Minutes Of The Twenty-Eighth Meeting Of CDNL, Wednesday 22 August 2001
Minutes of the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of CDNL,
Held on Wednesday 22 August 2001, at 10.00am,
At the Boston Public Library, Boston, United States of America
1 WELCOME TO THE MEETING
The Chair, Jan Fullerton (Director General, National Library of Australia) welcomed members to the twenty-eighth meeting of CDNL and introduced Dr James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress.
Dr Billington welcomed members to the meeting and invited any members intending to visit Washington to include the Library of Congress in their itinerary. Dr Billington referred members to the copy of America’s library: the story of the Library of Congress, which had been distributed to members prior to the commencement of the meeting.
Dr Billington then introduced Mr Bernie Margolis, Director of the Boston Public Library.
2 WELCOME TO THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Mr Margolis welcomed members and gave a brief overview of the history of the Boston Public Library.
The Chair then outlined the arrangements for the day and introduced Mr Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services, Library of Congress. He invited members and their accompanying partners to attend a reception to be hosted in the evening by Dr Billington at the Massachusetts State House.
3 ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES
The Chair asked members to sign the Attendance Register that was to be circulated during the meeting. A list of attendees and apologies are noted in Appendix 1.
The Chair noted that the following guests would join CDNL during the day: Ms Christine Deschamps, President IFLA; Mr Ross Shimmon, Secretary General IFLA; Mr Derek Law, Treasurer IFLA; Mr Abdelaziz Abid, Information Society Division, UNESCO; Ms Titia van der Werf, Secretary CDNL Committee on Digital Preservation; Ms Pam Gatenby, Assistant Director General, Collections Management, National Library of Australia and Dr Hartmut Walravens, Director, International ISBN Agency.
4 MEMBERSHIP
Those attending CDNL for the first time were asked to introduce themselves.
The following members identified themselves:
| Argentina | – | Ms Francisco Delich representing Dr Claudia Bazan, Director |
| Austria | – | Dr Joanna Rachinger, Director General |
| Bhutan | – | Mr Mynak Tulku, Director |
| Botswana | – | Mrs Constance Modise, Director |
| Egypt | – | Dr Galal Ghandour, Head of Central Administration, National Library and Archives |
| Guatemala | – | Dr Francis Polo Sifontes, Director |
| Israel | – | Professor Elhanan Adler, Interuniversity Library Coordinator, for Professor Sara Japhet, Director |
| Jamaica | – | Mrs Eppie Edwards, Director |
| Japan | – | Mr Tyuyoshi Ujigo, Deputy Librarian of the National Diet Library |
| Malaysia | – | Mrs Zawiyah Baba, Director General |
| Serbia | – | Mr Sreten Vgricic, Director |
| Swaziland | – | Ms Dikeledi Kunene, Chief Executive |
| Vatican City | – | Dr Ambrozio Piazzoni, Vice Prefect, Vatican Library |
| Venezuela | – | Ms Saadia Sanchez-Vegas, General Director |
5 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA
The Chair noted the following change to the amended agenda: Ms Diane Nester Kresh, Director for Public Service Collections at the Library of Congress, is unavailable to report on the Collaborative Digital Reference Service.
Adoption of the agenda was proposed by Dr Chris Chia, Chief Executive of the National Library Board of Singapore and Deputy Chair, and seconded by Ms Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive, The British Library.
6 MINUTES OF THE TWENTY SEVENTH CDNL MEETING
The minutes of the twenty seventh meeting of CDNL, held on Wednesday 16 August, 2000 at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, were approved without amendment.
7 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
7.2 Legal Deposit and Electronic Publications
Following advice from Mr Abdelaziz Abid that The Guidelines for Legal Deposit Legislation have been published in French and English, and are available in both print and on the web, the Chair declared the item complete.
7.5 Issues related to Bibliographic Records: Recommendation of the International Conference on National Bibliographic Services.
The Chair declared this item complete.
7.11 Definition of ‘National Libraries’
The Chair spoke to this item. Following discussion at the twenty seventh meeting in Jerusalem, the Chair convened a Constitutional Committee comprising The Chair, Dr Wim van Drimmelen, General Director, Koninklijke Bibliotheek and Deputy Chair; Dr Chris Chia and Mr Chris Blake, National Librarian, National Library of New Zealand, to re-examine the CDNL Statutes and Rules of Procedure relevant to the status of observers at CDNL.
