Projects Approved by the Professional Board at its Meeting on 11-12 December 1995

E&T 1/95

The Section on Education and Training will develop a glossary of library and information science terminology for use by interpreters at IFLA Conferences. The glossary will be held on a database for ease in updating and will also be available in hard copy. The project will include an extensive literature review and a collection of new terms,drawn from papers delivered at IFLA Conferences.

PUB-1/95

The Section of Public Libraries will continue to promote the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto (see pages XXX-XXX for text) in conjunction with UNESCO.

INF-3/95

The Section on Information Technology will carry out a worldwide survey to determine the progress that has been made toward the realization of electronic libraries. The project will begin with a survey of national and university libraries to determine the extent to which they have begun replacing or complementing print with electronic sources, including document delivery services. Document delivery sources will be included in the study because it might be assumed that sources obtained in this manner would be very likely candidates for replacement by electronic sources when they become available. The project will attempt to document the trends associated with increasing reliance on sources in electronic form. It will attempt to

• develop measures that can be used over time to chart progress toward the realization of electronic libraries;
  
• describe the present state of affairs; and
  
• identify influences that might impede or advance these trends.

The results of the study will e disseminated in the form of formal reports published by the Section, articles in scholarly journals, and through formal presentations.

LBE-1/95

Library Buildings and Equipment will be developing a project on architect competition - planning library buildings by the selection of an architect as a result of a competition - in conjunction with the Section of Public Libraries and the INTAMEL Round Table. The final result expected is a seminar on this topic.

PARL-1/95

The Section of Parliamentary Library will prepare translations of Guidelines for Legislative Libraries (IFLA Saur Publication # 64 prepared by Dermot Englefield) in Spanish, French and Russian. This follow-up effort is to make the contents of that highly useful document more accessible to non-English speaking persons and parliaments. The publications will support the Section's new work plan emphasis on supporting newly forming regional organizations in Latin America, Africa (including francophone Africa) and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It will also support the Section's emphasis on multiculturalism.

Other proposed projects did not meet PB criteria for full documentation and when this is received, will be considered by the PB at its April 1995 meeting.

The Coordinating Boards at their meetings in Havana approved additional, smaller projects. These are:

USER-ED-1/95

The Round Table on User Education will compile an electronic directory of library user education specialists. The directory will facilitate cooperation of librarians interested in user education and information literacy and identify experts who can provide assistance to librarians interested in developing user education programmes, particularly in developing countries. The results will be distributed via IFLANET.

DISADV-1/95

The Section of Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons is preparing a revision of the 1984 Guidelines for Libraries Serving Hospital Patients and Disabled Persons in the Community (IFLA Professional Report #2 compiled by Jean M. Clark). The draft guidelines should be ready for discussion during the Istanbul Conference 1995.

AVM-1/95

The Round Table on Audiovisual Media will prepare a bibliography on the management of AV, focusing on management aspects. The project will draw together international references to the most relevant literature.

LTR-1/95

The Section on Library Theory and Research will undertake a bibliometric study on library and information research in the UK, using bibliometrics to examine the contents of UK journal articles in library and information science. The approach is based on work earlier undertaken in Finland, Spain and Cuba, countries with a smaller output of research. It is now intended to investigate the LIS literature of the UK between the years 1965-1994. The UK literature is extensive and the longer period of time will enable comparisons to be made with earlier studies.

RTMLA-1/95

The Round Table for the Management of Library Associations plans to produce in looseleaf format a directory of library associations, especially the member associations of IFLA with the following objectives:

• to gather comprehensive information (address, key officers) for all IFLA association members,and as many non-members as possible
  
• to assemble for each entry key documents from each association which may be helpful to other associations, especially new or evolving associations. These documents include such forms as strategic plans, codes of ethics, governance structures and programme descriptions
  
• to make easier the sharing of common information
  
• to extend understanding of the diversity among associations.

Once the survey instrument is developed and finalized, it will be distributed to IFLA member associations nd prospective members, as well as other known library associations. Responses will be compiled by country with indexes by specialty of the association, if any (e.g., art libraries), availability of the key documents, etc. The directory information will be entered into a machine-readable format and provided to IFLA-L. The document will be maintained as text only and reproduced in looseleaf document only.

RSCA/O-1/95

The Section on Regional Activities for Asia and Oceania, in cooperation with the Regional Sections for Africa and for Latin America and the Caribbean, will undertake a tracer study of IFLA pre-session seminars. The goal is to analyze the direct impact of this activity on participants in the pre-sessions. Data will e gathered via questionnaire and will be held on a database.

INF-2/95

The Section on information Technology will undertake a feasibility study on the development of standards for GUI (Graphical User Interfaces) for IR/OPAC) (Information Retrieval and Online Public Access Systems) employing universal prompt symbols, independent of any language or script. The study will:

• identify and review the range of standard relevant to a possible standard for Universal Prompt Symbols including standards relating to search and retrieve functions (e.g., Common Command Language, Z39-50, ECS and approved guidelines for applications-based GUIs on specific hardware software platforms (e.g., inside Macintosh);
  
• consider and report upon the feasibility of establishing such a standard, and if it is agreed that this is feasible, establish the scope of such a standard;
  
• made detailed recommendations for further work, including suggestions for drafting the standard and inserting it into the standards-making process.

Class-1/95

The Section on Classification and Indexing will undertake a state-of-the-art survey of subject heading systems to see which countries (starting with national libraries listed in the IFLA Directory 1994/95) provide subject access to bibliographic records using alphabetic subject headings. The data gathered would determine which countries do provide such access, for how long they have provided such access, what subject access systems they use, and whether there are manuals for them. The second phase of the project is to make a comparative study of those subject headings systems for which manuals exist. The study would focus on commonalities and differences of these systems.

CAT-1/95

The Section on Cataloguing will undertake a review of ISBD(CF) (International Standard Book Description (Computer Files)). The ISBD(CF) is in need of revision due to rapidly changing technology and especially due to the growth of multimedia computer materials.

MAN-1/95

The Round Table on Management will undertake an examination of the effect of contracting out US Government library services to private corporations. The survey will question the users of US Government libraries as to what effect they have seen as to improvements or deteriorations of the services provided. From the data gathered, the Round Table will assemble some hypotheses as to those conditions where the policy seems to be successful and where it is not successful.