second half of 2007 and early 2008. The response rate was 63 percent: 26 out of 41 countries responded to the survey, including a nil response from Bolivia.4 Such a response rate is not unusual for a new international survey, as national authorities may not currently be collecting data in the area under study. There was a clear difference between public libraries and academic libraries (libraries of an institution of higher education): 24 countries were able to answer at least part of the questions for public libraries, but only 14 had statistics about academic libraries. The responses to the individual questions varied considerably. Data were more readily available for ‘traditional’ statistics (e.g. volumes, seats, registered users, loans) than for items such as electronic resources, events, opening hours, full-time equivalent library employees and expenditures. The survey demonstrated the difficulties of organizing a sustainable system of data collection in all countries of a region, but it also showed the feasibility of using the global statistics questionnaire. There was a reasonable response for most questions and an apparent willingness to collect additional data, e. g. for electronic collections. Only a few questions had to be deleted from the questionnaire due to the survey results. One example was the FTE (full-time equivalent) count of library staff. Evidently headcounts of staff are in such widespread use at the moment that it is better to use this measure. 125 Ellis et al. The Montreal Conference Very early during the global statistics project, there was consensus to present the new measures and the results of the trial in a conference at Montreal, the location of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. The IFLA World Library and Information Congress being held in Québec City in 2009 made this choice still more opportune. The topic of the conference was widened to include the use of quantitative and qualitative data for the management and promotion of libraries. The IFLA post-conference ‘Library Statistics for the 21st Century World’, held from 18–19 August 2008, attracted 83 experts on library statistics and quality measures. The conference showed high interest in the new ‘global’ statistics and a broad assent to the dataset that has been developed. There were only a few comments and requests for changes in the proposed measures, but the reports from countries that had participated in the trial showed the many difficulties of centralized data collection. The papers and results of the conference will be published shortly in the IFLA Publications series. The Dataset The ‘global statistics’ dataset in its final version consists of 23 measures (see Annex 1). The same data are collected separately for academic and public libraries, though some of the measures will have higher value for one type of library. The first questions deal with the accessibility of libraries in a country. The number of libraries and user working places, and the opening times (arranged in five groups) demonstrate the physical accessibility, the library as place. The percentages of libraries that offer an online catalogue, a library website and – most important – Internet access for users in the library show the virtual availability of library services. The library collection is still primarily represented by the number of volumes, as this measure is used in all types of libraries worldwide. But new measures for the electronic collection have been added: the number of e-journal subscriptions, of e-books and databases. While it is easy to count 126 the print collections that are housed inside library buildings, counting the electronic collection needs more detailed definitions. Electronic library collections include documents stored on external servers, for which the library has bought or licensed access rights, but exclude documents that are freely available on the Internet. When selecting measures for the usage of library services, the main problem was to find a measure for the electronic use that hopefully can be collected in all countries. Statistics for the number of loans, of registered users and even of library visits are pretty well established in libraries. But though in most libraries electronic collections and services are developing rapidly, statistics for the use of such collections and services are not yet in widespread use. The measure that was chosen for representing electronic use – number of downloads from the library’s electronic collection – could not yet be delivered by many countries in the trial of the global statistics, but the project may encourage more libraries to count downloads as well as loans. The input into libraries is represented by the number of employees and the libraries’ expenditure, differentiated as to expenditure for information provision, staff, and other. The trial showed that more countries were able to deliver data for the number of staff in headcounts than in FTE (fulltime equivalent), therefore headcounts were finally chosen as the measure. An important aim of the global statistics project is to find data that show the libraries’ outcome on society, especially on culture, literacy and education. The measures that come nearest to showing such outcome are the number of cultural library events and the number of attendances at user training sessions. Only one measure was added due to proposals during the Montreal conference: hours of training per staff member per year. This measure represents the libraries’ potential for development and change. Libraries have assumed new responsibilities in a changing information world; they need new statistics for managing and promoting these new tasks. The projected new statistics try to consider all issues that are relevant for the role and impact of libraries today. Hopefully, the set of 23 data, if Global Library Statistics used over time, will yield a reliable picture of library services and library use in a country. The aim is that the questionnaire should be dealt with and filled out by the respective institution in each country that is responsible for collecting library statistics. The Derivation of Performance Indicators The proposed global statistics include only a limited number of data in order to make them practical and easy to use. But quite a number of performance indicators can be calculated with these data, especially in combination with sociodemographic data collected by UNESCO and other international agencies, e. g. data about the state of literacy, education and Internet access in a country. Such combinations can help to identify and promote the libraries’ role for literacy and information literacy, education and culture. Seventy-six performance indicators were identified during the project, of which 23 were defined as core indicators (see Annex 2). The Next Steps The first phase of the global statistics project has been brought to an end by the definition and trial of the proposed dataset and by the promotion of the project results at the Montreal conference. But how to proceed from here? The project partners, when deciding on the final dataset for the new library statistics, did not expect that even this restricted number of measures would be directly available in all countries. Even in countries with high IT-development, measures for electronic library services are partly missing. There are several issues that influence the adoption of the new global statistics in countries: 1. National or regional institutions collecting library statistics have often devised their own special statistics or have at least adapted and changed data and definitions from the ISO standard. Many library statistics have ‘a historical background’, and libraries have been familiar with them for a long time. It will be difficult enough to get consensus on a national scale on new library statistics. Every library is unique – or thinks so; no definition of data, no list of statistical measures will fit them all. 2. As the trial in Latin America and the Caribbean showed, there may also be a lack of experience and skills in the collection, evaluation and use of library statistics. Phase II of the project must therefore focus on building statistical capacity in target regions, especially in developing countries, so as to enable staff to collect data more thoroughly and with more understanding. Additionally, the project must seek support and acceptance in the international community. This shall be advanced by developing training materials and by promoting the global statistics in international arenas. The outcomes will be: • training resources • published standards • policy statements and commitments. The target regions for the next steps are Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean – the latter to build on the experience of the questionnaire in that region. Capacity building will be delivered in conjunction with partner organizations and funding is sought to deliver this. It will not be sufficient to gain the interest of librarians; it is crucial to gain the interest of governments and funding institutions. It does not seem plausible that, though libraries of all types certainly need considerable resources, the institutions that give those resources should not want to know the results of their expenditure. It is certainly a long way from preparing a questionnaire for global library statistics to the adoption of these measures by libraries and to centralized data collection in the countries. Reliable global library data are still a vision. But libraries need this global view of their role and value for promoting and supporting their impact on literacy and information literacy, education and culture. References 1. Hackett, T. (2003) Global library statistics 1990–2000. Available at: http://www.ifla.org/III/wsis/wsis-stats4 pub_v.pdf 127 Ellis et al. 2. http://www.libecon2000.org 3. ISO 2789. (2006) Information and documentation – International library statistics. 4th ed. 4. IFLA/ISO/UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2008) The 2007 international library survey in Latin America and the Caribbean. Available at: http://www.uis. unesco.org/template/pdf/cscl/IFLArept.pdf Annex 1. Global library statistics All data to be collected separately for public libraries and higher education institution libraries 1 Libraries: Access and facilities 1.1 Number of libraries 1.2 Number of user workplaces (seats) 1.3 Weekly opening hours • less than or equal to 20 • 20 to 40 • 40 to 60 • over 60 1.4 Electronic services by type (percentage of libraries offering these services) • Internet access for users • online catalogues • websites 2 Collection 2.1 Number of volumes 2.2 Number of electronic collections by type • electronic serials (subscriptions) • ebooks (titles) • databases (purchased or licensed) 3 Library activities and events 3.1 Number of events 3.2 Total annual attendance at user training sessions 4 Library use and users 4.1 Total registered users 4.2 Loans and usage • number of loans (without renewals and ILL) • number of downloads from the e-collection • number of visits 5 Library staff 5.1 Number of employees (headcounts) • of which female 5.2 Hours of training per staff member 6 Expenditure 6.1 Expenditure • total operating expenditure • staff costs • expenditure on literature and information • other costs 6 questions 4 questions 2 questions 3 questions 4 questions 23 questions 128 Global Library Statistics Annex 2. Core performance indicators The 23 indicators are calculated with data from the global statistics dataset and the following sociodemographic data of a country: • Number of inhabitants • Number of literate inhabitants • Number of students in higher education Setting data in relation not to the whole population, but to those inhabitants that are literate, may help to identify correlations between library Section use and literacy. The idea is that a higher number of public libraries, their collections and services, and a high amount of library use may have influenced the percentage of literate inhabitants in a country. Of the 23 indicators 15 refer to public libraries. This is due to the double relation to total inhabitants and literate inhabitants, but also to the fact that the role of libraries for society is more clearly visible in public libraries. Core indicators 1. Access and facilities – – – – – Average number of public libraries per 1000 inhabitants Weighted average opening hours for public libraries Average opening hours for higher education institution libraries Percentage of public libraries offering an Internet access for users Percentage of public libraries offering websites 2. Collection – Average number of volumes in higher education institution libraries per student of higher education – Average number of volumes in public libraries per 1000 inhabitants – Average number of volumes in public libraries per 1000 literate inhabitants 4. Library use and users – Number of registered users per 1000 inhabitants in public libraries – Number of registered users per 1000 literate inhabitants in public libraries – Number of registered users in higher education libraries as a percentage of number of students – Average number of loans per 1000 inhabitants in public libraries – Average number of loans per 1000 literate inhabitants in public libraries – Average number of loans per student (higher education) in higher education institution libraries – Number of visits in public libraries per 1000 inhabitants – Number of visits in public libraries per 1000 literate inhabitants – Number of visits in higher education institution libraries per students of higher education 5. Library staff – Average number of employees in public libraries – Average number of employees in higher education institution libraries – Ratio of female to male employees in public libraries – Ratio of female to male employees in higher education institutions libraries 6. Expenditure – Expenditure on literature and information per inhabitant in public libraries – Expenditure on literature and information per student of higher education in higher education institution libraries 129 Ellis et al. About the Authors Simon Ellis is Head of Science Culture and Communications Statistics at the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in Montreal, Canada. He is also responsible for statistical standards, literacy, adult and vocational education. Before working at UNESCO, Simon ran London Skills Forecasting Unit, which specialized in determining the range of skills required by London’s businesses. He holds a doctorate in archaeology from the University of Oxford (1984), a masters in town planning from the University of Newcastle (1991), and a first degree in education from the University of Southampton (1976). He has published books on Roman housing, geographic information systems, and the London economy. He may be contacted at: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, PO Box 6128, Montreal, QC, Canada H3C 3J7. Tel. (1514) 343-7757. Fax: (1514) 343-6872. E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www. uis.unesco.org Michael Heaney is Executive Secretary of Oxford University Library Services. He has been a member of IFLA's Satistics and Evaluation Section since 2001, serving as Chair 2003-2007 and is currently the Secretary of the Section. He has been one of the IFLA project team which has developed the new Global Statistics measures in conjunction with ISO and UIS. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Northumbria International Performance Measurement conference. He may be contacted at: Oxford University Library Services, Clarendon Building, Bodleian Library, Oxford OX1 3BG, UK. Tel. +(44) (0) 1865 277 236. Fax +(44) (0) 1865 277 187. E-mail: michael.heaney(@)ouls.ox.ac.uk Since 1994, Pierre Meunier has been advisor in standardization and evaluation and in charge of the sector of management information for the Public Library System of Montreal (Canada). He holds a master in librarianship and information science, 130 and a postgraduate certificate both in biomedical engineering and in management. Pierre is a member of the Standing Committee of the IFLA Section Statistics and Evaluation. He chaired the local organizing committee of the 2008 IFLA satellite conference on global statistics (Montreal). Pierre is the Canadian delegate for several working groups within ISO TC 46 SC 8: Quality – Statistics and Performance Evaluation, concerning international library statistics, performance measures and statistical data for library buildings. He is also chair of the committee on minimal standards for the Montreal public libraries network. He may be contacted at: Bibliothèque de Montréal, 801 rue Brennan, 5e étage, Montréal, QC H3C 0G4, Canada. Tél. (514) 872-5593. Téléc. (514) 872-0530. Courriel: [email protected] Roswitha Poll studied philosophy, history and Romanic languages and took a PhD in history and a library degree both in 1972. She worked as head of acquisitions in the University of Erlangen and was chief librarian of Münster University Library from 1987 to 2004. She is now chairing the committee ‘Quality – Statistics and Performance Evaluation’ and three working groups within ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation). Since 1989, she has been working in various sections of IFLA, where she is at present a member of the Statistics and Evaluation Section. She works on projects dealing with management and evaluation of libraries and information systems. Her present publications deal with measures for the quality, costs and outcome of library services. In 2007, she published the second revised edition of the handbook on performance measurement in libraries, Measuring Quality. Roswitha can be reached at Schlüterstr.6, D-48149 Münster, Germany. Tel. +49 251 897836. Fax: +49 251 1353278. E-mail: [email protected] Diffusion of Professional Norms: the impact of IFLA in South Africa Peter G. Underwood Abstract A study of the impact of the work of IFLA, including its role in the development of information literacy programmes, on the profession in South Africa, based on the views of South African professionals attending the World Library and Information Congress, 73rd IFLA General Conference, held in Durban, 19–23 August 2007. A series of focus group and other interviews was used. Themes arising from the discussions are: Peter G. Underwood is Professor of Librarianship at the University of Cape Town, having occupied this position since 1992. Prior to this he spent 20 years as Lecturer in the College of Librarianship Wales, latterly the Department of Information Studies, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom. He is the author of Managing Change in Libraries and Information Services: a systems approach and Soft Systems Analysis and the Management of Libraries, Information Ser vices and Resource Centres, and co-author of Basics of Data Management for Information Services. His teaching and research focuses on information literacy, information systems management and organizational behaviour in the context of libraries and information services. He is the Editor of the South African Journal of Library and Information Science and is an external reviewer for Education for Information and Journal of Libraries and Information Science. He is a graduate of the Cranfield School of Management, having completed an MBA there in 1980, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). He is also a member of About the Author continued on page 140 • That IFLA has a strong role to play in advice, guidance, and the development of standards; its role in national policy development is necessarily limited. • That the Congress is an important meeting place and its proceedings a source of inspiration to those who have come with a ‘prepared mind’. • That the influence of its work and proceedings could be greater if it were communicated in accessible forms in partnership with existing publications such as the IFLA Journal. • That, for the younger professional, seeking to become involved, IFLA is a daunting organization. Keywords: IFLA; impact assessment; information literacy; South Africa; World Library and Information Congress, 2007; Durban Introduction The decision to hold the World Library and Information Congress, 73rd General Conference and Council of IFLA in South Africa (Durban, 19–23 August 2007) was welcomed as a vote of confidence in the capacity of Africa and, more specifically, South Africa to host an event of this magnitude and to be able to provide suitable facilities. Africa had been the destination for an IFLA General Conference only once before, in 1984 when the 50th General Conference was hosted by Kenya (Nairobi, 19–25 August). The author was asked to conduct a study of the impact of the work of IFLA, including its role in the development of information literacy programmes, on the profession of librarianship in South Africa, concentrating on the views of those who had attended the World Library and Information Congress in Durban. A series of focus group interviews was arranged, choosing localities in which most of the attendees from South Africa are employed. Background Some consideration of the history of relations between South Africa and IFLA is necessary in order to understand more fully the context of this study and the responses of focus group participants. The history is complicated by political events and their effects upon Unesco and IFLA. I F LA Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 131–140. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105669 131 Peter G. Underwood IFLA has a commitment to a stance of political neutrality. Davis and Feis (2001) indicate the difficulties attendant upon the exercise of this principle and comment on the particular complications during the period of the Cold War. During the 34th IFLA General Conference (Frankfurt, 18–24 August 1968), on the night of 20 August, Eastern Bloc armies from four Warsaw Pact countries – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary invaded Czechoslovakia. This prompted Sir Frank Francis (President of IFLA, 1963–1969), in his closing address to the Conference, to remind participants of the ethos of IFLA: First, IFLA is an international association in which all members have equal rights to participate in the discussions and to influence the conclusions. Second, its power stems from its ability to facilitate and organize fruitful discussion of subjects of current interest in the world of librarianship. IFLA believes that the best service it can perform is to bring together periodically a world-wide variety of authoritative practitioners of the arts of library service; to provide them with the opportunity for comparing practices and experiences with each other; and on the basis of informed and matured discussion to make recommendations for action (Davis Jr. and Feis 2001: 3). The relationship between South Africa and many international bodies and other groups was profoundly affected by the apartheid policies pursued by its government. The African National Congress first requested an international boycott of goods from South Africa in 1958: Gurney (1999) recounts the subsequent history and long succession of campaigns; Lancaster and Haricombe (1995) summarize the history and impact of academic boycotts on South Africa. The 16th General Conference of Unesco (Paris, 12 October – 14 November 1970) brought to a head a debate about the relationship between Unesco and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), of which IFLA is one. The General Conference adopted a resolution (16C/108 Add, 14/11/70) calling for the Executive Board of Unesco to terminate relations with any INGO in respect of which it has not been established, to the satisfaction of the Executive Board, that their branches, sections, affiliates or constituent parts in South Africa, Rhodesia or Portuguese-dominated African territories 132 neither practise racial discrimination or segregation in their policies, their activities or in their membership, nor co-operate in any way with the Government of South Africa in the latter's apartheid policy (Unesco 1971: 81, section 9). The operative date was 31 December 1971. Herman Liebaers, President of IFLA from 1969 to 1974, notes that IFLA received a letter, dated 14 January 1971, from the Director-General of Unesco requesting that information about the relationship between IFLA and the countries listed in the resolution be supplied before 15 April 1971. The IFLA Board considered the request at its meeting in Brussels on 11–13 February 1971 and concluded that “it does not feel that it has the right to investigate its members and will not do so in the future” (Liebaers 2002: 7, section 4). Liebaers was requested to appear before an Executive Board committee of Unesco, set up to consider evidence of racial discrimination in INGOs, which met in Paris in January 1972. He continues, “I was invited to leave the room while the Committee evaluated my statement. When I was called back I heard that I had not convinced the Committee and that IFLA was excluded from Unesco . . . The decision could be appealed six months later” (Liebaers 2002: 8). In the intervening period, the Executive Board of IFLA requested the South African Library Association (SALA) to withdraw from membership of IFLA, whilst continuing to permit individual libraries in South Africa to continue in membership (Campbell 2002: 119). Further correspondence with Unesco resulted in the granting of a repeal and IFLA was accepted back into Unesco. Liebaers explains that IFLA “could not afford to stay outside UNESCO, because it stands for the international community of education, science and culture of which IFLA aspired to be an important part” (Liebaers 1980: 220). Kagan captures something of the urgency of the political debate when he recalls, “As a young librarian attending the 1985 Chicago IFLA meeting, I was awestruck when E.J. Josey [the second African-American President of the American Library Association, 1984–1985] interrupted the first plenary session to demand that IFLA dissociate itself from apartheid South Africa” (Kagan 2005: 33). Later, he notes that the decision to exclude South African members from participating in IFLA activities was not absolute and that this issue continued to be contentious: Diffusion of Professional Norms voting rights were restored in 1977 citing bogus changed conditions. By 1985, the IFLA Council passed a resolution demanding that apartheid members continue to be excluded. But even with continued pressure by an international group of IFLA members, and even a demonstration outside the IFLA Conference in 1990, this resolution was never implemented but rather subverted by various surveys and investigations (Kagan 2005: 39). Walker comments that “IFLA never took the final step of banning institutions or individuals from membership, though applications were carefully scrutinized. A few South African professionals, among them most notably John Willemse of Unisa, became active on standing committees and governing structures” (2007: 183). Based upon the results of a survey of academics and research librarians working at South African universities, Lancaster and Haricombe conclude that “most of the scholars in our study judged the boycott to be an irritant or inconvenience, rather than a significant barrier to scholarly progress” (1995) and Neville Alexander, in supporting the practical implementation of boycotts, cautioned that they are “always two-edged weapons” (1995), the isolation having the twin effects of limiting academic discourse whilst increasing pressure on governments to change such policies. By the early 1990s, there was evidence that the apartheid system in South Africa was to be ended: on 2 February 1990, the then President of South Africa, F.W. De Klerk, announced the intention to repeal discriminatory laws and lift the 30-year ban on the main anti-apartheid groups. Between 1990 and 1993, much of the apparatus of apartheid was dismantled. The inauguration, in 1994, of the Government of National Unity initiated major changes in the governance of South Africa and its social, education and welfare services. At a meeting of the IFLA Executive Board (7–8 December 1992), IFLA President Robert Wedgeworth reported on a visit he had made to South Africa in September 1992. He proposed that a fact-finding mission consisting of four or five impartial observers be sent to South Africa; in early 1993, a five-person team was sent. Its findings included a recommendation that another review be conducted after a further three years. In 1997, the newly-formed Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) was admitted as a member of IFLA; Walker explains that “Neither SAILIS [the South African Institute of Library and Information Science, a professional body predating and replaced by LIASA] nor any other South African LIS body was ever accepted as a national association before the founding of LIASA in 1997” (2007: 183). The practical effect has been that the opportunity for South African professionals to play a role in the work of IFLA and its Congress has been limited, at least until after 1997. Few, even, would have found it easy to attend the IFLA General Conference because of economic and travel restrictions placed upon South African citizens during the period of apartheid. The question is, given this history of restricted contact, how significant is IFLA and its work considered to have been by members of the profession in South Africa? In asking this question, it must be remembered that in recent years, South African members have played important roles: Professor Peter J. Lor, formerly the National Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library of South Africa, served as the Secretary General of IFLA from 15 February 2005 until 5 September 2008; he had also been very active in IFLA prior to this period. The incoming President for the 2009–2011 period is Ellen R. Tise, Senior Director of Library and Information Services at the University of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape of South Africa. Thus, the impact of IFLA on South Africa will certainly increase – but the question of the perception of IFLA as an organization remains valid. Planning the Focus Group Interviews The intent of the interviews was to capture the views of the professional community in South Africa, including representatives of different kinds of libraries and those involved with policy development, the management of library associations and education and research in the field of library and information science. According to the database of attendees distributed by IFLA, there were 533 participants giving a South African institution as their place of work. The annual report of LIASA for 2007–2008 indicates that the membership base in 2007 was 1477 members and, although the total number of those employed as librarians or in library-related employment is not known with any degree of accuracy, it is believed that the group is substantially larger than that represented by the membership of LIASA. Tise has commented, for 133 Peter G. Underwood example, that the potential membership of LIASA could be as great as 5000 (2003: 3). The list of South African attendees was grouped into types of institution. The primary affiliation of each attendee was accepted as that given as the place of work in the IFLA database; from contact with the focus group participants it is recognized that many attendees played multiple roles – as representatives from a library, as officers or committee members of LIASA, as members of national and provincial government committees and some as members of IFLA working groups and committees (see Table 1). Primary affiliation Tertiary education institutions 190 Public libraries 138 National government departments 59 Local or provincial government departments 43 Special libraries 43 National Library of South Africa 39 School libraries 11 Suppliers 7 Professional association (LIASA) 2 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) 1 Total 533 Table 1. Focus group participants by type of organization. At the time of the impact study, the author was involved in projects that required visits to four major library services in South Africa. The focus groups were drawn from the staff of these institutions who had attended IFLA. It was left to members of the senior management teams to select from the list of attendees a set of participants willing to participate in the focus group at their institutions. A survey by e-mail was also considered in order to reach those not included in the focus group localities. This was abandoned after it was discovered that the database of attendees, published as a CD-ROM for delegates to the Congress, contained many erroneous e-mail addresses that defied even patient detective work to correct and resolve. To compensate for this, interviews were conducted by telephone with attendees from other types of institution. 