The recommendation of the Committee was that rather than amending the CDNL Statutes and Rules, that an interpretation of section 2.3 be adopted by CDNL members and referred to in conjunction with the Statutes and Rules of Procedure in the event of any future debate on the issue.
The interpretation reads as follows:
Under section 2.3 of the CDNL Statutes and Rules of Procedure: where a country has more than one institution functioning as a national library, the representatives of those national libraries should decide which library will provide the voting member and which library (ies), if any, will provide a non-voting member (s), ie an observer (s), at CDNL meetings. If, after discussion, the representatives of the national libraries concerned cannot agree on a voting member, then the government of that country may be asked to name the voting member.
Adoption of the interpretation was proposed by Dr Chris Chia and seconded by Ms Lynne Brindley.
12.2 Committee on Digital Preservation
This item was moved from the afternoon session to allow Ms Titia van der Werf to attend an IFLA meeting in the afternoon.
Ms Titia van der Werf reported on the two key activities of the committee: the development of the Text of the Draft UNESCO Resolution on Digital Preservation (see Papers Item 12.2 Appendix 1) to be presented to the UNESCO General Conference in October, and the current research agenda.
Dr Wim van Drimmelen spoke in support of the Draft UNESCO Resolution and asked members to comment on the intent rather than the wording of the draft. He encouraged CDNL members to seek support from their respective governments for the Draft Resolution. Mr Abdelaziz Abid reminded members that the deadline for the submission of the resolution is 31 August 2001. He commented that UNESCO was planning to assist developing countries with preservation of their digital cultural heritage through regional conferences.
Ms Titia van der Werf explained that work on the UNESCO Draft Resolution had taken priority during the year over the research agenda. The research agenda would now be scoped to align with issues identified by CDNL members. The National Library of Australia’s PADI website (http:www.nla.gov.au/padi/) would be used as the basis of a strengths and weaknesses analysis relating to digital preservation to be conducted by the Committee.
8 PRESENTATIONS
8.1 The European Library (TEL)
Ms Lynne Brindley gave a presentation on the The European Library (TEL) Project, which aims to improve cooperation among national and other libraries in Europe which are responsible for collecting, managing and preserving digital materials. The project runs until July 2003 and is sponsored by the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL). Ms Brindley described four of the project’s six work packages: 1) publisher relations 2) business plans and models 3) metadata development 4) interoperability testbeds. Further details of the presentation can be found in the Papers at Item 8.1.
8.4 Development Program for National Libraries in Central America
This item was taken out of order.
Dr Francis Polo Sifontes, Director, Biblioteca Nacional de Guatemala, reported on the background to the establishment of ABINIA and the work achieved through the assistance of the Swedish Agency for International Development (SAID), which includes training and compilation of national bibliographies for the region. Further details can be found in the Papers at Item 8.4.
8.2 The Slave Trades Archives Project
This item was taken out of order. Mr Abdelaziz Abid reported on the Slave Trades Archive Project which was initiated by UNESCO and is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). Further details are available in the Papers at Item 8.2 and in the extended report included in the Additional Papers tabled at the CDNL meeting.
8.3 National Library of Australia PANDORA Archive
This item was taken out of order. Ms Pam Gatenby reported on the work undertaken by the National Library of Australia to select, archive, preserve and provide access to Australian publications in online form. She also gave an online demonstration of a selection of publications held in the PANDORA Archive. Further details are available in the Papers at Item 8.3 and from the PANDORA website at http://pandora.nla.gov.au/index.html.
9 IFLA REVIEW OF CORE ACTIVITIES AND CORE PROGRAMMES
Ms Christine Deschamps, Mr Ross Shimmon and Mr Derek Law attended CDNL for this item.
Ms Christine Deschamps thanked CDNL for the opportunity to discuss the Core Activities. Mr Ross Shimmon then outlined the review of the Core Activities, its adoption by the IFLA Board at the Jerusalem meeting and subsequent appeal to IFLA members for increased funding. He reported that the results of the appeal had been modest and thanked those members who had responded to the appeal, including the national libraries of New Zealand and South Africa, the Public Library of the Island of Nevis, OCLC and several individual members.
