The Cairo Genizah: a Medieval Mediterranean Deposit and ... · Jewish religious philosophy against non-Jewish challenges. As far as their status in Islamic soci-ety was concerned,

Stefan C. Reif

Stefan Reif of the University of Cam-bridge is Director of the GenizahResearch Unit and Head of the Ori-ental Division at the UniversityLibrary, Professor of MedievalHebrew Studies in the Faculty of Ori-ental Studies and Fellow of St.Johns College. His major fields ofresearch are Jewish liturgy and theCairo Genizah and he is the authorof seven books and of over 200scholarly articles. His most recenttwo volumes are Hebrew Manu-scripts at Cambridge UniversityLibrary (Cambridge, 1997) and AJewish Archive from Old Cairo (Lon-don, 2000). Professor Reif may becontacted at the Genizah ResearchUnit, Cambridge University Library,Cambridge, UK (e-mail: [email protected]).

[Mr Reif's paper was delivered duringthe 66th IFLA General Conference andCouncil, Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18 August2000.]

Amassing the Genizah

The earliest occurrences inHebrew literature of the root

gnz, from which the word genizahis derived, are in late sections of theHebrew Bible, where it refers to the

storage of valuable items. The root,of Persian origin, is attested notonly in Hebrew and Aramaic butalso more widely in Semitics, withthe meanings of hide, cover andbury. In the rabbinic literature ofthe first few Christian centuries, itcarries similar senses and is used todescribe special treasures storedaway by God, such as the Torah andthe souls of the righteous. In Jewishreligious law, which proscribes theobliteration of the name of God onthe basis of its interpretation ofExodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy12:4, genizah describes the removalfrom circulation of some item thatis or has at some stage been regard-ed as sacred, whether legitimatelyor illicitly, and is now ruled inap-propriate for ritual use. Such itemsmay include controversial religioustexts, materials once used in wor-ship, capricious transcriptions ofthe four-letter Hebrew name of God(tetragrammaton), or artifacts aboutwhose sacred status there is unre-solvable doubt. As Jewish lawdeveloped and synagogal ritualbecame more institutionalized, it

became customary for communitiesto set aside a bet genizah, or simplygenizah, into which could be con-signed Hebrew Bible texts that weredamaged or worn, as well as otherHebraica, including works regardedas heretical, that contained biblicalverses or references to God. Therethey would await the naturalprocess of disintegration.

In antiquity and in the earlymedieval period, it is likely thatgenizot, or what would in today'sworld constitute precious archivalcollections, were amassed in manyareas of Jewish settlement. Itappears that some communitiesmade matters secure by burying theunwanted texts in the ground, whileothers removed them to caves ortombs, sometimes storing them firstin suitable vessels. It is even possi-ble that the Qumran (Dead Sea)Scrolls represent just such agenizah. Sadly, however, the sur-vival rate of such genizot has notproved impressive, the ravages oftime and climate on the one handand the vicissitudes of Jewish histo-ry on the other, either ensuring areturn to dust, or denying later gen-erations adequate knowledge ofwhere a search might even com-mence. Fortunately, however, in thecase of medieval Cairo (=Fustat),the first stage of consignment intothe synagogue genizah appears notto have been followed by removalto a cave or burial place, with theresult that the study of Jewish his-tory and literature has been greatlyenriched.

The long survival of the Jewishcommunity on the same site in Fus-tat; the dry climate of Egypt; thecentral importance of the city toMuslim and Jewish history for anumber of centuries; and the reluc-tance of the Jewish communal lead-ers to take any action in the matterof its genizah, other than to expandits contents with all forms of thewritten word: all these factors con-tributed to the survival there of a

9IFLA JOURNAL 27 (2001) 1

The Cairo Genizah: a Medieval MediterraneanDeposit and Modern Cambridge Archive

collection of some 210,000 frag-mentary Jewish texts that is at leastas significant as the QumranScrolls. Generation after generationappear to have arranged the collec-tion from homes and institutions inand around Cairo of texts that wereno longer to be circulated, andthousands of them were consignedto the genizah of the Ben Ezra syn-agogue.

In a move that was to make its col-lection unique in terms of worldculture and history, the communityof Fustat chose to preserve much ofthe written word that passedthrough its hands, regardless of itsreligious status. There thus came tobe amassed all manner ofephemera that had more to do withthe daily activities of ordinary folkthan with the ideology of rabbisand scholars. In an age that certain-ly predated the concern for thepreservation of archives, the expla-nation for their behavior may bethat they saw Hebrew letters, oreven any texts written by or aboutJews, as either intrinsically sacred,or bearing a degree of holinessbecause of the frequent occurrencethere of references to God, theHebrew Bible or other religioussubjects. The peak of this archivalactivity, if it may anachronisticallybe described as such, was reachedbetween the 10th and 13th cen-turies, precisely when the commu-nity reached the zenith of its social,

economic and cultural achieve-ments.

Some texts from what becameknown as the Cairo Genizah weresold by synagogue officials to deal-ers and visitors in the second half ofthe 19th century. Famous librariesin St. Petersburg, Paris, London,Oxford, New York and Philadelphiaacquired major collections but itwas Solomon Schechter whoobtained communal permission toremove 140,000 items to Cam-bridge University Library in 1897.The Genizah texts are written invarious languages, especiallyHebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, main-ly on vellum and paper, but also onpapyrus and cloth. They representthe most important discovery ofnew material for every aspect of sci-entific Hebrew and Jewish studiesin the Middle Ages. As a result ofthe conservation, decipherment anddescription done for over a century,but particularly in recent years andat Cambridge, previous ignorancehas been dispelled and theoriesdrastically modified. Among thesubjects that have benefitted sub-stantially are the emergence ofHebrew grammatical systems; thedevelopment of synagogal lec-tionaries and of translations andinterpretations of the Hebrew Bible;and the literary history of such sec-tarian works as the Damascus Doc-ument and Ben Sira. Major impactshave also been made on the textual

and exegetical study of Talmudic,Midrashic, liturgical and poetic lit-erature, and on the evolution ofJewish religious law. Knowledgeand understanding of Karaism, ofFatimid Egypt and Crusader Pales-tine, of special Jewish languagessuch as Judaeo-Arabic, and of dailyactivities in the Mediterranean areahave also expanded greatly.

The Early Hebrew Codex

It is important to note that it was achange in how Jewish culture wastransmitted in the early medievalperiod that led to these literaryachievements. Although the num-ber of complete Hebrew codicesthat have survived from the ninthand tenth centuries is still only insingle figures and their content pre-dominantly biblical, the evidence ofthe Genizah leaves little room fordoubt that many of its fragmentsoriginally belonged to codices ofvarious types of literature. TheHebrew codex apparently made itsappearance in the eighth century,perhaps under the influence ofIslam, which had borrowed themedium from the Christian andClassical worlds. The contents ofscrolls were copied on to bound vol-umes (codices), to which later gen-erations added their own notes.Such codices began as no morethan a few folded leaves but even-tually evolved into substantial vol-umes with many folios. By beingcommitted to a written form inthese codices, oral traditionsacquired a new degree of authority.The centralization of the Jewishcommunity under Islam and thehigh degree of literacy made possi-ble the wide distribution and accep-tance of such texts.

Where there are sets of volumes,there is inevitably a need to storeand exchange them. It has indeedrecently been demonstrated that inthe Jewish communities of NorthAfrica in the ninth and tenth cen-turies texts were being widelycopied and circulated and thatextensive libraries, covering variouslanguages, were being amassed andsold. Such libraries included notonly the classical Jewish sources

Stefan C. Rolf

10 IFLA JOURNAL 27 (2001) 1

Early blockprint wood-cut. Egypt, late 14th century. Or. 1080 J50

but also the newest commentarieson the one hand and more generallearning on the other. They wereactively built up by individuals,sometimes businessmen ratherthan specialized scholars, and bycommunities, through gifts, appealsand purchases, and they were madeavailable for academic use by stu-dents and for ritual use by congre-gants. By creating, copying and dis-seminating the contents of theselibraries, the Maghrebi Jews ofmeans introduced a wide variety ofliterary works to other communi-ties and thereby exercised a power-ful influence on the levels of Jewishcultural achievement.

The impressive contents of theCairo Genizah are in no smalldegree due to the arrival there ofmany Jewish refugees from Tunisiaand to the transfer of the biblio-graphical riches of the NorthAfrican communities to the Egypt-ian centre. Book lists are also acommon feature of the Genizah dis-coveries and demonstrate the exis-tence of reference literature for edu-cational activities by the communi-ty. Bibles, prayer books, talmudictexts and commentaries, Jewishlegal and theological tracts, as wellas scientific, medical and philo-sophical works, are among theitems that are regularly listed,sometimes in the context of a pub-lic sale. It is remarkable that a bib-liophile, who was having a book-case made, prepared a delightfultext in praise of such an item of fur-niture and its educational impor-tance, with the apparent intentionof having it engraved on the front.Equally remarkable is the fact thatwhen the Egyptian Jewish commu-nity raised funds in the 12th centu-ry for the ransom of Jews who hadbeen captured by Crusaders in theHoly Land, they also made arrange-ments to pay the conquerors for thesafe return of Jewish books.

Muslims, Christians and Jews

Given the dominant Islamic envi-ronment in which they lived, it isnot surprising to find that the Ara-bic language played a major role in

Jewish life and that Jews built andfurnished houses, wore fashionablejewellery, and pursued generalcommercial and cultural interestsmuch in the same way as theirMuslim neighbors. They even visit-ed each others homes on the occa-sion of religious festivals. The inter-change of religious ideas sometimesproduced parallel developments, as,for instance, in the matter of theadoption of mystical ideas similarto those of the Sufis, while at othersit created an opposite reaction, as,for example, in the defense of Jew-ish interpretation of Scripture orJewish religious philosophy againstnon-Jewish challenges.

As far as their status in Islamic soci-ety was concerned, Jews and Chris-tians were dhimmi peoples, that is,tolerated monotheistic minoritiesliving under the protection of Islam,and as long as they agreed not togive offense to Muslims by any pre-tence at equality, they could, whenthe Muslim rulers tended towardstolerance, enjoy a reasonably goodlifestyle. The Jews simply paid theirspecial poll tax, wore their distinc-tive Jewish clothes, built no syna-gogues higher than mosques, andwent about their ordinary business.There were occasionally timeswhen rulers decided to take a max-imalist position. A national leadermight object to the existence of allnon-Muslim houses of worship;local leaders might ban Jewish ritu-al slaughter, demand more taxes, orrefuse access to water wells. In thereign of the Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim (996-1021), the Jews ofCairo compiled a chronicle(megillat misrayim) in which theypraised him for saving them fromthe mob and from judicial execu-tion on tax charges but it was thatsame ruler who ordered thedestruction of all the synagoguesand churches, and whose troopsengaged in an orgy of murder, rapeand plunder in Cairo and Damas-cus. Generally, however, a produc-tive blending of various cultureswas the dominant theme, particu-larly during the Fatimid period,from the 10th to the 12th centuries.