134 In all, the responses of 32 participants were obtained, representing 6 percent of the attendees from South Africa at the IFLA Congress. A set of questions was supplied in advance to each participant or interviewee, with an assurance that responses would be treated as anonymous and that identity and organizational affiliation would remain confidential. The Interviews Throughout, the term ‘attendees’ refers to IFLA Congress delegates, whilst ‘participants’ refers to those taking part in the focus groups and other interviews associated with this impact study. Background Information on the Participants and their Relationship to, and experiences of, IFLA Of the group of 32 participants, only two had attended previous IFLA congresses. This is a surprisingly low number and may reflect the relative isolation of South Africa until it was readmitted to IFLA and also the scarcity of funding to support attendance. Five participants suggested that the image of the IFLA Congress is that it is mainly intended for senior management and other leaders in the profession. Whilst not necessarily supporting the view of the earlier years of IFLA, expressed by Liebaers in a throw-away remark, that “Actually IFLA was not much more than a distinguished gentlemen’s club, who met once a year and had a good time, professionally and otherwise” (1998), it does suggest the need to consider the image conveyed by the organization. Apart from corresponding members, only one participant was a member of an IFLA committee. The comment was made by several participants that, should they have an interest, they were unsure how to become involved in the work of IFLA. All participants enjoyed the Congress, a typical comment being “exhilarating, well-organized, with a well-conceived programme and a high standard of presentation”. The opportunity to network was mentioned by most as a principal benefit of attendance, especially the opportunity to meet people well known from the professional literature. The experience also served to stimulate interest and reinvigorate an interest in the profession: Diffusion of Professional Norms “We all came back with enthusiasm that we have not had for a long time . . . but we all came back to real life” “It made me look up at the sky” “The experience made me see that other people are facing worse problems” “Most of us attending an international conference want opportunities to explore what librarians elsewhere are doing. We have wide interests but we also need to explore outside our professional area” “It is so nice to remind oneself that librarianship is a profession with a mission” “It builds confidence because I found that people were facing similar problems to those in South Africa” “I felt pride in being a librarian, especially after listening to Albie Sachs [Justice Albie Sachs was the keynote speaker at the Opening Ceremony]” “They show you the possible!” An interesting remark was made to the author by the Chair of the Durban Hoteliers Guild, who commented that his members were astonished at how hard the IFLA delegates worked – whereas delegates of other conferences seemed to spend most of their time in entertainment, the IFLA delegates distinguished themselves by attending many meetings before seeking the diversions of Durban. The ‘downside’ was the overwhelming sense of the mix of plenary sessions, parallel sessions, poster displays, seminars and the exhibition. Almost all participants mentioned the difficulty of selecting a path through the programme, describing it as wellthought out, but complex, a view also supported by the evaluation study conducted by Kapnisi (2008: 198). Several described the consequence of a conflict of professional interests: should one concentrate on sessions appropriate to one’s job or one’s areas of interest? One participant proposed a strategy: “The Congress is extremely difficult to navigate; therefore, one must attend it having a purpose”. Five participants also mentioned that having delegates entering and leaving whilst sessions were in progress was very distracting and displayed discourtesy to the speakers. Those from the public library sector expressed the view that this sector was under-represented, specifically around the topics of multiculturalism and the role of public libraries in Africa. There was also a feeling in this group that there was too much emphasis on technology and too little on how appropriate technology can be put to use in a public library service; ‘Library 2.0’ was specifically mentioned as an example of an interesting idea but where presentations were insufficiently conceptualized within the public library context. This view tended to be countered by participants from higher education institutions, who expressed satisfaction that areas such as intellectual property rights and use of e-resources were covered in such detail: “It provides us with some vision and a benchmark for our own progress in South Africa”. Participants from higher education institutions mentioned the importance of active participation: “IFLA is empowering because it enables young professionals to interact with seasoned professionals and enables people to recognize the role that librarianship must play in social development” “It was extremely empowering for South Africa, and Africa generally, to be able to recognize and acknowledge what we have” “The opportunity to present to an international audience is important – they are surprised to see what we can do with limited resources” “It was interesting to see the number of young professionals. IFLA should take cognisance of that and create more opportunities for them, like the round table discussions, to encourage interaction”. General Effects of IFLA in Spreading Professional Norms and Standards and in Developing Librarianship Attending the IFLA Congress is expensive: is the expenditure commensurate with the benefit gained or would it be better to spend the money on other purposes and projects? This question, and the veiled criticism that it contains, often evokes 135 Peter G. Underwood defensive remarks, especially from those fortunate enough to have attended a Congress. The participants were in accord in recognizing the validity of the question, especially as it relates to South Africa, where financial resources for library development are scant. However, they were united in asserting that the benefits of holding a regular meeting are considerable, in terms of professional development and increasing the visibility of the profession. “There is no doubt about it . . . you cannot develop without exploring the potential for the profession . . . how else would one be able to gain the knowledge and hear the experience offered by other people?” “By being mentioned in the local news, it makes people realize that there are quite a lot of us” “Conferences are a way . . . of discovering that the problems we have are not just happening in our own country” “Reading journals does not have quite the same impact. We do not need to apologize for wishing to improve practice through the sharing of experience” “It makes the country realize that librarians are professional” “Should it be every year? Money could be saved by holding it every second year.” The selection of attendees was also mentioned by most participants. That attendance is, for many, a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity was regarded as a shortcoming and the establishment of a fund by IFLA to support attendance of younger professionals was suggested: “We need more opportunities for new professionals to attend these kind of conferences and become involved in the work of the standing committees”. One group commented that “We thought IFLA was for bosses but we quickly discovered that it included people from all levels” – an impression that IFLA could seek to foster in its publicity for this and other meetings. One participant suggested that there is both a strategic and a motivational sense in choosing whom to send. It may be important for effective 136 management for project leaders to liaise with selected attendees; it may also be important to reward and encourage the younger professionals who have displayed initiative. Another commented that “It is an opportunity to acknowledge the intellectual capacity of people through encouraging them to present papers and posters”. Alternatives to attendance were mentioned, such as viewing the record of proceedings through the IFLA website; most participants agreed that there is a dynamic that is lost if one’s contact with the Congress proceedings is only through this and similar media. All agreed on the importance of feedback by attendees to other staff and several were in favour of identifying themes and papers of particular interest to the work of the organization for specific comment: “Feedback on local issues can be greatly amplified by access to people from other countries with similar projects or experience”. “IFLA is a source of inspiration”, commented one participant when asked to describe the role of IFLA in professional development. Despite this, few participants had any detailed knowledge of IFLA publications, with the exception of the IFLA Journal. The journal was not widely available in paper form and few knew about the electronic version freely available from the IFLA website. A copy might be routed to the office of the director but was not necessarily circulated or made more widely available. The main roles of IFLA were considered to be the development and publishing of standards and the holding of the Congress. Could IFLA do more about stimulating interest in new developments? Several participants commented that IFLA fails to follow-up on what is presented at the Congress: “IFLA needs to make known what goes on in the Conference in a less high-brow way – not just articles in the Journal. The IFLA web site could do more in this respect” “There is a need for more local discussion and workshops on how to implement ideas from the Congress. Maybe IFLA needs local representatives”. With the history of South Africa’s engagement with IFLA in mind, discussion turned to views about whether new ideas, services, methods and techniques that have been implemented in South Diffusion of Professional Norms African libraries could be traced back either to the influence of IFLA or its direct involvement. “IFLA was a word we knew . . . but that was all”, is a comment made by several. Others commented on the highly significant and supportive role played by IFLA as an organization, and notably in the guise of Robert Wedgeworth, in setting-up LIASA. This was coupled with a plea: “The next step is you can create something but how do you sustain it?” “Some of these challenges should be recognized by IFLA and it should assist library associations” “All our library associations are very political . . . perhaps IFLA can help to overcome the effects of this?” The issue of sustainability is very much in the minds of those managing LIASA. Tise (2003: 7) has commented on the critical need to expand the membership base; the 2008 annual report of LIASA indicates that its membership base has shrunk by approximately 5 percent between 2007 (1477) and 2008 (1399) (Library and Information Association of South Africa 2008: 4). Something of the problems of promoting membership can be appreciated from a comment made to Khomo: “There is no benefit to me; I only joined [LIASA] this year (2007) to gain financial benefit to attend the IFLA Conference in Durban” (2007: 69). The eyes of most of the participants were on the future: “We have become part of the international world of librarianship” “We are more aware of developments, international standards, projects” “We need to bridge gaps, to learn from other countries with similar issues, such as how to work with dispersed communities and those in deep rural areas”. IFLA, Information Literacy and Literacy When asked what the participants considered to be the most important aspects of information literacy, there was a unanimous view that the ability to evaluate information sources is critical. Most participants also considered that the formative years of school were the appropriate setting in which to commence information literacy education. At the same time, the lack of preparedness of many teaching staff in South African schools was acknowledged, especially with respect to the adoption of Outcomes Based Education (OBE): “There is a lack of critical thinking in learners. OBE has not succeeded in any way, yet it was supposed to engage people with information”. There was agreement that, as well as the school, the role of librarians in community outreach was critical: “We must start in communities so we can all of us remain rooted in the needs of the community”. Specific obstacles and problems were also mentioned. Many children are growing up in South Africa in deprived or difficult circumstances, with limited opportunity for access to welfare and education. Even when these are accessible, the problem of the link between the school and the library can be problematic: “Our libraries are seen largely as places to go to find information for school projects . . . not for entertainment or recreational reading” “There aren’t people saying ‘reading is good, reading is interesting’” “A lot of what you know is from reading – but you need to talk about it” “Teachers mould children . . . they are a very important person in a little child’s life . . . but there is a danger of them seeing the library as a place to which they have been sent to find information for a project rather than enjoying the experience”. Another problem was thought to be the confusion between computer literacy and information literacy: “There is confusion between computer and information literacy: the challenge is to make it [information literacy] interesting because students and young people think they are already competent because they know about computers”. The larger role of the profession was also mentioned: “What is our role in community outreach? 137 Peter G. Underwood What is our role in the national structure – beyond the institutional boundary?” There was general agreement that the importance of information literacy is not recognized within South African society and that outreach programmes could assist in promoting recognition. In considering whether IFLA should give priority in its work to particular aspects of information literacy and, specifically, lifelong literacy, opinion was divided. Recurring questions were, “How much communication does IFLA have with other professional bodies such as educators?” and “The problem is that you have to start with government: is IFLA involved with that?” The majority opinion was that IFLA should become a champion for the cause of information literacy but could have little direct effect other than through advising governments and leading institutions and promoting research. Arising from this, several strongly-voiced opinions centred on the role of IFLA in promoting development: “IFLA should foster research and provide a platform for the exchange of ideas. It can end up being a talk shop – but where do we go to?” “IFLA needs to play a stronger role in providing standards and practice – it should provide a structure for an organization to consider, adopt and adapt” “Information literacy is fashionable – but is it the most important issue?” “IFLA needs to get its house in order and consider how to encourage institutional programmes” “Where do we take the issues that emerge? IFLA needs to become the central representative of the profession” “IFLA has no real role to play within a country. It can only encourage the profession, stimulate and support national initiatives”. The participants readily acknowledged that the obstacles to development of information literacy were many and considerable in their potential impact. For South Africa, poverty and the need to provide education in the mother tongue dominate; South Africa has eleven officially recognized 138 languages and at least seven others that have significant usage. Several commented on their interest in the reports of how librarians serving communities in rural India are tackling similar problems. Lack of affordable telecommunications was seen as another obstacle: “Without exposure [to the use of computers], people cannot gain this competence [in information literacy]. Limited provision in homes, bandwidth problems, the expense of the Internet are all particular problems in the townships and rural areas. This means communities have limited access to information”. The combined effect of these obstacles is to increase levels of stress: “We become de-motivated because of funds shortages. We are overwhelmed with children wanting information”. Mention was also made of the high number of adult illiterates: the percentage of persons aged fifteen and over who can read and write is estimated to be 82 percent over the period 2000 to 2005 (UNICEF 2009: Basic indicators). There was some scepticism about the suggestion that IFLA – or any professional organization – might be able to play a role in overcoming these obstacles: “It is more the role of IFLA to work with national committees to provide assistance and advice, not to provide actual resources – this is the role of national government” “How much credibility does a body like LIASA have with the government?” “The role played by IFLA in our own field is exposing people who would never otherwise think of it to the ideas”. On the other hand, “If you are seen to be part of an international body you are seen to have more power and this is influential” – a view that received considerable support. Whether literacy could be regarded as a conflictridden matter was considered a difficult question. After much discussion, most participants expressed the view that IFLA could do little more than take a stance and proffer advice to governments and organizations – the real focus for change and development has to be within the country; it is a matter of national policy. One participant took Diffusion of Professional Norms the matter further: “This also raises question of IFLA’s position: how seriously is it taken? Who is going to take it seriously? If the library association had clout, it could act as a strong lobbying or advocacy organization. There is a potential role but it is not one that IFLA is taking”. Several participants also emphasized the dangers: “This is a contentious idea [of taking a stance] because what is good for one country may not be good for others. All IFLA could do is make suggestions of what to consider in developing a local policy”. Commodification and charging for information were also identified as problem areas on which IFLA might comment: “Charging for information can have an effect on access to information. Information should be free to users – but libraries need to be funded appropriately to achieve that” “People should be able to read for pleasure – people without access [to libraries] will never ever reach the stage of becoming information literate” “Libraries need to be open to meet the free hours of parents, which means we are forcing families with working mothers to fall back on the Internet – if they have access” “As soon as a new medium enters our field we seem to want to treat it differently. As soon as a book enters our library, it costs us money to keep it on the shelf . . . we must adopt a similar view of the Internet – the Internet is another way of shelving information and if I am not charging people to use the book which I am paying money for, then why should one charge them for using the Internet, which is just another medium?” There were also comments of larger roles to play: “IFLA could be promoting debate around new ideas. Library associations could approach government and explain the library needs in a context provided by IFLA. This need not conflict with IFLA’s stance of neutrality. We do need international contact to form our own national political and our professional stance. Also, IFLA is important for providing coverage of smaller areas, such as Art librarianship” “A synthesis of all the conferences around the year needed – producing and distributing this could be a role for IFLA” “How much influence does IFLA have on publishers and what they publish? We need books published in local languages and telling people how to use information and libraries” “IFLA has a role in keeping up standards of library work and in adjunct areas such as publishing. It should have a greater role in coordinating – there are so many people over the world trying to do the same things” “IFLA could have a role in coordinating and encouraging. It is the marketing part of what IFLA is doing: what is the IFLA lead on this or that idea?” “IFLA might be able to be an agency for sponsors, for linking people who want to be trainers or mentors. Possibly it could be an agency to find out who would be willing to sponsor training programmes. It needs to be more of a resource and source of advice”. In summing up, there was support for a number of views of the role of IFLA in relation to information literacy, literacy and other aspects. Some of the views were cautionary: There was also some agreement with two strongly expressed views: “IFLA could play a role but in the right context. It has to be wary of not becoming a political tool. IFLA has to identify what it aims to achieve and in what areas” “IFLA needs to be a strong and healthy body. We do not have much knowledge about IFLA and its organization. It is difficult to understand how to ‘get inside’” “IFLA has a role to play but it needs to define it. Just having the General Conference is not enough”. “It is such a very remote organization that it is sometimes difficult to see it having an influence on our standards”. 139 Peter G. Underwood Conclusion Running through the focus group discussions there is a set of similar ideas: • That IFLA has a strong role to play in advice, guidance, and the development of standards. Its role in national policy development is necessarily limited. • That the Congress is an important meeting place and its proceedings a source of inspiration to those who have come with a ‘prepared mind’. • That the influence of its work and proceedings could be greater if it were communicated in accessible forms in partnership with existing publications such as the IFLA Journal. • That, for the younger professional, seeking to become involved, IFLA is a daunting organization. In answer to the question, “Does IFLA have a role to play in the diffusion of professional norms?” the response must be, for South Africa, “potentially so” – but, for many South African professionals its role is not clear or well defined. These are views held by a small group of South African professionals: it would be fascinating to discover if they are more widely held. References Alexander, N. (1995) Academic boycotts: some reflections on the South African case. Perspectives on the professions, 15(1) 3. Available: http://www.iit.edu/ departments/csep/perspective/pers15_1fall95_3.html (Accessed 13 March 2009). Campbell, H.C. (2002) IFLA: Library universality in a divided world. IFLA Journal, 28(3) 118–35. Available: http://www.ifla.org/V/iflaj/art2803.pdf (Accessed 13 March 2009). Davis Jr., D.G. and Feis, N. (2001) “With malice toward none”: IFLA and the Cold War. Libraries & Culture, 36(1) 1–15. Gurney, C. (1999) When the boycott began to bite. History Today, 49(6) 32–34. Kagan, A. (2005) IFLA and social responsibility: a core value of librarianship. In Seidelin, S. and Hamilton, S. (eds) Libraries, national security, freedom of information laws and social responsibilities: IFLA/FAIFE world report, 33–43. Copenhagen: IFLA/FAIFE. Available: http://www.ifla.org/faife/report/FAIFEWorldReport2005.pdf (Accessed 13 March 2009). Kapnisi, S. (2008) Evaluation study of the 2007 IFLA Congress in Durban. IFLA journal, 34(2):198–200. Available: www.ifla.org/V/iflaj/IFLA-Journal-2-2008. pdf (Accessed 13 March 2009). 140 Lancaster, F. W. and Haricombe, L. (1995) The academic boycott of South Africa: symbolic gesture or effective agent of change? Perspectives on the Professions, 15(1). Available: http://ethics.iit.edu/perspective/ pers15_1fall95_2.html (Accessed 13 March 2009). Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA). (2008) Annual report: August 2007 to October 2008. Available: http://www.liasa.org.za/annual_ report/LIASA_Annual_Report_2007-2008.pdf (Accessed 14 March 2009). Liebaers, H. (1980) Mostly in the line of duty: thirty years with books. The Hague: Martinus Nijhof. Liebaers, H. (1988) Towards Edinburgh 75: IFLA thirty years ago – the dramatic 34th Council and General Conference in Frankfurt am Main in 1968. In Proceedings of the 64th IFLA Council and General Conference, Amsterdam, 16–21 August 1998. Available: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/121-103e.htm (Accessed 11 March 2009). Liebaers, H. (2002) The Dutch tea party of IFLA in the Seventies: a quick flash back of forty-five years before the Dutch tea party. In Proceedings of the 68th IFLA Council and General Conference, Glasgow, 18–24 August 2002. Available: http://www.ifla.org/ IV/ifla68/papers/104-101e.pdf (Accessed 7 March 2009). Tise, E. R. (2003) Strategies by LIASA to develop library services and the profession in South Africa. In Proceedings of the World Library and Information Congress: 69th IFLA General Conference and Council, Berlin, 1–9 August 2003. Available: http://www. ifla.org/IV/ifla69/papers/191e-Tise.pdf (Accessed 13 March 2009}. Unesco. (1971) Records of the Sixteenth Session of the General Conference, Paris, 12 October – 14 November 1970. Vol. 1: Resolutions. Paris: Unesco. UNICEF. (2009) South Africa: statistics. Available: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/southafrica_ statistics.html (Accessed 10 March 2009). Walker, C.M. (2007) LIASA 1997–2007: background and recent history. In Bothma, T., Underwood, P. G. and Ngulube P. (eds) Libraries for the future: progress and development of South African libraries, 179–197. Pretoria: LIASA. About the Author continued the Library and Information Association of South Africa and the Association of Southern Africa Indexers and Bibliographers. Contact details: Centre for Information Literacy, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X01, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa. Tel. + 27 (0)21 650 3091. Fax: + 27 (0)21 650 4542. Cell: + 27 (0)84 650 3091. Home (landline and fax): +27 (0)21 761 8463. Work e-mail: [email protected] Home e-mail: [email protected] Web page: http:// www.ched.uct.ac.za/cil/dils The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda: an impact study Elisam Magara Charles Batambuze Abstract This study establishes the impact of the School Library Development Programme (SLDP) of the East African Book Development Association (EABDA) on the beneficiary schools in Pallisa District. The study was financed with funds provided by the Guust van Wesemael Literacy Prize, awarded by IFLA to the National Book Trust of Uganda in 2007. Data were collected from implementers and participants in the Pallisa District project including teachers, children, head teachers, teacher librarians and the District Education Office. It was established that there was significant utilization of (a) the skills acquired from the training and (b) the donation of books, in the management of collections and use of the library. Although schools had put in place strategies for enabling children to borrow and read books, the absence of purpose-built libraries with adequate seating facilities and space has limited children’s abilities to use the library and enjoy reading in schools. There is a need for a comprehensive school library development programme to guide interventions for stocking school libraries with relevant books and promoting reading practices. Keywords: East African Book Development Association; School Library Development Programme; Uganda; children’s reading; school libraries; impact studies Introduction Dr. Elisam Magara is Associate Professor, East African School of Librar y and Infor mation Science, Makerere University. He may be contacted at PO Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda. Tel: +256-414-531530, Mob: +256-772-495592. E-mail: [email protected] Charles Batambuze is Executive Secretary, National Book Trust of Uganda, PO Box 25412 Kampala, Uganda. Tel: +256-41-235264. Mob: +256-772580287. Fax: +256-41-23806. E-mail: [email protected] Education can fundamentally be developed through a process of providing knowledge, skill or competences to a learner or learners through optimal utilization of libraries and information services. Access to school libraries has the most potential in improving learning achievements and gains which in turn would influence the learner’s quality of life in later years and their contributions to national aspirations. Uganda aspires to eradicate poverty through several strategies including Universal Primary Education (UPE). The UPE strategy started being implemented in 1997 and scored several positives, especially in terms of increasing school enrollments. There are still major challenges facing UPE, including quality issues, dropout rates and limited access to books, especially supplementary readers. The limited exposure to supplementary readers has had grave consequences on the pupils’ performance in national exams; as studies by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) and the Education Standards Agency (ESA) found out, a majority of the pupils fail because they cannot read and interpret the examination questions. The centrality of school libraries and their development to facilitate delivery of quality education has been on Uganda’s national educational agenda for many years, as represented, for example, by the 1963 Castle Report of the Uganda Educational Commission, I F LA Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 141–151. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105670 141 Elisam Magara and Charles Batambuze the 1975 Ministry of Education Library Committee, the 1977 Standing Committee of the Public Libraries Board, and the 1978 UNESCO study on the development of school libraries (Magara and Bukirwa, 2004: 316). More recently, there have been several legal and policy frameworks, including the Government White Paper on education 1992, which provides guidelines on the need for libraries and their utilization in schools and communities, the Universal Primary Education (UPE) Guidelines, which advocate for writers/readers clubs in schools, and the National Textbook Policy 1997. Other initiatives to guarantee access to textbooks and other learning materials have included procurement programmes such as the Decentralized Instruction Materials Procurement (DIMP) programme, which handed schools the opportunity to select titles of both textbooks and supplementary readers to buy for the school as well as spreading bookshops to all districts in Uganda. And recently government introduced the use of mother tongue for instruction in the first three years of basic primary education. It is clear from the above that Uganda’s education system is very rich in terms of policy and legal frameworks. However, school library development in Uganda continues to suffer underfunding, neglect and lack of a specific policy for school libraries. Magara and Bukirwa (2004), in a study on school library development in Uganda, provided a blueprint for developing school libraries and information services. Some of the recommendations of the study have been incorporated into the draft School Library Development (SLD) Policy by the Ministry of Education and Sports (2005). The vision of the SLD policy is “a Uganda where national development is enhanced through lifelong learning and an information literate society capable of harnessing the environment around them” (Ministry of Education and Sports, 2005: 7). Background In order to contribute to the development of a reading culture in the region, the East African Book Development Association (EABDA), through its national chapters in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, has provided various programmes including the School Library Development Programme (Magara and Batambuze, 2005). In Uganda, the National Chapter is the National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU), founded in 1997 as a civil society 142 organization to promote authorship, publishing and the development of a reading culture. NABOTU’s current membership includes associations and institutions of authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians and many others. NABOTU started implementing the School Library Development Programme in 2001. This programme was developed out of a realization that most primary schools in Uganda lacked libraries and had very limited collections of supplementary readers, and teachers lacked skills to teach reading, promote reading and manage books well in the schools. The programme’s targets were both rural and urban poor schools, providing them with children’s storybooks and skills for the teachers in teaching reading methods, promoting reading and starting and running school libraries. The collections of storybooks donated include books locally published and procured using grants from EABDA, Sida, Pearson-Longman (UK) publishers and Book Aid International. The emphasis on storybooks is largely because they have more potential for encouraging a reading habit and culture than do school textbooks. Additionally, Book Aid International supported the programme through direct children’s book donations from UK based publishers and libraries. In 2006, the School Library Development Project was conducted in the district of Pallisa in Eastern Uganda by two members of NABOTU, the Uganda Library and Information Association (ULIA) and the National Library of Uganda (NLU). The selection of Pallisa was based on a number of indicators, including high levels of poverty and poor results in the national Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) over four successive years. The Pallisa District Education Officer (DEO) guided the NABOTU teams in identifying schools to benefit from this intervention. The Uganda Library and Information Association (2006) report further indicates that the criterion for selection of schools was that they were disadvantaged schools that were willing to establish a library and reading programme to benefit learners. The schools selected were from the four counties of Budaka, Pallisa, Kibuku and Tirinyi that make up Pallisa District. A workshop was organized by ULIA targeting teacher librarians from 50 primary schools that benefited from the book donations. Several studies on literacy practices in primary schools in Uganda had concluded that teachers were not well versed The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda in methods of teaching reading, reading promotion and management of libraries. These findings are corroborated by the Ministry of Education and Sports’ own findings, which show further that most teachers do not know how to use textbooks during instruction. Training teachers in the key skills of starting and managing school libraries, promoting reading to children, assessing the impact of books on pupils and teaching children to read was thus a key strategy for guaranteeing the success of NABOTU’s School Library Development Programme. • The teacher training carried out by ULIA had helped teachers to improve on how they were teaching and promoting reading and whether teachers through their peer networks were training others. • Storybooks donated were being read, interesting, relevant, of the right quality and quantities. • There were any efforts regarding promotion of reading in schools. • There were any challenges hindering further school library development by the schools themselves. The National Library of Uganda handled the procurement of appropriate children’s storybooks for donation to the schools. Some of the issues taken into account while selecting books included language – i.e. both English and the local languages in which instruction takes place – special themes such as HIV/AIDS, gender issues and price. A major concern was the anticipated short shelf life for the books as a result of over-use and because all locally published children’s storybooks are paperbacks. The consolation was that signs of early wear and tear as a result of use would be a good indication that the thirst and interest for well written and interesting storybooks in the schools was real. It was thought that this would dispel the notion that school teachers in Uganda keep books away from children. With average enrolments in the schools standing at about 1000, the National Library provided a total of 240 storybooks to every school. The assumption was that every child in the school would be able to read most of the storybooks as the teachers circulated them. It was also hoped that schools would be encouraged to ask for additional storybooks from government in order to meet the increasing demand from children. The study further sought to establish how the reading time on the school timetable was being influenced by the programme. It was proposed that the results, and lessons learned as a result of this study, would be widely shared with both the local and the international school library community. The Impact Study The impact study of the Pallisa School Library Development Project is a culmination of NABOTU having won the IFLA Guust van Wessemael Literacy Prize, 2007. It was proposed that, using the prize money, a study on the impact of the project would be carried out. Thus the purpose of this study was to establish the impact of the School Library Development Project on the beneficiary schools in Pallisa District. The study delved into the extent to which the objectives of the project had been achieved. The study established whether or not: Methodology A field survey was later carried out in a representative sample of 20 of the 50 primary schools that had benefited from the Pallisa School Library Development Project. Table 1 shows the names of the schools visited during the field survey. The field survey targeted teachers, children, head teachers, teacher librarians and the District Education Office. Data were collected from teacher librarians and head teachers using a structured interview