National Library News

September 1995, vol. 27, no. 9

Using the Future to Present the Past

IGPL participants, left to right, front row: George Zielinski, Ken Carpenter, Rosemary Haddad, Kenneth Gibson, Mary Jane Starr; middle row: Philippe Sauvageau, Oswald Schönberg, Gwyn Jenkins, Karen Van Westering, Peter Freshwater, Geneviève Dubuc, Eric Ormsby, John Hench, Jane Carr; back row: Margo Wiper, Gayle Garlock, David Way, Alan Marchbank, Paul Fortier, Andrea Paradis, John Cole. Absent: David Hall, Eveline Berghuis.

In June, the National Library of Canada and McGill University in Montreal co-hosted the seventh biennial meeting of the International Group of Publishing Libraries (IGPL). From June 11 to June 14, nearly forty representatives from libraries in Canada, the United States and Europe met to discuss issues of common interest concerning exhibitions, publications and other aspects of public programs in the library context. Related matters of growing importance -- the need to raise funds, lower costs, and grapple with new technology -- were also on the agenda.

The meeting opened at the McLennan Library of McGill University, and the first day was devoted to round table discussions moderated by Eric Ormsby, Director of Libraries at McGill, and George Zielinski, Director of Public Programs at the National Library. Later in the day Phyllis Lambert guided conference participants around the Canadian Centre for Architecture, of which she is the founder and Director, and hosted a reception.

On June 12, the meeting opened with a consideration of "Trends in Scholarly Publishing, Communication and Dissemination". Moderated by Jane Carr, Director of Public Services at the British Library, the session included four presentations: "Pour le déve-loppement d'une politique culturelle" by Thierry Grillet, Bibliothèque nationale de France; "Trends in Library of Congress Publishing/The Center for the Book as a Case Study" by John Y. Cole, Director of the Center for the Book and Assistant Director of Publishing at the Library of Congress; "Recent Trends in the Publication Policy of Belgian Libraries", prepared by Josianne Roelants, Chef de département, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique and presented by Jane Carr in the former's absence; and "The Fontanus Series" by Hans Möller, Research and Development Librarian of McGill University. Two more papers, "The Problem of Library Exhibitions" by Kenneth Gibson, Exhibitions and Publications Officer of the National Library of Scotland, and "Hundred Highlights of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek: Planning, Producing and Present- ing" by Eveline Berghuis, Head of Public Relations at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, were given as examples of "Experiences in Using Research Collections to `Extend Knowledge', `Popularize Culture' or `Reach Donors' beyond the Scholarly Community", a session moderated by Ken Carpenter, Assistant Director for Research Resources at Harvard University Library.

After a morning of intellectual activity, participants welcomed the change of pace and the chance to tour McGill University Library and the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, where they met Philippe Sauvageau, Président and Directeur général of the Bibliothèque. Boarding a bus to Ottawa gave them an opportunity to view the Canadian countryside between Montreal and Ottawa, where they travelled for the second part of the meeting. On arrival, they were invited to a reception at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, across the river from Ottawa.

On June 13, the first session, "Evaluating the Results of Publications, Exhibitions, Public Programming", moderated by John Cole, included presentations by Jane Carr, Alan Marchbank, Director of Public Services at the National Library of Scotland, Oswald Schönberg, Head of the Publication Department at the Herzog August Bibliothek, and John Hench, Director of Research and Publication at the American Antiquarian Society. Their presentations covered "From Tyndale to the Avant Garde: Assessing the Impact of Public Programmes", "Exhibitions and Anniversaries: Issues Surrounding the Centenary of Robert Louis Stevenson", "Book Clubs for Friends' Associations of Affiliated Libraries", and "Experiences Using the Lila Wallace - Reader's Digest Fund". During the afternoon, there were seven presentations on "Using the New Technologies: Some Canadian Examples", a session moderated by Eveline Berghuis. Terry Kuny, an Internet and electronic publishing consultant with Global Village Research who is on contract to the National Library of Can-ada, cautioned "Caveat Emptor: Considerations in the Quality of Internet Services"; Jean-François Blanchette, Curator Responsible for Publishing, Canadian Museum of Civilization, discussed "La transformation de la réalité éditoriale face aux multimédias et aux inforoutes"; Pierre Landry, Acting Associate Curator, National Gallery of Can- ada, described "Le catalogue d'art canadien du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada sur CD-ROM"; Lyn Elliot-Sherwood, Director-General, Canadian Heritage Information Network, talked about "Canadian Museums: Issues in Reaching the Public Electronically"; Victoria Dickensen, Director, Public Programs, National Aviation Museum, demonstrated "The Silver Dart Project: Canada's First Multimedia Museum Envyclopedia"; Bruce Williams, Director, Public Programmes, Canadian Museum of Nature, offered a consideration of "Birds, Bones and Bugs: Three Publishing Prototypes"; and Paul Fortier, Resource Development Officer, Communications and Public Programs Division, National Archives of Canada, gave information about "Partnerships in Electronic Publishing". Several speakers used CD-ROMS and computer programs to illustrate their presentations, which attracted strong interest.

Still absorbing large quantities and many varieties of information, participants completed an intellectually active day by attending a dinner sponsored by the CGI Group, a private-sector organization that has worked over several years with the National Library of Canada to develop the AMICUS system, which was the subject of a pre-dinner presentation. Michael G. Carley, Director of the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, Can-adian Federation for the Humanities, gave a Canadian perspective on the future of scholarly publishing.

Despite the demands of concentrated work and inter-city travel during the previous three days, a lively discussion ensued on June 14. Mary Jane Starr, Director General of Research and Information Services at the National Library of Canada, chaired the wrap-up session, "Planning for 2000: A Collaborative Millenium Project?". A number of possibilities and proposals were offered and considered, among them the tentative venue of the IGPL meeting to be held in 1997. The willingness of the participants to exchange ideas and discuss ways and means to work together and undertake shared responsibilities demonstrated their commitment to the value and work of IGPL and their eagerness to communi-cate with colleagues in other countries and different hemispheres. It is hoped that the growing emphasis on electrronic media will afford more opportunities for collaboration among IGPL members.

The proceedings of the seventh biennial meeting are in preparation, and it is anticipated that they will be available on the Internet. More information will be published in a future issue of National Library News.