It is now clear that Muslims, Chris-tians and Jews in the East did not

live intellectually ghettoized lives.They were aware of each other'stexts and traditions, sometimesrecording these in their own lan-guages and literatures, and at othertimes subjecting them to criticismand even derision. In a religiousdebate with Rabbanites andKaraites conducted at the end of the10th century, the Fatimid vizier,Ya`qub ibn Killis, a convert fromJudaism to Islam, cited the contentof the prayer book of Sa`adya benJoseph in order to heap ridicule onthe Jewish liturgy. Although therewas the occasional romantic trystbetween a man and woman of dif-ferent religious allegiance, inter-marriage was not a phenomenon ofthe time. Conversion, however, cer-tainly was. Just as in ChristianEurope, there were Jews who wereso anxious to climb the social andpolitical ladder that they felt con-strained to convert to the dominantfaith. Some of them made life diffi-cult for their former co-religionistswhile others retained a certain sym-pathy for them, even engagingthem in religious dialogues. But themovement was not always in onedirection and there are accounts ofMuslim and Christian anger at con-versions to Judaism. The records ofrabbinical courts make reference toapproaches made by non-Jewswishing to throw in their religiouslot with the Jews. As was the tal-mudic custom, they were initiallyrebuffed but there were a number,some of them women, who weredetermined enough to repeat theirapplications until they were finallyaccepted and even married into theJewish community. One convertmissed only one thing from his for-mer life: the Jews could not makebread like the non-Jews!

Jews in Palestine

The Genizah discoveries have illu-minated what were once the darkexpanses of Palestinian Jewish his-tory and revealed how the Jews ofthe homeland conducted their per-sonal, public and intellectual livesin the centuries immediately beforeand after the Crusader invasion thatbegan in 1099. It turns out that theJews were encouraged to resettle


The Cairo Genizah: a Medieval Mediterranean Deposit and Modern ...

Jerusalem after the Arab conquestof the seventh century and that,despite the difficult economic con-ditions and political upheavalsbrought about by competing Mus-lim claims to the territory, commu-nities grew and flourished. Frag-ments relate to Ramla as the capitalcity and to the havoc wreaked thereby the terrible earthquake of 1033,to Tyre and Acre as busy sea ports,to Tiberias as a centre of Torah andtextiles, and to Ashkelon as a par-ticularly strong fortress. It was per-haps as a result of the earthquakethat part of the synagogal premisesof the Palestinian Jews in Ramlawas still in a state of ruin in 1039.To obtain funding for repairs andmaintenance, the leaders leasedpart of the property to a privateindividual, Sedaqah, son of Yefet, atan annual rental of half a goldpiece. There were of course evenmore miserable times. During thefirst half of the 11th century, forinstance, letters refer to the battlesbetween Bedouin insurgents andthe Fatimid rulers and providegruesome details of the robbery,rape and crippling overtaxation.

Later, Jews fought alongside Mus-lims in a desperate effort to defendthe Holy Land against the Christianattacks and, when they failed, thoseunable to flee suffered massacres orcapture. As some eye-witnessaccounts relate, major fund-raisingefforts had to be made in other Jew-ish centres to pay the ransomsdemanded by some Christians forthe release of Jewish prisoners.Those who did escape made theirway northwards to the cities of theLebanese coast or southwards toEgypt and many documents testifyto their resilience in maintainingtheir traditions and their identityfor two or three centuries. Contraryto what was previously thought,there was a significant Jewish pres-ence in Palestine during the Cru-sader kingdom. Although only afew Jews lived in and aroundJerusalem, there were active andsometimes even prosperous com-munities in the other cities. Follow-ing the recapture of the Holy Cityby Saladin in 1187, Jews rebuilttheir community there and,although their situation remained

precarious, they were strengthenedby the arrival of immigrants fromwestern Europe. The deterioratingsituation in England and France inthe late 12th and early 13th centu-ry, coupled with the spiritual attrac-tions of settlement in the land ofIsrael, encouraged a number ofeminent rabbis and their flocks tomake this ideological emigration,or `aliyah.

The 20th Century

We may now turn from medievalEgypt to modern Cambridge. Sincemore than 100 years have passedsince Solomon Schechter broughtback his famous hoard of Hebrewmanuscripts, we may now takestock of the achievements of eachgeneration of librarians and schol-ars. The century may be dividedinto five fairly self-evident periods.The first, that of Schechter and hiscontemporaries, was undoubtedlyenthusiastic and industrious andthe foundations were laid for muchsubsequent research. The UniversityLibrarian was highly cooperativeand much involved in arranging theconservation and research and ateam of scholars and librarians setto work on about 30,000 items (theOld Series) in the Collection. Therewas then a steady move away frominstitutional interest to individualresearch and while Cambridge Uni-versity Library concentrated onother work and on surviving theFirst World War and the Depression,the centre of Genizah researchmoved elsewhere, in one case tak-ing some 251 borrowed fragmentstemporarily with it! A binder'sassistant was the only one at theUniversity Library with any signifi-cant knowledge of the Genizahmaterial and one of the librarianseven suggested that the remaining110,000 pieces should have beenburnt years earlier. In the years justbefore and just after the SecondWorld War, the oriental staff situa-tion improved and this led to moreinterest in the Genizah material,with individual scholars and consol-idated research projects making therunning and attempts even beingmade by some Library staff to keep

an account of the growing numberof publications about the Genizahmanuscripts. These efforts, to alarge extent inspired by the expan-sion of academic Jewish studies inthe newly established State ofIsrael, culminated in the greatexpansion of the 1950s inspired byS. D. Goitein, and the sorting ofover 40,000 fragments in the NewSeries. The Faculty of OrientalStudies and the University Libraryformally recommended in 1960that funds be sought for theappointment of a mature scholar asan Under-Librarian who wouldarrange for the sorting, identifica-tion and cataloguing of the Collec-tion; and would record all pub-lished work relating to it. He wouldalso arrange for visiting scholars tocontribute their areas of expertiseto the cataloguing programme; andwould initiate and manage a planthat would bring credit to the Uni-versity and to its Library and whichwould signal a service to Hebrewscholarship. Insufficient fundingwas forthcoming for the completeproject but it did prove possible in1965 to appoint the first full-timelibrarian with responsibility for theCambridge Genizah material whoalso dealt with queries and visitors,and began to catalogue the biblicalfragments. Additional boxes wereappended to the New Series, themicrofilming project made goodprogress, material was added to theLibrary's record of its publishedGenizah items, and the steadystream of researchers working onthe Collection continued unabated.Even more importantly, a projectwas commenced properly to con-serve some of the Collection.

The final period, that of the past 27years, has seen its own specialdevelopments. Since 1973, a fullycomprehensive programme of workon the Collection has been conduct-ed in the context of a newly createdGenizah Research Unit. Theremaining 32 crates of unclassifiedmaterial were sorted in 1974 and1975 into the Additional Seriesunder a variety of subject headings.With the assistance of externalfunding, the microfilming and con-servation of all 140,000 fragmentswas completed in 1981. A busyteam of researchers catalogued


Stefan C. Rolf

about 65,000 fragments, and some50,000 published references toCambridge Genizah items werelocated and published, with thehelp of a special computer pro-gramme. Cambridge UniversityPress joined forces with Cambridge

University Library to publish 12volumes in the newly establishedGenizah Series. Young researchers,visiting scholars, internationalcooperative projects and majorexhibitions became features of theUnits work. Over GBP 1.3 million

was raised from outside sources insupport of the Units projects andinformation about Genizahresearch was conveyed to the widerpublic through a regular newsletter,Genizah Fragments, the media, andthe Internet.

The Cairo Genizah: a Medieval Mediterranean Deposit and Modern ...


Nurit Roitberg

Nurit Roitberg is Director of theTechnion Central Library (ElyacharLibrary), at Technion-Israel Instituteof Technology, a positions he hasheld since 1979. Her main activi-ties involve introducing uniformworking procedures within the 20Technion libraries; computerizationof the libraries; and the developmentof the electronic library which isaccessible via the campus network.

Ms Roitberg can be contacted atthe Elyachar Central Library, Tech-nion-Israel Institute of Technology,Technion City, Haifa 32000, Israel(fax: +(972-4)8233501; e-mail: [email protected]).

[Ms Nurit Roitberg's paper was deliveredduring the 66th IFLA General Conferenceand Council, Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18August 2000.]

Introduction

The reorganization of the library inorder to adopt new techniques andto incorporate the electronic libraryis sometimes called re-engineering.This term expresses the feeling of a

revolutionary era, changes in atti-tudes, entrance to new technologi-cal areas and building a new librarysystem based on virtual collections.However, unlike the original defini-tion of re-engineering, which meansthat the new system replaces theold one, the traditional library isnot abandoned or neglected, butcontinues to develop side by sidewith the electronic library. Thelibrary continues to purchase andcatalogue books and to provide ser-vices to readers who personallyvisit the library. The combination ofboth the traditional and the elec-tronic services is called today thehybrid library.

Manpower and the Electronic Library

The new tasks are not equally divid-ed according to the old scheme andthe additional workload for devel-oping and maintaining the electron-ic library does not always fit into

the existing order. Some tasks arerelated to traditional library depart-ments and some are new. In gener-al, the electronic library is addingmany additional duties to the pre-sent team.

Licensing electronic journals isstrongly connected to the serialsdepartment, but it is a labor-inten-sive and time-consuming job. Link-ing the electronic journals to thelibrary homepage is a new task thatnobody did before. Readers servicesare provided not only personally,but also by electronic means today.This includes technical support inaddition to bibliographic services.New databases and e-journal collec-tions must be checked constantly bylibrarians as to their contents, for-mat and methods of linking. This isa wearisome task. It is followed bypreparing written explanations andmessages to readers about new ser-vices, and giving group instructionson how to use the electronic library.In fact, developing and maintainingthe library homepage whichbecomes the heart of bibliographicwork, requires a lot of effort inplanning, writing texts, and techni-cal work.

Working in a state of continualchange means dealing constantlywith new missions, new technolo-gies, new partners to compete withand constant pressure to proceedand not to be left behind. Changinglibrary priorities and strategic plan-ning is one thing; performing allduties with the same team becomesthe problem.

Administratively many libraries arestill organized according to the oldsystem, which is based on tradition-al departments such as acquisitions,cataloguing, serials, etc. Employeesfeel secure within this administra-tive framework since many of themhave a tenure status and other priv-ileges. Duties and hierarchy areusually well defined in this system.


The Influence of the Electronic Library on Library Management: A Technological UniversityLibrary Experience

It is difficult to change the old hier-archy and duties and it is not desir-able to do so unless it is necessary.There is a strong justification forthe traditional library organization,but a flexible and dynamic solutionis needed for the areas that areaffected by constant change. Here,what is suitable today may not beappropriate tomorrow. Libraries donot yet have enough experience todefine and measure all new tasksrelated to electronic library duties.Some new duties may develop intoa new department and some mayvanish after a while when a specialtask is completed. Therefore, only adifferent approach will enable thelibrary to cope with the new dutieswithout dramatically changing theadministrative manpower organiza-tion of the library. The solutionshould not be a part of the old hier-archy, but it can be an addition to it.The library can create a parallelscheme in which librarians shouldbe treated on an individual basisrather than according to their placeand duties in the traditional hierar-chy. Special tasks can be given aspersonal assignments to peoplewith qualifications, ability andenthusiasm to do more and to takepart in new and advanced develop-ments. It appears that responsibilityfor a mission in the area of the elec-tronic library is a reward in itselfbecause of the professional interest,the esteem of the library's manage-ment and the personal pride ofachievement.

The prerequisite to such anapproach is an appropriate organi-zational surrounding with new val-ues. The creation of the correct cul-ture demands investing efforts inemployees' education, learning newtechniques and constant updating.Most libraries do not get enoughadditional manpower, if at all, tocompete with new duties related tothe electronic library. When theyget additional manpower it isinvested first of all in technicalduties that require skilled engi-neers, etc. Most of the workrequired for the transition into theelectronic library areas is done bythe existing library team. The com-puter or the PC with its basic soft-ware is an essential tool, and librar-

ians should improve their ability touse it constantly. The combinationof experienced librarians welltrained in modern technology withpersonal responsibility to individualor team missions is the key to suc-cess and progress.