guide. In some schools, where teacher librarians were not present, other teachers were selected. In two schools, focus group discussions among the teachers were used to enlist what could not be covered by the interviews. In eighteen schools, children were talked to as a class and an interview group guide was administered to selected classes as recommended by the schools’ administration. The numbers in these classes varied from school to school. In Nalufunya and Pallisa Township primary schools, a few pupils were selected based on their responsibilities in the school and interviewed in groups of six. The research team also undertook literature reviews that included field reports, newspaper and journal articles and books on the subject of school librarianship as well as best practices on library development from around the world and within government, which provided parameters for the evaluation of the current practices in Uganda in general and Pallisa in particular. In addition, 143 Elisam Magara and Charles Batambuze Sub-county No. of schools Schools Pallisa district Agule 1 Odusai Primary School Bulangira 1 Goli-Goli Primary School Buseta 1 Katiryo Primary School Butebo 1 Kalalaka Primary School Gogonyo 1 Gogonyo Primary School Kabwangasi 3 Nesenyi Primary School, Kabwangasi Primary School and Kabwangasi Demo. Kakoro 1 Kanginama Kibale 1 Kibale Primary School Puti-Puti 2 Limoto Primary School and Odepai Primary School Tirinya 1 Tirinya Primary School Town Council 3 Pallisa Township, Nalufuya Primary School and Kagoli Primary School Iki-Iki 2 Iki-Iki Primary School Integrated and Katira Primary School Kamunkoli 2 Kamunkoli Primary School, and Kadimunkoli Primary School Budaka district Total 20 Table 1. Schools visited. structured interviews were carried out with implementers of the activities. During the process of data collection, contact was made with Pallisa District Education Office, NABOTU, NLU and ULIA, who were involved in the implementation of the project, to determine important parameters for the study. The findings are based on the parameters that the study set out to establish, which are in turn based on the objectives of the Pallisa School Library Development Project. This thus gives the extent to which they have been achieved, the reasons for variations and any other information as well as observations from the schools. Impact of Teacher Training Teachers were trained in the ULIA workshop in teaching reading methods, promotion of reading and managing library collections. Through interviews and observations, this study attempted to find out the extent to which the training had helped teachers to improve on how they were teaching 144 and promoting reading and whether, through their peer networks, teachers were training others. Below are some of the findings. Organized Libraries Prior to the training some of the schools had rooms used as libraries. According to the testimonies of teachers, there was no particular order in which books were organized and used. Teacher librarians who participated in the training from schools such as Pallisa Township had, according to the head teacher and our own observations, created good book displays to facilitate children’s access to books and also used the subject classification to arrange shelf displays. However, as the head teacher expressed, since the teacher librarian left shortly afterwards, very little further efforts had been made. In some schools, due to lack of shelves, books are taken from the office to the library room and displayed on tables where children can choose and read. In Katoryo Primary School, for example, a library room has been provided. Although it had no shutters in the windows, the teacher librarian devised a programme where each morning books The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda get moved from the office to be displayed in the library room. In Gogonyo Primary School, the teacher librarian is reported to have influenced school management to acquire more storage facilities for the library. In Odepa Primary School, the Young Talk Club has supplied the school with additional reading materials which the teacher librarian ensures that all children access. In Limoto Primary School, after the training, the books were transferred from the cupboard in the head teacher’s office to a separate room where they were being easily accessed by children. In addition, the teacher librarian, after realizing that there was no money to buy furniture and could not keep the books on the ground, improvised an idea of using the available desks to display the books. The study further indicated that following the training a consciousness of the need for school libraries was aroused amongst teacher librarians, who in turn influenced school management to take certain decisions. For example, in Odepa Primary School, they asked for a new building to house the school library from the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF). In Iki-Iki Primary School, a request for a separate place for a library was made to the District. This was after realizing that currently books are kept with other school items that have enabled termites to destroy most of the books. In Masenyi Primary School, they had a plan of calling upon the parents to provide more shelves. Furthermore, the head teacher confirmed that the District authorities were planning to build them a library. Primary School and Kanginima, following the training manual, the teacher librarians identified and trained other teachers. It was observed, however, that not all the teachers were as enthusiastic about reading promotion because to them this was tedious work to do in addition to their teaching responsibilities. This pointed to a need to find motivational factors that will assist most teachers to get involved in reading promotion. In most cases, however, there were shining examples of collaboration between teachers in terms of reading promotion as well as sharing responsibility for proper usage of books. Teachers generally ensured that books were collected and supervised when in use. For instance, in Goli-Goli Primary School, simple explanations on how to arrange a library, issue books and replace them were done by the teacher librarian. In a focus group discussion conducted among the teachers in Kitara Primary School, participants indicated that when the teacher librarian is not available, he instructs the teachers on duty to take on the responsibilities. The role of transfer of skills is important, as specified by the Model School RUBRICS adopted by the Massachusetts School Library Media Association (2003) on the duties of a library teacher or teacher librarian to teach other teachers and pupils in the use of the library and resources. Equally the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto (IFLA. School Libraries and Resource Centers Section 2006) stresses the important role that the teacher librarian plays in ensuring that crucial skills for enabling access to reading materials are grasped by most teachers in a school. Skills Transfer Most schools recognized the importance of having more than one teacher with skills to teach and promote reading as well as manage school libraries. The recognition arose out of the awareness that teacher transfers, which affect teacher librarians as well, were a common threat to all schools. Findings of the study reveal that teacher librarians that had participated in the training were instrumental in organizing briefing sessions where all teachers and the head teacher participated. The result was that in schools such as Katiryo Primary School, not only was a new culture of opening up a library brought to the school, but the initiative was equally supported by all the teachers. In some schools, such as Kalalaka Primary School, Kamunkoli Mixed Primary School, Masenyi Reading Skills An assessment was done of new skills in the use of books learnt by pupils. Most pupils said that they now knew how to make use of a contents page. A group interview with children of Pallisa Town Primary School indicated knowledge on how to use tables of contents and references in the books. In other schools only library prefects said they knew how to borrow books from the library. Pupils also knew how to use labels on books. In some schools, identification of books on the shelves or browsing through the shelves was possible. In others, like Katira Primary School, “you read what the teacher tells you”, one pupil mentioned. This is mostly done when a teacher tells pupils during classroom exercises to use particular books. 145 Elisam Magara and Charles Batambuze Other children indicated that they knew how to retrieve books from open shelves. Some children indicated that they had gained skills in caring for books so that they are not torn, and in safeguarding books against theft. In one school, one child indicated that the librarian stops them from going to the library office. However, teachers teach them how to read and use tables of contents. The Massachusetts School Library Media Association standards (2003) provide for the role of the class teacher to include helping pupils become skilled users of information. Indeed, the development of information literacy skills is an inbuilt strategy in the School Library Development Policy (Ministry of Education and Sports 2005) a strategy that is embraced by many educational services including the whole-school information literacy by KwaZulu Natal Department of Education and Culture (2003). It was noted that it would be necessary in the future to help teachers so that they can take children through a whole range of reading skills to aid both intensive and extensive reading. Usage of Donated Storybooks The study assessed whether donated storybooks were being read, were interesting, relevant, of the right quality and quantities. Findings indicated that the books donated had been significantly utilized. Interviews with children from different schools showed very high interest in reading. In some cases children testified to jostling over the limited copies of books. It was clear from the interviews that children had improved their reading skills and could read very well. For instance in Katira and Goli Goli, responses indicated that pupils were easily accessing books and this had enabled them to develop interest in reading and use of the library. The research team observed a common trend where the less restrictive the book usage or library rules were, the more the children used the books. Schools that permitted usage of the storybooks are reported to have started reaping benefits. For example, teachers from Katira and Goli Goli confirmed that, as a result of reading, school children had gradually developed better abilities in comprehension and interpretation of what is being read. In Pallisa Township and Kabwangasi Demo, teachers attributed good results in the English examinations during the primary leaving examinations (PLE) in 2007 partly to the use of donated storybooks. It was also noted that, in some schools, pupils could ask to read these books on their own. In other schools teachers indicated that children could write when receiving 146 dictation, and in other circumstances they could come out with a readable sentence, which was not happening before the exposure to storybooks. The study went further to explore circumstances under which usage of the storybooks happened. The following findings were made: Use during class time In schools such as Iki Iki, Odepai, and Limoto storybooks were being read during class time. Children were not allowed to borrow storybooks because of the limited numbers. However they were allowed to borrow textbooks for use at home. In Goli-Goli Primary School, the school timetable caters for a library period for every class Primary 1 to 7 while in Kamonkoli Primary School, the timetable caters for reading lessons for P1–3. Taking Books Home In schools like Kanginima Primary School and Kadimunkoli Primary School, children were allowed to take books home. This mostly applied to the day scholars who borrowed and took home books to read. Free Time at School Some children read in their ‘free time’ e.g. during break and lunch times. In boarding schools such as Kabwangasi Demo, children borrowed books to take to the dormitories to read. In Odusai Primary School, one pupil confirmed that they read under the tree during reading lessons and at break times. Borrowing Books for a Period It was noted that in some schools children were allowed to borrow a book for some days or weeks. It was noted that borrowing is encouraged at the beginning of the term in the 1st–5th weeks. Unfortunately, in some schools, children were not able to access the books. A student confirmed that “in that year [2008], they had not started using the books in the school”. Others lamented that “for the whole year, the books were in the head teacher’s office”. Use in the Library In a few circumstances, children confirmed that they went to the library and read there. However, some children admitted that there were few seats in The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda the library where they could go and read. In some schools, library books were displayed and children were given the opportunity to choose. The above comments show some significant contribution of SLDP to the development of a reading culture in schools. It is clear from the above that several schools were trying different methods to facilitate access to storybooks, textbooks and other learning materials. Relevance of Donated Books An inquiry was done to find out from teachers and teacher librarians the relevance of the storybooks donated by NLU. From the interviews, it was noted that books like the Monitor Readers (Monitor Books is a local publishing house) were favoured by teachers and teacher librarians. Some popular titles mentioned by children included The Great Chief, Gulu-Gulu, Don’t Play With Fire and The Greedy Old Man. Teachers judged most of the storybooks donated as relevant. Local language readers like Tkosio ka Oliso, an Iteso book, were favoured by teachers. In all, readers help children to explore more in reading. In some schools, it was noted that pupils liked storybooks with pictures or illustrations and big letters. Furthermore, pupils appreciated books with diagrams. To test the memory of pupils on how best they read, it was necessary to ask them to indicate which titles of books in the schools they liked most. The following are some of the titles mentioned and the reasons why they were favoured: • Don’t Play With Fire: Message on HIV/AIDS • Gulu Gulu Goes to School (8): “Because it is available in the school” • Where is the Baby (5): “It has a good story. It teaches him how to care for the babies. It also teaches him how to ask and answer questions.” • The Story of Njabanjabala: “It teaches him how to avoid bad groups and teaches him how to behave a good way.” • Gipin and Labang (2): “Because it teaches him about behaviour in society” • Kintu and Nambi (2): “Because it is about the 1st Muganda. You learn the behaviour of early man.” (The numbers e.g. 8 in brackets indicate the number of schools in which the title was favoured.) It was noted that some storybooks had difficult words, hence the need for children’s dictionaries. The books mentioned by teachers were also favoured by children, which shows that teachers have an influence on what the children read. Performance of Schools in PLE for 2006 and 2007 It was important to establish the performance of schools in the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) in the years 2006 and 2007 to assess whether the donation of books to schools and the training conducted could have had an impact directly or indirectly. When asked to comment on the performance in PLE of 2007 compared to that of 2006, head teachers or their deputies did not see any significant difference in the years. In a few schools, like Katira, Iki-Iki, and Kagoli there was improvement in performance. Those who registered better performance in 2007, such as Kamonkoli, Katiryo, Iki-Iki and Kagoli, cited reading in schools as a motivator to the year’s performance. In Kamonkoli, there was better performance in 2007 compared to earlier years. It is clear that many schools did not register improved performance in 2007. However, those schools that had embraced a strong reading program were making progressive improvements in performance. An analysis of the results in 12 schools where full results were available shows that their performance was not significantly different from the overall District performance. Views on the reasons for poor performance were diverse and included massive transfers of teachers from one school to another, which disrupted both teaching and learning, lack of lunch for the children, etc. No school cited the high pupil to textbook ratios, or the limited supplies of supplementary readers as having contributed to the failure. The research team was not surprised by this finding as it confirmed the fact that education in Uganda is more teacher-centred with resources such as textbooks and storybooks playing a supportive role. Schools Expenditure on Procurement of Reading Materials Most of the head teachers said they had a budget for the procurement of reading materials. However, many of them did not have actual figures of expenditure. Those who had no budget 147 Elisam Magara and Charles Batambuze indicated that they received books through the UPE and DIMP programmes. Annual expenditure on supplementary readers in 2007 in eleven selected schools with a total enrolment of 11,033 pupils ranged from UGX 150,000 in Kagoli to UGX 400,000 in Kadimunkoli, with an average of UGX 257,828 or UGX 257 per pupil per year. The minimum market price for a supplementary reader is about UGX 3,000, so that the average of UGX 257 per pupil per year is far less than the cost of one book in the market. Indeed, the total amount of annual expenditure in these schools (UGX 2,836,105) would buy an average of 86 supplementary readers per school per year, for schools with average enrolments of 1,003 pupils. The basic requirements of DIMP demand that 10 percent of the total UPE grant be spent on supplementary reading books (Ministry of Education and Sports, 2004:6). In addition, according to the District Education Officer (DEO) Pallisa, Mr. Fredsam Kubuule, schools use 25 percent of UPE funds to cater for other scholastic materials. He noted that if a head teacher finds a textbook is lost or destroyed, or wants to add on to the stock, after consultation with the teachers, he/she uses the UPE funds to replace lost or damaged books. Efforts are in place to add to the stock through the DIMP programme, but the system needs to change to take into account the actual cost of books and aim to acquire at least one supplementary reader per pupil per year. Promotion of Reading in Schools Interviews with head teachers, teacher librarians and teachers showed that a number of activities were being deployed to promote reading in the schools. These activities took into account the age and class levels of the pupils and included the following: Repackaging information from books Teachers had tried to repackage information from books into forms like charts which were being used in class. In some cases, after reading books, pupils would be asked to dramatize what they had read. In some schools, reading was encouraged 148 in preparation for debates, which were carried out weekly. Reading Clubs A few schools had formed reading clubs which helped pupils to organize group readings and talk about the books they may have read. According to one respondent, the formation of such groups enabled children to borrow books and share the techniques of reading. In addition, some schools like Kibale Primary School were encouraging children to write articles about the characters in the books they read and share them with other children. Use of the Library According to some teachers and teacher librarians, children practice reading by borrowing readers from the library. For example, in Kibale Primary School, it was noted that pupils borrow books over the weekend and return them on Mondays. The fact that some children visit the library in their free time and borrow the books is a good contribution to the promotion of reading. Such practices enable children to borrow books and develop abilities to read on their own. Some head teachers confirmed that children are now trying to use English as much as possible due to the practice of using the library. In some schools, like Kabwangasi Primary School, pupils confirmed that they were using the library and were familiar with guidance given by teachers on how to read. In Gogonyo Primary School, one pupil said that he can read the labels on books. Other pupils indicated that they know how to use the contents page to find things in the book. Those who showed no knowledge said that it was “because the libraries are not there”. In some schools, like in Odepai Primary School, a pupil said “they don’t allow us go to the library—not allowed because they fear we will steal the books”. Challenges Hindering the School Library Development Programme in Schools Respondents were required to indicate the problems hindering the SLDP in schools. Most responses indicated that shortage of storage space or lack of a dedicated library space was the greatest The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda challenge to library development. The issue of shortage of space has been aggravated by the high enrolments, which are not necessarily matched by the same level of growth in terms of facilities, services, books etc. Respondents further cited several challenges in the procurement of books and other learning materials under the DIMP programme. For instance, it was noted that some suppliers produce lists of books which they don’t have, claiming that they are out of print and sometimes suggest alternative titles. At the time of supplying the books, those ordered are not available The DEO of Pallisa District corroborated these findings and added that, “suppliers of text books and supplementary readers, as well as the printers of books take long to [supply] books. We always end the financial year without paying. This means that the funds meant for buying books end up being sent back [to the Ministry of Finance].” Several other stakeholders involved in book procurement agreed that in most cases the capacity of local suppliers is in doubt, which also affects the pricing of books. One such stakeholder, the NLU, acknowledges the problems as follows: • Finding readers of levels appropriate to the target group; i.e. the levels indicated on the books are not automatically readable by the pupils in those age brackets. We have had to visit the schools to establish how well the pupils could read in order to get them the right materials. • Appropriate books were few on market; i.e. the titles with the language that suited the pupil’s ability to read were very few. • Some titles appearing on the publishers’ lists were not available in stock. After making selections and forwarding the lists for delivery we would be asked to change and select from the available titles. The titles could turn out not to be within the appropriate levels. • The process of procurement was prolonged beyond what we expected because some titles were out of print or the copies were not enough. • In some cases we established on delivery that the quality of the books; i.e. paper, cover or binding was too poor and not suitable for that level of children. This meant that such books could not last beyond 5 children and therefore not serve our purpose. In such cases we resorted to substituting some books with fresh selections. • It was a lot of work to record books for the schools when the titles were not all the same; i.e/we could not make copies of the same lists throughout as titles tended to vary among schools. • There were very few books in the indigenous language. • We had to establish what kind of books would be appropriate by visiting the Education Department in Pallisa and discussing with the officers. • The age range and classes indicated on the publishers’ catalogue were not the appropriate levels for the pupils of Pallisa so we had to select books for, e.g. P1 readers for the primary three. The pre-school books of the alphabet were also selected for the P1 and P2 levels. Lack of Purpose Built Libraries Most schools lack functional libraries. Even where a library exists, for example in Kabwangasi Demo School, which shares the library with the Primary Teachers College (PTC), they demanded their own library to help all classes. Shortage of Books in Schools There are generally inadequate quantities of books, especially supplementary books. Pallisa District generally had a textbook to pupil ratio of 1:5 which is well below the national average of 1:3. In terms of supplementary reading materials, the situation was even worse because of the limited emphasis on the procurement of these kinds of books by government. Teachers indicated that the pricing of books was way out of reach for most rural schools and this would certainly affect the collection sizes in the schools. Lack of Opportunities for Training According to the DEO, school staff establishments do not provide for the employment of a librarian in schools. It is the duty of the head teacher to identify a teacher to undertake the additional responsibility of running a library or managing the school’s book collection. It is clear that the need to induct these teacher librarian appointees in skills to manage libraries and establish and manage vibrant school based reading programmes is paramount. Teachers noted that there were no opportunities open to them to get training in this crucial area. Summary The school library development project undertaken by NABOTU in Pallisa District succeeded in 149 Elisam Magara and Charles Batambuze many ways. The programme inducted teachers from the beneficiary schools in different skills and, as the findings have shown, quite a number of teachers have deployed the skills learnt in different ways. The study also found that school children were now being taught crucial skills for using books. The findings also showed improvements in providing or creating opportunities for children to access books. A number of schools have devised new activities for promoting reading including formation of reading clubs. There are still a number of challenges that schools need to overcome, such as lack of facilities (buildings) and funds for continually stocking and restocking school libraries or collections and the need for continuous skills development for teacher librarians who are appointed to the role without any specialized training. Conclusion From the above observations, it can be concluded that the current state of libraries in the schools surveyed in Pallisa District is inadequate, and this has affected reading promotion. However, the interventions made under the School Library Development Programme (SLDP) with regard to training of teachers and donation of books have had a positive influence on the beneficiary schools’ reading programmes. It is clear that a programme designed and focused on improving school libraries, training teachers and helping schools with stocking of relevant storybooks would go a long way in providing a good environment for reading promotion and improving on the quality of education. Recommendations Given the foregoing observations and conclusions, the study makes the following recommendations: • Government should consider a teacher training curriculum that takes into account the key skills of teaching reading methods, promoting reading and managing school libraries. • Districts working with Centre Coordinating Tutors could implement an in-service training programme for teachers already in service training them in the above skills. • There is a need to adopt a balanced budget ratio for buying textbooks and supplementary reading materials. The current emphasis on textbooks needs to shift in order to accommodate more supplementary reading materials that would improve the culture of reading. Building and Strengthening Cooperation and Networks • Districts should improve supervision and monitoring to ensure that the support given to schools is put to effective use. • Publishers and suppliers of books should ensure that the titles provided on their lists are available or else utilize the Uganda Book Sellers Association (UBA) and Uganda Publishers Association (UPA) network to ensure that the right materials are supplied. • Publishers need to make additional investments in developing reading materials in the local languages. • Government should revise or improve on the UPE guidelines to include the duties of a teacher and head teacher aspects of promoting reading in schools. Acknowledgements This study was financed with funds provided by the Guust van Wesemael Literacy Prize, awarded by IFLA to the National Book Trust of Uganda in 2007. Representatives of Stakeholders Contacted 150 Enhancing the Development of School Libraries Mr. Fredsam, Kibuule, DEO Pallisa District • Government needs to discuss and implement the School Library for Development Policy to guide the development of school libraries. • Government, through its facilities grant, should construct school libraries along with classroom blocks. • There is a need to recruit qualified librarians or teacher librarians who have a library qualification to run school libraries and school based reading programmes. Mr. Cosmas, Musagalumbwa Coordinating Centre Tutor (CCT) Butebo, Petete Sub Country Ms Stella Nekuusa, Senior Librarian, NLU (Coordinator of Book Donation) Mr. Robert Kayiki, Uganda Library and Information Association (Coordinator of Training) Mr. David Kibuuka, Chairman Uganda Publishers Association (UPA) The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda Name of the school Head teachers or their deputies Teacher librarians, teachers or stock master/mistress Gogonyo P/S Oitenge C. Emorut Philp Goli-Goli Nyulya Debra Bagaya David Iki-Iki Integrated Nadeera Jane Kojjo Kateu Peter Kabwangasi Demo School Kabuna Sam Muyiga Jane Kabwangasi P/S Tayya J. B. Okurutu J Kadimunkoli P/S Kibale Sumba Walikweramuki Moses Kagoli P/S Ochien E. Mwa-Mwiza Joseph Kalaka P/S Aisu Talya D. Kamonkoli Mixed School Nkidangha F. Jane Sasula Samuel Kanginima P/S Lipoto Patrick Magola Amosi Katira P/S Njaye Edith Buba Abasi Katiryo P/S Kalunga Kalim and Kadamba Micheal Soikya Joseph Kibale P/S Opedun Clement Olipot L Limoto P/S Ochilamer C. Achadu Richard Nalufuya P/S Omuult Mary Nampike Enok Nasenyi P/S Kabuna G. Michel Woniaye Chrisopher Odepai P/S Emanutu Ochani D. Odusai P/S Muron Jane Peter Olyabong Charlse Pallisa Township Nabesha Idi NA Tirinya P/S Kaga John Namutebi Rose Table 2. Contact persons in schools. References IFLA. School Libraries and Resource Centre Section. (2006) IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto. www.ifla.org/VII/s11/pubs/manifest.htm (Accessed 4/28/2008] KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture. (2003) Directorate: Education Library Information and Technology Services. School Library Policy. Magara, E. and Batambuze, C. (2005) Towards a reading culture for Uganda. African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, 15(1): 35–42. Magara, E. and Bukirwa, N. Joyce. (2004) Towards a School Library Development Policy for Uganda. Library Review, 53(6): 313–322. Massachusetts School Library Media Association. (2003) Massachusetts School Library Media Program Standards for 21ST Century Learning, http://www. mslma.org/whoweare/standards/standardsrev.pdf Massachusetts School Library Media Association. (2002) Model School RUBRICS. Adopted by the MSLMA Board May 2002. http://maschoolibraries. org/dmdocuments/rubric.pdf Ministry of Education and Sports. (2004) Decentralised Instructional Materials (DIMP): Management Handbook for School and Districts. Kampala: MoES. Ministry of Education and Sports. (2005) School Library Development Policy: Final Draft, Technical Committee on the School Library Development Policy, MoES. Uganda Library and Information Association. (2006) Training teachers-librarians to manage book collections and promote reading: course handbook, Pallisa. 151 Information Literacy in Students Entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium: lessons learned from an evaluation Paul Thirion Bernard Pochet Abstract Although universities are providing more and more information literacy training for their undergraduate students, the students’ real level of information literacy at the beginning of their studies has never been assessed. Hence EduDOC has decided to team up with the CIUF ‘Library’ Commission in order to organize a wide study aiming at objectively describing this initial level of information literacy, at identifying the students’ main weaknesses, as well as allowing instructors to adjust their training on this basis. The questionnaire was based on a similar study carried out in Québec and contains 20 questions grouped in five themes relating to information search steps. It was sent in September 2007 to a random sample of students entering a higher education institution in the French Speaking Community of Belgium for the first time. The students’ rather poor results confirm that organizing an information literacy program is imperative if students are to perform well in their studies. Keywords: information literacy; university students; evaluation; French language; Belgium Introduction Going to a library or even having a library in a school clearly influences the students’ school results, as was demonstrated already in 1990 (Line 1990; Lance 1994; Lance et al. 2004). Moreover several scientific studies, e.g. Todd (1995), more recently Poll (2006) and Zmuda and Harada (2008), as well as Coulon in France (Coulon 1997; Coulon et al. 1999), have shown explicitly that the students’ success in college is partly linked to their skills in retrieving information. Those studies have yet to be confirmed (Thirion 2004). While their computer skills are developing clearly and at an everyounger age, students are still unable to retrieve valid, quality information that can support their assignments during their undergraduate studies. As this ability to be critical and independent in the search for information seems to be the one asset needed for students to succeed in college, several head librarians in higher education have created proper information literacy training, which is often part of the curriculum (Pochet 2004). About the Authors: page 170 152 As the objective initial level of the students’ information skills is not known, the instructor can only use his subjective perception of their levels. In order to objectively describe the students’ levels, the ‘Library’ Commission of the CIUF (Interuniversity Council of the French Speaking Community of Belgium) and the EduDOC Group decided to assess the students’ levels when they entered higher education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium. This study also allows international comparisons. I F LA Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 152–170. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105671 Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium This study was based on a 2002 Québec survey organized by CREPUQ (Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebéc Universities) and headed by Diane Mittermeyer and Diane Quirion (Mittermeyer and Quirion 2003; Mittermeyer 2005). The aim of the Québec survey was first to determine incoming students’ information literacy skills so as to identify their needs and to provide more appropriate services, and secondly to provide university libraries with reliable data to support recommendations for the integration of information literacy courses into the university curriculum. The questionnaire was elaborated in French and in English and was based on the process of information searching defined in five steps. It contains 20 questions grouped under five themes (Table 1) and one area for open comments. The Québec study targeted students entering fifteen universities in Québec (twelve French-speaking and three English-speaking), i.e. about 40,000 students. During July 2002, 5381 questionnaires were sent by regular mail to students, who had the opportunity to win a PC or Palm computer if they filled out the survey – not a negligible incentive. • to gain objective information about the information skills of students entering higher education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium • to allow instructors to confront their subjective perceptions with the objective reality measured by the survey Themes 1. Concept Identification 2. Search Strategy 3. Document Types 4. Search Tools 5. Use of results The CIUF-EduDOC Survey When setting up this survey, the CIUF ‘Library’ Commission and the EduDOC Group were following four main objectives, some of them similar to the Québec survey: Questions # Concept studied 4 Significant words 8 Significant words 13 Significant words 2 Translation into keywords 9 Boolean operator ‘OR’ 11 Search indexes 12 Controlled vocabulary 16 Boolean operator ‘AND’ 3 Encyclopedias 15 Periodicals 20 Scholarly journals 1 Databases 6 Search engines 7 Library catalogues 14 Metasearch engines 17 Library catalogues 5 Reading citation 10 Bibliographies 18 Evaluation of information (Internet) 19 Ethical use of information Table 1. Themes and questions of the survey (from Mittermeyerand Quirion 2003). 153 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet • to identify the students’ weaknesses so that instructors can offer proper training • and finally to make comparisons at an international level with Québec, but also, when their results are available, with the six European countries (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy and Sweden) which are also using the Québec questionnaire within the framework of ENIL (European Network for Information Literacy) although limiting their study to a few disciplines). The board of the EduDOC Group decided to carry out the survey in January 2006 and to include all the higher education institutions (including art education). The CIUF ‘Library’ Commission quickly joined the project (February 2006). Working Hypotheses We identified seven major hypotheses to be assessed in the survey: 1. The performance level of first-year students entering higher education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium is very low. It is no different from the students’ level in Québec. 2. The information literacy level of university students does not differ significantly from that of students in other higher education institutions. 3. Having an Internet connection at home impacts the students’ performance level, and this impact cannot be reduced to the socio-economic background of the family. 4. Being a user of a library or a documentation center during secondary school increases the performance level. 5. The performance level is independent of the choice of studies. 6. The performance level is independent of the time needed to access higher education. 7. Selecting a ‘strong’ school option (6 hours or more a week) at the end of secondary school influences the performance level, whether the orientation be in mathematics, science, second language, or French (mother tongue). Questionnaire In order to allow comparisons with the Québec situation and in order to answer the first hypothesis, we barely modified the original questionnaire (available in both English [p.77] and French 154 [p. 87] in Mittermeyer and Quirion 2003, available online at http://crepuq.qc.ca/documents/bibl/ formation/studies_Ang.pdf). The changes were rather adaptations to the Belgian context (the words ‘Canada’ were replaced with ‘Belgium’, and ‘Tremblay’ became ‘Tolkien’, a character more familiar to francophone Belgians). For each of the 20 questions of the questionnaire, respondents had to choose among multiple-choice responses. For the first sixteen questions, only one answer was to be chosen; for the last four, multiple responses were possible and expected. For these four questions (nos. 17 to 20), the response was considered as ‘good’ if all the correct answers were selected. The students’ performance level is measured in terms of the number of correct responses given to the 20 questions, and may thus range from 0–20. To be able to verify the various hypotheses, preliminary questions were added. They aimed at defining the student sample (school orientation, secondary education history, parents’ education, Internet connection at home, etc.), but the questionnaire remained strictly anonymous. Finally the questionnaire layout was modified so that it could be read automatically and optically (OMR), which speeded up the data collection and minimized the risk of transcription errors. The detail of the French questionnaire used can be viewed in the summary report of the study at: http://www. edudoc.be/synthese.pdf. A pretest was conducted in September 2006 with around 100 students, who were given slightly modified versions of the survey. The students were also interviewed individually so as to pin down possible comprehension problems. The questionnaire layout was consequently improved. Collaborations In March 2007, a letter was sent to all the directors of universities and higher education institutions to present the study and to request their participation approval. In some cases the request was backed by ‘pool’ leaders, an association grouping higher education institutions (universities and others) inside a geographical area. All together 31 institutions agreed to participate: eight of the nine universities, eighteen of the 26 higher education institutions, two music schools, Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium two art colleges, and the Royal Military School. This participation rate was extremely satisfactory, all the more that the participating institutions had to take on some of the expenses (mailing the questionnaires to the students selected in their institutions). It reflected the institutions’ concern about their students’ success and the strategies that can be put in place to improve this success. The information supplied by our questionnaire was of real interest to them. Methodology One contact person was designated in each institution in order to coordinate the survey locally. The sampling method was also defined so that the sampling was similar in all institutions: random selection of one first-year student entering higher education out of five in the alphabetical registration lists as of 17 September 2007. To increase the participation rate, an incentive was added: the students could win one sponsored PC if they answered the questionnaire and their name was drawn. The questionnaire was sent by mail to the students’ residences between 30 September and 15 October, i.e. early enough to avoid the risk of students being exposed to information literacy training in their institutions. The envelopes contained an explanatory letter signed by the rector or president of the institution, the strictly anonymous survey form, an envelope with ‘postage paid by the recipient’, and a participation form to win the PC. The deadline to send back the survey was November 2007. In some institutions some slight procedure differences were observed: in one of them the questionnaires were handed out to the students instead of being mailed; in another, the questionnaires were filled in while the students were gathered in a lecture hall. Other institutions or parts of institutions did not have enough information about the students’ backgrounds and could not identify, in the preselection, true first-year college students from those who had possibly spent one year in a different higher education institution prior to enrolling in their institution. However the questionnaire had been designed so that false firstyear students could be removed at a later stage. Finally, one smaller institution that nevertheless wanted to have specific results requested to send the questionnaire to all first-year students so as to have enough answers for the statistics. Sample Description The response rate was particularly satisfying – probably due to the attractive incentive – since 1868 out of the 4388 questionnaires sent were returned, i.e. a 42.57 percent response rate (in Québec the response rate had been 56.9 percent). During the control stage 150 questionnaires were removed from the sample because they had been filled out by students who had already enrolled in a previous higher education institution and thus did not meet the ‘first-year student ‘definition. Moreover, three questionnaires were removed because they were not properly filled out (mostly no answers or random answers not complying with the instructions) and only reflected the students’ desire to win the raffled computer. After the validation procedure the number of questionnaires taken into account was 1715, i.e. a real participation rate of 41.2 percent for universities and 36.2 percent for other higher education institutions and art schools. The average age of responding students was 18 years and 10 months, and the majority of them (93.2 percent) had studied in a secondary school in the French Speaking Community of Belgium. It is not possible to claim that the sample is perfectly representative of all first-year students in higher education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium. Some elements are, however, reassuring. First more than two out of every three higher education institutions and eight out of nine universities participated in the survey; they respected the random selection procedure rigorously and had a high response rate. According to the latest available official figures from the Conseil des Recteurs francophones de Belgique (CREF) and Etnic (the general IT service of the Education Department of the French Community of Belgium).1 the 985 university students who took part in our survey represent 6.0 percent of the 12,798 first-year university students. For the remaining students 716 questionnaires were validated, representing 3.7 percent of the 19,577 first-year students mentioned in the Etnic statistics for 2003–2004. The students’ distribution in various university study programs indicated in our survey is similar 155 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet to the CREF statistics (Figure 1), though with a higher proportion of students in life and applied sciences and a lower proportion in social, economic, or political science. Performance Level and Socio-Economic Background of the Family As recommended in the literature, the socio-cultural background of the students’ families was assessed on the basis of the mother’s educational level. This allowed linking the students’ performance level with the Socio-Economic Background of their Families (SEBF). The students’ performance means, measured in terms of the number of correct responses to the questionnaire, ranged from 6.7 for students whose mothers did not graduate from elementary school to 8.5 for those whose mothers who graduated from university after 4 or more years (Figure 2). The analysis of variance shows a statistically very significant difference in the results of students according to their mother’s level of education (p < 0.0000001). A post hoc test (Scheffé) indicated that having a mother who was educated at the level of university studies (associate or bachelortype degrees) made the biggest difference. The SEBF thus plays an important role in the students’ information literacy. It should be mentioned that the fathers’ education level gives similar results but with a smaller range of difference. Hypotheses Assessment Hypothesis 1: The Performance Level of Firstyear Students Entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium is Very Low. It is no Different from the Students’ Level in Québec As noted above, the performance level of individual students was measured in terms of the number of correct responses to the 20 questions on the questionnaire. The mean of the results for all the participants is called the ‘global mean’ to the questionnaire and is very low, with a global mean of 7.67/20 and a perfect Gaussian distribution (Figure 3). A high proportion – 92.8 percent of all the students – scored less than 12 out of 20 – which is often considered as the minimum grade to pass a course. The global mean is 1.3 percentage points lower than that in the Québec survey. If only university students are taken into account, this difference is still present, but is reduced to 0.84 percentage points. One explanation for this could be the difference in the students’ history. In Belgium, students enter university right after graduating from secondary school (6 years). In Québec, after graduating from secondary school (5 years), students attend two years of preparatory school (Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel – Cégep), where they may receive information literacy training. Figure 1. Comparison by orientation between the sample and CREF data (university first-year students). 156 Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium Figure 2. Mean line graph in relation with the education level of the mother. Figure 3. Students’ distribution based on correct answers. 157 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet Figure 4. Mean performance level ranked by theme for Belgian and Quebec students. An ‘uncertainty rate’ was calculated on the basis of “no answer” and “I don’t know” answers. The mean uncertainty rate is 12.23 percent. The same calculation applied to the Québec survey data indicated that Québec students not only answered more questions correctly, but also with more certainty (uncertainty rate: 10.53 percent). If we compare the results in Belgium and in Québec regarding the themes (Figure 4), we see that the result-based ranking is similar. The best known themes are ‘Concept Identification’ (same as Québec students) and ‘Document Types’ (with Belgian students performing slightly better than Québec students). The remaining three themes confirm that the Belgian students’ level is very weak and significantly lower than the Québec students’ level (differences ranging from 7 to 14 percent). The least successful theme was ‘Use of Results’. Hypothesis 2: The Performance Level is not Significantly Different in Universities and Other Higher Education Institutions Both distributions are normal. The mean performance level of the 985 university students is 8.13 with a standard deviation of 2.46, while for 158 the 716 non-university students the mean is 7.05 with a standard deviation of 2.32. A student’s t test to compare the means (Figure 5) indicates a very significant difference between the two groups (p < 0.0000001). The performance levels of the two groups are thus significantly different and this goes against our hypothesis. Nevertheless the range of the difference between the two groups is limited since it is only a little more than 1 percentage point. Multiple regression analysis reveals that the difference cannot be explained by the mother’s socio-cultural background (measured through her educational level). The same difference can be observed when it comes to the various themes (Table 2). Hypothesis 3: Having an Internet Connection at Home Impacts the Students’ Performance Level, which is not Entirely Dependent on the Socio-Economic Background of the Family (SEBF) Although a vast majority of students entering higher education have Internet at home (94.2 percent Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium Figure 5. Mean graph for university and non-university students. Figure 6. Comparison of means between students who have Internet at home and those who have not. 159 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet Variable Mean others Mean univ. ld t value p N N others univ. SD others SD univ. Theme 1 1.483240 1.698477 –5.40699 1699 0.000000 716 985 0.828512 0.797256 Theme 2 1.455307 1.760406 –6.02057 1699 0.000000 716 985 0.973473 1.072312 Theme 3 1.441341 1.591878 –4.82228 1699 0.000000 716 985 0.700186 0.584292 Theme 4 1.780726 1.884264 –2.23675 1699 0.025432 716 985 0.877516 0.987115 Theme 5 0.886872 1.197970 1699 0.000000 716 985 0.824313 0.910863 –7.23556 Table 2. Comparison for each theme between university and non-university students. responded positively to the question), a statistical comparison remains possible (n high enough, normal distributions, and variance homosedasticity). The performance mean for students having an Internet connection at home is 7.68, whereas it is 7.56 for those not having a connection (Figure 6). The mean comparison test reveals that there is no significant difference (t = 0.43; p = 0.665). Thus, having an Internet connection at home does not improve the students’ performance. The possible link with the SEBF is irrelevant. Hypothesis 4: Being a User of a Library or a Documentation Center During Secondary School Increases the Performance Level A first observation is comforting: students – at least those who later register in college – seem to go to a library more regularly than expected. Indeed 51.1 percent of the sample students declared they went to the library at least four times a year during their secondary studies, while 20.7 percent even answered that they went more than 10 times a year (Figure 7). It is remarkable that the average performance in the survey increases with the number of times students went to the library in secondary school (Figure 8). The average performance mean ranges from 7.13 for students who never go to the library (group A) to 8.24 for those who go more than 10 times a year (group D). The variance analysis shows that this influence is very significant (p < 0.0000001). Hypothesis 5: The Performance Level is Independent of the Choice of Studies One of the preliminary survey questions requested students to indicate in a list of 10 categories which higher studies they had chosen to pursue. The variance analysis shows that this variable has a very significant impact (p > 0.0000001). The performance level is thus not independent of the choice of studies (Figure 9). On average, students who choose to study history, philosophy, or languages start their studies with a much higher information literacy level (8.45) than those (elementary and middle school teachers) who begin education degrees (6.90). Fortunately the latter group now receives a 15-hour information literacy training program, as part of the curriculum, which was made compulsory through a ministerial decision in 2000. Hypothesis 6: The Performance Level is Independent of the Time Needed to Access Higher Education Figure 7. Students’ distribution based on the number of times students went to the library during secondary education. 160 We did not take into account the time between graduation from secondary school and the beginning of university studies as some students Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium Figure 8. Link between the results and the number of times students go to the library during secondary education. Figure 9. Mean performance level by choice of studies. 161 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet Figure 10. Mean graph illustrating the time needed to access higher education. spend that time abroad. Apparently 69.1 percent of students graduated from elementary and secondary school without failing any grade (with 3.7 percent of students even being ahead of their grade). However, 29.9 percent (513 students) had to resit at least one time during secondary school, and three students were up to five years behind their peers. The variance analysis shows that the time taken to complete primary and secondary education successfully has a very significant impact (Figure 10). We cannot draw conclusions from the very limited number of students who were in extreme situations (three students who were five years behind their peers, three who were two years ahead, and one who was three years ahead of their peers), but in general the performance level seems to be linked to the number of years needed to graduate from secondary school. Hypothesis 7: Selecting a ‘Strong’ School Option (6 hours or more a week) at the End of Secondary School Influences the Performance Level, Whether the Orientation be in Mathematics, Science, Second Language, or French (mother tongue) During their studies, students in the French Speaking Community of Belgium can customize 162 their schedules so as to receive more or less instruction in certain topics. A weekly 6-hour course is considered as a ‘strong’ school option. Comparing the performance means (Table 3) shows that students who chose a ‘strong’ Latin option in the final year of secondary school performed significantly better than the others in the survey. The same holds true for those who selected a science or mathematics ‘strong’ option. A multiple regression analysis confirms that the mathematics option has the most impact, followed by Latin and language arts. The science option, however, does not significantly impact the model. Figure 11 shows the mean increase in the results, depending on the weekly number of hours of mathematics instruction attended by the students. Even if we ignore extremes (very small numbers) we clearly see that the performance in the survey is linked to the number of hours of mathematics instruction attended in secondary school. When we have a look at the number of ‘strong’ school options selected by the students, we clearly see that 42.6 percent of the students never had a ‘strong’ school option in the final year of secondary school, 29.6 percent had one such option, 26.6 percent even had two, and 1.2 percent claimed to have had three (20 students). Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium Concerned students (%) Mean Difference Statistical significance 3.3 8.82 (vs. 7.63)* 1.19 p = 0.000377 Mathematics 36.7 8.24 (vs. 7.34) 0.90 p < 0.000001 Science 41.3 7.96 (vs. 7.47) 0.49 p = 0.000062 8.12 (vs. 7.6) 0.52 p = 0.076837 Not significant ‘Strong’ school option (≥ 6 h/week in final year of secondary school) Latin French (mother tongue) 5.1 Table 3. Comparisons of means for each ‘strong’ school option. Note: * The mean for students who did not select that orientation is between parentheses. Figure 11. Mean graph illustrating the students’ mathematics instruction. Figure 12. Comparison of means depending on the “strong” school options selected in secondary school. 163 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet Here again the variance analysis (Figure 12) shows a very significant effect of the variant (p < 0.0000001). Having one ‘strong’ school option in the final year of secondary school increases the performance, having two is even better. Analyses by Themes and Questions Globally the various questions can be classified into two groups (Figure 13): The questions that yielded mostly incorrect answers (less than 35 percent of correct answers) and those that yielded mostly correct answers (more than 55 percent of correct answers). Extremes are particularly distant since they differ by up to 85 percent of correct answers (Question 1 and Question 15: their results will be developed in theme 3 and 4). Similarly a great difference is to be noticed in the level of uncertainty. It is extremely low for some questions but incredibly high for others – beyond 50 percent for questions 12 and 14. Theme 1: Concept Identification The three questions in this theme offered various combinations of keywords among which the students had to select the most appropriate association. This was the most successful theme, with a global performance mean of 56.3 percent (Figure 14). The very low rate of uncertainty proves that the students were confident about their answers in this theme. However one question yielded many fewer good answers (26.1 percent) than the other two. This can probably be explained by the students’ poor grasp of the word ‘effet’ (effect), an empty word that many students keep on using in their search. The results are close to those obtained in Québec (34.7 percent, 64.3 percent, and 62.8 percent). Theme 2: Search Strategy In this theme (Figure 15) Question 2, which involves translating concepts into keywords, yields the best results (72.4 percent). This is also true in the Québec survey (85.8 percent). The question that yielded the lowest proportion of correct answers was Question 12, a question about controlled vocabulary and thesaurus (10.7 percent vs. 12.6 percent in Québec). Most students do not know the meaning of a technical term such as ‘thesaurus’ when they enter higher 164 education, and a high level of uncertainty (50.5 percent) confirms this. This theme also underscores how poorly students use Boolean search operators. For Question 9 about the ‘OR’ operator, the percentage of correct answers is only 26.7 percent (27.5 percent in Québec). For Question 16 about the ‘AND’ operator, the percentage of correct answers is 33.8 percent, much lower than in Québec (61.1 percent). We are appalled to see that such a basic operator is so little known by students. The responses to Question 11 also reveal the Belgian students’ lack of comprehension of the various indexes available in regular search tools (confusion between the Author and Topic indexes). This was even more obvious in the Québec survey (29 percent). Theme 3: Document Types Periodicals (Question 15) and encyclopedias (Question 3) are well known (88.3 and 59.0 percent respectively), seemingly even better than in Québec (73.7 and 50.0 percent). However the specific characteristics of scholarly journals (Question 20) are hardly known (5.5 percent of correct answers), and the rate of uncertainty is high (Figure 16). More than one third of those answering the question confused scholarly journals with broad-audience scientific magazines. In Québec students seemed to recognize the characteristics of scholarly journals better (14.0 percent). Theme 4: Search Tools This theme covers the main search tools (Figure 17). As could be expected, the best-known tools (77.8 percent) are search engines (Question 6). On the other hand metasearch engines (Question 14) yield fewer correct answers (24.3 percent) with a very high uncertainty level (60.7 percent) – in fact the highest uncertainty level of the study. The percentage of correct answers to this question is much lower than in Québec (52.4 percent). The catalog function ‘to find a book’ (Question 17) was properly understood by 60.8 percent of students, but the method of using it efficiently (Question 7) was less obvious. Finally the basic notion of ‘bibliographic database’ (Question 1) is totally absent (2.7 percent) – the lowest score in the whole survey. Yet the uncertainty level nears 0, which proves that the students wrongly assumed that they know the answer. In this question, students were expected to retrieve Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium Figure 13. Ratio of correct answers and uncertainty level for the 20 questions. 165 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet Figure 14. Ratio of correct answers and uncertainty levels for theme 1. Figure 15. Ratio of correct answers and uncertainty levels for theme 2. Figure 16. Ratio of correct answers and uncertainty levels for theme 3. 166 Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium Figure 17. Ratio of correct answers and uncertainty levels for theme 4. Figure 18. Ratio of correct answers and uncertainty levels for theme 5. a journal article first in a bibliographic database, but most of them firmly suggested to use Google or Yahoo, or to consult magazines or even television programs. This concept was better understood by Québec students (28.0 percent). Theme 5: Use of Results This theme yielded the least proportion correct results of the survey (Figure 18) with only a 26.6 percent average (vs. 40.9 percent in Québec). The role of bibliography (Question 10) seems to be understood (57.0 percent vs. 77.7 percent in Québec), but the correct interpretation of bibliographical references (Figure 18), which is a more academic competence, remains vague (21.3 percent with an uncertainty level of 25.8 percent). Criteria for the assessment of Internet information (Question 18) are also hazy (13.4 percent vs. 22.9 percent in Québec). Over 15 percent of responding students indicated that the speed of accessing an Internet website is proof of quality! Finally students hardly know the concepts of ethics and copyright (Question 19). Only 14.8 percent of 167 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet students know that they should always mention their sources (27.4 percent in Québec). Additional Comments The questionnaire gave the possibility to add a personal comment after answering the questions. 217 students (12.6 percent of the sample) used that section (25 percent in Québec). Beside eight students’ comments mentioning their wish to win the computer (!), the comments can be classified in four main groups. ‘Positive’ to ‘very positive’ opinions were recorded by 56 percent of respondents, among whom one third (40 students) said that the questionnaire helped them to realize how weak their information literacy was, expressed the wish to have information literacy training in secondary school or in higher education, and suggested to improve library and information access as well as to hand out guidebooks or manuals. Twenty-three percent of students commented on their personal practice in information retrieval, which could explain their low information literacy level (use only Internet, no access to a library in secondary school, believe the help of a competent person is enough, etc.). Rather negative comments were made by 17 percent of respondents (38 students), in that students found the questions difficult or even claimed that they had wasted their time by filling out the questionnaire. Four percent declared that they would have to go to the library now that they have entered a higher education institution and that this will condition their success in their studies. Conclusions and Perspectives Even if the results should be interpreted with caution because of the questionnaire-based methodology, they nevertheless indicate that the information literacy level of students entering higher education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium is low – even lower than that of the Québec students. The interpretation of these results needs to be in line with the objectives 168 pursued when the questionnaire was designed. Under no circumstances should they be used to draw hasty conclusions or to stigmatize students entering higher education by labeling them as ‘hopeless’ or ‘incompetent’ – as some media have quickly done. Our objective with this baseline is to measure the gap between the performance level expected of students when they enter higher education and their real level, so that appropriate training policy can be decided and thus allow students to meet the sometimes implicit requirements of higher education. Our survey thus confirms that students generally trust the Internet to perform information searches. They know that the selection of appropriate vocabulary is necessary, and they also have a basic knowledge of several simple tools and documents. However they ignore or cannot use other critical tools, such as Boolean operators, confidently and lack understanding of other more specialized notions that are rather academic skills (thesaurus, scholarly journals, bibliographical lists, etc.). They have a naïve and erroneous, sometimes even dangerous, conception of the organization and functioning of the main information tools (Internet search engines, catalogs, bibliographical databases, etc.). Finally they have not learned to respect the basic principles of copyright or to have a critical approach to information. A certain number of factors with a significant incidence on the students’ information retrieval performance were isolated, such as the socioeconomic background of the family or some elements in the students’ school background. Acting to change the students’ education or family background is very difficult, if not impossible. However, acting at the society level – by setting up libraries and encouraging students to go to the library – is both possible and desirable, since actively using library resources significantly impacts the students’ information literacy level. Unfortunately little importance is given to school libraries in the French Speaking Community of Belgium. The belief that having an Internet connection at home is enough to magically improve the level of information literacy turns out to be wrong, probably because this Internet access does not come together with the right preparation or guidance. These results confirm that an important effort in information literacy training is mandatory if Information Literacy in the French Speaking Community of Belgium students are to perform at the expected level in higher education. This training should focus on search strategies and use of results; these two fields seem to be the most challenging. Specialized tools should also be at the core of the training since they are critical in higher education studies and, above all, in university studies. We are not trying here to set the Internet in opposition to the libraries’ own information resources. The objective is to be sure that each student, each citizen, has the possibility to use all the available quality information most efficiently and most critically, regardless of its form, both in libraries and on the Internet, in order to use it successfully. We believe this effort should start in secondary school, where having a computer laboratory with an Internet connection is simply not enough. Students need to be prepared as early as possible in order to navigate the huge mass of information, whose codes and characteristics are unknown to them. Also they need to be trained to be critical by comparing different sources and by giving them tools to assess their relevance. The questionnaire used in the survey only reveals a part of the needs in terms of information literacy. To complete the data we need to assess in practical terms the students’ perceptions of their own needs, as well as those of the professors. Finally, it is essential to describe objectively the competences that are really needed to perform pedagogical tasks. As we know, the need for autonomy and efficiency in information retrieval and use, which is explicitly stated by some educators or in some institutions’ pedagogical projects, is not always required in practice. Thus we have to look at the activities that require information skills, assess the information literacy training that is given to complete these activities and to meet the requirements, and make sure that the training covers real needs. In order to be efficient, information literacy training should not be added artificially and abruptly to the study program, as many authors have already shown. The training has to fit the students’ real needs, which could question the sometimes too exclusively transmissive character of teaching activities in higher education. Information literacy training should preferably be organized at different points in the curriculum to respond to the students’ effective and specific needs. Those needs evolve greatly between the moment when the students enter higher education and the time when they are ready to write a thesis. Also the training should be planned as a partnership between the teacher and the librarian, so that both can bring in their specific knowledge. Generally the teacher alone does not have a complete mastery of the advanced specificities of information tools and techniques. And the librarian alone also cannot help the students with the core competences required for specific topics. However, the relevance of combining both has already been proved. With this survey a baseline has been drawn, which can lead to further developments. Nevertheless it needs to be confirmed by more studies. It would also be interesting to assess the students’ competences at the end of the cycle with the same tools so as to provide us with complete data about the issue. With these data we could measure the students’ progress throughout their studies, with or without specific information literacy training. In case training has been given, we could then improve it and even determine the best practices. To conclude, a refined version of the questionnaire ought to be designed so as to identify some problems more precisely, such as the students’ critical sense towards information and their way of using online resources. Note 1. Statistics for 2006 from the CREF (Council of Frenchspeaking Rectors of Belgium) and statistics for 2003– 2004 from Etnic (general IT service of the education department of the French Community of Belgium). Bibliography Copeland, J. (2007) Librarians increase student achievement. Medium, 32(1) 8–9. Coulon, A. (1997) Le métier d’étudiant. L’entrée dans la vie universitaire. