Dec 2009 IFLA Newsletter tion Congress 2009, 75th IFLA General Conference and Assem-bly in Milan, Italy, was an exce-llent conference and an eye-opening experience for me. I hope I

Professor Andrew McDonald, incoming

chair of the ARL Section with

Sue McKnight, immediate past chair.

digital archives, institutional reposito-

ries, managed learning environments,

and with strategic ICT management.

Currently Director of Library and Learning Services at the University of East London, I was previously Direc- tor of Information Services and Pro- fessor of Information Management and Strategy at the University of Sun- derland. Before then, I was Deputy Librarian at Newcastle University. I planned award-winning new libraries at these institutions with recognition to the quality of library services, not only through customer feedback and na- tional audits, but also through several national awards from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information

Professionals.

Papers presented at UK and interna- tional conferences (140), publications (68) and research projects (£2m) em- brace partnerships for learning, library planning and design, digital libraries and archives, strategic planning, qual- ity management, distance and lifelong learning, information skills and staff development.

Best wishes to all for a successful new year!

I am delighted taking over

as Chair of the Section. The

challenge is to continue the

splendid work of the outgoing

chair, Professor Sue McKnight,

and her committee. A central

part of this is organising a

whole range of attractive ses-

sions at the IFLA conference.

To do so we actively develop

links with other sections and

we encourage new members,

observers and participants.

Publishing a good newsletter,

maintaining an attractive web

presence and undertaking spe-

cial projects are also important

to us. Our committee members

hold senior positions in aca-

demic and research libraries

around the world, and this

gives us the wonderful skills

and experience base necessary

to make an even greater contri-

bution to IFLA and the profes-

sion.

Here are highlights of my pro-

fessional activities and experi-

ence:

My participation in IFLA con-

ferences goes back to 1993.

Before becoming chair of the

Academic and Research Li-

braries Section, I had been a

committee member for some

three years, and I have contin-

ued my involvement with the

Section on Buildings and

Equipment, on which I sat for

six years.

My international consultancy and

training work in strategic man-

agement and planning new aca-

demic libraries has taken me to

Barbados, Botswana, Egypt, In-

dia, Kuwait, Mexico, Portugal

and Sudan, with international

study tours taking me to China,

Germany, Scandinavia and the

USA. I have also directed several

international short courses on

strategic planning, distance learn-

ing, quality management, preser-

vation, and library planning and

design in several countries, in-

cluding China, Crete, Lithuania,

Southern Ireland and Taiwan.

A Fellow of the UK’s Chartered

Institute of Library and Informa-

tion Professionals (CILIP), I

have served on CILIP Council

and have chaired both its Interna-

tional Panel and its Academic &

Research Libraries Section. A

former member of the Executive

of the Society of National, Col-

lege and University Libraries

(SCONUL), I chaired the Space

Planning Working Group, lead-

ing the assessment of new build-

ings for the SCONUL Library

Design Award. A member of the

Higher Education Funding Coun-

cil’s Space Management Group, I

have been a new library consult-

ant for a dozen universities and I

have assessed for several senior

appointments in the UK. Re-

search projects funded by the

Joint Information Systems Com-

mittee have been concerned with

W e l c o m e ! A N o t e f r o m t h e C h a i r E d i t o r A w i l d a R e y e s ,

A R e y e s @ w c u p a . e d u

V o l u m e 4 4 , D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9

I F L A A c a d e m i c a n d R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s S e c t i o n N e w s l e t t e r

I n s i d e t h i s i s s u e : E s s a y C o n t e s t W i n n e r s I m p r e s s i o n s

2 - 3

C h a i r s ’ V i e w o n t h e W L I C

4

M o r e

I m p r e s s i o n s

5 , 8

G u i d e l i n e s f o r L i b r a r y C o n - s o r t i a

6

C u s t o m e r L o y a l t y T i p s

7

H o t T o p i c s a n d s h o r t t o p i c s

7

I F L A P o p u l a r P e n P h o t o s

9

S e e y o u a t t h e 7 6 t h

W o r l d

L i b r a r y

I n f o r m a t i o n C o n f e r e n c e

Mr. Kizito recently completed the Envi-

ronmental System Research Certification

in Arc Information Management with the

ESRI Institute in Nairobi. He wants to spe-

cialize in web based geographical informa-

tion systems.

from http://ongayakizito.bloguganda.com

S c h o l a s t i c a C h i z o m a U k w o m a , U n i v e r s i t y o f N i g e r i a

interesting; featuring a speech by the president, Claudia Lux. In her speech she said Milan is renowned as one of the world’s capitals of de- sign and fashion, and I believe, this is what libraries need - worldwide. Libraries need not only newly de- signed buildings or newly designed catalogues, they also need fashion, meaning current styles reflect how libraries are developing along with their customer needs. The Keynote address was presented by Nicoletta Maraschio, President of Accademia della Crusca. The presentation, 5 tableaus on the book of books, traced Constantine and the tradition of the amanuenses’ also portrayed Italy and its cultural heritage. The tableaus are as follows: Roman civi- lization and the manuscript tradition: from the Empire to the work of the amanuensis monks. Invention of per- spective: from the master-piece of the Divine Comedy to the period of the Renaissance and the introduction of printing. The improvised Comedy (Goldoni). The birth of Gazettes and of journalism. Singing (“il bel canto”) and the Italian tradition of opera, the development of the musi- cal book industry (Ricordi’s edi- tions). From the affirmation of the Italian style through 20th Century design and fashion, to the new digi- tal technology of libraries. Other in- teresting events include; Newcomers section, first timers to IFLA were advised they should be part of both the formal IFLA (IFLA lectures and meetings), informal IFLA (IFLA at the corridor and café) and hidden IFLA congress (IFLA in the com- mittees rooms)/ The exhibition sec- tion, was declared open by the new

IFLA president Ellen Tise. The exhibi- tion featured more than 800 exhibitors at their different stands. This gave us the opportunity to see many Library materi- als and equipment available and how the producers can be contacted. L’Scala night was quite interesting part of the social night. The conference was very interesting and educational, the most prominent aspect was the networking section which gave me the opportunity to meet librarians across the globe most of whom I have been communicating with since I came back to Nigeria. The IFLA experience was quiet rewarding. I made some observations, the organiza- tion of the off-site events were so poor. I expected the organizers to make provi- sion for transport and ask participants to not pay so these events could be at- tended in groups. The issue of asking participants to find their way to these events made the whole exercise uninter- esting. However, I am grateful to the Academic and Research Library section for this wonderful opportunity given to me to participate in this 75th IFLA con- ference.

I am overwhelmed to be among the over 1,856 par- ticipants attending the 2009 WLIC and 75th IFLA Gen- eral Conference in Milan Italy. I have to give a brief summary of the 8th World Conference on Continuing Professional Development &Workplace Learning sec- tion/ New Professional Dis- cussion Group, which is a satellite conference in Bolo- gna. The conference was well organised with paper presentations, workshops and poster presentations. It was a blend of young and old Librarians given a total of 83 Librarians in atten- dance. The satellite meeting opened a forum for young librarians to be mentored by the experienced professional colleagues. The section was rounded off with the closing keynote given by Tracie Hall. In her presentation ti- tled “shall we not be as real as the things we see? Ten ways visionary librarianship can save our world and one reason why it must”. She outlined several ways we can package information to meet the needs of our target audience. She reiterated libraries are in the transfor- mation business (Trans Form Ation,) noting information should be dis- seminated ruthlessly. The opening ceremony of de- clared the main conference open, the session was quite

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IFLA Conference Experi