But our new social technologies change the economy of meetings. We can open up our physical meetings to virtual participants - and we can continue our conversations through the web - after the bodies return home.

Therefore I was happy to stumble across a blog post by my good colleague Niels Damgaard (picture) in the IFLA SL Newsletter.

Like him, I am concerned about the conceptual or social distance between organizations like IFLA, on the one hand, and ordinary practitioners, on the other.

For some years [he writes] I have participated in different ways in various international organizations (e.g., ENSIL, IASL and IFLA), working for better school libraries worldwide.

I am increasingly concerned about how these organizations manage to reach out to those school librarians who are NOT able or willing to pay for expensive travelling and expensive conference fees ... very little is available after the events for free or inexpensively

International meetings must and will continue. But I believe, with Niels, that we can use the new web tools to create much more interaction between the organizations and their regular participants, on the one hand, and the great mass of ordinary librarians in the field, on the other.

As an illustration, Niels recently organized a training course that combined physical and virtual communication - I gave one of the introductory lectures - and he reports on the experience in the blog post How School Librarians Could Work Better Together.

Intense learning processes - like the LATINA summer course - still require physical encounters, I believe. But events gain value if we add a strong virtual component.

Resources

• IFLA amplified
• LATINA on YouTube

Liana Quider, Frode Bakken and Sami Batrawi

Below I list ten photographers who created photo sets on flickr from IFLA 2008. There are surely more sets out there - but I only had half an hour to spend browsing through flickr.

1. cscifla
2. elrobinster
3. iflaexpress - translators
4. L_GF
5. Librarienne
6. llyngwair - llyngwair 2 (Visit to Grosse Ile)
7. plinius - a collection of small sets
8. Rob Sarjant. IFLA Literacy and Reading Fair. He also reports from Southern Sudan
9. schwartzray - and fourteen other IFLA sets - wow! Ray Schwartz also produces videos.
10. shihiwy1 - he/she also covered Seoul

Resources

• Pictures from IFLA. August 19, from Pliny (now Plinius)

Note

Liana Quider and Sami Batrawi come from Palestine. The big man in the middle is Frode Bakken - as usual.

Participants at poster session.

The staple  menu at IFLA consists of spectacular openings, a few plenary lectures. long series of presentations, occasional panels, a few questions from the audience - time allowing, and a rousing grand finale.

This conference format represents a tradition. It is not a result of popular demand.

Participants tolerate - but do not love - the large formal meetings. When I speak with other delegates, or read the more spontaneous blogs, their personal preference is clear.

People prefer small groups, personal encounters, free and easy conversations, lively debates with time to spare - in short,  professional fun and games.

Let me quote three comments from participants in Quebec

Lectures are interesting, but meeting people is even more valuable.

At first I found it frustrating that I didn’t have time to attend all the sessions I would have liked to have seen, but looking back, it was really the one-on-one conversations I had that made the conference such an educational experience.

Things I learned last week

... the conference was interesting, but I think (and another delegate told me she'd been told) that about 10% of the value of the conference is in the sessions - the real value is in the networking and the people you can meet. I

talked to lots of really interesting people, and am very glad I went - presenting my poster was a great opportunity, and the people I spoke to were very supportive and interested in my work. ...

I would go back to IFLA if I was involved in the organization's activities, but I don't think I'd go back otherwise unless I was presenting something.

Ceci n'est pas un blog

I think just about every country / continent was represented and it made for a wonderfully diverse and inspiring conference.

I also got to co-present one of my papers on ‘public libraries and web 2.0 technologies’ and sit proudly in the audience as David McMenemy presented another paper that I’d co-authored    ...

And I’ve made lots of contacts too…which was a bit surreal at times…to actually meet the people that I’ve spent the last couple of years citing in papers;  ...

I’d recommend to any new researchers out there trying to build up a reputation in the sector to sign up for future conferences...

I’ve uploaded the Powerpoint presentation on public libraries and web 2.0 onto Slideshare.

Travelling librarian returns from Canada.

Conclusion

Can we make the conference less formal and more user friendly? Focus on encounters rather than presentations?

The presentations - slides, pictures, sound files, video - should stored on the web, anyhow.

I say with Obama - yes, we can! It will take work, will, and a bit of chutzpah. And patience. The elephant moves slowly.

IFLA leaders want strong agendas, foreful advocacy and more effective action. The stately waltz of bureaucracy is not the best way of achieving such goals. But I have hopes for the next few years at IFLA.

Some sections are experimenting with more energetic and playful gatherings. Blogs are amplifying the voice of ordinary participants. Photos and videos make IFLA more visual. Words are linked to faces and bodies.

If markets are conversations, as the Cluetrain Manifesto states, then meetings are conversations. A fortiori.

Spring is in the air ...

Resources

• Au revoir, Quebec. Bob McKee reports from the Governing Board
• The Cluetrain manifesto

Plinius

• IFLA amplified
• More blogging from Quebec
• Pictures from IFLA 2008
• IFLA from below
• IFLA Quebec on the web
• Durban pictures

APPENDIX

IFLA needs to recruit ...

The more  unconventional sessions (including brainstorming session and Global Literacy and Readig Fair), I found most interesting, because they provide quick and direct connections to other people, getting to know new faces and to share ideas in small working groups.

I would like to experience more Discussion Groups. These are a kind of precursor to normal IFLA sections. I was only in the "New Professionals Discussion Group". It was not very different from normal sessions with the audience and made presentations. …

IFLA needs new blood.

That was noticeable not only at such events as the newcomer session or the New Professionals Forum, but also in several other sessions, from personal talks and from some of the speeches in the regular programme.

Edited by Plinius from a Google Translate version.

Original

Die eher unkonventionellen Sessions (u.a. Brainstorming Session und Global Literacy and Readig Fair) fand ich am interessantesten, weil man dort in direktem Kontekt zu anderen Leuten schnell neue Gesichter kennengelernt hat und in kleinen Arbeitsgruppen gut seine Gedanken austauschen konnte....

Gerne hätte ich mehr Discussion Groups erlebt. Das ist eine Art Vorstufe zur IFLA-Sektion. Ich war nur bei der “New Professionals Discussion Group”, die sich aber nicht sehr von normalen Sessions mit Publikum und Vorträgen unterschieden hat. ...

Die IFLA braucht Nachwuchs.

Das hat man nicht nur bei solchen Veranstaltungen wie der Newcomersession oder dem New Professionals Forum gemerkt, sondern auch in diversen weiteren Sessions, persönlichen Gesprächen und einigen Reden im Rahmenprogramm.

lessons learned - IFLA

Bob McKee is clear:

...  engage with the next generation - go where they are (like, online, using social media), listen to what they have to say (because they're our future), support and empower them (through role modelling and capacity building), and give them a space where they can be in charge (like CDG/AAL).

My own contribution was to suggest that associations should "practice euthanasia" - put a time limit on all offices so that the oldies have to push off and the newbies have to step up.

Headlines from Quebec

Ikke kvalitativt, men kvantitativt.

Storparten av det faglige arbeidet innenfor IFLA foregår i seksjonene. IFLAs seksjon for statistikk og evaluering er en aktiv gruppe, som det er morsomt å delta i.

Bokhandel i Montreal. Den engelske underteksten er lovlig - siden den bare er halvparten så stor som den franske.

Jeg ble valgt inn i fjor - med støtte fra ABM-utvikling og Bergen offentlige bibliotek - og angrer ikke. IFLAs faglige arbeid er langt bedre synlig fra innsiden.

ABM-utvikling overtok det faglige ansvaret for utviklingen av norsk bibliotekstatistikk etter Riksbibliotektjenesten og Statens Bibliotektilsyn. Trine Kolderup Flaten har sentrale verv i IFLA - og vært en forkjemper for bruk av tall på biblioteket i mange år.

Statistisk utvikling

Norge har over tjue representanter i disse faglige utvalgene. Selv deltok jeg på statistikkseksjonens møter i Quebec - og på satellittkonferansen - den var sponset av seksjonen - om global bibliotekstatistikk i Montreal uka etter.

På hovedkonferansen var seksjonen medarrangør av to møter. Det ene het Managing libraries in a changing environment – legal, technical and organisational aspects. Det ble arrangert av tre seksjoner i fellesskap:  Statistics and Evaluation, Management and Marketing og Library Theory and Research.

Møtet var meget godt besøkt, med nærmere sju hundre deltakere. Jeg ble særlig imponert av det store prosjektet  Libraries, telecentres and cybercafés: a study of public access venues around the world fra University of Washington i Seattle. Dette er et flerårig posjekt - som sammenlikner bibliotekene med andre former for nettilgang - basert på forskningsteam i tjuefem ulike land.