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France. 219 p. Coulon, A., Bretelle-Desmazières, D. and Poitevint, C. (1999) Apprendre à s’informer, une nécessité. Evaluation des formations à l’usage de l’information dans les universités et grandes écoles françaises. Paris: Laboratoire de Recherches Ethnométhodologiques – Université de Paris 8. 114 p. Lance, K.C. (1994) The impact of school library media centers on academic achievement. Find More Like This. School Library Media Quarterly, 22(3) 167–172. 169 Paul Thirion and Bernard Pochet Lance, K.C. and Russell, B. (2004) Scientifically based research on school libraries and academic achievement. Knowledge Quest, 32(5) 13–17. Line, M.B. (1990) Libraries in the educational process. Library Association Research, 92(7) 504–506. Mittermeyer, D. (2005) Incoming first year undergraduate students: How information literate are they? Education for Information, 23(4) 203–232. Mittermeyer, D. and Quirion, D. (2003) Information literacy: study of incoming first-year undergraduates in Québec [online]. Montréal: CREPUQ. Accessible at: http:// crepuq.qc.ca/documents/bibl/formation/etude.pdf Consulted on 9 January 2009. Pochet B. (2004) Comment former les usagers ? Réflexion à partir de la diversité des expériences de formation organisées en Belgique. In Chevillotte S. La formation à la maîtrise de l’information à l’heure européenne: problèmes et perspectives. Villeurbanne, France: Presses de l’ENSSIB, 55–71. Poll, R. and Payne, P. (2006) Impact measures for libraries and information services. Library Hi Tech, 24(4) 547–562. Thirion, P. (2004) L’impact des formations à la maîtrise de l’information sur la performance scolaire des étudiants : de la conviction à la preuve ? In Chevillotte S. La formation à la maîtrise de l’information à l’heure européenne : problèmes et perspectives. Villeurbanne, France: Presses de l’ENSSIB. Todd, R.J. (1995) Information literacy: philosophy, principles, and practice. School Libraries Worldwide, 1(1) 54–68. Zmuda, A. and Harada, V.H. (2008) Reframing the library media specialist as a learning specialist. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 24(8) 42–46. Revised version of ‘Quels enseignements retenir de l’évaluation des compétences documentaires des étudiants qui accèdent à l’enseignement supérieur en Communauté française de Belgique?’, presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 74th IFLA General Conference And Council, 10andndash;14 August 2008, Québec City, Canada, in session 134. Information Literacy with Academic and Research Libraries. English translation by the authors. 170 About the Authors Paul Thirion is holder of a master’s degree in psychology and in management of library and documentary research. He is a lecturer at the University of Liége (Belgium) and head librarian of the Libraries Network of the University of Liége. He is also chairman of the ‘Libraries’ Committee of the CIUF (Inter-University Council of the French Speaking Community of Belgium) and vice-chairman of the EduDOC group. Since 1999, he has been a member of the editorial and scientific committee of FORMIST, the French-speaking network on information literacy developed by ENSSIB (France). Regularly associated with Bernard Pochet, he is author or coauthor of various publications in the field of information literacy. Besides information literacy, his main concerns are the development of the digital library and particularly Open Access and the implementation of institutional archives servers. He may be contacted at: University of Liége, Grande traverse, 12 bat B37, B 4000 Liége, Belgium. E-mail: [email protected] Bernard Pochet is holder of a master’s degree in education and an advanced master’s in information science. He is head librarian and lecturer at the University of Gembloux (Belgium) and managing director of its university presses. Besides his activities in the field of libraries, international cooperation for development or scientific publishing, he has focused on information literacy for over 20 years. Chairman of the EduDOC group, he is the author or coauthor of various publications in the field of information literacy, in particular the book Methodologie documentaire published by Deboeck University in 2005. He may be contacted at: University Faculty of Gembloux, Passage des Déportés 2, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium. E-mail: [email protected] Effective Mentoring Shin Freedman Shin Freedman, MLS, MBA, is the Head of Acquisitions and Serials of Whittemore Library at Framingham State College, Framingham, MA, USA. She may be contacted via email at: [email protected] Abstract Effective mentoring is essential to the growth and success of librarianship in all types of library. This paper considers the possibilities for fostering mentoring activities among early career librarians, mid-career transitional librarians, and non-professional library workers. First, the paper describes existing studies to illuminate the urgency of mentoring activities to address the diminishing number of librarians and changing librarianship in the workforce as well as to support ongoing staffing needs. Secondly, it documents the academic library and professional organizations’ typical mentoring activities including their extensiveness and limits. The paper focuses on academic librarians in a university setting. Thirdly, the article describes one librarian’s mentoring activities to support and encourage beginning librarians to advance their careers in library and information science, to become active members of professional associations and to think about possible leadership roles. The paper concludes with (a) an account of how the author’s own mentoring/mentee roles have influenced her professional direction and (b) linking effective mentoring to library leadership. It demonstrates how the effective mentor will help the mentee not only to navigate the maze of professional organizations and committees, but also to achieve a more global understanding of the platform of libraries without borders. Introduction The evidence indicates that there is a strong need to build and retain a sound library workforce and a nimble library organization structure to deal with the ever-changing library environment. The recognition that career development through mentoring is vital to librarians in the 21st century is no longer debatable. Increasingly, research libraries which foster a culture of learning have started looking into mentoring as a professional development effort as well as a way to retain workers and deal with the massive retirement of librarians. Effective mentoring is essential to the growth and success of librarianship. Mentoring is recognized as one way of facilitating learning in the workplace, and is designed to make use of guided learning to develop the knowledge and skills required for high performance (Tovey 1999, as cited in Mathews 2003: 323). Fostering mentoring activities throughout the stages of a librarian’s career and guiding and supporting career paths will be important for librarians and library organizations. The impact of effective mentoring for librarians at the department level, the institutional level, or through professional associations cannot be ignored because librarians need help to navigate uncharted waters. The work of the librarian was relatively stable for a long time until the Web tsunami. With the surge of electronic Internet information, the work librarians do has dramatically changed the balance of information resources. What is happening around the library world is clearly changing the library workforce in addition to changing how we access library resources, and what is available in the publishing I F LA Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 171–182. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105672 171 Shin Freedman and library world. Furthermore, librarians are, as a group, substantially older than those in comparable professions, and they are aging out at a much faster rate. In the United States, for example, only 12 percent of librarians fall into the 25–34 year age range, versus 25 percent in that range in comparable professions.1 According to a 2005 American Library Association (ALA) study conducted by Lynch et al. (2005), the number of librarians retiring each year is steadily increasing (see Figure 1). The projected number of retirements from 2015 to 2019 will reach a total of 23.6 percent, when librarian retirement will peak. This trend starts in 2010 for a 10-year period, when 45 percent of today’s librarians reach age 65. This massive retirement trend presents a challenge in any library organization, including public, school, and research and academic libraries. There is an urgent need to recruit, retain, and replace librarians. So how do libraries deal with this organizational change? A video directed by Stanley Wilder for the Association of Research Libraries (2000) on generational change in librarianship makes comparisons by looking at traditional careers for young women, defined as nursing, elementary education, and librarianship. Using census data from 1970 to 1990, he finds that the number of women under 30 choosing librarianship declined sharply by 9 percent in that 20-year period, while the overall growth of jobs in the profession rose 62 percent. He also notes shifting positions inside the traditional academic research library. The number of catalogers declined 63 percent between 1990 and 1998, while the number of functional specialists was up 54 percent in the same period. The functional specialist includes jobs such as systems librarians and technologists, representing 61 percent of new hires. Steffen et al. (2004), in the Colorado State Libraries study based on Colorado statewide librarian interviews, reported that there is a considerable gap in perceptions and expectations between new professional librarians and the existing library workforce. The study revealed that one out of five retiring librarians expects their job to be eliminated, downgraded, or combined with another one. To replenish the diminishing library workforce, library organizations need to look into attracting a more diverse workforce, including minority groups and women, to replace the retiring library management, and to increase the retention of the competent mid-career library workforce. To meet these objectives, mentoring can enable and help library organizations to recruit, retain and revitalize the library workforce as well as to enable them to be engaged in a continuous learning process for professional development. Mentoring enables the protégé to be prepared by transferring relevant knowledge and also provides an enriching and supportive environment for the new entrant to the profession and the professional association. Munde (2000) points out that thoughtful and effective mentoring practices sponsored by library administrators can assist in meeting the transitional challenges as well as rejuvenating the professional library workforce. Golian-Lui (2003) in her ‘Fostering Librarian Leadership Through Mentoring’ concludes that mentoring is an essential part of the leadership journey because mentoring provides opportunities for significant personal, professional and leadership development. In a time of rapid change for the library and information science world due to the impact of technological innovation, mentoring will definitely play a sizable role as a guiding light. Mentoring Concepts Figure 1. (Source: Mary Jo Lynch, et al. (2005) Retirement & recruitment.) 172 The word ‘mentor’ originates from a reference to Mentor in Homer’s Odyssey. According to the story of the Odyssey, Odysseus had been away for many years on his journey. Therefore, his son, Effective Mentoring Telemachus, had been deprived of a father figure. So Athena, the goddess of wisdom, disguised herself as Mentor and befriended Telemachus and provided him with a role model and encouragement. Thus, the term mentor came into the language as referring to a supporting role model that is copied and respected in many professions even today. The mentor definition has a host of differing concepts and nuances. Ragins (1989) stated that there are common threads in most definitions in that (1) a mentor is usually a high ranking, influential, senior member of the organization with significant experience and knowledge and (2) the individual is also willing to share experiences with younger employees (as cited in Mathews 2003: 316). Mentoring is defined and theorized in two categories: career, and psychosocial. Career mentoring describes specific mentor behavior supportive of a mentee’s career success. Psychosocial mentoring refers to the personal aspect of a relationship related to supporting a protégé’s professional identity and sense of confidence. A mentor has been defined as an individual with more experience and knowledge who is committed to providing upward career guidance and advice (Kram 1985). Since the latter part of the 1980s, the business and psychology literature has been full of mentoring benefits and positive outcomes. Although a lot has been written and said about mentoring, it is still a rather mysterious concept for most of us. However, there are some clearly recognized benefits to mentoring. It has been actively used in business and management in conjunction with leadership, role modeling, precepting, coaching and training. Mentoring can help improve the socialization of new library workers, improve performance, provide support and complement other professional development activities (Gibb 1999). Formal mentoring programs are an effective means of providing support during periods of sweeping change (McDonald 2003). When mentors listen, provide structure, express positive expectations, share themselves and make the relationship special, mentees are likely to feel supported. Support is the most critical aspect because it lays the foundation for challenge and vision (Zachary 2000). In fostering mentoring relationships, feedback is a powerful vehicle for learning and a critical mechanism. Different kinds of mentoring may be needed for support and giving and receiving feedback at different stages of a librarian’s career. Benefits for the protégé include the opportunity from within a safe and non-threatening relationship to interact with and learn from someone with experience and contacts. Outcomes of this support, which builds confidence and maintains motivation, include developing skills and knowledge, solving problems, determining how and where to find further information, exploring career options and learning coping strategies. Benefits for the mentor include personal satisfaction from helping someone else, a renewed commitment and enthusiasm and an opportunity to stimulate thinking and develop new skills. Mentoring also contributes to the mentor’s professional development and encouragement and motivation of others (Coombe 1995; Moore 1992, as cited in McDonald 2003). Putting it all together, mentoring contributes many organizational benefits. These benefits include increased employee retention, reduced turnover, faster new employee induction, guidance to organizational expectations, and improved leadership. Many business organizations incorporate a formal mentoring program as part of leadership development and employee retention efforts. A mentoring relationship effectively facilitates organizational learning. While there is no apparent shortage of benefits for the mentor and the protégé, the author finds a lack of studies from the organization’s perspective. Gail Munde (2000), in her research on academic library mentoring, notes that academic libraries are operating informal mentoring programs, but they are not involved in the practice of organizational mentoring. Organizational mentoring is defined as a program designed to achieve the organization’s leadership goals and meet its existing and future workforce needs. For example, a formal mentoring program initiated by a library organization to recruit new librarians would be different from a mentoring program initiated informally to support librarian promotion and tenure processes. While there is ample evidence and documentation on the positive side of mentoring, there are some negative aspects of mentoring reported by protégés, including mentor/protégé mismatch, manipulative mentor behavior and lack of mentor expertise (as cited in Eby et al. 2004: 412). The three most common complaints about mentors are a perceived lack of commitment by the mentor, difficulties in communication between the mentor and the protégé, 173 Shin Freedman and the perception that the mentor had taken credit for some work or project of the mentee. Mentoring is a special relationship within an organization. Roma Harris’s (1993) article on mentoring pitfalls describes organizational mentoring concerns. Harris questioned that if mentoring is a significant mechanism for enhancing the careers of only some individuals within an organization, the culture, practices and procedures of that organization may pose barriers that stand in the way of participation and opportunity for all its committed employees. Mentoring Roles in the Continuing Professional Development of Professional Associations Any librarians in need of mentoring may need to look outside their organizations in order to obtain full mentoring support and to avoid possible obstacles related to authority and dependency in a boss/subordinate mentoring relationship. In addition, some library managers may be reluctant to engage in mentoring partnerships between staff in the belief that they may create suspicion or envy from others within the organization. Since the beginning of the decade, professional associations have begun to play an active role in the form of continuing professional education and professional development as a mentoring process for their members. No one will argue that participation in professional associations will contribute positively to a librarian’s career. Networking and learning opportunities in professional organizations are ongoing and well-established for professional librarians. What role, then, does mentoring play in the area of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for professional associations? Mentoring is connected to theories and practices that are linked to the concept of lifelong learning and the learning society. Reflection on learning experience and on practice is regarded as an important element of the CPD process (Friedman and Phillips 2002: 222; 273). The qualities of continuing professional development as ‘continuing education’ are consistent with the philosophy of mentoring. These qualities are: 1 It implies a notion of lifelong learning as a means of keeping an individual up-to-date with new knowledge; 174 it prevents obsolescence. 2 It includes updating a person’s education (e.g. makes an individual’s education comparable to that of a person receiving a like degree or like certificates at the present time). 3 It allows for diversification to a new area within a field (e.g. supervisory and management training). 4 It assumes that the individual carries the basic responsibility for his or her own development. 5 It involves education activities that are beyond those considered necessary for entrance into the field (Stone et al. 1974, as cited in Ritchie and Genoni 1999: 218). The mentor plays an influential role as a facilitator of networking in order for the protégé to become active in professional associations. For example, in today’s Web environment, there is abundant continuing education information. However, vital information can be easily buried and lost without the facilitative role of a mentor who will understand its relevance and will synthesize and share it with the protégé. This information sharing can be found in the context of mentoring relationships naturally and spontaneously. In Ritchie and Genoni’s (1999) research, they articulate the advantage of a mentoring program as immediately responsive to an individual member’s needs, and its availability to ‘members only’ can be designated as one of the advantages of professional association membership. Becoming active on committees and other organizational units of professional associations can be challenging and time consuming. It can easily frustrate experienced librarians, let alone new librarians. In addition, getting on a committee or becoming involved in some formal capacity can be facilitated by mentors who are already participating in the activities of the professional association. Mentoring roles provided in the professional associations in the United States differ from those of European countries and Australia. In the United States, typically entry level mentoring programs for new members exist in the professional associations. For example: • American Library Association New Members Roundtable Program (NMRT) http://www.ala. org/ala/nmrt/comm/mentoringcommittee.cfm • Spectrum Scholar Mentor – Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) • Dr. E.J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/ mentorprogram.cfm Effective Mentoring • Medical Library Association (MLA), http:// www.mlanet.org/mentor/ • Special Library Association (SLA) – Upstate New York Chapter http://units.sla.org/chapter/ cuny/mentoring.html – and this program offering is on a volunteer basis • Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has provided both individual and group mentoring programs for members: http://www. alia.org.au/members-only/groups/quorum/ mentoring (Ritchie and Genoni 1999: 223). Megginson and Clutterbuck (1995) explain that in Britain there is a far greater emphasis on mentoring being a form of support for learning where the learner has an opportunity to reflect on career goals, make choices, and pursue options rather than through possible sponsorship opportunities offered by a mentor. The sharing of knowledge is an important part of British mentoring relationships, but does not appear on the US agenda, as in Kram’s application of the core functions (as cited in Friedman and Phillips 2002: 271). According to leadership consultant Jim Freedman (March 2008, personal communication) the US culture tends to promote and idealize any independent action and activity performed by an individual, rather than through the help of any organization, including professional organizations. On the contrary, European countries respect hierarchy and organizational knowledge. This statement coincides with the amount of English-language research on informal mentoring activities in the library literature. A recent survey of US academic and research libraries reported that only 26 percent of libraries had formal mentoring programs; in the United Kingdom library and information studies field, only 17 percent of libraries reported mentoring initiatives (Ritchie and Genoni 1999: 222). Once a newcomer’s induction and socialization to professional associations is completed, then what can professional associations do in career advancement efforts for a librarian? Networking opportunities are abundant in professional meetings. Davidson and Middleton’s (2006) study supports the conclusion drawn by Ritchie and Genoni (1999) that professional associations play a vital role in mentoring members through networking, continuing professional development, and informal mentoring from subject-oriented library associations. The primary benefits of participation in professional organizations were identified as networking opportunities and continuing education activities to keep up with the chosen subject field and learning new skills and best practices (Davidson and Middleton 2006: 211). Kwasik et al. discuss that a formal mentoring initiative conducted by the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association reveals that mentoring by a professional association strengthens professional memberships and further emphasizes that professional association mentoring programs are a solution to the lack of formalized mentoring programs in librarians’ working organizations (Kwasik et al. 2006: 24). The need of professional association mentoring at a certain career stage, mainly for newly entering librarians, has been described well; however, Ritchie and Genoni (1999) point out that “employee’s [mentoring] needs for support during transitional stages in their careers” were often neglected from an organizational viewpoint. In addition, they assert that professional association mentoring was lacking and limited in spite of the fundamental purpose of the formal mentoring program as seeking to maintain, change the status quo, or the idea of facilitating a transition. Colleen Beard (2002) asserted, in a proposal to establish a mentoring program for the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA), that professional associations are beginning to notice the importance of mentoring “due to the changes in job task that are imposed on librarians” in the specialty of the Map/GIS librarian in particular, and to realize that mentoring is a means of developing professional growth, and ultimately sustaining an association. Mentoring for Academic Librarians Mentoring is not a new model for professional development and personal growth of individuals within organizations (Level and Mach 2004: 304). Mentoring is known as an invaluable tool for career development for library and information professionals. Mentoring programs offer an established, proven best practice to enhance organizational and individual learning (Goodyear et al. 2006). Mentoring can be used for a librarian’s professional development or as a tool to enhance the organization’s goals or library workforce development activities. In fact, it has been used in the business and management world effectively in the form of the ‘old boy network.’ Traditional 175 Shin Freedman mentoring is when an experienced high-ranking executive (mentor) actively supports a younger, less experienced employee in her or his career. Typically, mentoring activities start out as career functions, but develop into psychosocial functions. In the higher education literature, mentoring has received attention and mentoring activities are reported to be more focused on career functions, rather than on psychosocial activities. The mentoring focus for academic librarians is also closely tied to the librarian’s career stage and professional development. The mentoring relationship plays a vital role in terms of career stage. There are five types of academic librarian mentoring programs according to career stages: new librarians in a probationary period, librarians for reappointment, librarians for promotion and tenure, librarians in the career retirement phase, and paraprofessionals and/or library and information science (LIS) students. Table 1 describes the relationship between career stage, professional development, and mentoring focus. Research has shown that librarians with faculty status and within tenure systems most often have Career stage Professional development mentoring programs to support tenure programs. The common thread of academic librarian mentoring programs is to support the librarians for tenure and promotion processes. Many articles in both the library and higher education literature affirm the popularity of mentoring as a way to navigate through the difficulties of the tenure process and retain strong faculty (Level and Mach 2005: 302). Most mentoring programs for academic librarians are reported to address the librarian’s reappointment, tenure and promotion irrespective of the mentoring models. Current mentoring practice in academic libraries as reported in the literature (Lee, T.P. 1995; Steffen et al. 2004; Level and Mach 2005; Lee, D. 2005; Keyse et al. 2003; Miller et al. 1998; Wojewodzki et al. 1998) indicate mentoring programs were predominantly initiated informally out of librarians’ self-awareness and concerns for their careers or to provide orientation or to recruit for academic librarianship, as in the formal mentoring programs at Louisiana State University Libraries (KuyperRushing 2001) and University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (Hewitt et al. 2000). Mentoring for newly hired librarians at Colorado State University Mentoring focus Mentoring type New librarian – probationary period Library functional area Library administration and procedures Library procedures University procedures Guidance and support Formal or peer mentoring Reappointment – tenure track librarian Professional service Continuing scholarship Higher degrees Tenure file preparation Professional service Committee membership Peer mentoring or formal Mid-careerpromotion and tenure Campus committee works Professional service Continuing scholarship Library and university policy and procedures Union governance profile Leadership position in professional association Networking with professional associations Informal or peer mentoring Career retirement Mentoring activity Mentoring activities Formal mentoring Paraprofessional and LIS students Involvement in professional association Guidance and support of library professional organizations Informal mentoring Table 1. The relationship between career stage, professional development, and mentoring focus for academic librarians. Source: Mathews, P. 2003. Academic mentoring. Table 3, p. 326. 176 Effective Mentoring (Level and Mach 2005) focused on orientation and induction for new librarians. These mentoring programs were presented in informal and formal settings to ease the socialization of new librarians in their early career stages. Table 2 describes mentoring programs for selective academic libraries. Despite the popularity of mentoring and the increased use of mentoring as a developmental strategy (Lacey 1999), mentoring initiatives in librarianship in a United Kingdom study showed that only a handful of libraries participated and most of these schemes were from the academic and public library sectors. The challenges and barriers to academic librarian mentoring are also worth our attention to better understand the full picture of the mentoring environment. Classical barriers were identified as organizational obstacles: women not helping other women, the lack of senior women’s understanding about mentoring and institutional resources, an old boy network framework being hard to break into as a woman and/or a member of a minority, and downsizing the number of tenure-track library faculty positions. At the departmental level, challenges included the lack of a library culture of fostering mentorship and the non-existence of intentional reward systems. (McDaugall and Beattie 1997, as cited in McBain 1998). Group Mentoring Group mentoring offers the opportunity for a number of people to benefit from a single mentor. Group mentoring has an added synergistic effect through the interaction of the group members (Kaye and Jacobson 1995, as cited in McDonald 2003). It is a relatively new concept, and has been incompletely defined and poorly represented in the literature to date. In the broadest sense, the term ‘group mentoring’ has been used to describe a function of professional associations in which the career development of members of that professional group is influenced by the group's exertion of "social norms and roles" (Dansky 1996: 6). Self-managed Mentoring This mentoring type is the most different from traditional one-to-one mentoring. In this mentoring relationship, a mentee is responsible for and proactive about his/her own professional development by seeking mentoring-type relationships as the need arises. A person has a number of mentors simultaneously, each collaborating to develop the particular strengths of a mentee (Darling and Schartz 1991, as cited in McDonald 2003). Mentoring Models Mentoring within Professional Associations The most commonly used mentoring systems in the academic library context are described here: Formal (or Informal) Mentoring within an Organization This is the traditional mentor/protégé relationship or informally formed mentoring relationship between senior and junior. An informal mentoring relationship is one that happens spontaneously based on mutual respect, rapport, and relationship. How the relationship is developed distinguishes the formal from informal. Peer Mentoring Peer-to-peer mentoring includes faculty-tofaculty, or library faculty-to-colleagues mentoring. This is a process where there is mutual involvement in encouraging and enhancing learning and development between two peers, where peers are people who perceive themselves as equals Professional development mentoring occurs in professional organizations and includes subjectfocused mentoring (e.g. in healthcare, law, music or geographic information systems (GIS), or a particular sector or industry.) Mentoring Stories My academic librarian mentoring experience started at the Brown University Science Library during a mid-career change. I had spent years in the business world prior to deciding to return to higher education. Although I had been an experienced librarian before I had spent much of my professional career in the information technology industry, I was beginning again as a librarian in the academic world. Academic librarianship in the 21st century had shifted fundamentally with the impact of library technology and the Web. Much had changed since I had practiced my academic librarianship 20 years earlier. 