Dr Wim van Drimmelen suggested that CDNL form a committee to review the current focus of the IFLA Programme of Core Activities and to devise new methods of support for the Core Activities. He suggested that the CDNL members already supporting the core activities should form the committee but that other members of CDNL could volunteer to join. The Chair invited interested members to contact the CDNL Secretary or Dr Chris Chia who offered to chair the new committee. The IFLA Core Programmes Review Committee held its first meeting following the conclusion of the CDNL meeting.
Members are: Dr Christopher Chia (Singapore), Chair; Mr Winston Tabb (United States), Dr Elisabeth Niggemann (Germany), Ms Alix Chevallier (France), Dr Celia Zaher (Brazil), Mr Erlund Kolding Nielsen (Denmark), Dr Wim van Drimmelen (Netherlands), Ms Sun Beixin (China), Ms Lynne Brindley (United Kingdom), Mr Masao Tobari (Japan), Ms Jan Fullerton (Australia), Mr Christopher Blake (New Zealand).
10 IFLA SECTION ON NATIONAL LIBRARIES
Mr Winston Tabb spoke to the report written by Ms Alix Chevallier, Director for International Relations, Biblioteque nationale de France and Secretary of the IFLA Section on National Libraries. The report is included in the folder of Additional Papers tabled at the meeting. He reminded members of the seminars to be held the following day by the Section on National Libraries, on ‘Marketing National Libraries’ and by the Section on Bibliography entitled ‘What makes a good national bibliography even better?’
Mr Winston Tabb informed members that he had been succeeded as Chair of the IFLA Section on National Libraries by Ms Fernanda Campos, Deputy Director of the National Library of Portugal.
11 CDNL FUTURE ISSUES
The Chair explained that following a call for members to put forward issues for discussion that three issues had been selected: promotion of national libraries; performance management and digital issues. A CDNL member had been invited to speak briefly to each selected topic. This would be followed by discussion and agreement on actions to be undertaken, if appropriate.
Promotion of national libraries: Mr Roch Carrier, National Librarian of Canada, spoke to this topic. He described his objectives and methods for promoting the National Library of Canada, including the need to lobby politicians and to seek wide media coverage.
As this issue was the subject of the seminar to be held the next day by the IFLA Section on National Libraries, the Chair urged all CDNL members to attend.
Performance measurement: Ms Zawiyah Baba, Director General of the National Library of Malaysia, spoke to this topic. She said there was an increasing need for libraries to prove their efficiency to governments and to remain relevant in the face of increasing competition from other institutions. Development of good performance measurement and benchmarking between national libraries would be useful. Ms Vilenka Jakac-Bizjak, Director-General of Library Programmes in Slovenia, reported that a working group of CENL were planning to publish a report on the current situation of performance measurement for national libraries later in the year.
Mr Winston Tabb said that the IFLA Section on National Libraries could consider holding a seminar on performance measurement in Berlin in 2003. He undertook to refer this to the Section committee.
Digital issues: Mr Chris Blake spoke to this issue. He outlined the digital issues common to many national libraries, including the need to extend collecting and preservation to digital publications, and the need to digitise existing collection materials to create a digital library. There is a need for national libraries to share information in this area and to examine the issue of interoperability between national libraries who host digital collections.
The Chair noted that there were already two CDNL Committees dealing with different aspects of the digital agenda. She called on Mr Winston Tabb to report on behalf of the Working Group On Persistent Identifiers.
12 CDNL WORKING GROUPS
12.1 Working Group on Persistent Identifiers
Mr Winston Tabb spoke about the background to the formation of the Working Group which was formed in 1997. The Working Group had met twice, once in Washington and once in The Hague. At the CDNL meeting in Bangkok in 1999, members had approved a set of principles governing the development of persistent identifiers by national libraries. He referred members to the work of the group as described in the report tabled this morning. He recommended that the Working Group be discharged and that a new group with a mandate to look more broadly at digital issues be formed. He suggested that Dr Wim van Drimmelen, Chair of the Committee on Digital Preservation, be asked to chair the new committee.
Dr Wim van Drimmelen suggested that the two groups be merged to form a new committee on digital issues. Following the agreement of members, the Chair declared that the CDNL Committee on Digital Preservation and the Working Group on Persistent Identifiers would cease to exist, and would be replaced by a Committee on Digital Issues to be chaired by Dr Wim van Drimmelen. Confirmation of membership and a workplan for the new committee are to be distributed out of session.
