Minutes
Steering Committee
March 9-10, 1998
Minutes
Present
Pam Bjorenson, Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions
Claude Bonnelly, Université Laval, Bibliothèque
Ernie Ingles, University of Alberta Library (Chair)
Aldyth Holmes, Canadian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI)
Carole Moore, University of Toronto, Robarts Library
Marianne Scott, National Library of Canada
John Teskey, University of New Brunswick, Harriet Irving Library
Invited Guests
Full Meeting
Paula Bowering, University of Alberta
Brainstorming on awareness, advocacy and fundraising
Denise Bisson - Algonquin College
Monique Desormeaux - Ottawa Public Library
Rhonda MacInnis - National Library of Canada (facilitator)
Karen McGrath - National Library of Canada
Discussion on preservation issues
Nancy Brodie, National Library of Canada
Ralph Manning, National Library of Canada
Discussion with CANARIE (Tuesday, March 10, 1998)
Dr. A. Bjerring - CANARIE, Inc.
Elizabeth Hoffman - CANARIE, Inc., Chair of Committee on Content
CIDL Secretariat
Gwynneth Evans, National Library of Canada
Susan Haigh, National Library of Canada
Paula Tozer, National Library of Canada (Recorder)
Monday - March 9, 1998
1.Brainstorming of Advocacy, Awareness and Fundraising.
Facilitated by: Rhonda MacInnes.
This session was intended to allow the Steering Committee as the Working Group on Promotion and Advocacy Issues to focus on advocacy and awareness strategies and to identify some tasks that would provide guidance to the CIDL membership in terms of advocacy and fund raising. In order to ensure that the view of CIDL members from other sectors of the library community were represented, Denise Bisson and Monique Desormeaux joined the brainstorming session.
2. Framework for Preserving Electronic Documents
Nancy Brodie (Information Resource Management, National Library of Canada) gave a presentation to the committee on the issues associated with preserving electronic publications in Canada. This was followed by a discussion of a possible role for CIDL in addressing some of these issues and concerns.
There was general agreement that CIDL's role in the short term is mainly one of monitoring the area (environmental scan) and providing awareness to the CIDL membership. N. Brodie will be invited to update the Committee on developments in this area periodically.
3. Administrative Issues
Terms of Reference for Working Groups - Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries: a National Alliance document
At the November meeting, the committee structure was somewhat altered from the one proposed in the original (June 1997) version of the "Alliance" document. For this reason, members were asked to approve the new Terms of Reference for each of the three Working Groups. The three draft statements were approved as presented. It was noted that the Terms of Reference may be amended further by the Working Groups and that any changes would be brought back to the Steering Committee for approval.
Tuesday - March 10, 1998
4. Discussion with Potential Partners
Dr. Andrew Bjerring of CANARIE Inc. gave an overview of the work of CANARIE Inc. and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), including details of an announcement in the recent Budget 1998 of increased funding for CANARIE to support the development of an Optical Internet for Canada.
Liz Hoffman, a member of the CANARIE Board of Directors and University Ombudperson of Ryerson Polytechnical University described the work of the CANARIE's Sectoral Committee on Content. Its focus is on the "softer" issues related to the use of networking technologies. While the Content committee has recognized the important role of libraries in providing access to and disseminating electronic information, she indicated that "content" has not received adequate attention and it was perhaps an appropriate time for improvements in this area. Past success in supporting networking initiatives in the health and education sectors were cited as possible models for consultation and action.
The presentations were followed by a discussion of possible areas of joint interest between CIDL and CANARIE and how to establish a more formal relationship between the two groups.
The first suggestion was that a mechanism for reciprocal attendance and representation at the meetings of both the CIDL Steering Committee and CANARIE Sectoral Committee on Content be adopted as a way to identify areas of cross-fertilization and potential partnership.
The second suggestion was that CIDL and CANARIE look into the possibility of signing a Memorandum of Understanding. A. Bjerring agreed to send a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to E. Ingles for his consideration.
E. Ingles pointed out that while CIDL focuses on the development of Canadian electronic resources or "content", there appears to be a synergy between the objectives of both groups particularly in the areas of advocacy, funding and project selection.
5. Next StepsWorking Groups
- Working Group on Creation and Production Issues
Leader: Claude Bonnelly - Université Laval
The group is planning to meet in Quebec City in April 1998. One of the first items will be the creation of a technical information kit that will identify standards and best practices to use in developing digital resources. It is hoped that this information kit can be completed by October 1998
- Working Group in Organization and Access Issues
Leader: John Teskey, University of New Brunswick
While the group is established, there will not be formal meeting scheduled in the near future. It is hoped that the group can do much of their work by email and video conference. Authentication issues are an area of interest for the group and John Teskey will be providing a tie-in with the authentication work lead by Clifford Lynch and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
6. Initiatives, Developments, Plans
The following were identified during the brainstorming session on advocacy, awareness and fund raising. The Steering Committee agreed that these initiatives be pursued.
- Advocacy and Awareness Toolkit
Paula Bowering of the University of Alberta agreed to work with the CIDL Secretariat and the Steering Committee to develop a draft toolkit that would provide members with background information on CIDL and its objectives and information to assist members with the development of funding submissions for their own initiatives.
- Proposal for a Millenium project
There was considerable discussion regarding the need to provide a coordinated focus for digitization and to encourage the development of Canadian electronic resources or "content" that would be of value and interest to the Canadian public. During the brainstorming discussions, the need to obtain more feedback from users of electronic resources and the lack of tangible evidence of user needs and preferences were emphasized.
It was suggested that a project proposal be developed that would encourage local institutions (eg - libraries, archives, museums) to create electronic resources based on their local history collections. A tie-in with Canadian Millennium celebrations could provide a "hook" to encourage participation from institutions across Canada.
The CIDL Secretariat was asked to develop a project framework and agreed to disseminate a draft proposal for the consideration of the Steering Committee by Easter.
7. Communications
It was agreed that notices of CIDL activities be forwarded to Feliciter and to the newsletters distributed by the various provincial library associations such as Atlantic Provinces Library Association (APLA) and Library Association of Alberta (LAA).
8. Round table exchange
Information about a number of related projects and initiatives were provided by various Steering Committee members and the CIDL Secretariat.
Canadian Literature Finding Aids project
John Teskey distributed a proposal from the University of New Brunswick Libraries for a collaborative initiative to build the Canadian Literature Finding Aids Project for the Web. The project will focus of the use of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) to develop a shared and searchable database of finding aids describing Canadian literature special collections.
Connecting Canadians Study
A proposal developed by the Council of Administrators of Large Urban Public Libraries (CALUPL) entitled "Connecting Canadians; An Urban Libraries Strategy for a Networked Nation" is intended to urge the Government of Canada to support networking initiatives in Canada's major urban public libraries.
Ekos Study - Information Highway and the Canadian Communications Household
A press release describing the results of a telephone survey carried out by Ekos Research Associates in partnership with the private sector and government to investigate the social and economic consequences of the development of the information highway on Canadian households. A copy of a follow-up mail survey that is currently in circulation was also distributed.
Provincial Digitization Project - Ontario Library Association
A resolution by the Ontario Library Association (November 1997) to encourage the province of Ontario to initiate a provincial digitization project on behalf of libraries and other public sector institutions throughout the province.
The Virtuoso Group
The draft Statement of Purpose for Virtuoso, a Canadian, Non-profit on-line scholarly publishing group was distributed. Of particular interest is a project to examine the current state of metadata for journals and develop a core group of required tagging elements.
|