177 Shin Freedman Academic library Name Year Mentoring activities Mentoring type Auburn University Library Research Committee 1995 To support the untenured librarians Informal mentoring Brown University Library Librarians Support Group 2004 To support librarian throughout career stages Informal mentoring Colorado State Librarian Peer University Libraries Mentoring 2001 Mentoring for newly hired librarians and untenured librarians Formal peer mentoring Louisiana State University Library Formal Librarian Mentoring 1998 Tenure-track librarian support group Formal Mississippi State University Research Committee 2005 To support untenured librarians at MSU as institutional support Informal mentoring Northwestern State Professional Advancement University Group – Untenured librarian support Peer mentoring Oakland University Untenured Library Librarians Club (Un-TLC) 2001 To support untenured librarians New library Queens College – faculty mentoring City University of New York (CUNY) program and LIS student internship mentoring Formal 1994 New library faculty orientation which includes promotion and tenure processes Texas A&M University Tenure-track Librarians Support Group 1991 Informal monthly meetings Informal to support throughout the years of pursuing tenure University of Delaware Mentoring program 1993 3-tier structure University of Kansas Mentoring program 2002 To support middle for mid-IT managers 2002 women managers http:// www.InformationServices. Library Mentoring ku.edu/mentoring Committee http://www.lib.ku.edu/ public/mentoring/ University of North LIS graduate to Carolina Libraries UNC Librarians – (UNC-Chapel Hill) CALA in 2000 Informal Informal mentoring to formal mentoring Formal group mentoring Formal mentoring 2000 Recruitment tool for LIS graduate to academic librarianship Formal mentoring University of Wisconsin – Madison Libraries New colleagues mentoring program 1998 Orientation program for new colleagues Informal mentoring Oregon State University Library Faculty Association (LFA) 1998 Peer criticism of manuscripts and publications Peer mentoring Table 2. Selected US academic libraries with mentoring program. Sources: Lee, T.P. 1995; Steffen et al. 2004; Level et al. 2005; Kuyper-Rushing, L. 2001; Lee, D. 2005; Keyse et al. 2003; Miller et al. 1998; Hewitt et al. 2003; Wojewodzki et al., 1998. 178 Effective Mentoring I met my mentor, Tovah Reis, Medical School Librarian, at Brown University Library. She was a busy, active person, both on and off campus, and not always available for me in the beginning. Respecting her work style and reputation, our relationship developed very slowly and cautiously. Once she agreed to meet with me, she was willing to give me guidance and advice in the area of modern academic medical librarianship. I quickly adapted and was able to come up to speed not only in the academic library setting, but also gradually to medical librarianship through participation in local, regional and national professional association meetings and continuing educational programs. Most importantly, Tovah always introduced and connected me to medical faculty members, other librarians, and library leaders on campus. If a formal meeting was not possible, she would arrange an informal lunch meeting. Her organizational skills, project management skills, her attitude towards librarianship and leadership positions in several professional organizations impressed me. She was an active member of many local, regional, national and international professional associations and served on several committees and boards. These included IFLA, the Medical Library Association, North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries (NAHSL), and the Association of Rhode Island Health Sciences Libraries (ARIHSL). As she was the President of ARIHSL, she invited me to several ARIHSL meetings. Being an active library leader within the Brown University community, she encouraged me to attend campus-sponsored conferences and meetings. For example, I participated in the Evidence-based Medicine Conference in April 2004. She included me in Brown University Library meetings on campus. She would inform me through e-mail or in conversation about the meetings she attended and informed me about what was new in the professional associations. Our mentoring activities were steadily and gradually formed. I would request to meet with her with a set of questions I had. Initially, the questions were more about how things got done at Brown University Library, information resources available at the Sciences Library and the organizational subunits and paraprofessionals and their duties and responsibilities. Gradually, our discussions developed more towards potentially interesting project opportunities and the library associations’ roles and impact. Sometimes, I agonized about the topics to discuss prior to our meetings, fearing that I would waste her time. Without fail, I felt that she was a good listener and had a great capacity to suggest and to guide me to points which I may have overlooked. I always had the sense that I was being enlightened at our meetings. As a result of our meetings, I initiated three major projects and participated in one project with her on ‘Lifelong Learning (Information Resources) for Brown Medical Students.’ Tovah was particularly diligent at updating medical faculty and students and writing in the Library newsletters and e-mails to her colleagues. She managed her time very effectively and was passionate about her work as a medical librarian. My current employment and success as Head of Acquisitions and Serials and my involvement in IFLA would not be possible without the benefits I received from Tovah’s academic librarian mentoring activities. In addition to being my mentor, she also provided mentoring activities and relationships to support and encourage paraprofessional staff, beginning librarians, and mid-career librarians to advance their careers. The following information was gathered from Tovah’s mentees via survey questionnaires during the spring of 2006. The mentoring groups were as follows: • group and individual mentoring for paraprofessionals who were attending library school • peer mentoring for new co-workers • informal mentoring and self-managed mentoring for mid-career librarians. Different activities and interactions occurred among different mentees according to the respective protégé’s needs and career stage. Not only did the mentoring activities and relationships evolve in different forms and shapes, but also the subsequent activities lasted for differing durations from 6 months to 3 years and more. Some have evolved into lasting friendships. For library staff attending library school, the following group mentoring occurred: • monthly group meetings with mentor playing the role of a facilitator • initial contact with library department leaders who it was thought important for mentees to get to know 179 Shin Freedman • shared perspectives and experience in the mentor’s field of librarianship • a secure environment for asking inquiry regarding the Brown libraries and the profession of librarianship and the information science field. For peer mentoring, the following activities occurred: • invited mentee to share lunch and talk together • initiated contact with library department leaders for a peer librarian • shared the library/university cultural norms • answered any questions a new librarian had and listened to concerns and provided advice. For professionals who were new to the library environment: • for those still in library school, the mentor discussed professional association options • consulted for independent study projects • initiated contact with library department leaders and set up meetings with them For mid-career librarians, the mentor: • provided leadership for self-managed librarians in their mid-career • consulted and coordinated mentee’s library projects • encouraged and invited them to professional association meetings and events and introduced them to colleagues • set up an orientation to the University Library’s resources and contacts • provided opportunities to work in various library departments during transitional periods for mid-career professional librarians. Summary Although formal mentoring programs have become an increasingly popular employee development tool (Allen et al. 2006: 567) in both business and education, research has shown that library organizations have not been actively involved in the practice, according to Gail Munde (2002). Barbara Wittkopf, in the SPEC kit Mentoring Programs in ARL Libraries (1999), the Association of Research Libraries study, revealed that only 26 percent of libraries have a formal mentoring program. Given the number of issues 180 today’s librarians are facing, including rapid workforce change, staff shortages and the changing nature of required skill sets in our field, mentoring will play an essential role in easing the tensions, among which are the confidence of the individual, the perception of the work life of the librarian and the stagnant mid-career librarian’s career. To counterbalance the lack of library-organized formal mentoring programs, effective mentoring from professional associations would be welcomed and desirable. On the other hand, mentoring has shifted its focus away from a traditional model of senior professionals advising junior professionals to librarians at any career stage identifying their own needs (Goodyear 2006: 53) and reaching out to seek help using different mentoring types such as peer mentoring, group mentoring and self-directed mentoring and even having multiple mentors. Effective mentoring needs to be recognized and examined in the context of librarians’ career stages. Librarians’ career stages and professional development needs will influence mentoring focus as well as mentoring type. For example, in examining the relationship between career stages and mentoring types, during the reappointment stage of a librarian’s career, mentoring activities become vital and most typically spontaneous and informal mentoring occurs naturally to support and encourage librarians. The impact on librarianship of plateauing at a particular career stage, namely mid-career stage, needs to be addressed by library leaderships and professional associations. Effective mentoring needs to focus not only on improving individual librarians’ performance, but also on enhancing library organizational productivity. Considering how little mentoring activity was reported as initiated by career retirement stage librarians in the library literature review, this is an area for future study. This wealth of knowledge and experience accumulated by retiring librarians can be transferred and preserved by engaging in mentoring activities with younger, less experienced librarians. Satisfying and supportive professional librarian learning cycles would be opened up and perpetuated by their involvement in mentoring relationships. In return, library organizations and professional associations could promote the professional growth of their members and employees. These mentors could facilitate their global understanding of libraries in their interactions with protégés and development could Effective Mentoring begin along the pathways illuminated by mentors in the library and information science field. Note 1. Library profession faces shortage of librarians: key facts and figures from the American Library Association. 10/29/01. References Allen, T.D., Eby, L.T. and Lentz, E. (2006) Mentorship behaviors and mentorship quality associated with formal mentoring programs: Closing the gap between research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(3) 567–578. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.91.3.567 Association of Research Libraries.(2000) Generational change in librarianship: On the age demographic shifts in ARL libraries. [Video/DVD: Director: Stanley Wilder] Beard, C. (2002) Proposal for a mentoring program for the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives. ACMLA Bulletin, 2002. 38–40. Retrieved from http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/assoc/acml/carto2002/ acmla_mentor.pdf Coombe, K. (1995) The effectiveness of mentoring in the workplace: a case study of work-based learning in early childhood education. Paper presented at Continuing Professional Education in the Learning Organization, Coffs Harbour, NSW. Dansky, K.H. (1996) The effect of group mentoring on career outcomes. Group Organization Management, 21(1) 5–21. Darling, L.A. and Schatz, P.E. (1991) Mentoring needs of dietitians: the mentoring self-management program model. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 91(4) 454–458. Davidson, J.R. and Middleton, C.A. (2006) Networking, networking, networking: The role of professional association memberships in mentoring and retention of science librarians. Science & Technology Libraries, 27(1) 203–224. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2541900 8&site=ehost-live Eby, L., Butts, M.L., Simon, A. and Shana, A. (2004) Protégés’ negative mentoring experiences: construct development and nomological validation. Personnel Psychology, 57(2) 411–447. Freedman, J. (Feb. 2008). U.S. attitudes toward organizational learning. [Personal communication.] Friedman, A. and Phillips, M. (2002) The role of mentoring in the CPD programmes of professional associations. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 21(3) 269–284. Gibb, S. (1999) The usefulness of theory: A case study in evaluating formal mentoring schemes. Human Relations, 52(8) 1055–1075. Golian-Lui, L. (2003) Fostering librarian leadership through mentoring. Adult Learning, 14(1) 26–28. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=17481887&site=eh ost-live Goodyear, M. (2006) Mentoring: A learning collaboration. Educause Quarterly, 29(4) 51–53. Goodyear, M., Ames-Oliver, K. and Russell, K. (2006) Chapter 3: Organizational strategies for fostering a culture of learning. In C. Golden (Ed.) Cultivating careers: Professional development for campus IT. EDUCAUSE. Harris, R.M. (1993) The mentoring trap. Library Journal, 118(17): 37. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=931013 7689&site=ehost-live Hewitt, J.A., Moran, B.B. and Marsh, M.E. (2003) Finding our replacements: One institution's approach to recruiting academic librarians. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 3(2) 179–189. Retrieved from http://muse. jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/ v003/3.2hewitt.html Kaye, B. and Jacobson, B. (1995) Mentoring: a group guide. Training and Development. 49(4) 23–27. Keyse, D., Kraemer, E.W. and Voelck, J. (2003) Mentoring untenured librarians. College & Research Libraries News, 64(6) 378. Retrieved from http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&A N=10126680&site=ehost-live Kram, K. E. (1985) Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman. Kuyper-Rushing, L. (2001) A formal mentoring program in a university library: Components of a successful experiment. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27(6) 440. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ641553&site= ehost-live Kwasik, H., Fulda, P.O., and Ische, J.P. (2006) Strengthening professionals: A chapter-level formative evaluation of the Medical Library Association mentoring initiative. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 94(1) 19–29. Lacey, K. (1999) Build bridges – making mentoring happen. Training and Development in Australia, 126(5) 8–10. Lee, D. (2005) Mentoring the untenured librarian. College & Research Libraries News, 66(10) 711–724. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.a+spx?direct= true&db=aph&AN=18913077&site=ehost-live Lee, T.P. (1995) The library research committee: It has the money and the time. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 21(2) 111–115. Level, A.L. and Mach, M. (2005) Peer mentoring: One institution's approach to mentoring academic librarians. Library Trends, 26(6/7) 301–310. Lynch, M.J., Tordello, S. and Thomas, G. (2005) Retirement & recruitment: A deeper look. American Libraries, 36(1). Mathews, P. (2003) Academic mentoring: Enhancing the use of scarce resources. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 31(3) 313–334. doi: 10.1177/0263211X03031003007 McBain, R. (1998) New perspectives on mentoring. Managers Update, 9(3) 23–32. McDaugall, M., and Beattie, R.S. (1997) Peer mentoring at work: The nature and outcomes of non-hierarchical developmental relationships. Management Learning, 28(4) 423. McDonald, J. (2003) Mentoring: An age old strategy for a rapidly expanding field 2002 National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University of South Australia. 181 Shin Freedman Megginson, D. and Clutterbuck, M. (1995) Mentoring in action: a practical guide for managers. London: Kogan Page. Miller, J.P., and Benefiel, C.R. (1998) Academic librarians and the pursuit of tenure: The support group as a strategy for success. College & Research Libraries News, 59(5) 1–6. Moore, K. (1992) Benefits of mentorship. Health Services Management, 88(6) 15–17. Munde, G. (2000) Beyond mentoring: Toward the rejuvenation of academic libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 26(3) 171. Ragins, B.R. (1989) Barriers to mentoring: the female manager's dilemma. Human Relations, 42, 1–22. Ritchie, A. and Genoni, P. (1999) Mentoring in professional associations: continuing professional development for librarians. Health Libraries Review, 16(4) 216–225. Steffen, N., Lance, K.C., Russell, B., and Lietzan, Z. (2004) Retirement, retention, and recruitment: The future of librarianship in Colorado. September, 2004. Library Research Service. Stone, E., Patrick, R.J. and Conroy, B. (1974) Continuing library and information science education: final report to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Washington, D.C.: American Society for Information Science, 1974. p.3. Tovey, M.D. (1999) Mentoring in the workplace: a guide for mentors and managers. Surrey Hills: Prentice Hall. Wittkopf, B. (1999) Mentoring programs in ARL Libraries. In George, L.A. (Ed.) SPEC Kit #239. Association 182 of Research Libraries, Office of Leadership and Management Services, Washington, DC. Wojewodzki, C., Stein, L. and Richardson, T. (1998) Formalizing an informal process: Developing a mentoring program in a university library. Technical Services Quarterly, 15(3)1–9. Zachary, L.J. (2000) The mentor's guide: Facilitating effective learning relationships. San Francisco: JosseyBass. Acknowledgments The author gratefully acknowledges her mentors in the library and information science field, Tovah Reis, Catherine Dibble and Dr. Josephine Fang; mentoring survey project participants at Brown University Library; Frank Kellerman and Janet Crager at Brown University Sciences Library; Dr. Tom Grove, Dr. Mary Rogers, and Dr. Elaine Storella at Framingham State College, whose support and trust made this research possible; Dr. Ben Alberti and Catherine Dibble, who read the earlier version of the paper and made helpful comments. Revised version of a paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 74th IFLA General Conference, 10–14 August 2008, Quebec City, Canada, in session 93, Management of Library Associations, Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning with ALP. IFLA and Language Diversity REPORTS IFLA and Language Diversity Sofia Kapnisi We are all aware that different languages have different words for the same concept, but also different sounds or various pronunciations of the same sound. The diversity of languages puts into words the variety of the human interpretations of the world, often distant in the details but somehow macroscopically united. In our times of the electronic media, the media in general and the abundance of information that they distribute, it is not certain whether the scales will be in favour of one language or in favour of multilingualism. When we talk about blogs, chat rooms and fast communication, maybe one or two languages appear predominant. However, parallel to that, there is a world of people who seem reluctant to let go their own mother tongue. Either because of lack of access to education or because they have realized that this ‘tongue’ is one of their gifts at birth and a strong identity holder, these people safeguard almost unconsciously pieces of the universal culture. The interest of UNESCO in that field generated the International Year of Languages 2008. With the slogan ‘Languages matter!’,UNESCO launched a year of focusing on the importance of each and every language. The conviction that also languages spoken by only a few people make part of everyone’s culture is demonstrating the shift to a modern form of multilingualism. In this context members of large language groups are encouraged to learn and use other languages of their country and policy makers are expected to promote such efforts. IFLA, as an international organization by definition, has always viewed language diversity as a key factor. By recently adding two languages, IFLA has now seven official languages, one more than UNESCO: Arabic (added in 2007), Chinese (added in 2006), English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Those are the IFLA languages, meaning ‘languages formally recognized for communication I F LA within IFLA’. IFLA members are entitled to express themselves in these languages at conferences, in meetings of professional and governance bodies and in correspondence to IFLA Headquarters. Next to the everyday contacts, this communication is also reflected in translations and in the simultaneous interpretation at the sessions of the annual congress. The translated body of announcements, corporate documents, reports, mailings, conference papers, etc., printed or published on the IFLA website even exceeds by far the seven official languages. There we find documents like the IFLA Internet Manifesto, that has been translated into 20 languages; the IFLA/UNESCO Public Library Manifesto of 1994 (26 languages); and the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto of 1999 (35 languages). All together, 54 languages were represented on the IFLA website at the last count. Among them we encounter languages that very seldom reach our ears, like Amharic, the second most spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic, spoken by the 27 million Amhara people in Ethiopia, or Xhosa, spoken by approximately 8 million people in South Africa, or about 18 percent of the South African population. Xhosa is a tonal language, which means that the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when pronounced with high or low intonation. The use of click consonants gives a distinctive character to the language; the word ‘Xhosa’ itself begins with a click. This amazing richness of words and meanings found in IFLA documents is achieved by the work of volunteers from the language communities themselves or by translators paid by those communities. The translation of IFLA Express, the daily newsletter published during the World Library and Inforrmation Congress each year is also the work of volunteers. Initially published in English, it was translated into several IFLA language versions as the years went by. In a continuous effort to improve its context and form, IFLA’s Governing Board in its meeting of December 2007 decided Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 183–185. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105674 183 Sofia Kapnisi to support the request of the language groups that IFLA supports the language versions by paying for the publishing costs (paper and equipment). At the IFLA World Library and Information Congress at Québec City, in August 2008, all IFLA languages were represented for the first time. To achieve the best results the National Committee provided a coordinator who ensured the correct and on time cooperation between news gathering volunteers, translators and editors in order to produce interesting and high quality daily newsletters in all official IFLA languages. In the future IFLA hopes to appoint a ‘permanent IFLA Express Coordinator’ to work for several IFLA Congresses, hoping to use the accumulated knowledge and experience to improve IFLA Express even further. To provide high quality language services is also the task of the interpreters who offer simultaneous interpretation to the congress participants. IFLA has built through the years an experienced team of interpreters consisting mainly of library and information professionals. This long-term relationship is strongly encouraged by IFLA in order to preserve and enrich the interpreters’ mastery of professional terminology. At the IFLA congress in Québec City a team of approximately 30 interpreters represented all official languages. The practical and technical aspects (e.g. the number of interpreters’ booths, the room size, the available headphones, etc.), are organized each time according to the possibilities of the host country. However, simultaneous interpretation is provided for all plenary sessions of the Congress and for two selected parallel sessions. The IFLA interpreters are volunteers. They are motivated by their devotion to the library and information profession and the experience of the annual congress itself. Their work is immense if we consider the number of papers (more than 200) that are presented at the congress and the difficulties that they encounter because the speakers come from many parts of the world and speak with various accents. IFLA promotes and acknowledges their contribution by inviting and hosting them at its expense. To ensure that the needs of interpreters are taken into account, IFLA provides administrative and logistical support, including the issuing of instructions to the speakers and to the session chairs. IFLA Chinese Language Centre established at the National Library of China, Beijing In February 2009 the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the National Library of China (NLC) in Beijing signed a cooperation agreement by which NLC received the status of IFLA Chinese Language Centre. It can now be seen as a permanent representative of IFLA/HQ for the Chinese speaking community, as well as the other way around: it is hoped that IFLA/HQ will get improved access to Chinese speaking library and information professionals. The IFLA Chinese Language Centre will promote IFLA, support IFLA’s Asia and Oceania Section as well as other relevant IFLA professional bodies and liaise with IFLA/HQ. Among the priorities of the Centre are: 1. Active membership recruitment. This will be conducted with the help of national or other association members and/or national libraries. Institutions and associations (including specialist and state associations) within the Chinese language community will be actively encouraged to join IFLA. 2. (Co-) organising regional IFLA events. These will be co-organised with IFLA/HQ, and/or with IFLA professional units (Sections and Core Activities). This activity includes seeking sources for funding of IFLA projects. 3. Seek involvement in local or regional professional events to gain support within the Chinese language community, trying to get IFLA ‘branding’ of local or regional events. 4. Contribute to more effective communication within the Chinese language community and with the IFLA bodies involved. These activities include the publication of newsletters, translations of key IFLA documents and publications and the production of a Chinese translation of IFLA Express during IFLA’s annual congresses. 5. Representing IFLA in the Chinese language community, in a pursuit to make IFLA more visible in that community, promoting IFLA goals, principles and core values. 6. Translation of key IFLA documents, guidelines, press-releases, papers prepared for the Assembly Meetings etc. For further information about the Centre and its activities please contact: Mr. Yan Xiangdong. Fax +86-10-68419271. E-mail: [email protected] 184 IFLA and Language Diversity Leaving the busy congress period and coming back to the everyday work at IFLA HQ, it is notable that the staff members use English as working language but can communicate, not only in some of the official IFLA languages, but also in their own languages, which include Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Greek and Finnish. For such a small group, this is indicative of IFLA’ s appreciation for people who have other words for things and thoughts. Sofia Kapnisi is Professional Communication Officer at IFLA Headquarters. She may be contacted at: [email protected] 185 Sanjay Kumar Bihani International Conference of Asian Special Libraries (ICoASL 2008): Report Sanjay K. Bihani Introduction Sessions and Events The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is one of the largest International Associations with 13,000 members in 83 countries with 58 chapters and 25 divisions. The Asian chapter of SLA is one of the biggest chapters, covering a large geographical area consisting of over 20 countries of Asia. The first day’s sessions were dedicated to ‘Information Resources and Services’, ‘Resource Sharing and Networking’ and ‘Information Literacy and Rural Information Services’. There were product presentations from Nature Publishing Group, Ebrary, Springer and ProQuest in the afternoon. There was a cultural programme in the evening and a conference dinner. The theme of the Conference was ‘ICoASL 2008 – Shaping the future of special libraries: beyond boundaries’. The conference was organized by the SLA Asian chapter in association with the Society for Library Professionals (SLP) and the Indian Association of Special Libraries and information Centers (IASLIC) at the India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi (India) from 26–28 November 2008. The principal objective was to provide a platform for cooperation among information professionals in Asia with a global perspective. The conference was inaugurated by Professor B.B. Bhattacharya, Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University. In his inaugural address he emphasized the role of libraries for academic institutions and also for research. In his presidential address, Mr. Stephen Abram, President of SLA, emphasized the role of SLA in the development of LIS activities worldwide. He also emphasized the SLA Asian Chapter’s role for special libraries in the region. The conference was attended by more than 300 delegates. Most of the delegates were from different parts of India but delegates from Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, China, USA and some other Asian countries were also present. During every session there were one or two invited papers or talks by eminent professionals and three to six papers were presented. 186 I F LA The second day started with a keynote address by Dr. Krishan Lal of the National Physical Laboratory, Delhi and the main sessions were dedicated to ‘Digital Libraries and Preservation’, ‘Corporate Libraries and Information Marketing’ and ‘Web 2.0 and LIS Marketing’. A poster session was organized in the afternoon and a panel discussion took place in the evening on the role of library associations. At the end of the day, a meeting of all SLA members was organized. The third and last day was started with a keynote address by Jack W. Plunkett on ‘Plunkett’s Top 10 Global Business Trends You Must Know About to Succeed’. The last day’s sessions were dedicated to ‘LIS Profession’, ‘E-learning and Distance Learning’ and ‘Special Library Case Studies’. There was a panel discussion in the afternoon on LIS career and opportunities before the valedictory function. The Conference was successful in its objectives. Sanjay K Bihani is working in the Ministry of External Affairs of Government of India in New Delhi. He is a Standing Committee Member of the IFLA Asia and Oceania Section and the Government Libraries Section. He is also a Member of the IFLA CLM Committee and the Editorial Committee of IFLA Journal. He may be contacted at alio@mea. gov.in or [email protected] Copyright © 2009 Author. IFLA Journal 35(2): 186. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105675 News News NEWS From the Secretariat Chair of Division IV – Support of the Profession: NEWS CONTENTS From the Secretariat . . . . . . Membership Matters. . . . . . Future IFLA Conferences and Meetings . . . . . . . . . IFLA Publications . . . . . . . . Other Publications . . . . . . . 187 188 188 191 193 New Staff Member: Louis Tákacs Michael Heaney, Executive Secretary, Oxford University Library Services, Clarendon Building, Bodleian Library, Oxford OX1 3BG, United Kingdom Chair of Division V – Regions: Election Results The results of the elections for Chair of the Professional Committee and Chairs of IFLA Divisions I-V, 2009–2011 are as follows: Buhle Mb ambo-That a, Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Executive Director, UNISA, Library Services, PO Box 392, Pretoria 0003, South Africa Sjoerd Koopman Chair of the Professional Committee: Patrice Landry, Chief of Classification and Indexing, Swiss National Library, Hallwylstrasse 15, 3003 BERN, Switzerland. Chair of Division I – Library Types: Steve Witt, Associate Director, Center for Global Studies, University of Illinois, 302 East John, Suite 1705, Champaign, IL 61820 MC-428, United States Chair of Division II – Library Collections: Ann Okerson, Associate University Librarian for Collections & International Programs, Yale University Library, Sterling Memorial Library – 116B, 130 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06520, United States NGOs Intensify Cooperation on Convergence On 21 November 2008 IFLA President Claudia Lux initiated the first NGO Meeting on Convergence. The outcome of this meeting was that IFLA and its sister organizations for archives (ICA), museums (ICOM), monuments and sites (ICOMOS), and the Council for Audiovisual Archives (CCAAA) plan to intensify cooperation in areas such as copyright and other legal matters, protection and preservation of cultural heritage (Blue Shield), global digital libraries, political lobby and standardization. Chair of Division III – Library Services: To support this initiative, IFLA takes up the convergence secretariat for 2 years. The NGO convergence group can be reached at: convergence@ ifla.org. Judy Field, Senior Lecturer, Library and Information Science, Wayne State University, 106 Kresge, Detroit, MI 48202, United States For more information see the collective communiqué at http://www.ifla. org/III/announce/convergencecommunique-200812-09.pdf I F LA On March 9 I started to work at IFLA Headquarters as Communication Officer /Web Content Editor, being responsible for the content on the new IFLA website. Since completing my MLIS in 2003, the trajectory of my professional ‘library career’ appears to take me further and further north and eastward, and has evolved along the way. This trajectory has also been aided by being a dual USHungarian citizen, which has fortunately allowed me to enter the EU workforce without issue. But like so many of my colleagues, I first worked in a library while attending university – all the while not knowing that I was making the unspoken, but non-negotiable commitment to stay! I’ve had a passion for libraries and all they represent ever since. First there was Columbia and St. Louis (Missouri), then Chicago, & Evanston (Illinois) in the United States and now Den Haag, The Netherlans. Until November 2008, Copyright © 2009 International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions (www.ifla.org). IFLA Journal 35(2): 187–194. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105676 187 Membership Matters I worked at Northwestern University as International Documents Librarian…which basically translates into a reference librarian devoted to use, promotion and preservation of ‘official’ government publications/information from a variety of IGOs, NGOs, and governments. This position of course involved a good deal of public service in a variety of mediums, but also some creative/professional writing for the web. I was always wanting to expand the latter role while still remaining engaged in the former and I believe I’ve found the right balance in this new position. So, from working in circulation, technical services, cataloging and reference departments in several public and academic libraries – as well as some occasional forays as a freelance researcher for documentary film – I suppose I’ve changed perspectives on the field once again by coming to IFLA. But while the geography and job titles have changed, I believe my commitment to the profession will only be strengthened by joining an organization so fundamentally devoted to the mission of libraries and librarians. I look forward to the work ahead with my colleagues at IFLA HQ, as well as with IFLA’s Information Coordinators and other web editors around the world, to help bring the new IFLA website into the Web 2.0 world. Outside of libraries I enjoy cycling, hiking, writing, photography, cooking, and of course reading! Contact details at IFLA HQ: Louis. [email protected]; Tel. +31 70 3140 757 Louis Tákacs New Organizational Structure at IFLA HQ The new organizational structure at IFLA HQ is shown in the organogram on page 189. Membership Matters New Members We bid a warm welcome to 30 new members who have joined the Federation between 14 December 2008 and 16 March 2009. National Associations Library and Information Association of Eritrea, Eritrea Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees, Norway Institutions Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), Australia IUB Library, Independent University, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Vlaams Parlement, Informatheek, Belgium Ryerson University, Canada University of Brunswick, Libraries, Canada Tartu University Library, Estonia Häme City Library – Häme Provincial Library, Finland Joensuu Regional Library, Finland Library of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Germany Hogeschule der Medien Stuttgart, Studiengang Bibliotheks-und Informationsmanagement, Germany Universitätsbibliothek der Technischen Universität Muenchen, Germany The American University of Rome, Italy Amman Public Libraries Department, Jordan Princess Sumaya University for Technology, El Hassan Library and Media Center, Jordan Christchurch City Libraries, New Zealand Kristiansand Public Library, Norway Department of Information – UNISA, South Africa National Research Foundation, South Africa One Person Resource Centre Museum of International Folk Art, United States Personal Affiliates Mahalya Havard, Canada Marlene Bejarano Herrera, Colombia Bruce Royan, United Kingdom Felicia Smith, United States Marwa El Sahn, Egypt Student Affiliates Heather Wakefield, United States Jamilla Johnston, United States Susan Bushnell, United States Patricia Moran, United States Future IFLA Conferences and Meetings Libraries for the Blind IFLA Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities Section PreConference. Mechelen, Belgium 188 and Maastricht, Netherlands, 17–20 August 2009. Theme: Partnerships for print disabled people: publishers and public libraries. Further information: [email protected] CPDWL and New Professionals Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Membership Matters 189 Future IFLA Conferences and Meetings Section and the New Professionals Discussion Group. IFLA Satellite Conference. University of Bologna, Italy. August 18, 19, and 20, 2009. Theme: Moving in, moving up, and moving on: Strategies for regenerating the library and information profession. Further information: Loida GarciaFebo, Assistant Coordinator, Special Services, Queens Library, 89–11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11432, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Public Libraries and Others Interlending and Document Supply Public Libraries, Library Buildings and Equipment, Library Theory and Research, Management and Marketing, and Academic and Research Libraries Sections. Pre-conference, Torino, 19–21 August 2009. Theme: Libraries as space and place. 11th Interlending and Document Supply Conference, Hanover, Germany, 20–22 October 2009. Theme: Strategic alliances and partnerships in interlending and document supply. Further information: Marydee Ojala. E-mail: [email protected] Topics will include: OR Roisin Gwyer, Associate University Librarian, The University Library, University of Portsmouth, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, PO1 2ST, England UK. E-mail: roisin. [email protected] Information Technology and Web 2.0 IFLA Information Technology Section, supported by the Libraries and Web 2.0 Discussion Group. Pre-Conference, Florence, 19–20 August 2009. Theme: Emerging trends in technology: libraries between Web 2.0, semantic web and search technology. Further information: Dr. Alenka Kavcic-Colic, Head of the Library Research Centre, National and University Library, Turjaska 1, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Tel. (+381-1) 2001131. Fax: (+386-1) 4257293. E-mail: [email protected] Literacy and Reading and Children and Young Adults Literacy and Reading and Children and Young Adults Sections. Preconference, Rome, 19–20 August 2009. Theme: Raising a nation of readers: libraries as partners in national reading projects and programmes. 190 Classification and Indexing Classification and Indexing Section. Pre-conference, Florence, Italy 20–21 August 2009. Theme: Looking at the past and preparing for the future. Further information: Leda Bultrini. E-mail: [email protected] OR Patrice Landry. Fax: +41 31 322 84 63. E-mail: patrice.landry@nb. admin.ch • cooperation in document supply and interlending • national and international experiences in resource sharing • open access activities • rights & distribution/licensing/ economic aspects • future directions Further information: Kim Baker, Programme Executive: Document Supply and Information Services and Cape Town Campus Coordinator, National Library of South Africa, PO Box 496, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa. Tel: +27 21 487 5604. Fax: +27 21 423 3359. E-Mail: [email protected] IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2009 in Italy Information Literacy Course IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Council, 23–27 August 2009. Milan, Italy. Theme: Libraries create futures: building on digital heritage. IFLA ALP Short Course on Information Literacy and IT for Information Professionals in Asia and Oceania. Wellington, New Zealand, 16 November –11 December 2009. Further information: IFLA 2009 Secretariat, 4B, 50 Speirs Wharf, Port Dundas, Glasgow G4 9TH, Scotland, UK. Tel: +44(0)141 331 0123. Fax: +44(0)207 117 4561. E-mail: [email protected] Conference website: http://www.ifla.org/ IV/ifla75/1st-ann2009-en.pdf This four-week course organized on behalf of IFLA ALP is now in its seventh year in New Zealand. The overall theme is information literacy, with special reference to needs and developments of countries in Asia and Oceania. The course will cover the basics of information literacy and information literacy training skills needed by information professionals in a variety of settings, as well as current and emerging IT applications in libraries. Classroom participation and hands-on practice will be interspersed with visits to OR Milan City National Committee, IFLA 2009 Milan, Italy, Associazione Italiana Biblioteche. E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.aib.it IFLA Publications leading libraries and information agencies in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and home to a wide array of 'cutting-edge' information organizations. The course will be based primarily at the Victoria University of Wellington Library and taught by leading educators in library and information management, as well as practitioners with considerable experience in the delivery of information literacy programmes. There are also visits to major libraries and information services in the Greater Wellington region. While the course is purposely small, to allow one-on-one training and closely monitored IT lab work, there are limited vacancies for feepaying students. A fee of USD 3,000 covers all tuition, course materials and accommodation in comfortable university housing. Airfares, visas and meals are an additional expense. The final selection of applicants will be made no later than the beginning of August 2009. There is no application form, but potential participants should send an email message outlining: professional education; professional work experience; level of English ability; reasons for wishing to attend the course; self-assessed IT capabilities; source of funding. Please email this information as soon as possible to: Professor G. E. Gorman or Dr Daniel Dorner, AsiaNew Zealand Informatics Associates, Wellington, New Zealand. E-mail: [email protected] IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2010 in Australia IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 76th IFLA General Conference and Council, August 14–19, 2010. Brisbane, Australia. Theme: Engaging, Embracing, Empowering. Further information from: IFLA Headquarters, PO Box 95312, 2509 CH The Hague, The Netherlands. Tel. +31 70 314 0884. Fax: +31 70 383 4827. E-mail: ifla@ifla. org. Website: www.ifla.org IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2011 in Puerto Rico During the closing session of the World Library and Information Congress in Quebec, it was announced that Puerto Rico had been selected as the host country for the 2011 Congress. Further details will be available at a later date. IFLA Publications I F L A A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 07. Compiled and edited by IF LA Headquarters. The Hague, IFLA Headquarters, 2009. 24 p. 30 cm. ISBN 978?90?77897?34?8. Available online at the IFLA website: http://www.ifla.org/V/cdoc/index. htm#AnnualReports Libraries and Information Services Towards the Attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Edited by Benson Njobvu and Sjoerd Koopman. Munich: K.G. Saur, 2008. (IFLA Publications; 134) ISBN 978-3-598-22040-1. Price: EUR 79.95 (EUR 73.50 for IFLA Members). Price for USA, Canada, Mexico USD 112.00 (USD 84.00 for IFLA Members) The United Nations Millennium declarations of 2002 set eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015. The high poverty levels in most African countries make many aware that it is no longer up to the governments alone to find ways of abetting it, but that other organizations need to join the fight. Libraries are well placed to contribute to the development process in supporting it by providing relevant, up to date and reliable information. The papers presented in this publication address the question how African libraries and information professionals seek to make themselves relevant to national development. All of them focus on how libraries and information centres could contribute to the attainment of these MDGs. The papers are a selection of the proceedings of the Eighteenth Standing Conference of East, Central and Southern Africa Library and Information Associations (SCECSAL) held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 15th–18th July 2008. The Impact of Digital Technology on Contemporary and Historic Newspapers. Proceedings of the International Newspaper Conference, Singapore, April 1–3, 2008, and papers from the World Library and Information Congress, Québec, Canada, August, 2008. Edited by Hartmut Walravens. In collaboration with the National Library of Singapore. Munich: K.G. Saur, 2008 (IFLA Publications; 135). ISBN 978-3-598-22041-8. Price: EUR 99.95 (EUR 75.00 for IFLA Members). Price for USA, Canada, Mexico USD 140.00 (USD 105.00 for IFLA Members). Also available as an eBook. Contents Foreword – Hartmut Walravens, Chair, IFLA Newspapers Section Preface – Ngian Lek Choh, Director, National Library Singapore Keynote Address – Hartmut Walravens, Chair, IFLA Newspapers Section 191 IFLA Publications Track 1: Physical and Digital Preservation of Newspapers The Future of Newspaper Resource: The development of newspaper companies and its impact on libraries in managing newspaper resource, education and information literacy programmes – Idris Rashid Khan Surattee The Australian Newspaper Plan (ANPlan) – Pam Gatenby The Importance of Partnerships for Newspaper Preservation – Beth M. Robertson Parallel Session A: Digitization of Historic Newspapers: Approaches and Challenges Digitizing Historic Newspapers in Germany: the case of Bavaria – Klaus Ceynowa 19th Century British Library Newspapers: utilizing the online database– Ed King Newspaper Digitization in the Netherlands: The Dutch Digital Databank for Newspapers and other initiatives – Astrid Verheusen Digital Ingest of Current Newspapers by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France: The situation end 2007/ beginning 2008 – Else Delaunay Track 2: Service and Access Models of Southeast Asian Newspapers Cooperative Efforts in the Preservation of and Access to the World's Newspapers – James Simon The Index to Philippine Newspapers (IPN) Online – Chito N. Angeles Service and Processing of Newspaper in Supporting Research: A case study of libraries of universities in Surabaya – Munawaroh Enhancing Access to the Newspaper Collections: The Lee Kong Chian Reference Library experience – Gracie Lee and Josephine Yeo Publication, Access and Preservation of Scandinavian Immigrant Press in North America – James Simon and Patricia Finney Press, Community, and Library – A study of the Chinese-language newspaper published in North America – Tao Yang IFLA Publications are available from: K. G. Saur Verlag: www.saur.de OR Rhenus Medien Logistik GmbH & Co. KG, Justus-von-Liebig-Straße 1, 86899 Landsberg, Germany. Tel. +49 (0)8191 9 70 00-214. Fax: +49 (0)8191 9 70 00-560. E-mail: [email protected] For the USA – Canada – Mexico: Walter de Gruyter, Inc., P.O. Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960, USA. Phone: + 1 (703) 661-1589. Toll free: +1 (800) 208-8144. Fax: +1 (703) 661-1501. E-mail: degruytermail@presswarehouse. com Track 3: Online Newspapers Online Newspapers: a new era – Ed King Parallel Session B: Challenges and Opportunities in Digitization Projects Newslink 2.0: major issues in the development of the SPH Multimedia News Archives – Tay Sok Cheng, Sebastian Chow and Ben Lim The California Digital Newspaper Project: canvassing, cataloging, preservation, digitization – Henry L. Snyder All News but No Paper – Harvesting Swedish online newspapers – Pär Nilsson New Access to Old Materials: The Hong Kong Newspaper Literary Supplements Digitization Project – Leo F. H. Ma & Louise L. M. Chan Appendix: Papers presented at the IFLA conference «Libraries without borders: Navigating towards global understanding», 10–14 August 2008, Québec, Canada Creation of a National Newspaper Repository at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Library – Edward Tasikani Canadian Inuit Newspapers and Periodicals: past, present and future – Sharon Rankin Track 1: Physical and Digital Preservation of Newspapers: the Issues of Legal Deposit and Copyright 192 Widening Access and Legal Issues: Newspapers in Focus – Majlis Bremer–Laamanen Sauvegarder et numériser la presse des immigrations en France à la BnF, XIXème–XXème siècles – Philippe Mezzasalma IFLA World Report 2009 The IFLA/FAIFE World Report is a series of reports on freedom of access to information and freedom of expression that IFLA has been publishing since 2001. For details see http://www.ifla.org/faife/index. htm and http://www.ifla.org/faife/ report/intro.htm. This year IFLA again intends to publish an online report, Volume VIII, updating the information of the previous reports and expanding on a number of issues that were not covered in the previous reports. The Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa was contracted to compile the 2007 World Report and they have again been contracted to compile the 2009 World Report. The questionnaire will this year again be available in English, French and Spanish. The data collection Other Publications for the World Report will be done electronically via a secure site on the Web, and a respondent has to register on this website to be validated as a respondent for a specific country. This production version of the World Report will run on a secure server and allow access based on login names and passwords. The SSL certificate is provided by Thawte (http://www.thawte.com/) and provides 256-bit SSL encryption, the current industry standard. Only the respondent for a specific country will be able to access his/her specific country report (obviously in addition to the research team) and nobody else will have access to these primary data. We can therefore guarantee that the data the respondent provides are safe, cannot be accessed by any outside parties and cannot be tampered with. E-mails inviting possible respondents will be sent out in the near future and respondents will be requested to indicate their willingness to participate. These possible respondents have been identified because they are members of the FAIFE Committee, or have been previous respondents for specific countries, or are senior members of the country’s library association or national library. If you feel that you can make a contribution to the project and have not been contacted by the Research Team by the end of March 2009, please send an e-mail to the Research Team at [email protected]. We look forward to the support and cooperation of many librarians and information professionals across the world to make the World Report 2009 a comprehensive and detailed report! Prof Theo Bothma (On behalf of the Research Team) 18 March 2009 Other Publications Journal of Library Innovation The Journal of Library Innovation is seeking submissions for publication for its inaugural issue in January 2010. The journal, one of the first journals devoted explicitly to innovation and creativity in libraries, is a peer reviewed, electronic journal published by the Western New York Library Resources Council. Its mission is to disseminate research and information on innovative practice in libraries of all types. Innovation in libraries can include, but is not limited to the following: • The discovery of unmet user needs. • The introduction of new services or the retooling of traditional services resulting in a better user experience. • Creative collaboration between libraries, or between libraries and other types of institutions, resulting in demonstrable improvements in service to users. • Implementing new technologies to improve and extend library service to meet user needs. • Explorations of the future of libraries. • Pilot testing unconventional ideas and services. • Redefining the roles of library staff to better serve users. • Developing processes that encourage organizational innovation. • Reaching out to and engaging library users and non-users in new and creative ways. • Creative library instruction and patron programming. • Finding new ways to make library collections or library facilities more useful. The Journal of Library Innovation publishes original research, literature reviews, commentaries, case studies, reports on innovative practices, and book, conference and product reviews. The journal also welcomes provocative essays that will stimulate thought on the current and future role of libraries in an Internet Age. For more information and submission guidelines visit http://www. libraryinnovation.org or contact Pamela Jones, the Managing Editor, at [email protected]. Informed Librarian Online Information professionals can customize their professional reading with The Informed Librarian Online. Each month's issue (by email and on the web) includes links to all journal titles relating to the chosen subjects. The 320 journals covered by this current awareness service are divided among 31 subjects. Subscribers can also use ILO Search, a database of library literature searching through more than 90,000 library journal articles and documents which is available exclusively at The Informed Librarian Online. In addition, this service provides links to all journal contents that came out during the month. Premium content from journal publishers (full-text journal articles from Elsevier, Emerald, IOS Press, Sage, Haworth, and Taylor & Francis) is also accessible to subscribers. More information: www.informedlibrarian.com Author Mapper Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) has launched the website www.AuthorMapper. com, a free analytical online tool for discerning trends, patterns and subject experts within scientific research. Currently, AuthorMapper.com searches over three million journal 193 Other Publications articles to deliver a variety of useful information. The current searchable content is from all Springer journals; metadata from other STM publishers will be included in the near future. The tool can provide a variety of analyses, such as keyword tag clouds and ‘Top 5’ bar charts for various important metrics, and includes an interactive world map of the results. The advanced search 194 function also allows complex queries using keyword, discipline, institution, journal and author. The results can identify new and historic scientific trends through timeline graphs and bar charts of top statistics, allowing for identification of trends in the literature, discovery of wider scientific relationships, and locating other experts in a field of study. Users who are only interested in open access content can restrict their searches accordingly. AuthorMapper.com shows which institutions are the most prolific in specific research areas and allows for their comparison. Further information: Renate Bayaz E-mail: [email protected] Tel. +49-171-8668118. International Calendar INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR 2009 July 5–10, 2009. Amsterdam, Netherlands. International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML). Annual Conference. Further information: http:// www.iaml.info/en/activities/ conferences or e-mail Roger Flury, AML Secretary General at: [email protected] July 10, 2009. Chicago, USA. American Library Association International Relations Round Table. Pre-Conference, American Library Association Annual Conference. Theme: Digitization in the developing world. Further information: Jacqueline Solis, Co-chair , International Relations Round Table Pre-Conference. E-mail: [email protected]. July 13–16, 2009, Las Vegas, USA. WORLDCOMP'09. The 2009 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Applied Computing. [composed of 22 Joint Conferences] Further information: H. R. Arabnia, PhD, Professor, Computer Science, Department of Computer Science, University of Georgia, 415 Boyd Building, Athens, Georgia 30602-7404, USA. Tel: +1 (706) 542-3480. Fax: +1(706) 542-2966. E-mail: [email protected]. edu Website: http://www.worldacademy-of-science.org July 13–17, 2009. Accra, Ghana. Second IAALD Africa Chapter Conference. Theme: Towards opening access to information and knowledge in the agricultural sciences and technology in Africa. Further information will be posted on the Chapter’s web site: http:// www.iaald-africa.org July 27–31, 2009. Bento Gonçalves, RS – Brazil. [NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE] WCCE 2009: 9th IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education. Further information: Prof. Rosa Vicari, Instituto de Informática, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Campus do Vale – Instituto de Informática – Bloco IV, Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500 – Bairro Agronomia, Caixa Postal 15064, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Telephone: +55 (0xx)51 3316 6801. Fax: +55 (0xx)51 3316 7308. E-mail: [email protected] Conference website: http://www. wcce2009.org/ August 17–20, 2009. Mechelen, Belgium and Maastricht, Netherlands. IFLA Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities Section Pre-Conference. Theme: Partnerships for print disabled people: publishers and public libraries. Information and Registration details: www.debibliotheken. nl/P3IFLA2009 Further information: [email protected] August 18–20, 2009. Bologna, Italy. IFLA Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section and the New Professionals Discussion Group. I F LA Satellite Conference. Theme: Moving in, moving up, and moving on: Strategies for regenerating the library and information profession. Further information: Loida Garcia-Febo, Assistant Coordinator, Special Services, Queens Library, 89–11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11432, USA. E-mail: [email protected] OR Roisin Gwyer, Associate University Librarian, The University Library, University of Portsmouth, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, I F LA PO1 2ST, England UK. E-mail: [email protected] August 19–20, 2009. Rome, Italy. Raising a Nation of Readers: libraries as partners in national reading projects and programmes. IFLA Pre-conference. Sponsored by: IFLA Literacy and Reading and Libraries for Children and Young Adults Sections, Istituzione Biblioteche del Comune di Roma, Goethe Institut Italien, Associazione Italiana Biblioteche. Further information: www. comune.roma.it/biblioteche/ IFLAsatellitemeeting August 19–20, 2009. Florence, Italy. IFLA Information Technology Section supported by the Libraries and Web 2.0 Discussion Group. IFLA Pre-conference. Theme: Emerging trends in technology: libraries between Web 2.0, semantic web and search technology. Further information: Dr. Alenka Kavcic-Colic, Head of the Library Research Centre, National and University Library, Turjaska 1, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Tel. (+381-1) 2001131. Fax: (+386-1) 4 2 572 9 3 . E - m a i l : a l e n k a . [email protected] August 19–20, 2009. Rome, Italy. IFLA Literacy and Reading and Children and Young Adults Sections. IFLA Pre-conference. Theme: Raising a nation of readers: libraries as partners in national reading projects and programmes. Further information: Ivanka Stricevic, PhD, Chair, Literacy and Reading Section, University of Zadar, Library and Information Science Department, M. Pavlinovica bb, 23000 Zadar, Croatia. Tel/fax +385 (0)23 311 540. E-mail: ivanka.stricevic@zg. t-com.hr OR Ingrid Bon, Chair, Copyright © 2009 International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions (www.ifla.org). IFLA Journal 35(2): 195–196. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105677 195 International Calendar Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section, Biblioservice Gelderland, Zeelandsingel 40, 6845 BH ARNHEM, The Netherlands. Tel. + (31) (26) 3860233. Fax: + (31) (26) 3820019. E-mail: [email protected] August 19–21, 2009. Torino, Italy. IFLA Public Libraries, Library Buildings and Equipment, Library Theory and Research, Management and Marketing, and Academic and Research Libraries Sections. IFLA Preconference. Theme: Libraries as space and place. Further information: Marydee Ojala. E-mail: marydee@xmission. com August 20–21, 2009. Florence, Italy. IFLA Classification and Indexing Section. IFLA Pre-conference. Theme: Looking at the past and preparing for the future. Further information: Leda Bultrini. E-mail: [email protected] OR Patrice Landry. Fax: +41 31 322 84 63. E-mail: patrice. [email protected] August 23–27, 2009. Milan, Italy. IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Council. Theme: Libraries create futures: building on digital heritage. Further information: IFLA 2009 Secretariat, 4B, 50 Speirs Wharf, Port Dundas, Glasgow G4 9th, Scotland, UK. Tel: +44(0)141 331 0123. Fax: +44(0)207 117 4561. E-mail: [email protected] Conference website: http://www. ifla.org/IV/ifla75/1st-ann2009en.pdf or Milan City National Committee, IFLA 2009 Milan, Italy, Associazione Italiana Biblioteche. E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.aib.it October 20–22 2009. Hanover, Germany . 11th Interlending and Document Supply Conference. Theme: Strategic alliances and 196 partnerships in interlending and document supply. Further information: Kim Baker, Programme Executive: Document Supply and Information Services and Cape Town Campus Coordinator, National Library of South Africa, PO Box 496, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa. Tel: +27 21 487 5604. Fax: +27 21 423 3359. E-mail: [email protected] October 29–30, 2009. The Hague, The Netherlands. International UDC Seminar 2009. Theme: Classification at a crossroads – multiple directions to usability. Further information: E-mail: [email protected] Conference website: http://www.udcc. org/seminar2009/index.htm. 16 November –11 December 2009. Wellington, New Zealand. IFLA ALP Short Course on Information Literacy and IT for Information Professionals in Asia and Oceania. Further information: Professor G. E. Gorman or Dr Daniel Dorner, Asia-New Zealand Informatics Associates, Wellington, New Zealand. E-mail: anzia@xtra. co.nz 2010 June 27–July 2, 2010. Moscow, Russia. International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML). Annual Conference. Further information: http:// www.iaml.info/en/activities/ conferences or e-mail Roger Flury, AML Secretary General at: [email protected] August 14–19, 2010. Brisbane, Australia. IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 76th IFLA General Conference and Council. Theme: Engaging, Embracing, Empowering. Information regarding the 76th IFLA General Conference and Council will be available on the IFLANET website at a later date: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla76/ index.htm Further information: IFLA Headquarters, PO Box 95312, 2509 CH The Hague, The Netherlands. Phone: +31 70 314 0884. Fax: +31 70 383 4827. E-mail: [email protected]. 2011 Puerto Rico. IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 77th IFLA General Conference and Council. Information regarding the 77th IFLA General Conference and Council will be available at a later date from IFLA Headquarters, PO Box 95312, 2509 CH The Hague, The Netherlands. Phone: +31 70 314 0884. Fax: +31 70 383 4827. E-mail: [email protected]. 24–29 July.2011. Dublin, Ireland. International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML). Annual Conference. Further information: http:// www.iaml.info/en/activities/ conferences or e-mail Roger Flury, AML Secretary General at: roger. [email protected] 2012–2015 International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML). Further forthcoming conferences: 2011 Ireland, Dublin, 24–29 July 2012 Canada 2013 Denmark, Århus 2014 Austria, Vienna 2015 USA, New York Further information: http://www. iaml.info/en/activities/conferences or e-mail Roger Flury, AML Secretary General at: roger.flury@natlib. govt.nz Sommaires SOMMAIRES Mauro Guerrini with the collaboration of Giovanna Frigimelica. Libraries in Italy: a brief overview. [Les bibliothèques en Italie: un bref aperçu.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 94–116 Le réseau italien des bibliothèques est complexe et difficile à comprendre. Cet article montre certaines caractéristiques du système, qui englobe les bibliothèques d’État, universitaires, spécialisées, scolaires et ecclésiastiques ainsi que des fondations et des structures en propriété privée. Il donne une vue d’ensemble des principaux éléments historiques ainsi que des principales tendances actuelles, notamment éducation, législation, nouveaux projets de bibliothèques, etc. Il conclut avec des suggestions de nouveaux services nationaux. Paul Sturges. Stimulating IFLA’s E t h i c a l C o n s c i e n c e : FA I F E 2003/2009. [Stimuler la conscience éthique de l’IFLA: FAIFE 2003/2009.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 117–122 Passe en revue les activités du Programme de l’IF LA 2003/2009 d’accès libre à l’information et à la liberté d’expression (FAIFE), basé sur trois types d’activités: intervention, éducation et lobbying. Ce programme FAIFE est toujours prêt à être mis en oeuvre en cas de menace sur les stocks, les services et le personnel des bibliothèques, mais cela n’a pas été la principale forme d’activité au cours de cette période. Grâce à une subvention de la Fondation suédoise contre le Sida, FAIFE a mis au point un programme d’éducation consistant en ateliers de formation qui utilisent du matériel éducatif spécialement écrit à cet effet. Au début, ils abordaient les thèmes du manifeste Internet de l’IFLA/UNESCO et de l’accès aux informations sur le VIH/SIDA. Depuis, un matériel éducatif supplémentaire sur les bibliothèques et la transparence ainsi que l’accès public aux informations de santé a été mis au point. Les ateliers de formation menés par des instructeurs FAIFE, forment des instructeurs locaux afin qu’ils diffusent le message plus largement dans leur propre pays et leur propre région. Le centre des activités de lobbying de FAIFE a vu la création du Manifeste de l’IFLA sur la transparence, la bonne gouvernance et l’absence de corruption. On peut maintenant distinguer un modèle de développement d’une politique participative qui conduit à des ateliers de formation et au renforcement en conséquence de la capacité de lobbying de la profession des bibliothécaires. IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 131–140 Simon Ellis, Michael Heaney, Pierre Meunier et Roswitha Poll. Global Library Statistics. [Statistiques bibliothécaires mondiales.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 123–133 – l’IFLA a un rôle important à jouer en matière de conseils et de développement de normes; son rôle dans le développement d’une politique nationale est nécessairement limité. – le Congrès est un lieu important de rencontre et ses délibérations sont une source d’inspiration pour ceux qui y sont venus avec un esprit ouvert. – l’influence des travaux et des délibérations du Congrès pourrait être plus importante s’ils étaient mis à disposition de façon accessible en partenariat avec des publications existantes telles que le Journal de l’IFLA. – pour les professionnels de la jeune génération qui souhaitent prendre des responsabilités, l’IFLA est une organisation intimidante. Lorsque l’IFLA a eu besoin de données fiables concernant les bibliothèques et leurs services dans le monde entier, on s’est aperçu que de telles données n’existaient pas. Par conséquent, la section Statistiques et Évaluation de l’IFLA, l’Institut des statistiques de l’UNESCO et le Comité TC 46 SC 8 de l’Organisation internationale de normalisation (ISO) ‘Qualité, statistiques et évaluation des performances’ ont uni leurs forces afin de développer et de tester un nouvel ensemble de statistiques pouvant être utilisées par les bibliothèques du monde entier. L’objectif final est de rassembler régulièrement ces statistiques au niveau national, de façon à disposer de données fiables et comparables sur le plan international portant sur les services bibliothécaires et l’utilisation des bibliothèques. Peter G. Underwood. Diffusion of Professional Norms: the impact of IFLA in South Africa. [Diffusion des normes professionnelles: l’impact de l’IFLA en Afrique du Sud.] I F LA Il s’agit d’une étude de l’impact du travail de l’IFLA, y compris son rôle dans le développement de programmes portant sur la culture de l’information ainsi que sur la profession bibliothécaire en Afrique du Sud, et basée sur les opinions de professionnels sud-africains ayant assisté au Congrès mondial des bibliothécaires et de l’information lors de la 73e Conférence générale de l’IFLA qui s’est tenue à Durban du 19 au 23 août 2007. Cette conférence a donné lieu à une série de groupes d’études et autres débats. Voici les thèmes abordés au cours des discussions: Elisam Magara and Charles Batambuze. The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda: An impact study. [Le programme de développement de bibliothèques scolaires dans le district de Pallisa en Ouganda: une étude d’impact.