Mitt paper var en første analyse på engelsk av trafikktellingen ved Drammensbiblioteket. Paperet Count the traffic viser hvordan bibliotekene selv - på en enkel måte - kan skaffe seg informasjon om brukernes atferd inne på biblioteket. Paperet ble godt mottatt. En sjarmerende fransk jente fra Kulturdepartementet i Paris - oh, la, la! - ville oversette innholdet til fransk. Singapore Public Library ville orientere bibliotekets Governing Board om metoden.

Jenta heter forøvrig Monique Pujól. Etternavnet forteller at hun har en katalansk bakgrunn - fra den franske siden av grensen, opplyste hun. I departementet arbeider hun særlig med bibliotektjenester forf funksjonshemmede.

Observasjonsstudier i bibliotek er åpenbart på vei inn i en rekke land. I Montreal holdt Trine Kolderup Flaten foredrag om statistikkarbeidet i Norge - og tok selvsagt opp Sentios storbyundersøkelse. Selve telleteknikken har vært brukt tidligere, men har ikke blitt etablert som et vanlig verktøy. Det bør det nå være mulig å få til, både nasjonalt og internasjonalt.

I Norge har vi gode data fra Lillehammer og Drammen og rimelig gode data (basert på studentoppgaver) fra nærmere tretti andre bibliotek.

Når nasjonalbibliotekene måles

De statistiske utfordringene varierer en del fra sektor til sektor. Mye er felles, men folkebibliotek, skolebibliotek, akademiske bibliotek og spesialbibliotek har også noen særegne behov. På fjorårets møte i Durban gikk seksjonen inn for et møte om nasjonalbibliotekenes statistikk i 2008 - og det ble behørig arrangert i Quebec.

Emnet er relativt smalt, så det kom ikke inn så mange papers. Møtet het Ensuring quality in national libraries: performance measures and quality evaluation supporting cultural heritage and research - og ble planlagt av National Libraries og Statistics and Evaluation i fellesskap. Vel hundre personer deltok.

De sentrale bidragene kom fra Roswitha Poll, som presenterte et eget indikatorsett for nasjonalbibliotek, og fra det National Diet Library i Japan, som hadde gjennomført en grundig prøverunde med mange indikatorer. Det jeg særlig likte ved den japanske studien, som ble presentert av Akiko Hashizune, var forsøket på å arbeide med kvantitative normer - som så ble testet mot de faktiske resultatene.

NDL har f.eks. som mål

• å levere bokbestillinger fra lukkede magasiner innen 25 minutter - i minst 90% av tilfellene
• å levere kopier av artikler fra Japanese Periodicals Index innen 50 minutter - i minst 95% av tilfellene
• å sende kopier bestilt via internett i løpet av fem arbeidsdager - i minst 80% av tilfellene
• osv.

Nettrafikk og e-metrikk

Selv la jeg fram paperet How much is much? Developing and interpreting national library visitor statistics. Det handler om måling og - ikke minst - tolkning av statistiske data om nettbesøk på nasjonalbibliotekenes nettsteder. Dette er en gryende problemstilling flere steder, fortalte Erland Kolding Nielsen - nasjonalbibliotekar i Danmark. Både de nordiske nasjonalbibliotekene og det europeiske nettverket diskuterer nå slike spørsmål.

Statistikkseksjonen vil nå fremme forslag om å opprette en egen diskusjonsgruppe om e-metrics innenfor IFLA (se under).  Jeg vil anbefale å bruke begreper og målemetoder som er utbredt på markedet - noe som også danskene har satset på i sin nye og spennende Biblioteksindex for nettrafikk.

Global statistikk

Selve statistikkseksjonen, der jeg ble medlem i fjor, hadde som vanlig to interne samlinger - med felles dagsorden - lørdagen før og fredagen etter hoved-IFLA. De viktigste sakene var:

1. Et initiativ - som gikk tilbake til 2006 - for å få Unesco til å reetablere sin globale bibliotekstatistikk
2. Plan for en sesjon om utadrettet bruk av statistikk - Statistics on the agenda - i Milano 2009.
3. Plan for - i tillegg - å satse på en sesjon om kulturarvsstatistikk (digitalisering, tilgang, besøk) - i samarbeid med en eller flere andre seksjoner
4. Initiativ til å opprette en offisiell diskusjonsgruppe om e-metrikk innenfor IFLA

Spørsmålet om en ny start for den globale statistikken var hovedtemaet for konferansen i Montreal.

Jeg må nok si at initiativet ikke førte fram. Et prøveprosjekt som Unesco Institute of Statistics (UIS) hadde gjennomført i Latinamerika, ga ikke særlig overbevisende resultater. Den sentrale personen fra Unescos side er Simon Ellis. Ellis har ansvar for all Unesco-statistikk som ikke gjelder utdanning.

Jeg hadde en prat med ham og er nokså enig i hans vurderinger. Det har liten hensikt å be om statistiske rapporter fra land der den nasjonale bibliotekstatistikken står svakt. Det er mer fornuftig å prioritere tiltak for å utvikle statistikken lokalt, med enkle metoder for datainnsamling og praktisk opplæring i fornuftig bruk av statistikk.

Metodeverkstedet jeg holdt i Stellenbosch (Sør-Afrika) i fjor kan være en illustrasjon.

Det Unesco først og fremst er interessert i, er å måle literacy - leseferdighet - i alle mulige varaianter. Bibliotekets bidrag til målbare leseferdigheter er politisk interessant. Utlånstall alene er mindre relevante.

Neste år i Milano

Når det gjelder Milano, skal Michael Heaney, vår effektive sekretær, og jeg selv organisere seksjonens møte om Statistics on the Agenda.  Interessen for effektiv bruk av statistikk er stigende - noe som passer godt med utviklingen av nye bibliotekindikatorer i regi av KOSTRA og ABM-utvikling.

Jeg slipper heldigvis å ta hovedansvaret for møtet. Heaney er tidligere leder for statistikkseksjonen - og sitter også i ledelsen av Northumbriakonferansene.  Han kjenner IFLA ut og inn, og jeg ser fram til et lærerikt samarbeid. Den 8. Northumbriakonferansen - der et par hundre tallknusere samles - skal forøvrig holdes i Firenze i august, som satellittkonferanse (a la Stellenbosch i 2007).

Kulturarvsstatistikk er også et interessant tema, ABM-utvikling satser jo mye på å etablere relevant arkiv- og museumssatistikk. Men temaet er nok av større interesse for museums- enn for biblioteksektoren - med unntak av nasjonalbibliotekene.

Ressurser

• Monique Pujol. E-reading for disabled persons: The French Digital Library for the Disabled (Bibliothèque numérique pour le handicap – BnH). (Ministère de la culture et de la communication – Direction du livre et de la lecture, Paris, France)

Plinius på norsk

• P 203/08. Norsk tyngde i IFLA. Nordmenn bak hver busk.
• P 195/08. Global statistikk i Montreal. Satellitt om statistikk.
• P 188/08. Hundre og ti land. Geografisk analyse av deltakerne på IFLA 2008.
• P 185/08. Bibliotekbesøk i storbyer. Ny global statistikk.
• P 184/08. Dansk trafikkindeks. Systematisk måling av nettrafikk til bibliotek.
• P 181/08. Sju norske bidrag i Quebec. Lite land - men høy profil.

Plinius på engelsk

• PL 28/08: Global library statistics
• PL 23/08. Virtual visits in large cities
• PL 22/08. Really big libraries
• PL 21/08. Metropolitan visits
• PL 20/08: Seven papers from Norway
• PL 19/08. Physical and virtual traffic

Men en ting er sikkert som amen i kjerka. Når sommeren er på hell, drar bibliotekarene til - IFLA. I år fant møtet sted i Quebec. De tre neste reisemålene er Milano, Brisbane og San Juan José (Puerto Rico).

Galleria Vittorio i Milano.

Norge har tjuefire faste representanter - de velges for fire år av gangen - i til sammen tjue av IFLAS førtifem seksjoner. Hvis jeg har telt riktig.

1. Academic and Research Libraries Section - Garnes, Kari, Member.
2. Acquisition and Collection Development - Evensen, Ole Gunnar, Member
3. Classification and Indexing Section - Rype, Ingebjørg, Member
4. Geography and Map Libraries Section - Salvesen, Helge, Member
5. Information Literacy Section - Torras i Calvo, Maria-Carme, Member
6. Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section - Tønnessen, Linn, Member
   
7. Library and Information Services for Parliaments Section - Sandgrind, Gro, Information coordinator.
8. Library Buildings and Equipment Section - Vevle, Kjartan, Member; Monsen, Ingvild, Member.
9. Library History Section - Byberg, Lis, Member
10. Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons - Moseid, Tone Eli, Chair
11. Library Srvices to Multicultural Populations. Kirsten Leth Nielsen, Corresponding Member
12. Management and Marketing Section, - Flaten, Trine Kolderup, Secretary; Hofset, Børge, Member.
13. Management of Library Associations Section, - Andersen, Tore Kristian. Member
14. Metropolitan Libraries Section, - Sæteren, Liv, Chair
15. National Libraries Section, - Skarstein, Vigdis Moe, Member
16. Public Libraries Section, - Kjekstad, Torny, Member; Ørnholt, Ruth, Member.
17. Reading Section - Indergaard, Leikny Haga, Member.
    