The Technion-Israel Institute ofTechnology is a technological uni-versity and a research institutionlocated in Haifa, Israel. It has a cen-tral library and 20 departmentallibraries, operating as one biblio-graphic unit. The electronic libraryis being developed and maintainedby the Central Library for the wholecampus.

At the Central Library senior librar-ians voluntarily took personalresponsibilities that were not intheir areas of responsibility. Thehead of the book cataloguingdepartment is linking e-journals tothe library homepage; the head ofthe book acquisitions departmentprepares for licensing e-journals;the heads of reader services, cata-loguing and acquisitions serve asthe library homepage editorialteam; the information specialistclassifies e-journals; the referencelibrarians take part in various tasksin the development of the electron-ic library. Even the secretary isinvolved in updating informationrelated to electronic items.

It was not planned so, but devel-oped as a result of a continuousprocess which began with raisingproblems, discussing them withlibrary senior staff and trying tofind practical solutions with thepresent manpower. The discussionsincluded topics such as problemsrelated to improving the homepageand electronic services to thedepartmental libraries, cataloguinge-journals, the linkage between thelibrary catalogue and the libraryhomepage, technical problemsrelated to the library integrated sys-tem, to local databases and more.Many issues were solved in a cre-ative and efficient way; some arestill not solved. Also, some mistakeswere made and corrected as part ofthis process. The most importantoutcome was the sense of partner-ship and shared responsibility of

the senior team and the feelings ofshared success and professionalpride.

Librarians at all levels are encour-aged to participate in courses thatimprove their computer capabili-ties. Such courses are organized forlibrarians, sometimes together withother Technion employees, in coop-eration with the Technion manpow-er division. In-house lectures onspecial technical subjects are givenfrom time to time to the librariansby the technical staff of the CentralLibrary.

The Library as a Leader

Libraries' management alreadyknow that they must adjust them-selves to a situation of constantchange. The pace of development isinfluenced strongly by factors out-side the library: many new databas-es and new e-journals are offeredfrequently in the market, some-times in more than one interfaceand much research is requiredbefore reaching a decision regard-ing new products. There are longperiods of preparation for theimplementation of a new version ora new library integrated system andthen it takes time to absorb it.Library hardware should be updat-ed as a result of technologyadvancement, new Web-based uni-versity teaching materials shouldbe accessed and combined in thevirtual library, and user educationis required on a larger scale and invarious forms.

Library directors are also under alot of pressure to achieve goalsmuch faster in order to competewith others in the informationworld. Electronic information man-agement has become prestigious,and in order to lead in this area thelibrary should take initiatives andenter into new projects if they arerelated to its services. The TechnionCentral Library became a specialistin networked information, mainlyin giving diverse unified services toall users of the campus network.

However, today there is much moreknowledge and professional ability

A Technological University Library Experience


in the libraries to control the fasterpace of development and to direct itaccording to their needs. Manylibraries have already proved theircompetence in dealing with newtechnologies and with the virtual orelectronic library. Libraries can acttoday from a standpoint of powerrather than be dictated to by others.Today, the status of the universitylibrary is higher at the universityand in the eyes of the informationvendors. As a result the library canmuch more influence its develop-ment pace and directions. Ofcourse, this status is acquired byinvesting much continuous work,thoughts and planning and by mak-ing mistakes and correcting them.

Many libraries have reached a posi-tion of leadership. Leadershipmeans more chances to proceedtowards future goals as the librarysees it. The library should make allefforts to keep this position byusing vision as an administrativetool. This means encouraging newinitiatives and ideas brought up bythe library staff, and trying to createthe future, instead of being led byothers.

These opportunities are availablenow as a result of the electroniclibrary development, and on thebasis of the achievements of univer-sity libraries until now. Not onlyhas librarianship changed into amodern profession on the cuttingedge of technology, but librarieshave used their traditional coopera-tion to create powerful consortia.Universities' management cannotignore the impact of changebrought by libraries to the academ-ic community. Libraries are nowexperts in networked information,and as a result they can influenceother related areas.

At the Technion, it was decided tochange the technological approachtowards videotaped basic courses.The courses are available now onvideo cassettes which can bewatched via stand-alone televisionstations in the audiovisual library. Itwas decided to move to DVD tech-nology and link the information tothe campus network using a specialserver. The Central Library was

asked by Technion management totake responsibility for marketingthe audiovisual collection in its newform. The filmed lectures will beavailable on the campus networkvia the library homepage.

The Central Library is also using itsinfluence to convince the appropri-ate Technion authorities that a uni-form set of rules is needed whenputting teaching materials on theWeb. The practical experience gath-ered by watching the pattern of useat the library computer-clusterserves as a tool for identifying addi-tional needs of students other thantraditional bibliographic require-ments. The electronic library cannotbe separated from a wide range ofother aspects related to teaching.

The library should always be awareof future developments and be partof them. By ignoring them thelibrary may lose new developmentsto competitors within the institu-tion.

Centralization versusDecentralization

The old debate between centraliza-tion and decentralization is nowdefinitely weighted in favor of cen-tralization. In the age of virtualinformation there is no meaning tothe physical location of the infor-mation, but there are great advan-tages, financial and bibliographic,to unifying and incorporating dis-tributed systems.

Libraries need stronger power tosucceed in their negotiations withthe vendors of electronic informa-tion. Sometimes the vendors them-selves prefer to sell e-information tolarger bodies. The rebirth of consor-tia in its modern frame is a directresult of this process.

The problem of decentralization isusually an institutional problem.While libraries are ready to cooper-ate on a national or regional level,they find it much more difficult todo so on an institutional level.Cooperation in the electronic areameans much more than interlibraryloans and coordination of acquisi-

tions. It sometimes means losingindependence. Progress dependsmuch more on centralization thanon cooperation. However, coopera-tion is a positive tool to achievecentralization. In a distributed uni-versity library system, electronicdatabases and e-journals should bepurchased only once and placed onthe university network with accessfor all readers. In reality efficiencyis not the only motive; prestigecounts too and departmental librar-ians would not give it up easily. Amajor issue is who controls thelibrary homepage and other cen-tralized computerized bibliographicsystems in a decentralized universi-ty library system. Voluntary cooper-ation among libraries on the cam-pus can solve only part of the con-flict. An official centralized manage-ment of the electronic library canensure that the financial invest-ments involved in developing theelectronic library will be used effi-ciently to the benefit of all universi-ty users.

At the Technion, for example, thereare 20 departmental libraries. Thereis a long tradition of cooperationamong the libraries, and the techni-cal services (acquisitions, budgetcontrol, cataloguing, classification,interlibrary loan) are centralized.Cooperation worked well for a longperiod. The Central Library tookleadership in computerizing the tra-ditional services of all the Technionlibraries. The departmental librari-ans understood the benefits of thecomputerized system, added theirlocal demands and as a result allthe Technion libraries have onecomputerized catalogue and onereaders file. As readers serviceswere based mainly on the papereditions, the departmental librariesenjoyed the prestige of providing animportant service to their readers.

At the beginning of the 1990sstand-alone databases on CD-ROMwere introduced in some libraries.Networking was the next stage. TheCentral Library took the initiativeand put the major databases on thecampus network.

Networked CDs were not thedesired solution for the campus net-


Nurit Roitberg

work. CDs can be accessed by PCsonly via the campus Novell net-work. There were problems withother types of computers. In themid-1990s when Internet technolo-gy was made available, the CentralLibrary decided to use it as thebackbone of its bibliographic ser-vices. The library homepage wascreated and databases were linkedto it using an IP number for identi-fication with no need for ID or PW.All Technion computers could reachthe services via the campus net-work. When e-journals started toappear, the Central Library did notallow any private arrangementbetween a departmental library andthe vendors. The Central Librarymade the licensing arrangementsfor the entire Technion and linkedthe journals to the central home-page. Links were made between thehomepage and the central cata-logue. Attempts were made bydepartmental libraries to developindependent homepages. The Cen-tral Library encouraged them forlocal faculty purposes, but not asparallel systems. The departmentallibraries' homepages are linked tothe main library homepage whichis a part of the Technion homepageand represents the complete elec-tronic library.

In order to prevent decentralizationof the electronic collections, and toensure that the electronic librarywill serve all campus users, theCentral Library has been officiallyappointed to manage the electroniclibrary. Most e-journals and biblio-graphic databases are paid from theCentral Library's budget. The Cen-tral Library represents the Technionin the Israeli University LibrariesConsortium.

Technical Support in theLibrary

The volume and level of computer-ization in modern universitylibraries, together with the library'sresponsibility for services via thecampus network, dictates a moreindependent approach to the area oftechnical support. Relying on out-side technical assistance or on the

university computer center servicesis a partial solution. Although thesituation is different in variousinstitutions, the trend is towardsmore independence of libraries inmaintaining their networked infor-mation services. In fact universitylibraries serve as the technical cen-tres of the electronic library.

A university library today has alarge number of workstations. Atthe Technion libraries there are 300workstations and the number isgrowing. Most or all staff membersare working with PCs and readers'services are also based on them.Advanced libraries have createdcomputer clusters for readers' use.Maintaining and upgrading such alarge amount of equipmentdemands constant work. In addi-tion, there are servers and commu-nication equipment. The serverslocated at the library are related tolibrary information systems orsometimes to the integrated librarysystem. At the Technion CentralLibrary there are five servers fordifferent purposes related to localdatabases, the library homepageand for backup. The library's com-puter which is used for the "Aleph"integrated library system is locatedat the computer centre because ofhistorical reasons. In order to oper-ate all the systems efficiently, thelibrary should have its own techni-cal staff: an engineer or a techni-cian. The library staff needs animmediate address when faced withtechnical problems, and libraryproblems are the first priority forthe library engineer.

The communication issue is a mostimportant one. Library services arebased on the campus network,which is usually maintained anddeveloped by the university com-puter centre. The connectionbetween the university library andthe university computer centre isbased first of all on network defini-tions and network activities. At theTechnion the library proxy which isthe gateway to remote databasesand e-journals is maintained by thecomputer centre. Continual coordi-nation is necessary and should bedone by a professional person fromthe library side.

In addition to the equipment andcommunications mentioned above,the library maintains a large home-page, gives technical help to depart-mental libraries, assists networkusers, develops software solutionsfor problems not solved in thelibrary integrated system and more.

In large decentralized library sys-tems like that at the Technion, acontinual dialogue is neededbetween the Central Library techni-cal staff and faculty engineers inregard to problems related to thedepartmental library equipment.

In the past, the library relied muchmore on the computer center ser-vices and one or two experiencedlibrarians who served as coordina-tors. Later when the level of com-puterization in libraries progressed,the lack of enough technical knowl-edge became a barrier for furtherdevelopment. The Internet openednew possibilities, staff membersacquired more knowledge and tech-niques. In order to widen thelibrary networked services andinvest more funding in it, the levelof technical maintenance must beassured.

The need for an engineering depart-ment in the library is a result of thedevelopment of the electroniclibrary. This need is much moredefined than other new tasks result-ing from the electronic library.Once the library hires its own engi-neer, a wider range of opportunitiesare opened for improving electronicservices. Librarians can rely upon ahigher level of technical solutions.As the development of library com-puterized services continues thereis a demand to solve more technicalproblems. In larger library systems,one person is not enough and grad-ually more staff will be hired forthe engineering department.

Future Possible Changes

The changes in library manage-ment and manpower organizationare highly affected by the develop-ment of the electronic library. It isdifficult to predict the character andpace of change of the electronic

A Technological University Library Experience


library, but these factors will deter-mine the future of library organiza-tion.

