Minutes of the Thirtieth Meeting of CDNL, held on Wednesday 6 August 2003, at 10.00 am, at the Reichstag, Berlin, Germany
The Chair, Jan Fullerton, Director General, National Library of Australia, welcomed members to the thirtieth meeting of CDNL and introduced the host of the meeting, Dr Elisabeth Niggemann, Director General, Die Deutsche Bibliothek. Elisabeth Niggemann welcomed members to the Reichstag and introduced Mr Detlef Dzembritzki, a member of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SDP).
Detlef Dzembritzki welcomed members to the Reichstag and offered his good wishes for a successful meeting. He commented on the challenges faced by libraries in the technological age, especially in relation to the digital divide.
Elisabeth Niggemann spoke briefly about the history of libraries in Germany and the cooperative collecting agreement between those libraries that have been assigned responsibility for the national collection.
The Chair introduced Dr Wim van Drimmelen, Director General, Koninklijke Bibliotheek and First Vice Chair and Dr Chris Chia, Chief Executive, National Library Board of Singapore and Second Vice Chair and the secretaries, Jasmine Cameron, Assistant Director General, Executive, National Library of Australia and Gerard van Trier, Corporate Secretary, Koninklijke Bibliotheek. It was noted that members of the IFLA Governing Board would join CDNL members at lunch. Other guests and observers in attendance were introduced: Mr Abdelaziz Abid, Senior Programme Specialist, Information Society Division, UNESCO; Jane White and Dr Ann Weeks, International Children's Digital Library; Dr Hartmut Walravens, Director, International ISBN Agency; Dr Francois Pelle, Director, ISSN International Centre; Dr Britta Woldering, Die Deutsche Bibliothek (Observer); Liv Anniken Stavik, National Library of Norway (Observer)and Chi-Ju Lee, National Library of Korea (Observer).
Three apologies were received prior to the meeting and these have been noted in the attendance register.
The Chair invited all members, guests and observers to introduce themselves to the meeting and asked those attending for the first time to indicate this.
The agenda was adopted without amendment.
The minutes of the twenty ninth CDNL meeting held on Wednesday 21 August 2002 at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh were approved without amendment.
Item 8: The Chair invited Wim van Drimmelen to speak about the work of the CDNL Committee on Digital Issues (CDI). He reported that CDNL membership of the DOI Foundation, proposed at the last meeting, was not possible because CDNL is not a legal entity. An informal consortium of The British Library, Die Deutsche Bibliothek and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek had paid a membership fee to join the DOI Foundation and would monitor progress on behalf of CDNL. The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), which has the status of a legal entity, will discuss joining the DOI Foundation at its next meeting.
A new IFLA Core Activity known as the IFLA/CDNL Alliance for Bibliographic Standards (ICABS) (http://www.ifla.org/VI/7/icabs.htm) has been formed by a group of national libraries composing Die Deutsche Bibliothek, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The British Library, Library of Congress, National Library of Australia and Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. As the proposed ICABS activities overlap with the work of the CDI, members were asked to agree to the cessation of CDI and the incorporation of its activities into ICABS, with the exception of the Deposit Agreement activity which will be carried on separately by the National Library of Australia.
Members were also encouraged to contribute information about digital archiving and preservation activities to the PADI website (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/).
The Chair invited members to discuss the suggested incorporation of CDI into ICABS. Responses included a suggestion to broaden the name of ICABS as its remit is wider than bibliographic standards. It was also recommended that the relationship between ICABS and relevant IFLA standing committees and standards bodies be determined.
Following discussion members agreed to the cessation of CDI and its incorporation into ICABS. The motion was proposed by Erland Kolding Nielsen, Director, The Royal Library of Denmark and seconded by Rama Ramachandran, Deputy Chief Executive, National Library Board of Singapore.