18. Library Theory and Research Section - Audunson, Ragnar Andreas, Chair
19. School Libraries and Resource Centers Section - Randi Lundvall, Chair (2008-); Niels Damgaard, Editor of newsletter.
20. Statistics and Evalution Section - Høivik, Tord, Member

Hele fire seksjoner ledes av nordmenn; Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons (Tone Moseid); Metropolitan Libraries Section (Liv Sæteren); Library Theory and Research Section (Ragnar Audunson) og School Libraries and Resource Centers Section (Randi Lundvall).

På det overordnede divisjonsnivået har vi to representanter: Torny Kjekstad leder Division of Libraries Serving the General Public, mens Trine Kolderup Flaten leder Division of Management and Technology. Som divisjonsledere sitter de også i IFLAs styre.

Felles innsats

Det drives mye godt internasjonalt arbeid av de norske deltakerne. Også mer spesielle tiltak må nevnes. Frode Bakkens innsats i FAIFE er velkjent - og han sitter fortsatt i CLM: Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters.

Og jeg spør meg selv: kan den "faste" norske delegasjonen til IFLA utnyttes litt mer koordinert  enn i dag? Vi møtes om et år i Milano - om to år i  Brisbane - og om tre år i San Juan. Her tenker jeg også på satellittkonferansene, som jo går mer i dybden.

Hvor fugleflokken samles i 2012 er det ingen som vet. Men at den samles, er sikkert - amen, halleluja!

Da kan vi faktisk drive litt langsiktig planlegging - for å styrke det faglige og sosiale nettverket - både innenfor IFLA og mellom IFLA og det norske fagmiljøet. Kan NBF trå til?

Kommentarer og korreksjoner mottas gjerne.

Selv om jeg ikke lenger er en ren nybegynner, føler jeg meg i høyden litt øvet innenfor IFLAs store og spraglete system. Seksjonenes nettsidene er slett ikke alltid ajour - hm, hm. Randi Lundvall, fikk jeg vite via NBF i går, er nå valgt til leder (chair) i skoleseksjonen. Gratulerer!

Siste nytt

Nok en gratulasjon - til kontornabo og kollega Unni Knutsen på JBI. Hun har overtatt mitt gamle kontor og jeg tar stadig feil av døra når jeg durer ut av det lille printerrommet vis-a-vis.

SIDAREC i Nairobi har blitt valgt ut av som et eksemplarisk utviklingsprosjekt av organisasjonen AMD Architecture for Humanity. Unni har en ledende rolle i prosjektet - og deltar også i et bredere biblioteksamarbeid med Sør-Sudan og flere afrikanske land.

Go, go global!

Ressurser

• Norske bibliotekarer i Quebec
• PL 37/07. Norwegians in the IFLA structure
• PL 11/08. LATINA on the Nile

VEDLEGG

Ordnet alfabetisk

1. Andersen, Tore Kristian.
2. Audunson, Ragnar Andreas
3. Byberg, Lis
4. Damgaard, Niels
5. Evensen, Ole Gunnar
6. Flaten, Trine Kolderup
7. Garnes, Kari
8. Hofset, Børge
9. Høivik, Tord
10. Indergaard, Leikny Haga
11. Kjekstad, Torny
12. Lundvall, Rand
13. Monsen, Ingvild
14. Moseid, Tone Eli
15. Nielsen, Kirsten Leth
16. Rype, Ingebjørg
17. Salvesen, Helge
18. Sandgrind, Gro
19. Skarstein, Vigdis Moe
20. Sæteren, Liv
21. Torras i Calvo, Maria-Carme
22. Tønnessen, Linn
23. Vevle, Kjartan
24. Ørnholt, Ruth

Frode Bakken stiller nærmest i egen klasse.

• verlief total unkompliziert
• Auch wenn es mittlerweile vielleicht Standard ist: Das Programm im Taschenformat hat mir gut gefallen.

Standing Committees

• Der interessanteste Part für mich, weil ich bei den Standing Committees einen direkten Einblick in die IFLA-Arbeit verschiedener Sektionen bekommen konnte.

Was mir besonders aufgefallen ist

• Standing Committees sind immer auf (institutioneller) Mitgliedersuche. ;-)
• In allen drei Sitzungen spielten natürlich auch die finanziellen Mittel der Sektionen jeweils eine Rolle, die aber interessanterweise nur unterschiedlich stark ausgeschöpft werden.
• Die Neustrukturierung der IFLA divisions war ein großes Thema, dabei besonders die Fragen nach der zukünftigen Einordnung der Sektionen ins Ganze und nach möglichen Kooperation mit anderen Sektionen. Es war innerhalb der Diskussionen nicht ganz klar, ob das zukünftige Schema eher als Kooperationsbremse wirkt oder die bisherige Freiheit nicht einschränkt.
• Wie schon angedeutet: Die Kooperation mit anderen Sektionen scheint sehr erwünscht zu sein.
• Die Standing Committees sind vor allem auf der Suche nach Nachwuchs.
• Durch eine angenehme Atmosphäre ist die Hemmschwelle zum Mitmachen auch als Observer sehr niedrig.
• Man kommt zwar so schon gut ins Gespräch, viel besser dazu eignen sich aber bestimmt die zusätzlichen Treffen der Standing Committees abseits des Konferenzgeschehens (Abendessen usw.). Ich konnte durch meine Erkältung leider an keinem teilnehmen.

Sessions

• Die eher unkonventionellen Sessions (u.a. Brainstorming Session und Global Literacy and Readig Fair) fand ich am interessantesten, weil man dort in direktem Kontekt zu anderen Leuten schnell neue Gesichter kennengelernt hat und in kleinen Arbeitsgruppen gut seine Gedanken austauschen konnte.
• Ellen Tises Lieblingsformulierung: "in terms of" ;-)
• Gerne hätte ich mehr Discussion Groups erlebt. Das ist eine Art Vorstufe zur IFLA-Sektion. Ich war nur bei der "New Professionals Discussion Group", die sich aber nicht sehr von normalen Sessions mit Publikum und Vorträgen unterschieden hat. Mich hätte einfach mal der Vergleich verschiedener Groups interessiert.

Social events

• Im Nachhinein hätte man wirklich mehr aus den social events machen können...
• Die Opening Session war zu lang, hätte zum Beispiel um ein paar unangebrachte Beiträge wie die Verleihung eines Ehrendoktors gekürzt werden können.
• Bitte mehr authentische kulturelle Beiträge - nicht nur bei der Opening Session, sondern vor allem auch beim Cultural Evening! ;-)
• Die Closing Session war in vielerlei Hinsicht besser als die Opening Session - was zum Beispiel ihre Länge, die Musik und die Beiträge im Allgemeinen angeht.
• Die Simultanübersetzer waren zum Teil überfordert, das müsste eigentlich besser gehen. Zudem gab es vor der Opening Session einen riesigen Stau vor der Ausgabe der Kopfhörer.
• Fun-Night und kultureller Abend sollten besser außerhalb des Kongressgebäudes stattfinden; ein bisschen Abstand tut glaube ich auch mal ganz gut. ;-)
• Weiterer Kritikpunkt: Bei der Party wurden sehr schnell Buffet und weiteres Drumherum weggeräumt, bis nur noch der Dancefloor in einer riesigen leeren Halle übrigblieb. Das hat nicht gerade zu einer gemütlichen Atmosphäre beigetragen.

Poster Sessions

• wie immer eine ideale Möglichkeit, um mit vielen Leuten ins Gespräch zu kommen
• Die Poster Session Area wurde gut in das Konferenzgeschehen eingebunden.
• Allerdings hätte die Aufstellung der Posterwände etwas ausgeglichener sein können.

Kongresszentrum

• Ich habe noch niemals eine dermaßen kalte Klimaanlage über die Dauer einer kompletten Konferenz erlebt. Scheinbar konnte man da auch nichts dran ändern. Jedenfalls habe nicht nur ich eine Erkältung davongetragen...
• Zum Teil musste man als Teilnehmer relativ lange Wege zurücklegen, und das in einem etwas unübersichtlichen und verwinkelten Gangsystem.
• definitiver Pluspunkt: Es gab immer feinen Jazz auf den Toiletten. - Ein Hort der Entspannung und der Ruhe im allgemeinen Konferenzstress. ;-)

Verpflegung

• Vor allem in den ersten Tagen (standing committees) sehr dürftig. Außer Wasser gab es nicht mal Kaffee. ^^
• Zum Teil schwankte die Versorgung aber auch von Session zu Session.
• Das Essen bei den social events war gut, es hätte aber zum Beispiel bei der Party noch länger zur Verfügung stehen können (siehe oben).

