IRRT INTERNATIONAL LIBRARIANS' PRE-CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Statement of Role, Purpose, and Function
Develops and hosts an annual preconference for international attendees.
2009 Pre-Conference
Digitization in Developing Countries
Description: Digitization of scholarly information, research materials and cultural heritage achieved a global scale, or did it? Aiming to preserve, document, and provide access to legacy collections; digitization efforts require significant fiscal outlay for infrastructure and technology, as well as human resources. A lot has been written about digitization projects in industrial nations but do we know how (and if) developing countries grapple with the challenges of implementing digitization projects? How are potential partners/funding agencies being identified? What are considerations in selecting material for digitization?
Speakers:
John Van Oudenaren, Sr. Advisor for the World Digital Library at the Library of Congress presented the World Digital Library Project (PowerPoint)
Huang Chen, Director of the Digital Library R & D Center, Zhejiang University Libraries, China, presented the Collection and Service of the CADAL Project (PowerPoint)
Bukky O. Omotayo, Deputy University Librarian, K.O. Jagboro, Systems Librarian, Wahab A. Aboyade, Digitization Librarian, Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library, Ile-Ife, Nigeria presented Digitization of Library Collections in Developing Countires: the Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library's Experience (PowerPoint)
Chunzhi, Xie, Vice Director/Assoicate Researcher, Wuhan University Library, China, presented Digitization in China's Academic Libraries: taking the Yangtze River Repository as an Example (PowerPoint)
Krystyna K. Matusiak, Digital Collections Librarian, University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeMyagmar Munkhmandakh, Director, Press Institute of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, presented Undertaking a Newspaper Digitization Project in Mongolia (PowerPoint)
Bogdan Trifunovic, Information Manager, Digitization Center, Public Library Cacak, Serbia, presented Digitization Projects among Public Libraries in Serbia: Problems, Obstacles and Success Stories (PowerPoint)
2008 Pre-Conference
Collaboration & Resource Sharing in the Digital Age
Description: This pre-conference was held on Friday, June 27, 2008 in conjunction with the ALA annual conference, and focused on resource sharing for international libraries. We provided a continental breakfast and lunch for attendees. Our speakers were experienced global librarians who work to provide resources to libraries large and small around the world. Participants learned how to become part of the worldwide information network of libraries.
Speakers:
Mary Ochs, Head of Information Services and Collections, Cornell University
Kimberly Parker, HINARI Programme Manager, World Health Organization
Evviva Weinraub, Technology Librarian, Tufts University
Rima Kupryte, Managing Director, eIFL.net
Detailed Description: HINARI – OARE – AGORA are sister programs set up to assist developing countries in gaining access to current scientific information. Three of our speakers will explain how their programs help provide access to current scientific journals for developing countries.
HINARI, Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative, is a program set up by the World Health Organization to provide developing countries with access to biomedical and health literature. Kimberly Parker will discuss how HINARI provides journal articles to health institutions in 113 countries.
OARE, Online Access to Research in the Environment, is an international public-private consortium coordinated jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Yale University, and leading science and technology publishers. It enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of environmental science research. Evviva Weinraub will talk about how this program provides scientific articles to developing countries.
AGORA, Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture, is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The goal of the program is to improve the quality and effectiveness of agricultural research, education and training in low-income countries, and in turn, to improve food security. Mary Ochs will talk about AGORA which provides free or low cost access to major scientific journals in agriculture and related biological, environmental and social sciences to public institutions in developing countries.
Our fourth speaker is from another resource sharing organization, eIFL, Electronic Information for Libraries. Rima Kupryte will talk about eIFL.net, a multi-country consortium which negotiates affordable subscriptions, supports national library consortia, and maintains a global knowledge sharing and capacity building network. Some of the areas eIFL works on are open access publishing, intellectual property rights, open source software for libraries and the creation of institutional repositories of local content.
2007 Pre-Conference
IRRT Adult Literacy: Foundation for a Digital Age
Description: Welcome to Washington D.C. and the 2007 International Relations Round Table Pre-Conference! Washington is home to the United States national government, international diplomats, and ambassadors from across the globe; as well as adults who do not read or write. “Adult literacy: foundation for a digital age” recognized a global concern, the urgent need for people everywhere to have access to basic literacy instruction. This pre-conference welcomed international librarians as well as librarians from the United States. The pre-conference was designed as an opportunity for dialogue, and exercises in the expression of diversity in libraries around the world.
Elizabeth Pierre-Louis, Libraries Program Director for Fondation Connaissance et Liberté/Fondasyon Konesans Ak Libète (FOKAL), related her experiences working with literacy in Haiti while involved with FOKAL.
Elisabeth Liptak, Director of the Washington Literacy Council, described the programs that they provide as the largest basic adult literacy service in Washington D.C.
The 2007 IRRT Pre-Conference was held in conjunction with ALA Annual Conference in Washington D.C. from 9:00-1:00 pm on June 22, 2007.
Chair
Jacqueline Solis (Co-Chair--2007 - 2009)
Humanities Reference & Instruction Librarian
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
CB#3922 Davis Library
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Work: (919) 962-1151
Fax: (919) 962-5537
E-mail: jsolis@unc.edu
Members
Sally Bickley (Member--2007 - 2009)
Del Mar College
Helen Heinrick (Member--2007 - 2009)
California State University, Northridge
Paula Smith (Member--2007 - 2009)
Pennsylvania State University, Abington
Gary Wan (Member--2007 - 2009)
Texas A&M University Libraries
Committee Roster (Full contact information requires log in).