Item 9: The Chair invited Abdelaziz Abid to speak about the UNESCO Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage and the Guidelines on the Preservation of Digital Heritage. In 2001 the UNESCO General Conference passed a resolution recognising the importance of preserving digital heritage. The Executive Board then requested a draft Charter be developed. A set of practical Guidelines has also been developed to assist countries to implement a digital preservation strategy. The drafting of the Charter and Guidelines reflects the need to assist cultural institutions to address the growing amount of cultural heritage in digital form.
Over the past year extensive consultations have been held on the Charter and the Guidelines, including five seminars located in Canberra, Australia; Managua, Nicaragua; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Riga, Latvia and Budapest, Hungary. The seminars were attended by one hundred and seventy five experts from eighty six countries. Final comments are being gathered via a one-month Internet forum on the UNESCO web site. The Charter will be submitted for adoption to the thirty second session of the UNESCO General Conference in October 2003.
(see draft Charter as Annex 1 of document
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001311/131178e.pdf)
The Guidelines are online at
unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001300/130071e.pdf
Four presentations were made as follows:
Professor Mohammed Galal Ghandour, Director, National Library of Egypt described the significant heritage collection and the plans for the preservation and digitisation of the collection by the National Library of Egypt. Digitisation projects currently underway include two projects with the French Government, one with UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme and a project with the Library of Congress. Over 100,000 pages of national heritage material have been digitised so far.
Mr Noritada Otaki, Deputy Librarian, National Diet Library spoke about the three new facilities forming the integrated National Diet Library that is offering enhanced library services in Japan and overseas. These are the International Library of Children's Literature that specialises in children's literature and offers services to children to encourage reading; the new Kansai-Kan facility in Kyoto that houses overseas journals, science and technology materials and materials in Asian languages and the enhanced website that offers improved accessibility to the collections and online services. The Kansai-Kan has four main functions: document supply services, cooperative library projects, digital library projects and Asian information services.
Penny Carnaby, National Librarian, National Library of New Zealand talked about the development of a national information strategy in New Zealand. The three elements of the strategy promoted in the United Kingdom - connectivity, content and capability - were adapted to the New Zealand context. In 2002 a Maori world view was incorporated into the strategy reflecting three baskets of knowledge - knowledge access, knowledge content and knowledge equity. Two further concepts have now been added to the New Zealand strategy- continuity and collaboration.
Jane White, Director, International Children's Digital Library (ICDL), outlined the goals of this research project being undertaken by the University of Maryland in collaboration with the Internet Archive and funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Museum and Library Science and the Kahle/Austin Foundation. The project aims to create a digital library of ten thousand children's books in over one hundred languages, and to make this freely available on the Internet. The project is examining the best way to display digitised books and is seeking feedback from children to assist with this.
There was some discussion about copyright and the need to convince publishers that their books will be promoted through the ICDL, and the possibility of expanding the ICDL to include schoolbooks. Members were encouraged to consider participation in ICDL.
The Chair thanked all speakers for their excellent presentations.
The Chair explained that this topic had been identified at the previous CDNL meeting as an issue of importance to members. Dr Peter Lor, National Librarian, National Library of South Africa prepared a paper outlining the role of national libraries in relation to this issue. The Chair invited Peter Lor to lead discussion on the topic, assisted by Dato' Zawiyah Baba, Director General, National Library of Malaysia, Marietou Diongue Diop, Director, National Library of Senegal, Pamella Benson, Director, National Library of Trinidad and Tobago and Erland Kolding Nielsen, Director, The Royal Library of Denmark.
Peter Lor drew attention to the 'eight Cs of success in the Internet economy' outlined in his paper and the suggested roles for national libraries in relation to these points. Panel members then spoke about the role of their national libraries in bridging the digital divide within their countries.
Trinidad and Tobago: Pamella Benson reported that the literacy rate, which had been 96% in the 1980s, was now declining and that the digital divide was widening. Only those on high incomes can afford Internet connectivity from their homes. Free access to the Internet is provided by the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago but this is restricted to half hour sessions. Games and email constitute the major use of the Internet. There is now recognition that literacy and access to content is as important as connectivity.