As a result of the present achieve-ments of the electronic library, theinterlibrary and document deliverydepartment already requires lessmanpower as more material isavailable via the network to theend-user. On the other hand, theserials department maintains twoparallel systems, the print and theelectronic. When electronic versions

will totally replace the paper edi-tions, a considerable workload willbe reduced in the serials depart-ment, but online access to the backvolumes is still a major unsolvedproblem.

The vision of a library with veryfew librarians does not seem realis-tic. The library will still need itsprofessional staff, but they shouldbe prepared to move from one fieldto the other, or to incorporate addi-tional duties frequently. Higher

qualifications and constant updat-ing are essential for efficient workin the future library.

Electronic information is not lessexpensive than printed information.On the contrary, larger investmentsare needed. Libraries realize thebenefit of cooperation and the num-ber of consortia is growing. Theelectronic library is becoming moreand more a part of the virtual cam-pus, and is being integrated withvirtual instruction.

Nurit Roitberg


Shifra Baruchson-Arbib

Ms Shifra Baruchson-Arbib is anassociate professor in the Depart-ment of Information Science in Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She was headof the department between 1990and 1998. During this time, she pro-moted the specialties of "Informa-tion Studies" and "Library Adminis-tration" and founded a new exper-tise for MA students, "Social Infor-mation Science".

Ms Baruchson-Arbib holds threedegrees: BA in History, Bible andInformation Science, MA in Historyand PhD in History. She specializesin the history and sociology of read-ing, printing and the informationsociety, in social information, aswell as in bibliography and dataretrieval.

She has published many articles andtwo books on the above subjects.Her first book, Books and Readers;the Reading Interests of Italian Jewsat the Close of the Renaissance(Bar-Ilan University Press, 1993)was awarded the prestigious Zal-man Shazar Prize - named after thepresident of Israel. Her secondbook, Social Information Science -Love, Health and the InformationSociety - The Challenge of the 21stCentury (Sussex Academic Press,1996) suggests founding a new spe-cialty in Information Studies thatwill educate new "Social Informa-tion Scientists" who in the futurewill enlarge the social role of thelibrary and, in addition, build modernsocial and medical informationbanks.

Ms Baruchson-Arbib is a member ofthe editorial board of the Israeli jour-nal "Information and Librarianship".She is also a member of the Ministryof Education committee for promo-tion of library education in Israel, aswell as a member of IFLA and FID.

Ms Baruchson-Arbib can be contact-ed at the Department of Information

Science, Bar-Ilan University, RamatGan 52900, Israel ([email protected]).

[Prof. Baruchson-Arbib's paper wasdelivered during the 66th IFLA GeneralConference and Council, Jerusalem,Israel, 13-18 August 2000.]

Introduction - What is SocialInformation Science?

Social Information Science is anew specialization in the frame-

work of information studies andlibrarianship. It deals with the studyof applications and development of

all the elements connected to theretrieval and processing of socialand medical information, includingthe study of society's informationneeds, the characteristics of dataretrieval sources, data processingmethods, the ethics of providinginformation, the development ofinstitutions such as social and med-ical information banks, and the cre-ation of the new professional: theSocial Information Scientist. Thisdiscipline was developed by theauthor as a special expertise for MAstudents in the Department of Infor-mation Science in Bar-Ilan Univer-sity, Israel. The theoretical and sci-entific basis of the subject was cov-ered at length in her book: SocialInformation Science - Love, Healthand the Information Society - TheChallenge of the 21st Century (Sus-sex Academic Press, Brighton,1996). 1)

The basic assumption behind theneed to develop this new field isthat in addition to the technological


Curriculum for "Social Information Science" –Evaluation and Application

efforts and inventions that charac-terize the information society, wealso need to develop the humani-tarian and social aspects of the newsociety emerging before us. In apioneer article about electronicpublishing (1978), T.H. Nelsonnoted: "The paper world we lived infor so long may and perhaps shouldbe supplanted by an electroniccounterpart. But in this transforma-tion, we have a chance to improvethe world - a one time chance." 2)

The basic premise of the new fieldis that modern man needs twotypes of social information for hiswell-being: (1) direct information,such as: names of institutions, pub-lic and voluntary aid organizations,support groups, information onmedical treatments and preventivemedicine, etc.; and (2) supportiveknowledge - meaning the knowl-edge and information found in lit-erature, movies and poetry, fromwhich one can draw comfort, sup-port, insight, a new way of lookingat problems, and original solutionsfound and tried by others. Socialand medical information, whentransmitted in a reliable and empa-thetic manner along with detailedexplanations, will give modern manemotional and social stability, andreduce stress as much as possible.

Just as in the 20th century new aca-demic disciplines have been estab-lished (e.g., psychology, criminology,educational guidance counselling,business management, computersciences and others), now, at thethreshold of the 21st century, it isimportant and worthwhile to createa new profession appropriate to thespirit of the times and the needs ofsociety. The 20th century put man'ssocial needs on the stage of scientif-ic research. The 21st century shouldcontinue to find solutions for theseneeds by using new technology andnew information channels to giveman an anchor that will enable himto take responsibility for his life, tobe involved in decisions affectinghis life and to choose his bestoptions. During the last 20 years,we have witnessed a growingawareness of this subject throughthe rise of new issues and projectssuch as: patient education, preven-

tive medicine, the establishment ofmedical information centers in hos-pitals, and the development ofreferral services in public libraries,all of which prove that there is aneed for social and medical infor-mation.3)

The concept of using informationand literature for the benefit of soci-ety is not new, as proven in thefields of bibliotherapy and psy-choneuroimmunology.4) In addition,there are a lot of different social,practical activities that are not suf-ficiently known to the general pub-lic.5) What then is the innovation inthe new field of Social InformationScience? First, its interdisciplinaryapproach, which combines threeelements: information technology,literature (in printed and electronicform) and the public's need forsocial and medical information; sec-ond, its application in library sci-ence as a unique expertise with thepurpose of educating a new genera-tion of qualified, responsible SocialInformation Scientists. As responsi-bility and credibility are essential insuch a delicate field such as socialinformation, creating a formal andrecognized profession will preventthe penetration of nonprofessionalsinto this field.

The Conception of theBar-Ilan University

Programme

The official purpose of Social Infor-mation Science is to create institu-tions called social and medicalinformation banks, and a new pro-fessional - the Social InformationScientist, as the author explains indetail in her book (1996). Theprocess of the entry of a new pro-fession into society involves slowstages of trial and error. This phe-nomenon was taken into considera-tion during the development of theprogramme. It was also clear thattransforming the librarian into aSocial Information Scientist will notbe an easy task in light of thelibrarian's conservative image andlow library budgets. On the otherhand, it is obvious that public andschool libraries should look for new

challenges in wake of the decline ofreading books and the expansion ofnew information technologies. Tak-ing all these assumptions into con-sideration, the Bar-Ilan Universityprogramme has three aims: 1) thetraining of new librarians (SocialInformation Scientists) for hospi-tals, nursing and rehabilitationinstitutions; 2) educating specialiststo develop self-help sections andsocial information banks in publicand school libraries, communitycenters, and local municipalities;and 3) the encouragement of talent-ed students to develop private ini-tiatives in the field of social infor-mation. It has been explained fromthe start to all those who registerfor the programme that this is anew field and that there is no SocialInformation Science profession inIsrael yet.

The Information Science Depart-ment in Bar-Ilan is the largestdepartment of its kind in Israel (550students) and its aim is to promotenew fields in order to help Israelisociety become an advanced infor-mation society. Social informationis one of its new projects, in addi-tion to other programmes: Informa-tion Management, Information Sci-ence, and Administration of Publicand School Libraries.

Curriculum for SocialInformation Science

The programme began in 1993 asan MA specialization and includestwo options: 1) Programme with a thesis (27credits including 2 seminars); and2) Programme without a thesis (37credits including 3 seminars). Stu-dents with BA degrees in librarian-ship were exempt from taking theintroductory courses (13 credits).The programme lasts 2-4 years.Only outstanding students with BAdegrees in the social sciences wereaccepted.The new specialization is based onan interdisciplinary approach and isbuilt on four components:

1. Basic courses in information sci-ence and librarianship (data



retrieval, cataloguing, classifica-tion, etc.);

2. Basic courses in psychology:"Introduction to Psychology" andan introductory course in groupdynamics;

3. Study of the therapeutic aspectsof all kinds of communicationmedia: books, poetry, movies,Internet sites, etc. (bearing inmind different age groups: chil-dren, adolescents, adults andsenior citizens); and

4. Studies of the potential applica-

tions of the new specialization inexisting frameworks such asschools, public libraries, andlibraries in hospitals, nursingand rehabilitation centres, aswell as in new frameworks suchas management of new socialinformation banks.

The following is the programmecurriculum. Please note that eachyear there are some changes madeaccording to lessons learned duringthe course of the previous year.

After six years of activity, it is timeto evaluate the success and practi-cal application of the new field.From the point of view of thedepartment, it is a success. Duringall these years, from 20-25% of thestudents have chosen this special-ization despite the fact that it hasbeen made clear to them that this isa new programme and there is noguarantee that they will find jobs atthis stage. Most of the students havechosen the programme without athesis since it offers a greater selec-tion of credits, a fact that allowsthem to obtain widespread knowl-edge in other areas of informationas well and will enable them to findjobs in the future in various places.

What is the academic profile of thestudents? Ninety-nine percent ofthem are women between the agesof 30 and 50. They all have BAdegrees in the social sciences - edu-cation, psychology, social work;some of them also have teachingcertificates and a BA degree inlibrarianship. From a professionalpoint of view, most of them arealready working: 30% as librariansand the rest as educational counsel-lors and teachers. It was natural forstudents with a tendency to aid andsupport to choose this specializa-tion.

In the middle of 1999, a survey wasconducted among the students whohad already completed the pro-gramme in order to evaluate thesatisfaction from the programmeand its success in the field ofemployment. The survey focused onfour central questions: 1) Whatmotivated the students to registerfor this specialization; 2) Did thestudies influence their awareness tothe social aspect of library scienceand their attitude towards readers;3) Are they working in the field orhave they developed at their placesof work special projects such as:self-help sections in libraries, infor-mation centers for social services,preparation of a bibliotherapeutic


Curriculum for "Social Information Science" - Evaluation and Application

Introductory courses: 13 credits

Name of course Credits*Introduction to information science 1Introduction to computers 1Research methods and statistics 2Introduction to reference work 1Cataloguing methods 1Classification methods 1Computer services in libraries 1On-line data retrieval 2Internet resources 1Marketing of information services 1Organizational behaviour 1

Specialization: Social Information ScienceRequired introductory courses: 4 credits

Introduction to psychology 2Group dynamics 2

Specialization courses: 8 credits required for thesis programme; 17 credits for non-thesis programme

Library services for special populations 1Medical bibliotherapy in health care institutions 1Literature and movies as means of support and insight 2Bibliotherapy for senior citizens 1Bibliotherapy for children 1Advanced course in bibliotherapy for senior citizens 1Bibliotherapeutic evaluation of children's literature 1Data bases in the social sciences 1Social information in social services 1Evaluation of reading abilities 1Basic skills of the Digital Information Scientist 1Copyright and ethical issues 1Elective courses on other subjects 4

Required seminars: 2 credits for thesis programme;3 credits for non-thesis programme

Social Information Science 1Scientific research in librarianship 1Information systems in educational institutions 1

* 1 credit = 30 hours of learning = 1 semester.

Evaluation and Application - Data

and Methods

catalogue, preparation of a self-helpliterature catalogue or social Inter-net site?; and 4) Do they have pri-vate or public plans to apply it inthe future.