Kontakte

• Ich habe wirklich viele neue Leute kennengelernt. Mit einigen von ihnen stehe ich auch weiterhin in Kontakt.
• Vielleicht ergibt sich aus einem der Gespräche sogar ein weiteres sehr interessantes Praktikum für mich. Darüber aber später mehr, wenn es soweit ist...

Kontakt zu deutschen Teilnehmern

• Das Caucus Meeting gibt einen guten Einstieg: Man bekommt eine Übersicht über die deutschen Teilnehmer, sieht Gesichter und hört ein paar Namen.
• Der Empfang des Deutschen Konsulats und des Goethe-Instituts von Montréal hat mir sehr gut gefallen und gab uns allen eine weitere schöne Gelegenheit, sich innerhalb der deutschen Teilnehmer auszutauschen.
• für mich interessant: Im Verlauf der Konferenz kommt tatsächlich so etwas wie ein Wir-Gefühl auf, zumindest in manchen Situationen, wenn man zum Beispiel froh ist, ein altbekanntes Gesicht von zu Hause zu sehen, oder wenn man sich während eines social events auf einmal in einer komplett deutschen Gruppe wiederfindet - auch wenn man die jeweiligen Leute vielleicht noch gar nicht so gut kennt. Klingt vielleicht alles komisch, was ich hier schreibe; aber vielleicht versteht ihr es ja.
• Die IFLA bietet in der Hinsicht natürlich eine gute Möglichkeit, interessante und wichtige deutsche Kollegen einmal (besser) kennenzulernen. (Vor-)Kontakte sind dabei wie immer sehr hilfreich.

Kontakt zu internationalen Teilnehmern

• Die Hemmschwelle bei der Kontaktaufnahme ist generell ziemlich niedrig. Es ergaben sich häufiger längere interessante Gespräche aus purem Zufall heraus.

spezielle Einsichten eines Newcomers

• Ohne Visitenkarten fühlt man sich irgendwie nackig auf so einem Kongress. ;-) Zum Glück haben meine ausgereicht - ich hatte noch einige von vorigen Konferenzen übrig. Auf jeden Fall sollte man lieber zu viele mitnehmen, bevor man sich noch ärgert. Vielleicht trifft man ja noch DIE besondere Person.
• Ich hatte mir meinen Tagesplan meistens viel zu voll gepackt. Das schafft ja keiner, man braucht auch mal Pausen. Also am besten Lücken für's Bistro lassen. ^^
• Die ersten Tage mit den ganzen Standing Committees gehen auch ohne Pause durch, wenn man mehrere Sitzungen besuchen möchte. Dieses Problem werden aber nicht so viele Leute haben, weil die meisten eh nur einer bzw. wenigen Sektionen verbunden sind.
• Wann immer es geht - Leute ansprechen! Die meisten sind sehr offen, vor allem für Nachwuchs.
• Mit konkreten Projekten in der Tasche ist es leichter, an die Leute heranzutreten.
• Vorkontakte sind ebenfalls sehr hilfreich.

Und zum Abschluss noch eine generelle Tendenz, die mir wirklich häufig über den Weg gelaufen ist:

• Die IFLA braucht Nachwuchs. Das hat man nicht nur bei solchen Veranstaltungen wie der Newcomersession oder dem New Professionals Forum gemerkt, sondern auch in diversen weiteren Sessions, persönlichen Gesprächen und einigen Reden im Rahmenprogramm.

Abgesehen von den negativen Punkten, die ich oben genannt habe, überwiegen deutlich die positiven Erfahrungen und Eindrücke. Daher lautet meine oberste lesson learned denn auch: Das war nicht meine letzte IFLA - Mailand, ich komme! ;-)

Moving In, Moving Up, and Moving On: Strategies for Regenerating the Library and Information Profession
IFLA Satellite Conference in Bologna, Italy, August 18, 19, and 20, 2009
 
Title of proposed presentation
 
Outline of proposed presentation (please indicate the type of presentation, e.g. a workshop, poster etc)
 
300 words maximum
 
 
 
 
 
 
Which of the conference themes or subthemes does this cover?
Are you willing to produce a full paper for the conference proceedings?
Name(s) of presenter with employer or affiliated institution, plus full contact details (including telephone, fax and e-mail) 
 
 
Short biographical statement regarding the presenter(s)
 
300 words maximum
 
 
 
 

 
First time presenters and new professionals:
Are you a first time presenter at an international conference?
If you are a first time presenter do you wish to be considered for a partial award?                            
If you are a first time presenter would you like to be mentored? 
Are you new to the profession?  If so, please state how long you have been working as an information professional
If fewer than 5 years do you wish to be considered for a partial award?

 
 
Please send the completed the form to the addresses below.
Proposals must be submitted in electronic format - preferably by email, or by post (3.5" diskette or CD-ROM). Proposals must be in either a generally available word-processing file format or in RTF format.
Proposals should be sent, no later than November 10th, 2008, to both of the program convenors:
Loida Garcia-Febo, Assistant Coordinator, Special Services, Queens Library, 89-11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11432, USA
Email: loidagarciafebo@gmail.com
Roisin Gwyer, Associate University Librarian, The University Library, University of Portsmouth, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, PO1 2ST, England UK
Email: roisin.gwyer@port.ac.

It was great to get a behind the scenes tour of a government library; it offered so much more than a simple 'tourist visit'.  It's interesting because the Government Librarians were discussing the same issues that  concern us in public libraries.  For example, how to keep attracting users to visit the physical building when more and more of the resources are appearing online...I guess we're all under increasing pressure to create desirable destinations for our users to visit.

We also got a chance to have a look in their 'vault' and I got to flick through a book that was written in 1425, which was a real treat.  Afterwards we had some time to chat with some of the cheeriest cataloguers I've ever met and I think we've made a couple of friends for life, which is great!

So, there you have it...a visit to a government library turns out to be one of the highlights of our trip - who'd have thought it?

I also got to co-present one of my papers on 'public libraries and web 2.0 technologies' and sit proudly in the audience as David McMenemy presented another paper that I'd co-authored on 'measuring the performance of public libraries'.   Such a brilliant experience!  And I've made lots of contacts too...which was a bit surreal at times...to actually meet the people that I've spent the last couple of years citing in papers;  I think I might even have come across as a bit star struck with some of them! :-D

Feels like I've achieved so much in just one week of 'conferencing' and I'd recommend to any new researchers out there trying to build up a reputation in the sector to sign up for future conferences as the experience has proven invaluable for me!

I've uploaded the Powerpoint presentation on public libraries and web 2.0 onto Slideshare.  Click here if you want to check it out.

Alle som handler i bibliotekfeltet må forholde seg til den dype digitaliseringen av fritid, læring og arbeid i de rikeste landene - og til de mange digitale mulighetene som åpner seg i resten av verden.

Bildet viser Marydee Ojala, redaktør av ONLINE.

Det går fort og sakte samtidig. Noen miljøer utforsker nye digitale arbeidsformer, mens andre bremser så godt de kan. For digitalisering er både spennende og krevende, morsomt og ubehagelig.

Dyp digitalisering betyr at organisasjonene må tenke, tale og handle på nye måter. De må forandre sine vaner - og ikke bare sine planer.

Et digitalt IFLA

Digitaliseringen av IFLA har forlengst begynt. Det mest synlige er den planlagte overgangen fra et gammeldags hierarkisk nettsted - styrt ovenfra og ned - til en flatere horisontal struktur - fra 1. januar 2009.

Hva dette innebærer i praksis, vil tiden vise. Teknikken inviterer uten å diktere.

Ved siden av den planlagte omleggingen foregår imidlertid en spontan digitalisering. Bibliotekene er langt mer dataorientert enn de fleste andre offentlige institusjoner. Bibliografiske databaser har vært en del av miljøets hverdag i førti år. Alle avanserte bibliotekmiljøer har brukt digitale kataloger som verktøy i en årrekke.

Ny offentlighet

Det som nå velter inn over IFLA, er nytt. Den distribuerte produksjonen av nyheter, kommentarer, bilder, videosnutter og PPT-filer forandrer samspillet mellom ledere og ansatte, og mellom bibliotekene og deres brukere.

Bloggene og flickr, YouTube og SlideShare konstituerer en ny digital offentlighet: rotete, lealøs, frisk og freidig. Innspillene er skarpe og muntre på sitt beste - trompete og sure på sitt verste.

But it's life, dammit!

Og bibliotekfeltet er - tross all slags konservatisme - mye bedre forberedt på å håndtere digitale utfordringer enn skoleverket og de fleste kulturinstitusjoner.