Malaysia: Dato' Zawiyah Baba spoke about the five year development plan in Malaysia that aims to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural areas. Within this plan the National Library of Malaysia is working with the Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia to provide Internet access to sixty-four rural libraries and it will also ensure that all newly built libraries, including mobile libraries, have Internet access. Content development is also a priority and the National Library of Malaysia allocates funding to state libraries for web site developments. Creation of content under the National Digital Library System (PERDANA) continues with the digitisation of theses and public lectures by university libraries and local history collections by state libraries. A self-help tutorial has also been developed by the National Library to assist users find information on the Internet. Collaboration is an important aspect in Malaysia in dealing with the digital divide.
Denmark: Erland Kolding Nielsen told members that Denmark had begun preparing to manage issues such as the digital divide over ten years ago. One result was a very successful five-year project, commenced in 1998, called Denmark's Electronic Research Library (DEF). DEF (http://www.deff.dk/), which has been supported by all research libraries, became a permanent operation from 2003. Under DEF access to a wide range of electronic resources is available from individual users' PCs and a digitisation program is in place. Cooperation between institutions in Denmark has been the key to successful provision of national digital services. Culture Net Denmark, which provides a portal to Danish cultural institutions and events, is another example of cooperation that involves libraries, archives and galleries.
Senegal: Marietou Diongue Diop reported on the Acacia program run by the International Development Research Centre, which aims to assist communities in sub-Saharan Africa to develop information technology for social and economic development. The program is in place in Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Another program is Cyberpop, a series of community resource centres in Senegal that offer access to the Internet and computer services. Campus numerique francophone de Dakar (CNFD) provides high speed computer access to the French Speaking Digital Campus (FDC) and a project known as Formation Continue en Information Informatisee en Reseau (FORCIIR) is delivering distance education for library and information science professionals at the Ecole de Bibliothecaires, Archivistes et Documentalistes (EBAD) in Dakar.
Following the panel presentations the Chair invited members to discuss the role of national libraries in bridging the digital divide. It was acknowledged that cooperation with other institutions was an important factor in addressing the issue. Many national libraries have specific projects underway to create digital cultural content or improve Internet access, often through the public library system. Information literacy was also an issue for all countries including developed countries that often had new migrant populations who needed special assistance in accessing digital resources.
Peter Lor summarised the discussion by noting that the role of national libraries in addressing the digital divide is clearly understood by members and that many countries are working actively in this area. The eight Cs as listed in the paper are some of the roles that national libraries may undertake depending on their primary role and orientation as a national library. 'Connectedness' in the form of leadership by national libraries in the development of public policy in relation to the digital divide is important.
The Chair suggested that the theme of the digital divide and the role of national libraries be carried froward to the next meeting to be held in August 2004 in Buenos Aires. Fernanda Campos, Deputy Director General, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and Chair of the IFLA Section on National Libraries, said that activities relating to the digital divide would also be incorporated into the Section's new strategic plan.
The Chair welcomed members of the IFLA Executive Committee to the meeting and invited them to speak. Christine Deschamps, outgoing IFLA President thanked members for inviting the IFLA delegation to the CDNL meeting. Ross Shimmon, Secretary General of IFLA then spoke to the report on IFLA Core Activities. He outlined the current structural changes to the core activities and flagged the on-going review of all core activities that will commence with a review of the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) program. An IFLA Core Activity Evaluation Framework has been agreed by the Governing Board and will be used to evaluate the FAIFE and other core activities. IFLA funding is more stable this year although it is still hoped that the Danish government can be persuaded to restore grants to the FAIFE and Advancement of Librarianship (ALP) activities.
Derek Law, Treasurer, IFLA gave a brief financial report. IFLA funding reserves now equal one year's running costs and are considered stable. Financial support for IFLA by national libraries remains vital.
Elisabeth Niggemann explained to members the background to the formation of ICABS which is intended to cover issues related to the collection, preservation and provision of access to digital materials not covered by the revised IFLA Core Activities. She referred to the goals and objectives outlined in the report in the CDNL papers. The need to liaise with relevant IFLA standing committees and the International Standards Organisation (ISO) was acknowledged.