The main findings of the survey fol-low. The survey was sent to 150 stu-dents and 73% of them responded.Most of them (52%) answered thatthey chose the specializationbecause it is a new and interestingfield. Some of them (19%) respond-ed that their work deals with relat-ed topics and their purpose is todevelop social information activitieswithin their libraries. Twenty-ninepercent of them responded thatthey intended to learn a new pro-fession and apply it in Israeli soci-ety.

Concerning their awareness of thesubject, most of them (75%) saidthat the course expanded theirawareness of the social potential oflibrary science and improved theirattention to readers' requests. Oth-ers (19%) responded that they hadprevious knowledge. The rest didnot respond (6%).

Concerning the central questiondealing with the practical aspect,we learned that 17 students (15% ofthe respondents) are involved withactivities related to the new field.Here the answers were very variedand interesting. Four graduateswork as teachers in this field. One,who was a member of the firstgraduating class and is a physicianby profession, is now teachingcourses in medical bibliotherapy,bibliotherapy for senior citizens andsocial information in social services,in our department at Bar-Ilan. Thisstudent also has a background inpsychology and is also active inIsrael in aid and welfare frame-works. The second graduate teachesbibliotherapy for children in thedepartment; she is a librarian byprofession with an MA degree ineducation. She also specialized inbibliotherapy within other frame-works as well, and now also teach-es courses to kindergarten teacherson the subject. The third is a librar-ian by profession who teaches anintroductory bibliotherapy course,as a special extension course for

librarians. The fourth, who holds asenior position in Israel in the fieldof library science, incorporates thesubject of social information intoher lectures. Two other respondentsdeveloped self-help sections foryouths within the framework ofschool libraries. One of these pro-jects, that took place in the town ofOr Yehuda, was studied carefullyand it clearly showed that this spe-cial self-help section contributed toan increase in the amount of read-ing and heightened interest inbooks dealing with teenage familyproblems, drugs, violence, sex, andothers.6) Two students are jointlybuilding an Internet site on the sub-ject of "breast cancer" for an Israeliassociation for prevention of breastcancer; they received funding forthe project from the Ministry ofEducation. Another respondent,also a leading figure in the field oflibrarianship, prepared a "literaturecatalogue" classified according tobibliotherapeutic angles for theCentral Library of Tel Aviv. Anotherrespondent built a site for herlibrary and added information onbibliotherapy. Four graduates arenow developing databases in theframework of their jobs in librariesand government projects on thesubjects of drugs, information ser-vices for senior citizens, televisionmovies - and social values. Yetanother graduate is involved indeveloping a municipal informationcenter in one of the centrallibraries. Two other graduates areinvolved in bibliotherapy coun-selling - one with disabled armyveterans, and the other with elderlystroke victims, both under thesupervision of psychology experts.

Concerning their plans for thefuture, 46% responded that theyintend to develop the field withinthe framework of their workingplace or in a private framework.What about academic research onthe subject? Besides articles thatwere published by the author ofthis paper, many seminar workshave been written in addition toseveral excellent MA theses, forexample: "Bibliotherapy and hyper-media", "Self-help Literature inIsrael 1967-1997", "Research in bib-liotherapy - in Israel and the world

- Bibliometric analysis", "SocialInformation in schools for specialeducation", and "Alternative medi-cine in Israel and the world - Bib-liometric analysis". 7)

In addition to the direct results con-nected to the students of the depart-ment, there has also been increasedinterest in the subject amongIsrael's librarian organizations. Theauthor was invited to give severallectures in the framework of TheInstruction Center for PublicLibraries and the Organization ofSpecial Libraries, as well as in theframework of an international con-ference for school librarians held bythe International Association ofSchool Librarianship in 1998.Recently, the leading organizationdealing with adult education andthe development of community cen-ters has been considering develop-ing social information banks in acommunity center in Israel.

Conclusions

There is no doubt that the issue ofsocial information should be devel-oped and promoted as part of thechanges characterizing the informa-tion society. But, like any new activ-ity just beginning, the first stagesare slow and it takes time forawareness to grow among scholarsas well as the general public. Fromthe point of view of library andinformation workers, this is a newfield of activity, one of great interestand creative potential that in thefuture will allow the developmentof social information banks andacademic specialists who will serveas certified Social Information Sci-entists. The very fact that there is somuch interest in the subject amonglibrary students shows that they arelooking for a new and interestingniche to develop in and to con-tribute to society. However, in thepractical sense, development is slowbecause of lack of budget and lackof awareness of the issue. In thisstate of affairs, the activities carriedout until now are noteworthy, andwith a lot of patience, creativity andthe right connections, we hope thatSocial Information Science willaccelerate and contribute a human-



istic angle to the technological inno-vations of the information society.

References

1. See also: Baruchson-Arbib, S. "HilfDurch Bücher in Medizinischen undSozialen Einrichtungen in Israel." In:Int. Gedenkscrift Dr. med EdithMundt-Bücher als Magische Medizin,München Deutscher Arztinnenbund,137-144 (1996).

2. Nelson T.H. "Electronic publishing andelectronic literature." In: Edward C.Deland (Ed.), Information Technologyin Health Science Education, NewYork, London: Plenum Press, 213(1978).

3. Brawley, E.A. Mass media and humanservices: Getting the message across.Beverly Hills: Sage Publications(1983).

4. Gold, J. Read for your life, literature asa life support system. Markham:Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside(1990).

5. Such as the Book Buddies project inSan Francisco and "The Happy Chil-dren's Ward" in Munich, and a lot ofother small social information projectssuch as Internet sights and health databases. See: Baruchson-Arbib, SocialInformation, Chap. 4.

6. Baruchson-Arbib, S. "Social informa-tion science and the school library,education for all." Proceeds of the27th International Conference of theInternational Association of School

Librarianship, Bar-Ilan University,Israel, 1-7 (July 1998).

7. See above (ibid, notes 1, 6).

Bibliography

Adeney, C. Bibliotherapie beikleinkindern in krankenhaus (Europäis-che Hochschulschriften, Vol. 418). Frank-furt am Main: Peter Lang (1990).

Baruchson-Arbib, S. "Information andsupportive literature in aid organiza-tions: The case of Israel." Libri 46: 168-172 (1996).

Baruchson-Arbib, S. "Libraries in seniorhousing in Israel: Findings of a survey."Information and Librarianship 22: 13-18(1996) (Hebrew).

Baruchson-Arbib, S. "The self-help sec-tion in public libraries - The case ofIsrael." Public Library Quarterly 16(3):41-49 (1997).

Baruchson-Arbib, S. "The public libraryand the problem of hospital libraries forpatients - The case of Israel." PublicLibrary Quarterly 17(3): 79-88 (1999).

Childers, T. Information & referral: Pub-lic libraries. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publish-ing Co. (1983).

Gann, R. "Consumer health informa-tion." In: L.T. Morton & S. Godbolt (Eds.),Information sources in medical sciences(4th ed.). London: Bowker-Saur, 545-555(1992).

Ellis, A. "The advantages and disadvan-tages of self-help therapy material." Pro-fessional Psychology - Research andPractice 24: 335-339 (1993).

Hunt, S. "The clinical use of self helpmanuals." In: J.M. Clarke & E. Bostle(Eds.), Reading therapy. London: TheLibrary Association, 82-105 (1988).

Hynes McCarty, A. & Hynes Berry, M.Biblio/Poetry therapy - the interactiveprocess: A handbook. Boulder, CO: West-view Press (1986).

Parikh, N. & Schneider, M. "Book bud-dies, bringing stories to hospitalized chil-dren." School Library Journal 35: 35-39(1988).

Rees, A.M. Managing consumer healthinformation services. Phoenix, AZ: OryxPress (1992).

Rubin, R. Bibliotherapy source book.Phoenix, AR: Oryx Press (1978).

Rubin, R. Using bibliotherapy: A guide totheory and practice. Phoenix, AR: OryxPress (1978).

Schneider, M. Book buddies volunteersbring stories to San Francisco hospital-ized children. San Francisco Library(1987).

Tolsma, D. "Patient education objectivesin healthy people 2000 - policy andresearch issues." Patient Education andCounselling 22: 7-14 (1993).

Vollhardt, L.T. "Psychoneuroimmunolo-gy: A literature review." American Jour-nal of Orthopsychiatry 61: 35-47 (1991).

Curriculum for "Social Information Science" - Evaluation and Application


Judith A. Segal

Judith Segal is currently a full pro-fessor on the library faculty of West-ern Washington University. In addi-tion, she consults on library strate-gic planning and team facilitationand is a bibliotherapist. For the pastseven years, Ms Segal served as alibrary director, at Hollins Collegeand WWU. This paper is developedfrom a chapter of her doctoral dis-sertation. She received her D.L.S.and M.L.S. from Columbia Universi-ty, an M.A. from Brandeis Universityand a B.A. from Brooklyn College.Ms Segal may be contacted by faxat +(1-360) 6507996 or e-mail:[email protected].

[Ms Segal's paper was delivered duringthe 66th IFLA General Conference andCouncil, Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18 August2000.]

Some years ago, I began an his-torical investigation of the

record of activities, goals andaccomplishments of an academiclibrarians' grassroots association,

the Library Association of the CityColleges of New York, called by itsacronym LACCNY. Much held inadmiration for reputedly winningfaculty rank and benefits for itsmembership, I was eager to learnthe way in which they arrived atsuch a glorious nationallyrenowned victory. As the archivalrecord showed LACCNY's seeming-ly endless and repeated failedattempts, over 26 years, to attainthe association's primary goals ofacademic recognition and parity forits membership, my documentsearching turned into analyticalprobing. I knew that this evidenceof record, in contrast with legend,replete with questionable practiceby the association needed theoreti-cal explanations. Why the failingtactics, why the unchanging efforts,indeed in light of its insignificance,what was its raison d'être? I wasurged on by Michael Winter, who,in The Culture and Control ofExpertise, said: "Sequential history,no matter how carefully document-ed, is not sufficient; chains of eventsmust be placed in patterns of ideas,which come from several sources."1

For 26 years, from 1939 to 1965,LACCNY, the Library Association ofthe City Colleges of New York, vigi-lantly, consistently and, alas, inef-fectively, sought teaching facultysalary and rank parity for its acad-emic librarian members. Although,in the end, the librarians weregiven what they wanted, itappeared that it was not because ofLACCNY. Rather it was an accom-modation to the needs andresources of the 1960s. In fact, hadLACCNY paid more attention dur-ing the lost decades to social, polit-ical and economic external eventsand to values and trends that affect-ed the fabric of higher education,and planned accordingly, the trulymistreated librarians might havereached their goal in less time.

Why study external events whenwhat you want seems to lie withinfour walls in an office building in acity struggling with its own needs?Looking closer, though, we see, inthose 26 years, a succession ofnational traumas and change: theUnited States entered the SecondWorld War and came out of it toendure hard-hitting waves of infla-tion and recession; unionizationand collective bargaining roseforcefully as a national movementwhile the Cold War raging at homeand a hot war in Korea threw theAmerican politic into a reactionarysweep of the nation for Commu-nists; for twenty years, political fearenforced political complacencyuntil newly growing disenfran-chised groups discovered theirpower and used public demonstra-tions and civil disobedience to drawattention to their unmet needs.

LACCNY, it would seem, paid scantattention in the 1940s, its earlyyears, both to the city's dichoto-mous commitments that includedstabilizing its huge post-war fiscalburdens while maintaining loyaladherence to free higher education.Neither is there evidence that, as anorganization, it was particularly


Collaboration between Theory and Evidence-basedPractice – Two Cultures: Librarians and Professors

aware of the impact of the diverseand eccentric profiles of the stu-dents attending the colleges.2

Through the 1950s, the smallness ofthe association's size along withlibrarians' traditionally recumbentpolitics and, above all, their relianceon reasoned appeals, would bringthem defeat time and time again.