Ved å søke etter blogger i Google, har jeg funnet nesten førti som rapporterer fra, eller om, IFLA i Quebec. Det er vanlig å skille mellom personlige blogger, som har en uformell karakter, og blogger som på en eller annen måte representerer en institusjon.

I den forbindelse er det interessant å se at noen blogger skrives av personer i ledende posisjoner som klarer å balansere mellom den formelle og den uformelle sfære. I forhold til IFLA har jeg notert meg disse:

1. Dean Self’s Blog. Phyllis B. Self er Dean of Libraries, Western Illinois University Libraries.
2. From the chief executive’s desk. Bob McKee er daglig leder av den sentrale britiske bibliotek- og informasjonsforeningen (CILIP) - og medlem av IFLA Governing Board.
3. Jesus Lau.  Lau er bibliotekdirektør ved Universitetet i Veracruz, Han er også påtroppende leder - president-elect - i den mexicanske bibliotekforening (AMBAC) og medlem av IFLA Governing Board. Skriver på spansk.
4. Metalogue. Skrives av  Karen Calhoun, som er visepresident med ansvar for WorldCat og Metadata Services for OCLC. - Karen is joined often by friends and colleagues from all over the globe, who contribute perspectives and experiences about the current and future state of cataloguing and metadata.
5. Online Insider.  ... the editorial blog by Marydee Ojala, Editor of ONLINE: Exploring Technology & Resources for Information Professionals. ONLINE Insider intends to extend the reach of the print publication, presenting a more timely commentary on the products, people, and events that shape today's online world.
6. Stephen’s Lighthouse. Skrives av Stephen Abrams, som er visepresident med ansvar for utviklingsarbeidet (Innovation) ved SirsiDynix.

Ressurser

• List of library associations. Wikipedia.

Plinius

• IFLA på nettet
• IFLAs tre verdener
• More blogging from Quebec

Men bibliotekfagets kjerne er teknisk. Det tekniske samarbeidet er dessuten internasjonalt.

På IFLA foregår det masse fagteknisk arbeid i ulike grupper og kontekster. Denne delen av IFLAs virksomhet - som er knyttet til biblioteksystemene - er imidlertid langt mindre synlig enn det bruker- og samfunnsrettede arbeidet.

Så la meg trekke fram et eksempel:

Ingebjørg Rype (National Library of Norway), Magdalena Svanberg (National Library of Sweden), and I gave a condensed version of the talk Ingebjørg and I presented the week before at the ISKO Conference on the pilot study we just concluded with nineteen Norwegian librarians to explore the usability of a mixed Norwegian-English version of the DDC as a classifier’s tool.

Kilde: Dewey Translators Meeting at IFLA 2008

Ressurser

• More blogging from Quebec
• IFLA Quebec on the web
• Seven papers from Norway

]]> http://pliny.wordpress.com/?p=380 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:50:16 +0000 plinius http://pliny.wordpress.com/?p=380 Last Saturday I tried to find bloggers who were present at - and writing about - IFLA 2008 in Quebec (picture).

At that time I registered fourteen blogs in English, two in Spanish, two in German and one each in Rumanian, Flemish (Dutch) and Norwegian.

Now I have done a second round of hunting and gathering - and included more institutional blogs. I got a new catch of nineteen eighteen.

The list is in no way complete. Links and descriptions are not standardized. Additions and comments are invited.

Institutional blogs

1. Alfin Red. Foro para la alfabetización informacional. In Spanish.*
2. ALIA Board blog. ALIA = Australian Library and Information Organization.
3. American Libraries. IFLA Conference Showcases Québecois Culture
4. Criticas. Multicultural link
5. Dewey Translators Meeting at IFLA 2008
6. Libraries Interact. Blog Central for Australian libraries.
7. The Bib Blog. York University Libraries Bibliographic Services
8. News from DIS. News from the Department of Information Science at Loughborough University
9. NLA. Nigerian Library Association
10. QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

*I note that ALFIN will choose a more interactive format in Milan (see quote). Progress, indeed.

It was encouraging to see that the Goethe Institute in Montreal even recruited bloggers in order to set up shared reporting blog - ein gemeinsames Blog zur Berichterstattung.

Personal & institutional

1. Karen Calhoun. Metalogue. Metalogue is a forum for sharing thoughts on all things related to knowledge organization by and for libraries, hosted by Karen Calhoun, Vice President, WorldCat and Metadata Services for OCLC. Karen is joined often by friends and colleagues from all over the globe, who contribute perspectives and experiences about the current and future state of cataloguing and metadata.
2. Stephen's Lighthouse. By SirsiDynix' Vice President of Innovation, Stephen Abram
3. Dean Self's Blog. By Phyllis B. Self, Dean of Libraries, Western Illinois University Libraries.
4. Jesus Lau.  Lau is Director of library services at the University of Veracruz, President-elect of the Mexican Library association and a member of the IFLA Governing Board. In Spanish.

Personal blogs

1. Balcão de Biblioteca.  Written by Claudia Lopez, from Funchal, Madeira - licenciada em Línguas e Literaturas Clássicas e Portuguesa e pós-graduada em Ciências Documentais (variante Biblioteca/Documentação). In Portuguese.
2. Bibliothek 2.0 und mehr. In German.
3. Confessions of a Science Librarian
4. Information New Wave. Loida Garcia-Febo, a librarian and her views on the profession, access to information, and life*
5. zydeco fish. The least formal of these blogs ... Enjoy!

Not a blog

1. Video

*Loida García-Febo manages Special Services for the Queens Library and is former manager of Spanish Language Collections/Cultural Arts for the Queens Library’s New Americans Program. Prior to this, she worked at the University of Puerto Rico/ Unit of Library Services for the Blind and Disabled.

http://www.criticasmagazine.com/blogger/3196.html

Resources

• IFLA Quebec on the web

Quotes

"The Open Knowledge Foundation (ONF) has criticized the draft report of the Working Group for Bibliographic Control of the Library of Congress because there is no provision for the access, re-use and re-distribution of bibliographic data without restriction. .... all bibliographic data should be free ...

What does that mean for our practice? We would like to discuss this with representatives of the projects, national libraries and other major data providers. ...."

Karen Calhoun. Metalogue.

• It is important to run an effective association: people want to be involved in an association that is different.
• Practice Euthanasia: people hang around for too long; give others a chance to work.
• Bring them in: if you are a veteran, go where new professionals are; go online.
• Give support: newbies need to know that veterans have their backs
• Put them in charge: provide space where new librarians take decisions.

Bob McKee at Criticas. Multicultural link

... the major downside of the conference—the refusal of Canada to grant visas to 27 delegates, 13 of whom were ultimately turned away despite the federation’s attempts to intervene.

Among those denied entry was Fariborz Khosrav, deputy director of the National Library of Iran.

Five Colombians, two delegates each from Egypt and Nepal, and one each from Nigeria, Pakistan, and South Africa were also turned away.

IFLA Conference Showcases Québecois Culture

This year, the host country - Canada denied the NLA President visa to the conference.

According to the Star Newspaper, "Among them is Victoria Okojie, president of the Nigerian Library Association, who told the Star the deputy high commission in Lagos rejected her by mail with 'a little sheet of paper' explaining they thought she might stay in Canada."

NLA

Barbara Tillett set the stage with a wonderful survey of the development of RDA in her presentation entitled, “Resource Description and Access: Overview: History, Principles, Conceptual Models“.  ...

She traced the history from the British Museum rules of 1841, the Paris Principles, card catalogues, the development of the IBSD, OPACs and the current web environment and showed how the FRBR principles were drawn directly from this evolution.

...  two highlights for me were Gord Dunsire’s, “RDA Vocabularies and Concepts” and Chris Oliver’s run through the RDA online prototype.

The Bib Blog

But, by far the most bizarre sight was a pod of dancing librarians. In my entire career in this female-dominated profession, I had never seen librarians eager to hit the dance floor. But, at this World Congress, filled with delegates from Africa, Iran, Iraq, China, Russia, all parts of Europe, Oceania, and dozens of other nations, this was happening.

I have photos to prove it, and if my laptop ever recovers, I might even share some with you. Whether or not I tripped the light fantastic (or fandango) will forever remain a secret. [Get the big picture]

Liz said... I would join a facebook group for dancing librarians. I used to be a genuine bar bitch, so when I say "dancing", I don't mean the typical sensible shoe librarian dancing.

zydeco fish

En el próximo congreso (en Italia) la sección compartirá tiempo y espacio con la Sección de Alfabetización y Lectura con un formato diferente al habitual de la sección: partiendo de la intervención de uno o dos ponentes, se formarán pequeños grupos de discusión que presentarán posteriormente al conjunto sus impresiones.