Fernanda Campos reported that the Section now had one hundred and eighty national library, institutional and personal members and the standing committee consisted of twenty two members. Gerard van Trier has been elected Secretary of the Section. The dedicated work of the previous secretary, Alix Chevallier, recently retired Director of International Relations, Bibliotheque Nationale de France was acknowledged.
One hundred and fifty people had attended the Section's workshop on Benchmarking and Performance Measurement: Developing Quality Services at National Libraries. Two surveys had been conducted to gather data for the workshop - one by the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL) and the other by the National Library of Malaysia for Asia/Oceania. Another session would be held on Thursday 7 August, entitled National Libraries as Access Points: Virtual Libraries for Virtual Users.
Work has commenced on the new strategic plan and following on from discussions in Glasgow the section is emphasizing the important role for national libraries in bridging the digital divide. A practical approach will be taken with a pilot project to evaluate the usefulness of seminars for national librarians in developing countries. The first seminar will be held at the National Library of Malaysia. At the Oslo conference the digital divide may be examined in the context of open access to cultural heritage, with an emphasis on collaboration with other institutions.
Potential themes for workshops in Buenos Aires include the educational role of national libraries and preservation issues such as disaster planning.
Abdelaziz Abid reported on the two UNESCO Missions to Iraq undertaken to assess the effects of the war on cultural heritage. The first mission was conducted from 15 to 20 May 2003 and the second mission from 26 June to 6 July 2003. Members were shown a series of photographs taken in Iraq by Jean-Marie Arnoult, Inspecteur general des bibliotheques, France illustrating the damage to the National Library of Iraq and other cultural institutions. Jean-Marie Arnoult was a member of the second mission to Iraq in June/July. Members were encouraged to work with IFLA to influence governments to adopt emergency measures to prevent the importation of cultural items from Iraq.
Ross Shimmon spoke about the work being undertaken by IFLA, especially that being done through the Blue Shield program. Prior to the war IFLA had issued statements about the need to protect Iraqi cultural heritage in the event of a conflict. IFLA was now involved in meetings about the illegal trade in cultural property and had recently issued information about Iraqi library stamps to assist libraries with the identification of material from Iraqi libraries. A major reconstruction effort was required and it was pleasing that the Prince Claus Fund had donated 50,000 Euros towards this work.
Mr Jean-Noel Jeanneney, President, Bibliotheque Nationale de France commented that there were four possible lines of action following Jean-Marie Arnoult's assessment of the situation in Iraq: developing the concept of 'heritage police'; building a new library in preference to refurbishing the old building; assessing the best way to help, such as digitising Iraqi materials held in other libraries (sending books was not practical as no infrastructure existed at present to manage physical items) and helping with the training of professional staff. The Bibliotheque Nationale de France would offer two scholarships to train Iraqis in library skills.
Professor Ghandour reported that the university library in Baghdad was not badly damaged and would be operational by the beginning of the new academic year. There was urgent need, however, for assistance to be provided to cultural institutions in restoring manuscripts and housing them in suitable environmental conditions. Dr Enes Kujundzic, Director, National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that international organizations were not well organised to handle emergencies of this nature. He stressed the importance of supporting the training of professional staff and preservation activities.
The Chair suggested that CDNL could draft a resolution to present to the IFLA Governing Board. Ross Shimmon asked that the resolution address the Second Protocol (1999) of the Hague Convention (1954). This protocol allows countries to seek protection during armed conflict for particular cultural sites, buildings and collections and introduces the concept of a cultural war crime. Erland Kolding Nielsen volunteered to draft the resolution which members agreed should be sent to the IFLA Governing Board. Members can also send the resolution to their own governments if they wish.
[The text of the resolution presented to the IFLA Governing Board
follows:
"Considering the events and fatal outcomes of recent armed
conflicts, especially in Iraq, in which important parts of national and
international heritage have perished or been looted and subject to illicit
trade, CDNL strongly urges IFLA to encourage all countries to, as quickly as
possible:
Resolution of the 30th meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, Berlin, 6 August 2003 to IFLA."]