13 REPORTS FROM REGIONAL CONFERENCES
13.1 ABINIA
Dr Celia Zaher, Director, Fundacion Biblioteca Nacional was not able to attend CDNL in the afternoon. Please refer to the report at Item 13.1 in the Papers.
13.2 Conference of European national Librarians (CENL)
Dr Wim van Drimmelen spoke briefly to the report, highlighting Website Gabriel, the TEL Project, the ‘Statement on codes of practice for the voluntary deposit of electronic publications’ prepared by CENL and the Federation of European Publishers, and the International Standard Identifier for Libraries.
13.3 Conference of Directors of National Lbiraries of Asia and Oceania (CDNLAO)
Dr Chris Chia referred members to the report at Item 13.3 in the Papers.
13.4 Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL)
Mr R Ramachandran, Assistant Chief Executive, National Library Board of Singapore, spoke to the report. He referred to the CONSAL web site which was launched in Singapore on 24 April 2001. Members can view the site at http://www.consal.org.sg. The CONSAL Secretariat is hosted by the National Library Board of Singapore.
13.5 National Libraries in an African Renaissance, Pretoria, South Africa, 31 October – 2 November, 2000 Conference Report
Ms Joan de Beer, Deputy National Librarian, National Library of South Africa spoke briefly to the report. She said that the conference, which was organised by and marked the first year of existence of the National Library of South Africa, had been successful in encouraging more activity and cooperation between the national libraries in the region.
14 ISSN
Ms Francoise Pelle, Director, ISSN International Centre was unable to attend the meeting. A report is included in the Additional Papers tabled at the meeting.
15 ISBN
Dr Hartmut Walravens, Director, International ISBN Agency did not speak to the report. Information about the activities of the ISBN Agency can be found in the report at Item15 in the Papers.
16 THE UNESCO INFORMATION FOR ALL PROGRAMME
Mr Abdelaziz Abid spoke to his report, highlighting the aims of the new programme for developing countries: development of national information policies; training to assist countries to enter the new information era; strengthening national libraries in the area of information technology and providing education in the area of new technologies. Proposals from CDNL members for collaborative work in this area would be welcome.
17 COUNTRY REPORTS
The Chair referred members to the country reports included in the Papers and the Additional Papers folder and recommended that CDNL members make contact with each other concerning any areas of interest raised in the reports.
18 NEXT MEETINGS
On behalf of The British Library and the national libraries of Wales and Scotland, Ms Lynne Brindley invited CDNL members to attend the twenty-ninth meeting to be held on Wednesday 21 August 2002, at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Dr Elizabeth Niggeman, Director General, National Library of Germany, invited CDNL members to attend the thirtieth meeting of CDNL in Berlin in 2003.
OTHER BUSINESS
Ms Joan de Beer reminded members that articles on the activities of national libraries were always welcome for publication in Alexandria.
Mr Erland Kolding Nielsen, Director General of the National Library of Denmark, spoke in recognition of the contribution to CDNL of Mr Esko Hakli, National Librarian of Finland who will retire on 25 November 2001.
CLOSURE AND THANKS
The Chair thanked Mr Bernie Margolis and the staff of the Boston Public Library for their assistance and the excellent venue, Winston Tabb for his assistance with the organisation of the meeting and the Library of Congress for hosting the meeting, the two deputy chairs, Dr Wim van Drimmelen and Dr Chris Chia for their support and the two secretaries, Ms Jasmine Cameron and Mr Gerard van Trier for their work in organising the meeting.
The meeting concluded at 3.45pm.