El título será similar a "Las bibliotecas impulsan las alfabetizaciones del siglo XXI" y la sesión responderá al mismo.

Alfin Red. Foro para la alfabetización informacional.

Ingebjørg Rype (National Library of Norway), Magdalena Svanberg (National Library of Sweden), and I gave a condensed version of the talk Ingebjørg and I presented the week before at the ISKO Conference on the pilot study we just concluded with nineteen Norwegian librarians to explore the usability of a mixed Norwegian-English version of the DDC as a classifier’s tool.

Dewey Translators Meeting at IFLA 2008

Soap bubbles in Veracruz.

On August 18 and 19 I went to Montreal for a satellite conference on global library statistics. It was - as usual - very good to meet colleagues in a more specialized setting.

The conference was sponsored by the IFLA Statistics and Evaluation Section and organized by the Montreal Public Libraries System and the Concordia University Libraries System.

Claudia Lux was there - and gave a good speech on using statistics for advocacy. I knew she was a sinologist, but now I heard she has a master in sociology and statistics - and substantial experience - as well ...

Impressive.

I learnt a lot - and will come back to several of the topics later - but start at the top:

Why global statistics?

The reason, I gradually learned, had to do with the lack of international library statistics. UNESCO had  published such data since 1970 - but stopped collecting them in 2000. Their quality was too low for meaningful comparisons. Many countries did not report at all.

IFLA wanted to get the train back on track. The Statistics Section contacted the Unesco Institute for Statistics (UIS), which happens to be located in Montreal, and proposed a fresh start.

The outcome was a trial project - with Latin America as a case. UIS carried out a mail survey of Latin American and Caribbean countries - with many of reminders. The data were presented at the conference. The project was lots of hard work - but still gave a meagre harvest of information.

Some countries did not report at all - including Cuba, which has one of the better library networks in the region. Others could only answer a few of the questions. I am also sceptical about some of the data. Mexico reported about ten times as many visits as loans - an "impossibly" high ratio.

Two conclusions

My first conclusion is: the library systems of most Latin American countries lack the administrative structures that are required to collect and process local library statistics on a regular basis. In Peru - Juanita Jara de Sumar told us - there are basically no qualified librarians outside Lima - and rather few inside.

My second conclusion is: try alternative routes to knowledge. In Latin America we cannot find comparable, standardized statistics at the national level. This is probably true of the South in general. But we should not give up.

If you can't be with the one you love - love the one you're with.

This means to start with the libraries, the people and the more or less rudimentary systems that are available. Study Lima and postpone the rest of Peru. If Trinidad and Tobago only provides data from Trinidad - which was the case - let us love Trinidad first - and snuggle up to Tobago when she is ready.

Below the national level

I would generally try to go below the national level if at all possible. Latin America ranges from. Comparing the library systems of continental giants like Brazil and Mexico with those of Belize (300.000 inh.) or St. Kitts and Nevis (45.000) - just because all are independent nations - may be misleading.

When we study public libraries, we usually group them by size. We may do the same with nations. In the bigger states, it may also be possible to find published data at the next geographical level - province, department, estado. This creates much better possibilities for studying variations (distributions of single varaiables) - and covariations (correlations).

An old interest

As a young researcher I worked for a year in Mexico, teaching statistics and methodology at UNAM (1969/70).

The statistical yearbooks, and other government publications, had quite good statistics at the state level. Now I hope to take a new look at Mexican regional statistics: do they include anything on libraries?

Wikipedia gives the names of the thirty-one states (+ Distrito Federal)

Did you know that Chingo Bling, the Houston-based rapper, comes from Tamaulipas?

Bildet: Michael Heaney og Pierre Meunier

I år var det femten av dem. Noen arrangeres før selve IFLA-møtet (hodeheng?). Men min satellitt var i hvert fall en ekte hale.

Library statistics for the 21st-century world foregikk i Montreal, mandag 18. og tirsdag 19. august, altså uka etter Quebec.

Faglige fellesskap

Hva slags folk er det som dukker opp på slike møter? Hele IFLA er overveldende stort og variert. Men på mer spesialiserte felt - som statistikk - er det gjerne en mindre gruppe av nøkkelpersoner som går igjen.

Det er også mange som er innom mer sporadisk. Men for å påvirke den faglige debatten er det nødvendig med regelmessig deltakelse - og aktiv produksjon av dokumenter, artikler og foredrag.

På dette fagområdet er IFLAs statistikkseksjon sentral - og spesielt Roswitha Poll og Michael Heaney. Begge er tidligere ledere av seksjonen - og svært aktive forkjempere for bedre statistikk.

Roswitha arbeider særlig med  styringsindikatorer og leder ISO-komiteen som utformer standarder for slike indikatorer på bibliotekfeltet. Michael er nå sekretær for seksjonen - og sitter også i styringsgruppa for Northumbria-konferansene.

Pierre Meunier (bildet) hadde hovedansvaret for konferanseopplegget. Han er også med i IFLA-seksjonen og ansatt som rådgiver for folkebiblioteket i Montreal - der han jobber mye med faglige normer for bibliotek.

Unesco Institute of Statistics

Etter tredve års innsats stoppet Unesco å samle inn global bibliotekstatistikk i år 2000 - fordi datagrunnlaget var svært dårlig i de fleste utviklingsland.. Et hovedmål med konferansen fra IFLAs side var nok å påvirke Unesco til å starte opp på nytt.

Men dette ser ikke ut til å skje - se Global library statistics.

Unescos statistikkavdeling - Institute of Statistics (UIS) - ligger i Montreal. Den arbeider med to typer statistikk: utdanning og "alt mulig annet": vitenskap, media, kultur og bibliotek. Lederen for "alt mulig annet", Simon Ellis, holdt flere foredrag på møtet.

Det var tydelig at den store interessen blant Unescos medlemsland nå er knyttet til en kartlegging av praktiske informasjonsferdigheter (information literacy) - og ikke til beskrivelse av bibliotek i og for seg. Det bekrefter mine inntrykk fra Norge: bibliotekene må profilere seg som læringsarenaer for å få bred politisk backing.

Med andre ord: kulturen kommer i annen rekke. Politikere og velgere er først og fremst opptatt av økonomi - og av kompetanse som forutsetning for økonomisk vekst - og hyggelige karrierer. It's the economy, stupid - som amerikanerne sier.

Globale deltakere

Deltakelsen var nok noe mindre enn ventet. Nesten seksti av de 84 registrerte deltakerne kom fra Canada.

Forøvrig kom fem fra USA, tre fra Tyskland, to fra Argentina, Frankrike, Kenya, Norge og Storbritannia - og en fra hver av landene Australia, Burundi, Hellas, Litauen, Mexico, Namibia, Nederland, Nepal, Qatar og Trinidad og Tobago.

Jeg tar en rask titt på noen av "utlendingene":

• Colleen Cook, leder Texas A&M University Libraries - og IFLAs statistikkseksjon. På statistikkormådet har hun særlig arbeidet med LibQual (sammen med Bruce Thompson).
• Statistikkonsulent Ray Lyons fra Cleveland holdt et utmerket "problematiserende" foredrag om bruk av statistikk for benchmarking. Han er ganske ny i bibliotekfeltet - og vi hadde en god samtale om de mulighetene som tross alt ligger i bibliotekenes rike datamateriale.
• Juanita Jara De Sumar er bibliotekar ved McGill University. Hun er utdannet i Aberystwyth (Wales), men kommer opprinnelig fra Lima i Peru. Hennes beskrivelse av bibliotekene i Peru viste hvor mye som er ugjort i store deler av Latinamerika.
• Sebastian Mundt fra Stuttgart Media University ga en glimrende presentasjon av den tyske bibliotekindeksen BIX - og fortalte om de praktiske problemene miljøet møter. BIX er frivillig - og bare en brøkdel av de tyske bibliotekene deltar. De svakere bibliotekene holder seg unna - og totalantallet har stagnert. Myndighetene synes også indeksen er for detaljert - de bryr seg bare om økonomisk effektivitet - og ikke om tjenestekvalitet.
• Monique Pujól fra Ministère de la culture et de la communication i Paris var et hyggelig bekjentskap. Hun tok kontakt fordi hun ville oversette stoff fra "Drammensartikkelen" - altså Count the traffic - til fransk. Se også IFLA part 7 (Rambling Librarian)
• Trine Kolderup Flaten snakket om utviklingen av statistiske indikatorer i Norge. Hun dekket både det som skjer i regi av ABM-utvikling og mer lokale måter å utnytte statistikk på. Bergens  styrke er jo at de faktisk benytter mange slags statistikk i sin egen planlegging.