They did win some battles, the mostimportant just before they formallybecame an association. In 1938, thefounding members gained recogni-tion of the college libraries as col-lege departments rather than civilservice operations. From that victo-ry, and some eight years later, as abenefit of their departmental status,their members gained voting rightsin campus-wide bodies. Their majorand sometimes ally, the LegislativeConference of academic faculty, vig-orously fighting for the professori-ate, did help them raise a salaryceiling or two in 1943 and 1946.But those gains and those facultyprivileges did not largely affectoverall salary ranges, enableadvancement, promote collegialacceptance or their recognition aspeers of the faculty.

The record is as full of the manystated and written protests, briefs,reports of LACCNY's leadersappearing at councils of more pow-erful bodies on and off campus andin government as much as it isempty of the benefits of suchefforts. The librarians' varied acade-mic backgrounds and qualificationsleft room for the city, state and cam-pus administrations to pay themless and assign them longer work-ing hours than the rest of the teach-ing faculty and justify placing andkeeping them in categories leastexpensive to maintain. Their maingoals, parity in title, work hoursand work year as well as, and mostimportantly, salary were not gainedthrough the careers of a generationor more of hard-working librarians.

Then it was 1965 and the goal wasachieved. There came the Consul-tant, the angel of driven adminis-trators seeking an elusive prize

whose need must be convincinglyexpressed in the language ofboards. Chancellor Albert Bowkerof the City Colleges, which by 1965had become an amalgamated Uni-versity, was keenly aware of onething - the need for more librarians.He was not particularly aware oftheir talents, their values, their edu-cation, or their collegial dilemma,but he knew that there were fewerthan could meet the need of theexpanding city campuses of the1960s. To fill positions, in a buyers'market, he also knew he had toraise salaries. To do that he neededthe approval of the Board of HigherEducation. So Bowker hired RobertDowns, a known advocate of fullfaculty status and rank for librari-ans, also advantageously an out-sider and an academic Dean. It wasDowns' arguments and Bowker'suse of it and the feared and grow-ing movement for faculty unioniza-tion and collective bargaining thatconvinced the Board of Higher Edu-cation. Simply said, it would be eas-ier to recruit librarians withincreased pay and faculty rank.

It was Chancellor Bowker who cre-ated the machinery that enabled theBoard to adopt a resolution craftedby LACCNY seven years earlier,born out of a wistful dream 20years before that.

To portray LACCNY as ineffective isnot to dishonor or discredit itsmembership and its dedicated lead-ers, but to emphasize that theimpact of the larger social context isthe predominant source of individ-ual response, not the virtue of asso-ciations or the correctness of theirarguments and beliefs. It is also topoint out that a group bent onchanging response needs to engagepolitically, armed with a strongknowledge base of its culture andcontext, built on self-studies andmastery of administrative aims,important referral groups, currentpolitical and economic issues andgovernment timetables; its repre-sentatives need to be skilled in theart of negotiation and of compro-mise. For as Sayre and Kaufman3

describe it, political life is a contestinvolving competitors and prizes,core groups and satellites.

Repeatedly, LACCNY focused noton winning but on due process andreasoning. It had neither a strategicplan for achieving its goals nor apolitical action plan for adept use oflobbying, advocacy and public rela-tions. It did not seek to attract orinvolve other groups that couldgain benefits from the larger effort.LACCNY members did not appearengaged in political life, not even ashaving a consciousness of itself inits social context. The city collegelibraries in those years, as WilliamMyrick, Jr. shows, in the only otherin-depth study of them, were unableeven to coordinate their collectionbuilding and borrowing and couldonly barely cooperate with eachother.4

"Curiouser and curiouser," as thesaying goes, and as I researched therecord of the association, the histo-ry of the colleges, the era and itsevents and people, I asked myselfnumerous times why did LACCNY'smembership keep growing and itsactivities remain unchanged for solong despite its failures? Theorycomes into play here.

There were the studies of occupa-tional sociologists, Harmon Zeigler5

and Robert Zussman.6 Zeigler,observing the associations of teach-ers, found them guardians of thestatus quo, not agents for change; inthe days before the National Educa-tion Association (NEA) and theAmerican Association of UniversityProfessors (AAUP) became moreactive, teacher associations, similarto LACCNY, provided a place for itsmembers to remain together innonpolitical alienation.

Zussman's study of engineers like-wise revealed an apolitical groupwhich he attributed to theirentrenchment in mid-level profes-sionalism. Their goal was securityin an increasingly insecure society.Dramatic or political involvementin the life beyond their communi-ties and offices was not advisable.

The teachers and the engineers, likethe librarians, appeared to construeactivism as planning local activities,not change. These sociologistscalled them alienated claiming that

Collaborations between Theory and Evidence-based Practice


alienation begets alliances of thealienated, not for assimilation, butfor maintenance. The alienatedhave a hard time influencing thepowerful as long as they remain intheir alienation.

The most instructive theories werethose of Albert Meister7, a Swisssociologist, and student of associa-tions. Meister theorized that intimes or places where people wouldbe anxious about rightfully belong-ing, their need for security isheightened. They seek the shelterof an association which then is pri-marily compelled by its members'emotional needs. Its importance tothem, and their loyalty to it,depends more on the perceivedsecurity and support it offers thanon the successful accomplishmentof its stated goals.

Then, as now, an association formsout of the belief that it can make adifference in matters involvingpower and control. Yet change insociety is complex and resisted byexisting systems of values and oper-ations. LACCNY's 26-year grievancewas fostered in a spirit of increasedpersonal expectations, out of theshadows of the Great Depressionwhich, for some time, continued tobite at the heels of growing pros-perity. In theory it should havefought like a union and plannedlike an organization to realize itsgoals of radical change. In practice,it was a small group, afraid of socialactivism, cautious, idealistic, andmired in the complacent values andrhetoric of its time including slow,cautious, persistent efforts to influ-ence legislation through relentlessbut polite lobbying.

When louder social action andgrander battles for civil rightsbecame more acceptable, even LAC-CNY members talked among them-selves of work actions; head librari-ans dared to relay to their collegepresidents dire administrativedilemmas with regard to overworkand understaffing. They were, how-ever, consistent in not linking theircause with the causes of others, didnot affiliate or derive any policiesfrom organizations not sanctionedby city and campus administration.

The approved group the librariansdoggedly tagged was the LegislativeConference of the colleges' facultiesbecause it was the one "approved"group. But, to that Congress, alsoslow and cautious, LACCNY's strug-gles were a continuous and seem-ingly insolvable dilemma that didnot take precedence over its manylarger concerns.

LACCNY might have served as avehicle to promote union of librari-ans and teaching faculty. It did not.It did not publicize to the faculty itsshared commitment to scholarship,knowledge building, publishing.Instead it argued for equality on thebasis of its "teaching" activities.And LACCNY did not understandwhat "teaching" meant to academi-cians. The librarians equated their"teaching" with that of classroominstruction, viewing bibliographicinstruction as equal to a developedtheoretically-based curriculum.LACCNY held Institutes meant tobe similar to academic conferencesbut their guest speakers were notlibrarians, were in fact, celebritiesand popular idols; conference pre-sentations and discussions were notofficially recorded nor published inthe academic literature.

And, again, why not? Surroundedby academicians and the literatureof scholarship, they did not under-stand how the culture of academiclibrarianship significantly differedfrom the culture of academic inhigher education. Across the nation,when teaching faculty wrested theirpower from boards and presidents,they moved from institutional loyal-ty to intensely competitive discipli-nary groups. The professors' ownsocial status, conferred hierarchical-ly by rank and discipline, wasguarded jealously with deliberatelyambiguous peer control. The librar-ians did not weigh the pressure thatthe highly competitive academicworld places for approval of its con-stituents based on their degrees,grants and publications. Entryalone into the discipline and accep-tance by the group, almost withoutexception, required a doctorate andother scholarly accoutrements notin the general experience of thelarger base of librarians.

According to Wilson Logan, thedegree is important because itimplies "research competency aswell as specialized knowledge andgeneral understanding, in contrastwith technical proficiency"8 andBelle Zeller, the legislative champi-on for faculty rights in New YorkCity, said "Let us face the fact thatlibrarians are not considered asequals by their equals, and this iswhere librarians get caught up in avicious cycle".9 Knowingly orunknowingly, librarians were notdeemed the peers of the faculty.

Which brings us to the theory of"status anxiety" which historianRobert W. Doherty established asone thread to explore in historicalinterpretation: "[Since] few institu-tional supports for social statusexist in nonaristocratic societiessuch as the United States, shifts indeference and authority produceanxiety in the minds of personswho belong to displaced sectors ofsociety and also among those whohave risen in position."10

During the time of this effort, werethe librarians and or the teachingfaculty evidencing "status anxiety"?Based on a report issued by anAAUP committee, during thedepression years, it appears that thenation's economic stresses fosteredcampus community divisivenessbetween administration and facultyand among junior and senior facul-ty as well.11 In the McCarthy era,Schrecker12 showed a mirroring ofthe nation's fear and anxiety in aca-demic circles as they accommodat-ed to political repression.

We know that collective organiza-tion, historically, has been theresource of those who find them-selves powerless. We now know,from Meister, et al, why LACCNY, asa voluntary association and not aunion, formed to gain power, butremained powerless, survivingnonetheless. It did not become aunion because of its members' gen-eral distrust of unions. It did notchange its tactics because of itsbelief in the triumph of reason andthose professional values thatreveal disinterest in the mecha-nisms of power struggles and


Judith A. Segal

power alliances. Not acting on BelleZeller's recommendation that theAssociation educate the academicsby producing a "profile" of thelibrarian, they made true her pre-diction "we will never dispel themyths that now prevail among ourcolleagues".13

From left field, we can bring inPaulo Freire,14 expert on politicalconsciousness, for whom groupsevolve politically first from generalconformity, then to naïve reformand then, finally, to refusal of any-thing but that which assures themthe power and recognition theydeserve. LACCNY was stuck in themiddle stage. Each of the associa-tion's decisions - to directly petitionthe Board of Higher Education, toentrust its future with the Legisla-tive Conference, to defer to theirsuperiors, to turn down externallitigious defenders, to disdain theWorkers' Defense League and theUnited Federation of College Teach-ers (UFCT) - was made absent arealistic analysis of its own place inthe academic environment.

The rhetoric of librarianship differsfrom the views of the professoriate.Amitai Etzioni explores this bind."[Librarians] most significant refer-ence group is the university profes-sor, who believes his mastery of hisown field is superior...as is hisknowledge of related areas. Nordoes the average professor have theexperience of being saved from aserious difficulty by the scientificknowledge of the librarian".15

LACCNY did not have theresources, know-how or sufficientsupport to attain its goals. Itremained an intact associationbecause it satisfied its generallyapathetic membership with a senseof professional identity thatpromised security. Actual success orfailure did not change the associa-tion's value; it was not organizedfor the only change it could make -self-change. It did provide a trainingground in democratic due process, apeek at political workings, and afuture for today's librarians stillstruggling with much of the samestruggles. LACCNY's story is nolonger a puzzle but an antiquatedmodel from which reforming librar-ians must learn to enter the fray,recognize their image, get involvedin changes, and wisely assimilatethe larger values of academia.

References

1 Winter, Michael E. The Culture andControl of Expertise: Toward a Socio-logical Understanding of Librarian-ship. New York: Greenwood, 1988,p.146.

2 Aaron, B. as cited in Duryea, Edwinand Robert S. Fisk. Faculty Unionsand Collective Bargaining. San Fran-cisco: Jossey-Bass, 1973, p. 43.