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 141–151 Cette étude détermine l’impact du Programme de développement de Copyright © 2009 International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions (www.ifla.org). IFLA Journal 35(2): 197–204. ISSN: 0340-0352. DOI: 10.1177/0340035209105678 197 Sommaires Zusammenfassungen bibliothèques scolaires (SLDP) mis en place par l’Association d’Afrique de l’Est pour le développement du livre (EABDA) sur les écoles bénéficiaires dans le district de Pallisa. Le programme a été financé par des fonds provenant du prix d’alphabétisation Guust van Wesemael, remis en 2007par l’IFLA à la Fondation nationale ougandaise pour le livre. Il a permis de rassembler des données provenant des exécutants et des participants dans le district de Pallisa, y compris enseignants, enfants, directeurs d’écoles, enseignants bibliothécaires et Bureau du district chargé de l’éducation. Il a été établi qu’il y avait une utilisation significative (a) des aptitudes acquises lors de la formation et (b) de la donation des livres, de la gestion des collections et de l’usage des bibliothèques. Bien que les écoles aient mis en place des stratégies pour permettre aux enfants d’emprunter et de lire des livres, l’absence de bibliothèques construites sur mesure avec des endroits convenables pour s’asseoir et suffisamment d’espace a limité les possibilités pour les enfants d’utiliser la bibliothèque et d’apprécier la lecture dans les écoles. Il faut un programme global de développement des bibliothèques scolaires pour mener les interventions afin d’approvisionner les bibliothèques scolaires en livres convenables et de promouvoir la lecture. Paul Thirion et Bernard Pochet. Information Literacy in Students entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium: lessons learned from an evaluation. [Compétences documentaires et informationnelles des étudiants qui accèdent à l ’e n s e i g n e m e n t s u p é r i e u r en Communauté française de Belgique : les leçons tirées d’une évaluation.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 152–170 Bien que les universités offrent de plus en plus à leurs étudiants une formation à la culture de l’information, leur véritable niveau en début d’études en matière de compétences documentaires et informationnelles n’a jamais été déterminé. C’est pourquoi EduDOC a décidé de faire équipe avec la commission ‘Bibliothèques’ du CIUF afin de mener une vaste étude visant à décrire objectivement ce niveau initial de compétences documentaires et informationnelles, d’identifier les principales faiblesses des étudiants, ainsi que de permettre aux instructeurs d’ajuster leur formation en en tenant compte. Le questionnaire s’est fondé sur une étude similaire menée au Québec et contient 20 questions regroupées en cinq thèmes et en rapport avec les étapes de recherche d’informations. Il a été envoyé en septembre 2007 à un échantillon d’étudiants sélectionnés au hasard et nouveaux venus dans un établissement d’enseignement supérieur de la Communauté française de Belgique. Les résultats plutôt médiocres des étudiants confirment qu’il est impératif de mettre en place un programme consacré à la culture de l’information pour que les étudiants obtiennent de bons résultats au cours de leurs études. Shin Freedman. Effective Mentoring. [Un mentorat efficace.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 171–182 Un mentorat efficace est essentiel pour permettre le développement et le succès des bibliothécaires dans tous les types de bibliothèques. Cet article étudie les possibilités d’encourager les activités de mentorat pour les bibliothécaires en début de carrière, les bibliothécaires en milieu de carrière qui se recyclent et le personnel non professionnel des bibliothèques. En premier lieu, l’article évoque les études existantes afin de souligner l’urgence d’activités de mentorat pour contrebalancer la diminution du nombre de bibliothécaires et l’évolution de la profession de bibliothécaire, ainsi que pour tenir compte des besoins permanents en personnel. En second lieu, il s’intéresse aux activités typiques de mentorat des bibliothèques universitaires et des organisations professionnelles, y compris leur étendue et leurs limites. L’article s’intéresse particulièrement aux bibliothécaires académiques dans un cadre universitaire. En troisième lieu, il décrit les activités de mentorat d’un bibliothécaire afin de soutenir et d’encourager les bibliothécaires débutants pour faire avancer leur carrière en science de l’information et des bibliothèques, à devenir des membres actifs d’associations professionnelles et à envisager des rôles éventuels de dirigeants. L’article conclut avec (a) un compte rendu de la façon dont les propres rôles de mentorat et de mentoré joués par l’auteur ont influencé son orientation professionnelle et (b) établit le rapport entre un mentorat efficace et le leadership au sein des bibliothèques. Il démontre comment le mentor efficace peut aider le mentoré non seulement à naviguer dans le dédale des organisations et comités professionnels, mais aussi à parvenir à une meilleure compréhension globale du projet des bibliothèques sans frontières. ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN Mauro Guerrini with the collaboration of Giovanna Frigimelica. Libraries in Italy: a brief overview [Bibliotheken in Italien: ein kurzer Überblick.] 198 IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 94–116 Das italienische Bibliotheksnetz ist komplex und schwer verständlich. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt einige Charakteristika dieses Systems, zu dem staatliche Bibliotheken, Unibibliotheken, Spezialbibliotheken, öffentliche, schulische und Zusammenfassungen Sommaires kirchliche Bibliotheken, Stiftungen sowie in Privatbesitz befindliche Einrichtungen gehören. Zudem wird ein Überblick über die wesentlichen historischen Eigenheiten geboten, und es werden wichtige aktuelle Trends beschrieben, beispielsweise im Zusammenhang mit der Bildung, Gesetzgebung, neuen Bibliotheksprojekten usw. Abschließend unterbreiten die Autoren einige Vorschläge in Bezug auf neue staatliche Dienstleistungen. Paul Sturges. Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003– 2009. [Stärkung der ethischen Grundsätze der IFLA: FAIFE 2003–2009.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 117–122 Der Autor bespricht die einzelnen Tätigkeiten im Rahmen des FAIFE – Programms der IFLA (“Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression”) von 2003 bis 2009 [freier Zugang zu Informationen und Freiheit der Meinungsäußerung]. Im Einzelnen stützt sich das auf drei verschiedene Eckpfeiler: Intervention, Bildung und Unterstützung. FAIFE ist weiterhin interventionsbereit, sollten das Inventar, die Dienstleistungen beziehungsweise die Mitarbeiter der Bibliotheken bedroht werden; dies galt jedoch nicht als Schwerpunkt innerhalb des fraglichen Zeitraums. Dank der finanziellen Unterstützung der schwedischen Sida hat FAIFE ein Bildungsprogramm mit entsprechenden Workshops entwickelt, wobei speziell konzipierte Lern- und Arbeitsmaterialien zum Einsatz gelangen. Dabei ging es in erster Linie um das IFLA/UNESCO Internet-Manifest und den Zugang zu HIV/AIDS – Informationen. Seitdem sind auch weitere Lernund Arbeitsmaterialien über Bibliotheken und Transparenz sowie über den öffentlichen Zugang zu medizinischen Informationen entwickelt worden. Die Workshops unter der Leitung von FAIFETrainern dienen der Schulung örtlicher Ausbilder, so dass diese die Botschaft in ihrem eigenen Land und ihrer eigenen Region effektiver weitergeben können. Schwerpunktmäßig hat sich die Unterstützungsarbeit der FAIFE auf die Erstellung des IFLAManifests über Transparenz, eine verantwortungsbewusste Regierungsführung und Korruptionsbekämpfung konzentriert. Damit schält sich nun ein Modell der politischen und strategischen Mitbestimmung heraus, auf dessen Basis entsprechende SchulungsWorkshops durchgeführt werden können und der unterstützende Einfluss des bibliothekarischen Berufsstandes konsequent gestärkt werden kann. Simon Ellis, Michael Heaney, Pierre Meunier und Roswitha Poll. Global Library Statistics. [Weltweite Statistiken im Bibliothekswesen.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 123–130 Als die IFLA verlässliche Daten über die Bibliotheken der Welt und die dort angebotenen Dienstleistungen benötigte, stellte sich heraus, dass derartige Daten gar nicht vorliegen. Daher haben sich die IFLA-Sektion für Statistik und Evaluierung, das UNESCO-Statistikinstitut und der ISO-Ausschuss der Internationalen Organisation für Normung (TC 46 SC 8: Qualität – Statistik und Leistungsbewertung) zusammengeschlossen, um neue Statistiken, die von den Bibliotheken weltweit verwendet werden können, zu entwickeln und zu testen. Schließlich und endlich sollen in diesem Zusammenhang regelmäßig entsprechende nationale Statistiken erstellt werden, so dass verlässliche und international vergleichbare Daten bezüglich des Bibliotheksservice und der Bibliotheksnutzung vorliegen. Peter G. Underwood. Diffusion of Professional Norms: the impact of IFLA in South Africa. [Verbreitung professioneller Normen: die Bedeutung der IFLA in Südafrika.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 131–140 Diese Studie befasst sich mit der Bedeutung der Arbeit der IFLA – einschließlich ihrer Rolle bei der Entwicklung geeigneter Programme zur Förderung der Informationskompetenz – für die Bibliotheksberufe in Südafrika. Dies stützt sich auf die Aussagen südafrikanischer Bibliothekare, die am “World Library and Information Congress” [Weltkongress Bibliothek und Information]: der 73. IFLA – Generalkonferenz am 19. bis 23. August 2007 in Durban teilgenommen haben. Dazu diente auch eine Reihe von Interviews mit den Fokusgruppen sowie weiteren Gruppen. Aus diesen Diskussionen haben sich folgende Themen ergeben: – Die IFLA spielt eine wichtige Rolle im Zusammenhang mit den Beratungs- und Lenkungstätigkeiten sowie im Hinblick auf die Entwicklung geeigneter Standards; ihr Einfluss auf die politische Linie des jeweiligen Landes ist notwendigerweise begrenzt. – Der Kongress ist ein wichtiger Treffpunkt und die entsprechenden Berichte dienen als Inspirationsquelle für alle diejenigen, die ”sorgfältig vorbereitet” hierher kommen. – Die Arbeit und die Berichte der IFLA könnten an Bedeutung gewinnen, wenn man sie in zugänglicher Form in Kombination mit bereits existierenden Publikationen wie dem IFLA – Journal herausgeben würde. – Die IFLA ist für jüngere Bibliothekare, die sich einbringen möchten, eine beängstigende Organisation. Elisam Magara und Charles Batambuze. The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda: an impact study. [Das Entwicklungsprogramm für Schulbibliotheken im Pallisa-Distrikt in Uganda: Eine Auswirkungsstudie.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 141–151 199 Sommaires Zusammenfassungen Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Bedeutung des Entwicklungsprogramms für Schulbibiliotheken [School Library Development Programme, SLDP) der East African Book Development Association (EABDA) [der ostafrikanischen Buchentwicklungsgesellschaft] für die betreuten Schulen im PallisaDistrikt. Finanziert wurde diese Studie mit Geldmitteln aus dem Guust van Wesemael Literacy Prize [Alphabetisierungspreis], den die IFLA dem National Book Trust of Uganda im Jahr 2007 verliehen hat. Die entsprechenden Daten haben die Organisatoren und Teilnehmer am Projekt für den Pallisa-Distrikt geliefert; dabei wurden die Lehrer, Kinder, Schulleiter, die Ausbilder im Bibliothekswesen und auch das District Education Office [das Büro für das Bildungswesen] angesprochen. In diesem Zusammenhang wurde festgestellt, dass (a) die in den Schulungskursen erworbenen Fähigkeiten sowie (b) die Bücherspenden bei der Verwaltung der Sammlungen und der Nutzung der Bibliothek in signifikanter Weise zum Einsatz gelangten. Obwohl die Schulen entsprechende Verfahren implementiert hatten, um den Kindern das Ausleihen und Lesen der Bücher zu ermöglichen, fehlen zweckorientierte Bibliotheken mit adäquaten Sitzgelegenheiten und räumlichen Voraussetzungen, um die Fähigkeiten der Kinder in Bezug auf die Nutzung der Bibliothek im vollen Umfang entwickeln zu können, damit sie auch Gefallen am Lesen in der Schule finden. Hier fehlt ein groß angelegtes Entwicklungsprogramm für Schulbibliotheken, um geeignete Interventionen zur Ausstattung der Schulbibliotheken mit relevanten Büchern zu lenken und die Lesegewohnheit zu fördern. Paul Thirion und Bernard Pochet. Information Literacy in Students entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community 200 of Belgium: lessons learned from an evaluation. [Die Informationskompetenz heutiger Studienanfänger im frankophonen Belgien: Erfahrungen aus einer Evaluierung.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 152–170 Obwohl die Universitäten ihren Studenten im Grundstudium mehr und mehr Kurse zur Verbesserung der Informationskompetenz anbieten, ist die tatsächliche Informationskompetenz bei den Studienanfängern niemals festgestellt worden. Daher hat sich EduDOC zum Zus ammenschluss mit dem CIUF-Bibliotheksausschuss entschlossen, um eine breit angelegte Studie durchzuführen, in deren Rahmen diese anfängliche Informationskompetenz objektiv erfasst und die primären Schwächen der Studenten festgestellt werden sollen. Zudem soll den Kursleitern damit die Möglichkeit geboten werden, ihren Unterricht entsprechend anzupassen. Der Fragebogen stützte sich auf eine ähnliche Studie in Québec und enthielt 20 Fragen, die gruppenweise fünf Themen zuzuordnen waren, wobei es um das genaue schrittweise Vorgehen bei der Informationssuche ging. Im September 2007 wurde dieser Fragebogen an eine nach dem Zufallsprinzip ausgewählte Population an Studienanfängern geschickt, die zum ersten Mal ein Hochschulstudium im frankophonen Belgien begannen. Die ziemlich schlechten Ergebnisse der Studenten bestätigen, dass die Einführung eines Programms zur Förderung der Informationskompetenz unerlässlich ist, wenn die Studenten gute Studienleistungen erbringen sollen. Shin Freedman. Effective Mentoring. [Ein wirksames Mentoring.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 171–182 Ein wirksames Mentoring ist für das Wachstum und den Erfolg des Bibliothekswesens in Bibliotheken aller Art unabdingbar. Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet die Möglichkeiten zur Förderung des Mentorings bei bibliothekarischen Berufsanfängern sowie für erfahrene Bibliothekare bei einem Stellungswechsel in ihrem beruflichen Werdegang und auch für die nichtprofessionelle personelle Besetzung in den Bibliotheken. Zunächst geht der Artikel auf vorliegende Studien ein, um die Dringlichkeit eines MentoringProgramms zu unterstreichen, auf die abnehmende Zahl der Bibliothekare hinzuweisen und die Änderungen im Bibliothekswesen im Hinblick auf das zur Verfügung stehende Personal zu unterstreichen sowie laufende Besetzungsengpässe anzusprechen. Zweitens dokumentiert dieser Text die akademische Bibliothek und bespricht die typischen MentoringTä t i g k e i t e n p r o f e s s i o n e l l e r Verbände mit ihrer eingehenden Behandlung aller Themen und ihren Grenzen. Schwerpunktmäßig konzentriert sich dieser Beitrag auf Bibliothekare an Unibibliotheken. Drittens werden die MentoringTätigkeiten eines Bibliothekars beschrieben, die darauf abzielen, die Berufsanfänger unter den Bibliothekaren zu unterstützen und zu ermutigen, in der Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft Karriere zu machen, den Berufsverbänden als aktive Mitglieder beizutreten und über mögliche Führungsrollen nachzudenken. Abschließend folgt (a) ein Bericht darüber, wie die eigene Mentoren-/Menteerolle der Autorin ihren professionellen Werdegang beeinflusst hat und (b) wird das wirksame Mentoring mit Führungsqualitäten im Bibliothekswesen verknüpft. Die Autorin zeigt auf, wie ein effektiver Mentor dem Mentee dabei hilft, sich nicht nur im Labyrinth der professionellen Verbände und Gremien zurechtzufinden, sondern auch, ein globaleres Verständnis der Plattform für Bibliotheken ohne Grenzen zu wecken. Resúmenes Sommaires RESÚMENES Mauro Guerrini with the collaboration of Giovanna Frigimelica. Libraries in Italy: a brief overview. [Las bibliotecas italianas: una breve descripción.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 94–116 La red italiana de bibliotecas es compleja y difícil de explicar. Este artículo expone algunas de las características de este sistema, que abarca bibliotecas, fundaciones y centros privados de ámbito estatal, universitario, especial, público, escolar y eclesiástico. En él se facilita una descripción general de los principales rasgos históricos y se exponen las tendencias actuales más importantes, como la educación, la legislación, nuevos proyectos para bibliotecas, etc. El artículo concluye aportando propuestas para la incorporación de nuevos servicios nacionales. Paul Sturges. Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003– 2009. [Fomentar la conciencia ética de IFLA: FAIFE 2003–2009]. IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 117–122 Evaluación de las actividades del programa Libre Acceso a la Información y Libertad de Expresión de IFLA (FAIFE) de 2003 a 2009, basada en tres tipos de actividades: intervención, educación y defensa. El programa FAIFE sigue estando preparado para intervenir en caso de amenaza al inventario, los servicios y el personal de las bibliotecas, pero éste no ha sido el tipo de actividad predominante durante el período. Con la ayuda de una subvención de Swedish Sida, FAIFE ha elaborado un programa educativo compuesto por talleres, utilizando materiales de aprendizaje elaborados específicamente. Los primeros talleres abordaron el Manifiesto de Internet y el acceso a la información sobre VIH/SIDA de IFLA y la UNESCO. Desde entonces se han elaborado más materiales de aprendizaje sobre “Bibliotecas y transparencia” y “Acceso público a la información sanitaria”. Los talleres, que son impartidos por profesores de FAIFE, tienen por objeto formar a instructores locales para difundir de una forma más amplia el mensaje en sus propios países y regiones. El elemento central del trabajo de defensa de FAIFE ha sido la creación del Manifiesto de IF LA sobre transparencia, buen gobierno y lucha contra la corrupción (IFLA Manifesto on Transparency, Good Governance and Freedom from Corruption). Ahora se puede identificar un modelo de desarrollo de políticas participativas que dé lugar a talleres de formación, así como a un consecuente fortalecimiento de la capacidad de apoyo de la profesión bibliotecaria. Simon Ellis, Michael Heaney, Pierre Meunier y Roswitha Poll. Global Library Statistics. [Estadísticas de bibliotecas a escala mundial.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 123–130 Cuando IFLA tuvo necesidad de recabar datos fiables sobre bibliotecas y los servicios que éstas prestan en todo el mundo, se encontró con que dichos datos no existían. Por tanto, el departamento de Estadísticas y Evaluación de IFLA, el Instituto de Estadística de la UNESCO y el Comité Técnico ISO/TC 46, Información y Document ación, Subcomité S C 8, Calidad-Estadísticas y evaluación del rendimiento de Organización Internacional para la Estandarización (ISO) han unido sus fuerzas para elaborar y probar un nuevo conjunto de estadísticas que podrían utilizarse en las bibliotecas de todo el mundo. El objetivo final es que dichas estadísticas se recopilen periódicamente a escala nacional para que existan datos fiables y comparables internacionalmente de los servicios que prestan las bibliotecas y el uso que se hace de las mismas. Peter G. Underwood. Diffusion of Professional Norms: the impact of IFLA in South Africa. [Difusión de las normas profesionales: el impacto de IFLA en Sudáfrica.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 131–140 Un estudio sobre la repercusión del trabajo de IFLA, incluida su función en la capacitación de los profesionales sudafricanos que asistieron al Congreso Mundial de Bibliotecas e Información de la 73ª Conferencia General de IFLA celebrada en Durban los días 19 a 23 de agosto de 2007. Para ello se han utilizado varios grupos de discusión y entrevistas. Los temas que surgieron a partir de dichos debates fueron: – Que IFLA desempeña una función importante en el asesoramiento, la orientación y la creación de normas, y que su función en el desarrollo de políticas nacionales es necesariamente limitada. – Que el Congreso constituye un importante lugar de encuentro, y sus actas son una fuente de inspiración para todos aquellos que acudan al mismo con una “mente predispuesta”. – Que la influencia de su trabajo y sus eventos podrían ser mayores si se comunicasen mediante formas accesibles en colaboración con publicaciones existentes, como IFLA Journal. – Que para los profesionales más jóvenes que desean involucrarse, IFLA puede resultar una organización desalentadora. Elisam Magara y Charles Batambuze. The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda: An impact study. [El Programa de desarrollo de bibliotecas escolares en el distrito de Pallisa, Uganda: un estudio de impacto.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 141–151 201 Sommaires статей Pефераты Este estudio señala la influencia del programa de desarrollo de bibliotecas escolares (SLDP) de la EABDA (Asociación de Asia Oriental para el Desarrollo del Libro) sobre las escuelas beneficiarias del distrito de Pallisa. El estudio estuvo financiado con fondos procedentes del Premio de alfabetización Guust van Wesemael que IFLA entregó a la organización National Book Trust de Uganda en 2007. Los datos recopilados pertenecen a los responsables de la puesta en marcha del proyecto y los participantes del mismo, incluidos profesores, niños, directores de centros educativos, bibliotecarios y la oficina de educación del distrito. Se determinó que existía una intensa utilización de (a) las aptitudes adquiridas en la formación y (b) la donación de libros, la gestión de colecciones y el uso de la biblioteca. Aunque los colegios habían puesto en práctica estrategias para que los niños pudiesen tomar prestados y leer libros, la ausencia de bibliotecas con suficiente espacio y con el equipamiento necesario para que los usuarios pudiesen sentarse ha limitado las posibilidades de que los niños utilicen la biblioteca y disfruten de la lectura en los colegios. Es necesario contar con un programa integral para el desarrollo de bibliotecas escolares que permita guiar las actuaciones encaminadas a dotar a las escuelas de libros apropiados y promover la lectura. comunidad francófona de Bélgica: lecciones aprendidas a partir de una evaluación.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 152–170 Paul Thirion y Bernard Pochet. Information Literacy in Students entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium: lessons learned from an evaluation. [Conocimientos en el ámbito de la información de estudiantes que acceden a la educación universitaria en la Shin Freedman. Effective Mentoring. [Tutelaje eficaz.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 171–182 Aunque las universidades cada vez ofrecen más formación en materia de información a sus estudiantes, nunca se ha evaluado el nivel real de conocimientos en esta materia al comienzo de los estudios universitarios. Por tanto, EduDOC ha decidido unirse a la Comisión de bibliotecas CIUF para organizar un estudio de gran envergadura con el objeto de describir de manera objetiva el nivel inicial de conocimientos en materia de información, identificar las principales deficiencias de los estudiantes y permitir a los instructores adaptar su formación en consonancia. El cuestionario se basa en un estudio similar llevado a cabo en Québec, y contiene 20 preguntas agrupadas en cinco temas sobre los pasos necesarios a la hora de buscar información. El cuestionario se envió en septiembre de 2007 a una muestra aleatoria de estudiantes que accedían por primera vez a un centro universitario en la comunidad francófona de Bélgica. Los malos resultados de los estudiantes confirman que, para que éstos tengan éxito en sus estudios, es fundamental organizar un programa que proporcione conocimientos en materia de información. El tutelaje eficaz es esencial para la mejora y el éxito del trabajo de bibliotecario en todo tipo de bibliotecas. Este artículo aborda las posibilidades para fomentar actividades de tutelaje entre los bibliotecarios que comienzan su carrera, que se encuentran en un período de transición profesional y empleados de bibliotecas sin cualificación profesional. En primer lugar, el artículo describe los estudios disponibles para ilustrar la urgencia de las actividades de tutelaje con el fin de abordar la reducción del número de bibliotecarios y la rotación del personal de las bibliotecas, así como para respaldar las necesidades de dotación de personal en cada momento. En segundo lugar, documenta las actividades de tutelaje habituales de las organizaciones de bibliotecas de carácter académico y profesional, incluidos sus límites y envergadura. El artículo se centra en los bibliotecarios académicos de ámbito universitario. En tercer lugar, describe las actividades de tutelaje de un bibliotecario con el fin de apoyar y motivar a los bibliotecarios que comienzan sus carreras para avanzar profesionalmente en el mundo de la biblioteconomía y ciencias de la información, para que se conviertan en miembros activos de las asociaciones profesionales, y para que piensen en posibles puestos directivos. El artículo concluye (a) describiendo cómo las funciones de tutelaje/alumno que ha desempeñado la propia autora han influido en la dirección que ha tomado su carrera y (b) vinculando un tutelaje eficaz con el liderazgo de las bibliotecas. Asimismo, demuestra de qué forma el tutelaje eficaz ayudará al alumno no sólo a orientarse por el laberinto de organizaciones y comités profesionales, sino también a adquirir un conocimiento más global de la plataforma de bibliotecas sin fronteras. Pефераты статей Мауро Гуеррини в сотрудничестве с Джиованной Фриджимеликой. Libraries in Italy: a brief overview. [Библиотеки в Италии: краткий обзор.] 202 IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 94–116 Библиотечная сеть в Италии сложна и с трудом поддается объяснению. В данной статье описываются некоторые характеристики этой системы, включающей го сударственные, университетские, специальные, публичные, школьные и церковные Sommaires Pефераты статей библиотеки, фонды и частные структуры. Делается обзор основных исторических этапов, а также главных современных тенденций в области образования, законодательства, новых библиотечных проектов и т.д. В заключение предлагается ввести в действие новые общенациональные услуги. усиление возможностей библиотечной профессии в вопросах отстаивания. Пол Стурджес. Stimulating IFLA’s Ethical Conscience: FAIFE 2003– 2009. [Стимулирование этического сознания ИФЛА: FAIFE 2003– 2009.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 117–122 Когда ИФЛА захотела получить надежные данные о библиотеках и предоставляемых ими услугах по всему миру, оказало сь, что такие данные отсутствуют. В этой связи Отдел ИФЛА по статистике и оценкам, Институт статистики ЮНЕСКО и Комитет TC 46 SC 8 Международной организации по стандартизации (ISO) "Статистика качества и оценка исполнения” объединили свои усилия с целью разработки и тестирования нового набора статистики, который мог бы быть использован библиотеками по всему миру. Конечной целью ставится сбор такой статистики в национальных масштабах на регулярной основе, так чтобы существовали надежные и сравнимые в международном масштабе данные по библиотечным услугам и использованию библиотек. Дается обзор деятельности программы ИФЛА по свободному доступу к информации и свободе самовыражения (FAIFE) c 2003 по 2009 гг., основанной на трех видах активности: реагировании, образовании и продвижении. FAIFE все еще готова к реагированию в с л у ч а е во з н и к н о ве н и я у г р о з ы библиотечным фондам, услугам или штату библиотек, но это не являлось ее преобладающим видом деятельности в указанный отрезок времени. При помощи гранта, предоставленного шведским агентством СИДА, FAIFE р а з р а б от а л а о б р а з о ват е л ь н у ю программу, состоящую из семинаров с и с п ол ь зо ва н и е м с п е ц и а л ь н о созданных серий учебных материалов. Сначала эти материалы касались М а н и ф е с т а И ФЛ А / Ю Н Е С К О об Интернете и Информации по д о с ту п у к В И Ч / С П И Д . З ат е м были разработаны серии учебных материалов по тематике “Библиотека и прозрачность” и “Общественный доступ к информации о здоровье”. Семинары, проведению которых спо собствовали преподаватели FAIFE, были направлены на обучение ме стных преподавателей тому, как более широко распространять полученные идеи в их собственных странах и регионах. Центр FAIFE по отстаиванию разработал “Манифест ИФЛА по прозрачности, надлежащему управлению и свободе от коррупции”. В настоящее время может быть идентифицирована модель разработки политики участия, на основании которой могут проводиться тренировочные семинары с выходом на Саймон Эллис, Майкл Хиней, Пьер Мёнье и Росвита Полл. Global Library Statistics. [Глобальная библиотечная статистика.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 123–130 Питер Г.Андервуд. Diffusion of Professional Norms: the impact of IFLA in South Africa. [Распространение профессиональных норм: влияние ИФЛА в Южной Африке.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 131–140 На основе мнений южно-африканских экспертов, принимавших участие во Всемирном библиотечном и информационном конгрессе в рамках 73-й Генеральной конференции ИФЛА (г.Дурбан, 19–23 августа 2007 г.), исследуется влияние деятельности ИФЛА, включая ее роль в разработке программ информационной грамотности, на развитие этой профессии в Южной Африке. Была проведена серия интервью с фокусгруппами и другими участниками. В результате дискуссий были выявлены следующие темы: – ИФЛА должна играть важную роль в консультировании, определении направлений и разработке стандартов; ее роль в разработке национальной политики обязательным образом ограничена. – Конгресс является важным местом встречи, а его материалы – источником вдохновения для тех, кто приехал с “подготовленным умом”. – Влияние его работы и материалов могло бы быть еще больше, если бы они передавались в доступной форме при партнерском содействии таких изданий, как Журнал ИФЛА. – Для молодого профессионала, стремящегося к вовлечению, ИФЛА является грандиозной организацией. Элизам Магара и Чарльз Батамбузе. The School Library Development Programme in Pallisa District, Uganda: An impact study. [Программа развития школьной библиотеки в округе Паллиса, Уганда: изучение влияния.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 141–151 Данное исследование определяет вл и я н и е П р о г р а м м ы р а з в и т и я ш кол ь н о й б и бл и от е к и ( S L D P ) Восточно-африканской ассоциации развития библиотечного дела (EABDA) на охваченные этой программой школы в округе Паллиса. Финансирование под данное исследование было обеспечено за счет средств Премии Гууста ван Веземаля за деятельность, направленную на распространение г р а м о т н о с т и , ко т о р а я б ы л а присуждена ИФЛА Национальному книжному фонду Уганды в 2007 году. Сбор данных осуществлялся при помощи реализаторов и участников проекта в округе Паллиса, включая учителей, школьников, главных учителей, учителей-библиотекарей и Окружной офис по вопро сам образования. Было установлено значительное использование (a) навыков, полученных в ходе обучения, и (б) книжных пожертвований в деле управления коллекциями и использования библиотеки. Хотя школы и ввели в действие стратегии, позволяющие детям заимствовать и чит ать книги, от сут ствие специально построенных библиотек 203 Pефераты статей с д о с т а т о ч н ы м ко л и ч е с т в о м читательских мест и свободным про ст ранством ограничивало способности детей пользоваться библиотекой и с удовольствием читать в школе. Существует потребность в разработке программы всестороннего развития школьной библиотеки в целях регулирования процесса насыщения школьных библиотек с о от ве т с т ву ю щ и м и к н и г а м и и популяризации практики чтения. П о л Ти р и о н и Б е р н а р П о ш е . Information Literacy in Students entering Higher Education in the French Speaking Community of Belgium: lessons learned from an evaluation. [Информационная г р а м о т н о с т ь с т уд е н т ов , поступающих в высшие учебные заведения во франкоговорящем сообществе Бельгии: уроки, извлеченные из оценок.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 152–170 Хотя университеты обеспечивают все больший объем тренинга по информационной грамотности для своих студентов базового цикла о бу ч е н и я , р е а л ь н ы й у р о в е н ь и н ф о рма ц и о н н о й г р а м от н о с т и студентов на начальной стадии их обучения никогда не оценивался. В этой связи EduDOC решил совместить у с и л и я с Ком и с с и е й C I U F п о делам библиотек для организации масштабного изучения с целью объективной оценки начального уровня информационной грамотности, 204 определения основных слабостей студентов, а также предоставления в о з м ож н о с т и п р е п од а в ат е л я м скорректировать на этой основе свои программы. Подготовленная анкета была основана на аналогичном изучении, проведенном в провинции Квебек, и содержала 20 вопросов, сгруппированных по пяти темам, относящимся к вопросам поиска информации. В сентябре 2007 года анкета была направлена произвольно в ы б р а н н о й г ру п п е с туд е н то в , которые впервые поступали в ВУЗы франкоговорящей части Бельгии. Весьма слабые результаты студентов подтверждают императив организации программы информационной грамотности в целях повышения успеваемости студентов во время всего цикла обучения. Шин Фридман. Effective Mentoring. [Эффективное наставничество.] IFLA Journal 35 (2009) No. 2. pp. 171–182 Эффективное наставниче ство необходимо для роста и успеха библиотечного дела во всех типах б и бл и о т е к . В д а н н о й р а б о т е рассмат ривают ся возможно сти стимулирования наставнической деятельности среди начинающих библиотекарей, библиотекарей промежуточного звена, находящихся посередине карьерной лестницы, и непрофессиональных библиотечных работников. Вопервых, в статье описываются проводимые исследования, свидетельствующие о крайней необходимо сти наставниче ской деятельности для решения проблемы уменьшения числа библиотекарей и соответствующих изменений в структуре трудовых ресурсов, а также для поддержки постоянной работы по подбору кадров. Во-вторых, в ней перечисляются типичные виды н а с т а в н и ч е с ко й д е я т е л ь н о с т и в академической библиотеке и в профессиональных организациях, в к л юч а я е е э кс т е н с и в н о с т ь и ограничения. Автор фокусирует внимание на академиче ских библиотекарях, работ ающих в университетских условиях. Втретьих, в статье описывается наставниче ская деятельно сть одного библиотечного работника по поддержке и содействию начинающим библиотекарям в продвижении их карьеры в библиотечном деле и информатике, превращении их в активных членов профессиональных ассоциаций и обдумывании ими своей возможной лидерской роли. Статья завершается (а) изложением того, как собственный опыт автора в роли наставника/подопечного повлиял на ее профессиональную карьеру, а также (б) увязкой эффективного наставничества с руководством библиотекой. В статье демонстрируется, как эффективный наставник может помочь своему подопечному не только в продвижении по лабиринтам профессиональных организаций и комитетов, но также и в достижении более глобального понимания платформы “библиотеки без границ”.