Jeg har også lyst til å nevne det lille konsulentfirmaet Counting Opinions (7 ansatte, Toronto) - som har spesialisert seg på statistisk rådgivning for bibliotek. De var meget profesjonelle - og skjønte seg på bibliotek

Ressurser

• Global library statistics

Vedlegg

In order to keep the campaign on message, Carville hung a sign in Bill Clinton's Little Rock campaign headquarters that said:

1. Change vs. more of the same
2. The economy, stupid
3. Don't forget health care.

Although the sign was intended for an internal audience of campaign workers, the phrase became something of a slogan for the Clinton election campaign.

Wikipedia

But until then, I feel I should reflect on what I've learned from the experience:

• A lot of the people who seem intimidating are actually quite friendly and interested to hear what the incoming generation of librarians has to say. I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, where the head librarians from over 50 countries sat around a table and each had a tiny little flag at their seat, which is exactly what I imagine the UN must be like. Afterwards, some of them stayed behind to have a glass of wine with the students (there were seven of us, one from each library school in Canada), and it was all very casual and friendly.
• Creative business cards are a great idea. My cards were a hit! They were especially helpful on the rare occasion that there was a lull in a conversation because I could tell people that I've recently taken an interest in photography, and yes, those really are my pictures on the backs of the cards. It was also good to have something to exchange with the people I want to keep in touch with.
• Lectures are interesting, but meeting people is even more valuable. At first I found it frustrating that I didn't have time to attend all the sessions I would have liked to have seen, but looking back, it was really the one-on-one conversations I had that made the conference such an educational experience.
• Librarians of all ages love to dance! When I saw the size of the dance floor at the "cocktail reception and fun night," I thought no one would step foot on it, but as soon as the band struck their first chord, the floor was packed.

Kveldens store sanger.

IFLAs danseaften minnet om verdens største mafiabryllup, skrev en frimodig blogger.

Hallen var enorm, musikken heftig og dansegulvet fullpakket av rockende bibliotekarer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's twist again!

Pliny the Librarian har klippet og limt fra IFLAs blogosfære.

I  note that Librarienne has posted lots of pictures from the IFLA conference in Quebec on Flickr. In addi(c)tion to her epist blogging.

Picture: Norwegians at work.

There are additional pictures from

• Jim Rettig
• blisspix
• IFLA Express
• Alexandra Yarrow
• Ray Schwartz
• llwyngwair

And many more, I guess - for those who have time to search in the flickr archive.

Some of my own IFLA pictures are here:

• Opening day
• Exhibition/posters
• Access to Learning Award
• Norwegians in the crowd
• Closing

Resources

• IFLA visual 2008. Photo sets fromQuebec. Added September 2.
• IFLA from below
• IFLA Quebec on the web
• Durban pictures

Note

The three Norwegian delegates are - from the left:

• Anne Hustad, chair of Norwegian Library Association (2006-10)
• Mette Henriksen Aas, head of a trade union section that organizes cultural workers
• Torny Kjekstad, director of one of the largest public libraries in Norway (and chair of IFLA division III)

Årets praktiske IFLA-bag.  - fotografert av Jim Rettig.

Ressurser

• Jim Rettig inaugurated 2008 ALA president
• Rettigs valgvideo på YouTube.

They like to present their best face - all cream and strawberries - to the public. As if every week consisted of seven Sundays.

Nobody is really fooled. All experienced librarians know the difference between rhetoric and reality, frontstage and backstage, dining room and kitchen.

IFLA is no exception. Cooperation and conflict, struggles and alliances, politics and power - are part of the process. But the written documents produced by IFLA and its many bodies reveal very little about the discussions and the clashes that occur. You have to talk with insiders to understand the dynamics of the organization.

This is, I hope, about to change. The new IFLA web - to be launched in 2009 - will encourage much more independent comment and discussion.

It is high time. The explosive growth of blogging means that the process of democratic debate has already started. Yesterday I made a list of IFLA bloggers.  Today I quote some of their remarks.

Quips and quotes

We all have an international audience.  I thought for international audiences, the performance should involved more music and dances -- things that don't require language skills as a prerequisite to appreciate.

Which brings to mind: this is something libraries must consider as we upload content to YouTube. It's something I've mentioned before.  On the Internet, your audience is International.

You might as well market your library globally. Of course libraries should consider their primary audience first. If a French library puts up a video for its users, obviously they'd use French. But it would be an excellent marketing tool if you provide English subtitles, or in the title or blurb, for a video in YouTube.

Conference opening ceremony. Ivan Chew.

That evening was the Cocktail Reception - which was enormous.  I imagine the largest of mafia weddings would look something like this reception.  A few other GSLIS folks and I went out for dessert instead.

As I’ve often found before, these simple small group conversations are often the most enlightening parts of a conference like this.  We had a long talk (over delicious sweets and lattes) about i-schools and library-schools.

One of the women from GSLIS knew some of the history behind the i-school migration in the U.S. and hearing that background was eye-opening for me.

***

I’ve met some terrific professional gurus, as well as promising young library students who will soon be entering the profession. The students I’m meeting are eager to join the profession and make their mark - I love it!

This actually leads me to a session I attended this evening: “Mind the gap: bridging the inter-generational divide” which was presented by the New Professionals Discussion Group. Sounds promising, right?

WRONG. This session was all about recruiting young professionals to join library associations. We were a captive audience - and all that was presented was how important it is that we join associations so that we can be mentored and groomed and introduced to the right people. I’ve been to a number of sessions over the past several days, and this is the only one where I felt I was being patronized.

http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/ifla-2008-the-third-day/

As a final note, I would like to say that this experience is really an education. What I am really enjoying is the multicultural aspect.

To see the excitement from a librarian in Croatia because they finally implemented an online catalogue in 2007 is amazing. That some of these librarians are facing much greater challenges than we are here in North America is really eye opening. It’s incredible.

http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/ifla-2008-the-third-day/

Last night the Public Libraries Section of IFLA launched a new IFLA professional publication, Public libraries, archives and museums: trends in collaboration and cooperation, which linked very nicely with this morning's meeting between the IFLA Executive Committee and representatives from other major international organisations in cognate fields.

The key theme to emerge was convergence - between IFLA and the Conference of Directors of  National Libraries; and between the library domain and the scientific domain, the cultural domain, and the museums/archives domain.

More work will be done on this as the key international agencies continue the dialogue - but, as Ian Wilson, National Librarian and Archivist of Canada, pointed out, many major institutions are well ahead of professional bodies in embracing convergence. We need to find a modern form of professionalism which will transcend the boundaries and barriers of traditional professional domains - and this something that CILIP is working on already.

Not quite the end. Bob McKee

It`s been a great opportunity to attend the conference courtesy of CILIP (I know, too many acronyms; this one is the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals).

I`ve only been at one of IFLA`s conferences before this one and it was in Glasgow.  Don`t get me wrong; it was just as good a conference (in fact, it might have been better) but there`s an extra something being in a different country.

I`ve been to some excellent sessions but for me the best bit has been meeting librarians from all over the world: a lecturer from Nigeria, school librarians from Norway, a health services librarian from New South Wales and a university librarian from PEI amongst many others.

IFLA

I’m at the IFLA 2008 conference in Quebec City, and just got out of the first meeting of the FRBR Review Group. Here are some notes for those of you who couldn’t be here. I’m writing this on my Eee in the lobby of the convention centre, so forgive me for hyperlink skimpiness.

The meeting began at 8:30 AM in a room that was as far away from the entrance to the convention centre as seems humanly possible. Chairs were set up in the room and there was a table for the Review Group members to sit at … but the chairs all faced away from the table. About eighteen observers were present so we all had to turn our chairs around to face the table, which left us staring at the backs of half of the Review Group.

...

the FRBR Report is vague on exactly what a Work is, which makes it hard to discuss aggregates. Lots of nodding at that. He said there were three approaches to thinking about modelling:

• work of works model: there’s a hierarchy of works, for example a journal is a work made up of other works
• manifestation of works model: an aggregate is not a work in itself, it is a manifestation of works
• work of parts model: the simplest but least attractive intellectually; a collection of novels by a writer is a work, and the novels are just parts of it.

The three models are incompatible, but they all have advocates. In a report (not available online, I don’t think) they tried modelling different aggregates with each of the three models to see how they looked.

more-about-you-know-what

My first day of IFLA was fantastic--attended sessions on statistics & measurement, access to genealogical & archival data, and library partnerships. I think what I'm enjoying most, besides the mostly excellent presentations and good speakers, is that these presentations are giving such a broader world view than a session at TLA or ALA.

TLA and ALA are valuable, and certainly relevant in a "close to home" sense, but these sessions keep nudging my brain into those "ah-ha" moments of remembering that no, the entire world does not operate like the United States. It's refreshing and encouraging and exciting and a little wild to wrap the brain around sometimes. ...

One interesting tidbit I took from one of the morning speakers... He's from a public library in Norway where they are hand-gathering statistics on how people use the library, whether they are performing activities in groups or alone, and how long they spend on each activity.