3 Sayre, Wallace S. and Herbert Kauf-man. Governing New York City: Poli-tics in the Metropolis. NY: RussellSage, 1960.

4 Myrick, William J., Jr. Coordination:Concept or Reality? A Study of

Libraries in a University System.Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1975.

5 Zeigler, Harmon. The Political Life ofAmerican Teachers. Englewood Cliffs:Prentice-Hall, 1967.

6 Zussman, Robert. Mechanics of theMiddle Class: Work and PoliticsAmong American Engineers. Berke-ley: Univ. of California, 1985.

7 Meister, Albert. Participation, Associ-ations, Development and Change.New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction,1984.

8 Wilson, Logan. American Academics:Then & Now. NY: Oxford Univ., 1979,p. 43.

9 Zeller, Belle. "The Academic Librari-an: Collective Bargaining and FacultyStatus." Conference on the AcademicLibrarian. New York State Depart-ment of Education. Syracuse, NY, Feb-ruary 27, 1975. Mimeographed report,p. 3.

10 Doherty, Robert W. "Status Anxietyand American Reform: Some Alterna-tives." American Quarterly 19 (1967):329 -337.

11 American Association of UniversityProfessors. Committee Y. Depression,Recovery and Higher Education. NY:McGraw-Hill, 1937.

12 Schrecker, Ellen W. No Ivory Tower:McCarthyism and the Universities.NY: Oxford, 1986.

13 Zeller, p.4.14 As cited in Modra, Helen M. "Political

Literacy; A New Agenda for LibraryEducation?" Libraries After 1984 -Proceedings of the LAA/NZLA Confer-ence. Brisbane, 1984, pp.453 - 464.

15 Etzioni, Amitai, ed. The Semi-Profes-sions and Their Organization: Teach-ers, Nurses and Social Workers. NY:Free Press, 1969, p.286.


Collaborations between Theory and Evidence-based Practice

Estela Morales

Estela Morales has been DirectorGeneral of Academic Affairs at theNational Autonomous University ofMexico (UNAM) since 1997. Shehas also held the postitions of Aca-demic Secretary of the HumanitiesCoordination, Director of UniversityCentre of Librarianship Research,and Vice-Director of General Direc-tion of Libraries, all at UNAM. She iscurrently involved in a project whichwill study information technologyand social minorities, information inLatin America, and Mexico and itsinformation production about LatinAmerica. She has written on sub-jects such as library education;automation; and planning, new tech-nologies, information and infodiver-sity in Latin America.

Ms Morales can be contacted at theUniversidad Nacional Autónoma deMéxico, Edificio C y D, 4o. piso, Cir-cuito Cultural Universitario, 04510México, D.F. Mexico (fax: +(52-25)56660256; e-mail: [email protected]).

[Ms Morales' paper was delivered duringthe 66th IFLA General Conference andCouncil, Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18 August2000.]

Society and Information

Information, as the representationof thought and knowledge, has

led us to consider that societyreceives and is exposed to informa-tion from the language used by the

mass media as well as from the lan-guage generated by the literary, sci-entific and technical texts of spe-cialized literature. In both casessociety produces the informationresulting in a conscious and uncon-scious interest of transmitting itindividually and collectively. Thisstrategic information may be avail-able only to a select group or toeverybody. It may be sought, need-ed and used by individuals orgroups in power like the State, com-mercial partnerships or politicalgroups. The participation of societyis decisive in the process of gener-ating and using information, andsociety is in charge of assigning itits value and function.

It is still thought that since infor-mation is generated so easily, itmust be considered part of our nat-ural heritage, as much as theforests, rivers, and the sea. Differentecologist groups have reported thatthis natural heritage is endangered,with measures being adopted toprevent its loss. We have thus

become aware of the cost to rescueit and preserve it. Such is the casewith both oral and written informa-tion. We always believed that in asmuch as information is a requiredelement in all our actions, no effortis involved in its production, access,organization and dissemination.However, the situation is very dif-ferent. If we in Latin America fail toact and do not strive to acquire anddeliver to our people the informa-tion needed for development, wewill not be actually using it and thisdevelopment will also becomequestionable.

Acquiring and organizing informa-tion is not enough. It is also neces-sary that it be available whenrequired. Technologically we haveall the facilities to make informa-tion available to all users. Nonethe-less, securing information is not sosimple because we cannot ignorepolitical and economic restrictions,standardization deficiencies and thelimitations imposed by groups inpower such as censorship, filtersand influences that have an impacton information in each process.Information can also be enriched orimpoverished by the interpretationof those who select, analyze or sum-marize it, by those who assigndescriptors and search for it in acatalogue or database as a technicalaspect of their work or for the con-venience of political systems, eco-nomic groups or simple marketingelements.

The Right to Information

Information is a response to theneed human beings have ofexpressing themselves and learningwhat others have expressed. It isthe response to a need that at a cer-tain moment becomes an essentialhuman right because, as free peo-ple, we have the right to expressourselves, to inform and beinformed. This natural privilegeshould be guaranteed by the State


The Information Right and the Information Policies in Latin America

and defended by society. This rightshould also be considered as awhole. We must not only think ofthe creation of information and themanifestation of ideas and knowl-edge but also of its circulation,availability, use and interpretation.

As a result of the agreementsreached in a meeting held inNovember 1995, UNESCO pub-lished a document in May 1996entitled UNESCO and an Informa-tion Society for All, containing aneducational, scientific and culturalproject related to new informationand communication technologies.One of the decrees of the GeneralAssembly itself engages the partici-pation of the UNO to promote thefree flow of ideas by means ofwords and images. It also assumesthe obligation of promoting inter-national cooperation in communi-cation, information and informaticsin an effort to decrease the prevail-ing inequality between developedand developing countries. Regard-ing medium-term strategiesplanned for the years 1996-2001,there is special emphasis on the useof communication and informationtechnologies in the service of devel-opment, democracy and peace.

This is the condition that will allowthe information society to reach itsultimate goal: autonomy for eachand every citizen by means ofaccess to knowledge, and the abilityto use it. The "information societyfor all" is both global and local,comprised of individuals and socialgroups which participate in theinformational whole and contributelocal information and their point ofview to the information surround-ing us.

Information Policies

To make the right to informationcome true, there must be a closerelationship between society andthe State, with mutual interactionsso that, in the face of the approach-ing future, new behaviours, atti-tudes and values of global societymay be taken into account, with anawareness of the strategic value ofknowledge, information and

exchange in the development anddemocratization of Latin Americansocieties.

The information policies we willestablish will be closely related tothe general policies of each country,with public policies pertaining toeducation and cultures, and the his-torical and social realities of thenation itself and the Latin Ameri-can region.

The examples of information poli-cies in Latin America are not nec-essarily all-embracing because it ispossible to see partial efforts inter-related to the activities and prod-ucts that enable the inhabitants of acountry to use and read informa-tion. We have laws, agreements orState initiatives relevant to the pol-icy a certain State has establishedin the public and cultural or infor-mation and literacy domain. Thereare also Acts from which policies onlibraries, books, copyright andinformation resources and systemsmay be inferred.

Informatics Policies

Information technologies and net-works today own new ingredientsconverging into information and itsuse. Information networks, equip-ment, programmes and systemsexist because they transmit infor-mation while life in today's world issurrounded by information and thepossibilities involved in approach-ing and acquiring knowledge.Although they are an essential partof information policies, countriesand international institutions gener-ally consider technological issuesseparately and deal with them asinformatics policies. The followingare some examples of the efforts incertain Latin American countriesregarding information policies.

Mexico

Throughout its contemporary histo-ry, Mexico offers different examplesof its attempt to consolidate cultur-al policies related to books andlibraries as a means to make worldculture available to its people.

Nonetheless, these policies havealways been subjected to personali-ties who play an important part inthe political and cultural life of thecountry, and are seldom translatedinto actions beyond the individuals'political term, their power domainand their decision-making possibili-ties. This at times is due to the lackof a legal framework and at othersto the scarce continuity of actions,the joint planning of the education-al process and the poor relationshipbetween cultural projects anddevelopment plans in the govern-ment sector.

a) The right to information

This right originated in the Mexi-can ordinance as a consequence ofthe freedom of speech, consideredone of the fundamental privilegesof human beings and the essence of20th century liberal ideology.

The 6th article of Mexico's currentConstitution states that "The mani-festation of ideas shall not be sub-jected to any judicial or administra-tive inquisition. If the attack tomoral and the rights of third partiesprovokes a crime or threatens pub-lic order, the right to informationshall be warranted by the State."

This article deals in fact with twoaspects: firstly, the natural need ofexpression of human beings, andsecondly, the preservation of theprerogative society demands fromthe State, engaging its compromiseto warrant this exercise through theright to information.

b) General Library Act

The actions to guarantee the rightto information should be simulta-neous with the creation of mecha-nisms to guarantee its complianceand exercise regardless of the eco-nomic, social and political costs itmay involve.

The General Library Act was passedon 21 January 1988, and isobserved throughout the Republic,sustained on the objectives of theaforementioned programme. ThisAct declares free attention to any-body who wishes to consult library



material, and refers to publiclibraries as institutions that offerdemocratically book consultationservices and other complementarycultural services enabling the popu-lation to acquire, transmit, increaseand freely preserve knowledgefrom every domain and in anymeans containing information,while relating library policies to theNational Plan of Development.

c) The Copyright Federal Act

The current Mexican CopyrightFederal Act was published in theDiario Oficial on 24 December1986 and is a compilation of edito-rial concerns, rather than thoserelated to library users.

The concern to protect an author'scopyright, the result of his intellec-tual effort, is among these that havematerialized more as a policy forthe intellectual and artistic world,propitiating an act and ordinancefor the protection of this right.Nonetheless, just as public opinionis in favour of defending this right,it is also true that citizens them-selves violate this law too easily, attimes because of ignorance and atothers by deceit. This situation hasled to dangers which may workagainst the right to information,making the access to informationand the possibilities to have andcreate knowledge considerably dif-ficult.

The defense of an author's copy-right is of interest to creatorsthroughout the world and is posi-tively accepted concerning formalaspects and the acknowledgment ofauthorship and bibliographical ref-erences. However, the intention toimpose a restrictive use on infor-mation has been the object of studyby high-ranking international asso-ciations that deal with information,such as IFLA and the InternationalFederation of Documentation (FID),which have expressed their viewabout this and invited authors andpublishers to accept the social rolewhich libraries must play, as insti-tutions that offer free informationto different social groups. On theother hand, these associationsrequire libraries and information

centres to make judicious and care-ful use of the reproduction meansof original works and thosereceived by electronic means.

d) The Book Act

Public policies concerning the cul-ture of many Latin American coun-tries, especially Mexico, acknowl-edge technological developmentand the power of electronic media,although books are still one of itsmain decisive elements. This is whylegislation has been established toprotect this tool and to promote itsproduction, commercialization, anduse.

Legislative attempts in this regardare actually derived from the inter-est publishers have to sell morebooks because this segment unfor-tunately measures reading rates ineach country according to the num-ber of copies of books they sell.

The most recent efforts to establisha book act in Mexico took place in1996, as an initiative by the Nation-al Chamber of the Mexican Pub-lishing Industry which proposed aproject for the Mexican Book Actand Promotion of Reading (as yetnot passed).

e) The Programme for InformaticsDevelopment

At a national level, this programmeis found within the National Devel-opment Plan 1995-2000 which con-siders informatics as a strategic ele-ment for national developmentbecause of its value as an agent thathas had an impact on practically alldomains and activities. Informationin turn is considered inherent to theexistence of human beings andsocieties in their search for knowl-edge.