APPENDIX 1
ATTENDANCE REGISTER
| Ms Frencisco Delich | Argentina |
| Ms Jan Fullerton | Australia |
| Ms Pam Gatenby | Australia |
| Ms Jasmine Cameron | Australia |
| Dr Johanna Rachinger | Austria |
| Mr Mynak R. Tulku | Bhutan |
| Ms Constance B. Modise | Botswana |
| Dr Celia Ribeiro Zaher | Brazil |
| Professor Willy Vanderpijpen | Belguim |
| Mr Roch Carrier | Canada |
| Ms Sun Beixin | China |
| Ms Ligia Gonzalez | Costa Rica |
| Ms Mirna Willer | Croatia |
| Dr Vojtech Balik | Czech Republic |
| Mr Erland Kolding Nielsen | Denmark |
| Mr Samir Gharib | Egypt |
| Dr Galal Ghandour | Egypt |
| Mr Manlio Argueta | El Salvador |
| Ms Tiiu Valm | Estonia |
| Mr Esko Hakli | Finland |
| Ms Alix Chevallier | France |
| Dr Elisabeth Niggemann | Germany |
| Dr Francis Polo Sifontes | Guatemala |
| Mr Peter Dippold | Hungary |
| Dr Einar Sigurdsson | Iceland |
| Professor Elhanan Adler | Israel |
| Dr Antonia Ida Fontana | Italy |
| Dr Livia Borghetti | Italy |
| Ms Eppie D. Edwards | Jamaica |
| Mr Tsuyoshi Ujigo | Japan |
| Ms Roza A. Berdigaliyeva | Kazakstan |
| Mr S.K. Ng’ang’a | Kenya |
| Mr Hyun-Taek Shin | Korea |
| Ms Anara Chynybaeva | Kyrghystan |
| Dr Andris Vilks | Latvia |
| Dr Regina Varniene | Lithuania |
| Ms Monique Kieffer | Luxembourg |
| Ms Zawiyah Binti Baba | Malaysia |
| Ms Stana Jankoska | Macedonia |
| Ms Rosa Maria Fernandez de Zamora | Mexico |
| Mr Zhambaldorjiin Serjee | Mongolia |
| Mr Johannes Loubser | Namibia |
| Dr Wim van Drimmelen | Netherlands |
| Mr Gerard van Trier | Netherlands |
| Ms Titia van Der Werf | Netherlands |
| Mr Christopher Blake | New Zealand |
| Dr Jimmy Alvarado Moreno | Nicaragua |
| Mrs O Omolayole | Nigeria |
| Ms Sissel Nilsen | Norway |
| Ms Fernanda Campos | Portugal |
| Dr Victor V Fedorov | Russia |
| Ms Ludmila Kozlova | Russia |
| Dr Vladimir N. Zaitsev | Russia |
| Ms Ekaterina Platonova | Russia |
| Ms Marietou Diongue Diop | Senegal |
| Mr Sreten Ugricic | Serbia |
| Dr Christopher Chia | Singapore |
| Mr R. Ramachandran | Singapore |
| Ms Vilenka Jakac-Bizjak | Slovenia |
| Ms Joan F de Beer | South Africa |
| Dr Mercedes Dexeus | Spain |
| Ms Vinyet Panyella | Spain |
| Mr Upah Amarasini | Sri Lanka |
| Mrs Nomsa V Mkhwanazi | Swaziland |
| Dr Thomas Lidman | Sweden |
| Dr Jean-Frederic Jauslin | Switzerland |
| Dr Hasna Askhita | Syria |
| Mrs Suwakhon Siriwongworawat | Thailand |
| Mr Tuncel Acar | Turkey |
| Dr Anatoliy G Brovkin | Ukraine |
| Ms Lynne Brindley | United Kingdom |
| Mr Andrew Green | United Kingdom |
| Dr James Billington | USA |
| Mr Winston Tabb | USA |
| Dr Ambrogio M. Piazzoni | Vatican City |
| Dr Saadia Sanchez-Vegas | Venezuela |
| Mr Abdelaziz Abid | UNESCO |
| Ms Christine Dechamps | IFLA |
| Mr Ross Shimmon | IFLA |
| Mr Derek Law | IFLA |
| Dr Harmut Walravens | ISBN |
APOLOGIES (Received Prior To The Meeting)
| Ms Susannah Minyala | Ghana |
| Mr Brendon O’Donoghue | Ireland |
| Mr Mehmut Gerguri | Kosovo |
| Ms Habeeba Hussain Hubeeb | Maldives |
| Mr Dasharath Thapa | Nepal |
| Mr Abdul Hafeez Akhtar | Pakistan |
| Mr Daniel Paraide | Papua New Guinea |
| Mr Carlos Reis | Portugal |
| Ms Jarmila Majerova | Slovakia |
| Mr Peter Lor | South Africa |
| Ms Pamela Benson | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Ms Francoise Pelle | ISBN |
cdnl.info 