What really interested me is that they count "computer activities" separately for those on the library computers, and those who bring their own laptops (as well as those who work at each type of computer alone or in groups). I hadn't ever thought of counting laptop vs. library PC use separately before, although it seems obvious now.

(Of course, now that we're also checking out laptops, that brings a potential third category for UNT to track.)

Bienvenue from Quebec

The final session I attended was Metropolitan Libraries with Public Libraries.

There was a talk on the Canadian Project “Working Together” and also the Sengkong library system in Singapore.  The Canadian project focused on making services relevant and visible for socially excluded populations.

What do socially excluded people want and need from the library, the library needs to be an advocate for all.  In Singapore, advocacy is a way of life.  Instead of continually asking the user to come to the library, bring the library to the user.  Get out in the community, get out from behind the desk.

Day 5 of QC and IFLA

In my conference bag, I have a 200 page program, printed in French and English, a CD-ROM version of the program with the conference papers, all sorts of maps and tourism information, a small spiral bound notebook, and other ephemera.

It really is a lot of paper, but truth be told, with something this size, it's felt good more than once to have a bag full of information on paper. The pen that came with the notebook is amazing, I will post a picture shortly.

]]> http://plinius.wordpress.com/?p=2624 Sat, 16 Aug 2008 22:27:26 +0000 plinius http://plinius.wordpress.com/?p=2624 IFLA er bibliotekenes FN.

Etter en hektisk konferanseuke i Quebec, spør jeg meg selv: hvordan skal denne organisasjonen mestre overgangen fra det 20. til det 21. århundre?

Prisen for beste poster gikk til Afrika.

Jeg tror nok IFLA vil overleve. Spørsmålet er - i hvilken form?  Verdens bibliotekarer trenger en arena der faglige og politiske strategier kan diskuteres, konfronteres og bearbeides.

Men overgangen fra industriell vareproduksjon til kunnskapsbaserte digitale økonomier, pluss overgangen fra nasjonale til globale samfunn, betyr en radikal endring for organisasjonen. Bibliotekenes betingelser forandrer seg på dypet.

Samtidig øker forskjellen mellom stater og regioner.

Vi må i hvert fall skille mellom tre ulike "bibliotekverdener": de digitaliserte kunnskapsregionene - som Vest-Europa, Nord-Amerika og Japan; de nye industriområdene - som store deler av Kina, India, Mexico og Brasil; og de gjenværende fattige deler av verden: mye av Afrika og mange områder langt fra kysten i Asia og Latin-Amerika.

Den første verden

I vår "første verden" blir bibliotekene utfordret av internett. Folk flest venner seg til ubegrenset og umiddelbar tilgang til digital informasjon, kommunikasjon, kunnskap og kultur. Bredbåndsnettet blir en del av hverdagen.

Det industrielle biblioteket var en selvsagt institusjon. Det postindustrielle biblioteket må etablere en ny basis - eller tape to null. Den nye digitale kulturen er brukerstyrt. Bibliotekene må gi fra seg det meste av sin tradisjonelle kontroll - og tilpasse seg brukerne krav, forventninger og behov. Det betyr først og fremst å lytte, å eksperimentere og å lære.

IFLA må gjøre det samme - eller miste kontakt med de mest utviklede delene av bibliotekfeltet.

De neste ti-femten årene blir turbulente. Vi vet ikke hvor de postindustrielle bibliotekene vil være i 2020.

Store deler av de tradisjonelle bibliotektjenestene - utlån av bøker og musikk, referansetjenester, lokal klassifisering og katalogisering - vil trolig forsvinne. Nye tjenester - gruppearbeid, mediaverksteder, digital publisering; nye målgrupper - ungdom, innvandrere, turister; og nye arbeidsformer - "community librarianship", "data curation", "social computing" - er på vei inn.

Til syvende og sist er det imidlertid brukerne som bestemmer hva som vil overleve.

Den andre verden

Den industrielle revolusjon oppsto i Europa - og sprer seg nå til det meste av verden uten for Europa (og Nord-Amerika). I løpet av det 21. århundre, sier økonomene, blir Kina verdens økonomiske sentrum. Som Storbritannia var det på 1800-tallet.

Både fag- og folkebibliotek bør ha gode vekstmuligheter i de nye industrilandene. Utdanning, læring og kommunikasjon bidrar direkte til økonomisk vekst.

Flukten fra landsbygda er nyttig for bibliotekene Når bøndene flytter til byene - og får bedre betalt arbeid i industri og servicesektoren - øker etterspørselen etter kultur og underholdning. Familier, barn og ungdom tar folkebibliotekene i bruk. Bevisste myndigheter - og foreldre - satser på gode lesevaner og praktisk IT-kompetanse i neste generasjon.

I dag domineres IFLAs konferanser og organer av deltakere fra den første verden.  IFLA er genuint opptatt av globale verdier. Den økte interessen for bibliotek i den andre verden bør imidlertid slå ut i IFLAs sammensetning, arbeidsformer og finansiering.

Det gamle skillet mellom i-land og u-land er gått ut på dato. De nye industrilandene er ikke rike, sett med norske øyne, men de er heller ikke fattige. Pengene de bruker på bibliotek og biblioteksamarbeid er ikke forbruk, men langsiktige investeringer - på linje med bevilgninger til veier, broer og jernbaner.

IFLA bør legge til rette for at bibliotekmiljøene i disse landene engasjerer seg mer - og får mer å si - i organisasjonen. Det betyr fortsatt å lytte, å eksperimentere og å lære.

Dagens IFLA er sterkt preget av grånende ledere fra større bibliotek. IFLAs nye webstrategi vil gjøre det lettere å føre åpne, "horisontale" samtaler med praktiserende bibliotekarer. Med andre ord: gi ungdommen  plass. Inviter de varmblodige tredve- og førtiåringene inn - og be dem tenke høyt - selv om de ikke skjønner hvordan IFLAs formelle apparat fungerer.

Den tredje verden

Bibliotekenes andre verden er urban, dynamisk og lett tilgjengelig. Deres tredje verden er geografisk isolert, tradisjonell og rural.

I byene er fattigdommen lett synlig. I Latin-Amerika snakker man om "belter av elendighet" - cinturrones de miseria - rundt de store byene. Likevel flytter folk inn til metropolene - Mexico City, Johannesburg, Calcutta - for den usynlige fattigdommen på landsbygda i Sør er verre.

Bibliotekarbeid i den tredje verden har først og fremst mening som bidrag til sosial og økonomisk utvikling.
Bøndene i Veracruz er mer interessert i kaffepriser enn i Kafka. Uten markedsdata blir de lurt av lure oppkjøpere. Bibliotekbygg må kombineres med transportmuligheter. I Bangladesh stenger veiene i regntida. Elvebåter er svaret. Men bøkene har ingen verdi hvis folk ikke kan lese.

Alt henger sammen med alt.

I den første og andre verden kan bibliotekene i noen grad konsentrere seg om typiske bibliotekoppgaver. På landsbygda i Sør, derimot, bør IFLA tenke og te seg som en utviklingsorganisasjon. Her dreier bibliotek seg om å bryte ut - av fattigdom, stagnasjon og lokal undertrykkelse.

Det er greit på verdiplanet.

IFLA tilhører verdenssamfunnet - og har en grunnleggende positiv holdning til globale verdier. Inkludert utvikling. Men IFLA bør være i stand til å handle raskt, relevant og ubyråkratisk - i lydhør kontakt med landsbygda. Bibliotekarer må opptre som change agents - forandringsagenter

Det at den prestisjefylte Access to Learning Award deles ut på IFLA-konferansene, åpner muligheter i denne retningen.

Tenker Plinius post Quebec.

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

Wednesday was primarily a day of walking around and being a tourist, but I did go to two things at the conference as well.  It was the last day for poster sessions and exhibitions, which created a strange atmosphere of farewells that gave the sense of the conference ending already, when in fact it was still going for another couple days.  In the afternoon I went to a session on Emerging Technologies, where I heard a lot about tools I already knew, for the most part, but the presentations were valuable in that they presented case studies of these tools actually *applied* to specific library environments.  Bob Glass of Manchester Metropolitan University (link opens PDF) in the U.K. showed us how his students have been using Blogger for class projects.  Wun Han Chow from the National Library of Singapore (link opens PDF) walked us through their work-flow using QuestionPoint, which was actually the best demonstration I've seen of that service.

In the evening, I walked around a bit more but was feeling symptoms of Conference Exhaustion so I went back to the hotel early for a good night's sleep.

Thursday, 14 August 2008

My last day at IFLA was one of the best, I'm happy to say.  I attended two sessions in the morning and they were both very informative.  The first:

Enabling access to the global library – small is beautiful: distributed deployment of libr