United Nations World Summit on the Information Society
The Chair invited Abelaziz Abid to speak briefly about the Summit. The Summit will be held in two phases - Geneva 10-12 December 2003 and Tunis 16-18 November 2005. Its three goals are to address the digital divide, guarantee the free and equitable flow of information and promote the adoption of international standards. National libraries were encouraged to promote the Summit within their countries.
Dr Celia Zaher, Director, National Library Foundation of Brazil said that ABINIA has moved from being an association to an inter-governmental body. The new president is Dr Eliades Acosta, Director, National Library of Cuba. The attention of members was drawn to the Lisbon Declaration and national libraries wishing to support the declaration were invited to contact ABINIA. A request has been made to IFLA to consider the creation of additional PAC centres for Latin America in Brazil, Chile and Trinidad and Tobago. The National Library of Venezuela currently undertakes this role on its own.
Dr Jean-Frederic Jauslin, Director, Schweizerische Landesbibliothek and Chair of CENL, gave a brief report. The European Library (TEL) project is the most important CENL activity at present. The structure and vision of CENL would be reviewed in the near future. CENL has been meeting for seventeen years and has forty-two members.
Marietou Diongue Diop reported on the colloquium which was held in Senegal in May 2002. Issues discussed included problems with legal deposit coverage, irregular publication of national bibliographies, lack of application of bibliographic standards, preservation challenges and the lack of human and financial resources. Cooperation between national and other libraries in the region and outside was seen as crucial in overcoming these problems. Three actions were agreed: to publish the colloquium proceedings, create a database of the region's national libraries and to organise a seminar to discuss ways to improve the capacity of national libraries to publish national bibliographies.
Rama Ramachandran drew the attention of members to the CONSAL conference to be held in Brunei from 20-24 October 2003. This conference was postponed from May 2003.
Peter Lor referred members to the paper which was for information.
Hartmut Walravens highlighted two issues. The ISBN Agency is examining the issues related to the transition to a thirteen digit ISBN in 2007 and is seeking input from libraries as to the best way to manage this. While publishers and booksellers are in favour of converting existing ten digit ISBNs it is recognised that libraries may not have the capacity to do this. A new governance model is also being considered which will involve financial contributions from centres allocating ISBNs. The International ISBN Agency now looks after one hundred and sixty five centres. CDNL members whose national libraries operate centres are encouraged to attend a meeting to be held in Milan, Italy from 6-7 October 2003 to discuss these issues.
Francoise Pelle asked members to note three points. The harmonisation of cataloguing rules between AACR, ISBD and ISSN is now complete. This will be reflected in the new ISSN manual. ISSN will no longer maintain its own format but will accept data in both MARC21 and UNIMARC. Revision of the ISSN standard (ISO 3297) will commence next month.
In 2004 the annual meeting of ISSN agencies will be held at the National Library of Lithuania. A one-day workshop will be held in conjunction with the meeting to raise awareness of the importance of ISSN.
The Chair thanked members for their country reports and noted that all reports would be available on the CDNL website.
Input from members on issues for discussion in Buenos Aires can be made to the CDNL Secretariat during the year. Dato' Zawiyah Baba asked that collaboration between libraries and other cultural institutions be considered for the next meeting.
The Chair noted that the next meeting would be hosted by the National Library of Argentina.
It was noted that two long-standing members of CDNL were attending their last meeting. Wim van Drimmelen thanked Peter Lor for his contribution to CDNL and praised his professionalism. Chris Chia thanked Dr Tomas Lidman, National Librarian, Kungliga Biblioteket for his contribution to CDNL and wished him well in his new position in the Swedish Federal Service.
Pamella Benson asked members to note that a new national library building has been opened in Trinidad and Tobago. Dr Vladimir Zaitsev, Director General, National Library of Russia also asked members to note the opening of the new building of the National Library of Russia on 12 April 2003, attended by President V. V. Putin. Enes Kujundzic thanked Peter Lor for his support for the rebuilding of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The meeting closed at 4.35pm.