The main goals of this programmeare to promote the use and devel-opment of the informatics industry,fostering the creation of an infor-matics culture and increasing thenetwork and equipment infrastruc-ture. However, not all of this islinked to the origins of develop-ment, education and the indispens-able use of information as arequirement for knowledge acquisi-tion.

Latin America has new means todisseminate information andknowledge and therefore new pos-sibilities to construct an informa-tion society with a Latin Americanpersonality where the State willpromote and promulgate informa-tion resources.

Information policies in the areahave been influenced by the guide-lines of international institutionssuch as UNESCO, OAS, and IFLAwhich have worked on a constantbasis to sensitize professionals andgovernment officials. Highly devel-oped countries in this domain havealso been involved as technical andacademic leaders and large produc-ers of hardware and software pro-grammes.

Several Latin American countrieshave attempted to create their owninformation policies; sometimesholistically organized and, at others,as individual efforts considered rel-evant at certain moments. Mostimportantly, however, are thealready existing efforts which havemarked the beginning of a coordi-nated action for national coveragethat will enable each country andthe region itself to live in an cur-rently globalized world.

Argentina

In 1995, eminent professionals fromthe 1940s, such as Carlos VíctorPenna and Josefa Sabor felt theneed to promote new efforts so thatthe Argentine Republic would haveits own National Information Sys-tem to implement previouslydefined information policies thatwould be useful for their country'sdevelopment. They congregatedyoung people in workshops andtheir efforts culminated in the plansfor a project to legislate the creationof a Federal System of Library andInformation Services.

The first workshop was held on 1April 1995 with the participation of

Estela Morales


Some Experiences inLatin America

information specialists who ana-lyzed the document "National Sys-tem of Library and Information Ser-vices" with the purpose to "[...]ensure that all Argentines, regard-less of their schooling, geographicallocation in the national territoryand their profession or activity,would have free access to biblio-graphical and documentaryresources, notwithstanding theirformat, and without any kind oflimitation [...]".

The final version includes a firstchapter on national policies onlibrary and information services,whose first article states that: Citi-zenship participation in the devel-opment of a fully democraticRepublic; the modernization ofState institutions and private orga-nizations; the right to informationand knowledge for all Argentines;the concurrence of the country inscientific, cultural, financial andcommercial segments; its incorpo-ration to regional integration pro-jects such as MERCOSUR; and theimplemented plans leading to theimprovement of the level of life ofthe Argentine people increasinglyrequire an efficiently informed pop-ulation for the Nation to reach itshigh objectives and successfullyparticipate in the concert ofnations.

In April 1995, the final version ofthe preliminary plan to legislate theFederal System of Library andInformation Services was deliveredto the Cultural Commissiondeputies. At the time the Act for thePromotion of Books and Readingwas already in Congress, with theobjectives of fostering the produc-tion of books and essentially to dis-seminate the habit of reading. As ofnow, neither of these laws has beenpassed by Congress. The effortsreviewed here are at a nationallevel, although in the provincesthere are two examples of informa-tion policies and local systemsalready underway.

Colombia

This country has a long tradition incooperative work related to infor-

mation, reading and libraries.Thanks to this and the growingpublishing industry, Colombia hascreated efficient national informa-tion policies, having even in the1970s set the groundwork for theNational Information System. Thissystem has mainly been supportedby the organizations founded byadministrative reform, such as theColombian Institute of Culture (Col-cultura), the Colombian Institute forthe Promotion of Higher Education(ICFES), the Colombian Fund forScientific Research and Special Pro-jects (Colciencias) and the NationalCouncil for Science and Technology,all which have constituted an insti-tutional basis at national level topromote information-related poli-cies.

In 1973 the project for the NationalInformation System was legallyintegrated to Colciencias and a yearlater UNESCO designated Colom-bia as a focal point of the UNISIST(Information System in Science andTechnology). The goals of this Sys-tem were consequently outlined: "tomake the existing informationresources in the country availableto the national community by coor-dinating actions and the necessaryresources, and developing a net-work of national libraries and infor-mation services [...]".

In 1988, Colciencias establishedbasic guidelines for a nationalinformation policy, with the goal ofguaranteeing the production,exchange, dissemination and use ofinformation and knowledge toensure its integration to nationaldevelopment processes in all itsaspects.

That National Culture Plan (1992-1994) cites as a priority the creationand implementation of the NationalInformation System in the area inan effort to articulate culture andeducation as the main axis for thecountry's development.

Costa Rica

This is the Central American coun-try that has worked more systemat-ically on the field of information,

advancing firmly towards theimplementation of informationpolicies to sustain public actionsrelated to education and develop-ment. Although the National Infor-mation System was legally estab-lished in 1974, it has only been con-solidated through sectional efforts,out of which those pertaining to sci-ence and technology are worthy ofmention. In the 1980s the Scienceand Technology Ministry coordinat-ed national activities for the devel-opment of a programme to advancescientific and technological devel-opment within the country. Thisrequired establishing four funda-mental policies to constitute aNational System of Science andTechnology: the necessaryresources, industrial reconversion,aggregate value and the populariza-tion of science and technology.Noteworthy is the system's follow-ing objective: "The developmentand conservation of an information,statistical and documentation sys-tem in science and technology atthe service of different segmentswithin the country".

All the actions needed to develop anational informatics policy werecompiled in the National Scienceand Technology Program (1986-1990) and in 1990-1994, underscor-ing the necessity to strengthen stateand private information services.

Costa Rica has also had the goal topromote high-speed links by meansof advanced communication tech-nology among scientists from uni-versities, institutes and researchlaboratories, technological compo-nent industries and national andother Central American corpora-tions with colleagues and peersworldwide.

There has also been an interest inintellectual copyright and CostaRica boasts an important traditionconcerning the legislation of "Copy-right Registration and RelatedIssues" and is now part of the Uni-versal Copyright Convention. Itsnational policy likewise considersintroducing children to the use ofinformation and its technology.Steps have also been taken in pub-lic and university libraries to pro-



mote information access and use,and to practice reading.

Chile

With a similar tradition to otherAmerican Latin countries, Chile hasalso been interested in protectingauthorship and has participated inthe Bern and Paris Conventions onthis subject. Decree 74, publishedon 21 July 1955, established com-pliance of the agreements reachedin the Interamerican CopyrightConvention for literary, scientificand artistic works, which weresigned by the American Republicsin an effort to perfect authorshipprotection. This action was complet-ed with the decree published on 26July 1955 where the UniversalCopyright Convention was consid-ered.

The content and coverage of theseagreements were later enrichedunder Law 17.336 on intellectualproperty, published on 2 October1970, according to which the rightsof both Chilean and foreign authorsliving within national boundariesare protected.

Chile is interested in book policiesand similar information registersand has joined efforts and actionsto allow for a more extensive policythat will benefit the publishingindustry, the availability of readingmaterial and the readers them-selves. The Act for the Promotion ofBooks and Reading was made pub-lic on 1 July 1993 in a ceremony ledby the President of the Republic. Itis relevant to point out that besidesprotecting books from the publish-ing perspective with respect to pira-cy and illegal reproduction, thisarrangement deals extensively withreading, the importance of booksand literary creation.

The legal standards to protect com-puter programmes date from 1970and 1971 (with their respectivemodifications, undertaken in 1972,1985, 1990 and 1991, having thesame objectives). Just like printedmatter, authors of programmeshave moral and patrimonial rightswhich are included in the Act of

Intellectual Authorship. Additional-ly, the adaptation and lawful andunlawful reproduction of pro-grammes is specified.

Likewise, by means of the NationalCommission for Scientific Techno-logical Research (CONICYT), theuse of communication and informa-tion networks like Internet havebeen promoted to make this serviceavailable to Chileans, as well as giv-ing them access to remote basesand all the information found onthe Web.

Peru

Peru has not been an exception.Outstanding among the efforts todevelop an official policy in theinformatics domain are the onesundertaken in 1981, in which thePeruvian Association of Librariansand UNESCO, through its GeneralInformation Programme (PGI),organized a National Congress onLibrary Science and Informationhaving as the main subject the lackof national information policies, theneed for a national information sys-tem for development and, therefore,the definition of public policies. Apreliminary project was also pre-sented to legalize the organizationand operations of the National Sys-tem of Information for Develop-ment. This project privileged therole of libraries and considered thatinformation in a developing coun-try is dealt with and mainly trans-ferred through these actions, thuscollaborating with educationalgoals - an essential element in theplans for economic and socialdevelopment.

After this project and other effortsundertaken in October 1993,national regulations of informationpolicies were partially achievedthrough declaration D.S. No. 33-83-DE that, once established, regulatedthe National Library System, wherethe National Library was the mainorganization to which four mainactivities were assigned, with anumber of other Directions: ofSchool Libraries, of PublicLibraries, of National Bibliographyand of Authorship. All of this is

dependent on the Ministry of Edu-cation. The National Library was incharge of specifying and imple-menting policy to promote booksand reading, while the other institu-tions had the responsibility of stan-dardizing, guiding, coordinating,assessing and supervising actionsinherent to their field, directing andoffering technical assistance to theinstitutions involved in their fieldand participating in the establish-ment of library policies.

Venezuela

Owing to the work carried out byinstitutions and professionals relat-ed to books, libraries and reading,in 1976 the necessary resourceswere compiled for the creation on 9September of the National Commis-sion for the Organization of theNational System of Library Servicesand Humanistic, Scientific andTechnological Information, whichdepended directly on the Presiden-cy of the Republic. This initiativeconsidered humanistic, scientificand technological information as anindispensable resource for integralnational development and, conse-quently, deemed the expeditiousand efficient use of information bysociety as essential.

Fortunately, this measure did notremain on paper but was imple-mented by many actions to benefitinformation users (children, highschool students, researchers, univer-sity students and the population atlarge), based on the leadership ofthe Autonomous Institute of theNational Library and Library Ser-vices, the Book Bank, and the dif-ferent information systems and net-works, as well as on the interactionwith providers of technology andother essential elements that cur-rently enable the adequate use ofinformation. In 1987 a seminar onNational Information Policies washeld in Caracas by the governmentof Venezuela, with support fromUNESCO, to discuss the propositionof a national information policy andstrategies for its implementation.This work was an effort to definepolicies linking information fromnational development, access to

Estela Morales


information, promotion of nationalinformation, production and sup-port for the efficient use of infor-mation, information technology andthe development of humanresources.

A Regional Effort

After this brief review of some ofthe actions that have been under-taken in Latin America, there is nodoubt that, at least conceptually andin the different projects of eachcountry, the importance of informa-tion is manifest in developmentalprocesses. Nonetheless, the factsand general results in each of thecited examples do not enable us toconclude that the information hasactually been used for decision-making and that the plans havebeen included in government pro-grammes of the social, economicand political sectors. This is morenotorious in the education segmentwhere it is unforgivable to proposemodalities involving a great physi-cal and technological infrastructurewithout the informative componentthat leads to knowledge.

Accomplishments in Latin Americaregarding the development ofnational and regional informationinfrastructures are multiplying andhave increasingly received morefinancial and political support.Likewise information is alsoincreasingly mentioned and consid-ered an essential issue in govern-ment programmes and projects inthe different segments of the

national life in each of our coun-tries.

Communication is not yet fluentfrom one country to the other with-in the region. This has led to theneed to require information to adeveloped nation, alien to the area,to which a Latin American Statehad previously relinquished or soldits information, thus enabling theformer to develop an informativeproduct with aggregate value that itthen resells at a higher price to thesolicitor. Since this situation is stillunsolved, the Regional Program forStrengthening Cooperation amongNational Information Systems andNetworks for Latin America and theCaribbean (INFOLAC) has beenunderway since the 1980s, havingstriven since the beginning to findinformation for development. Basedon the activities inherent to nation-al systems and networks, as well asto regional networks, this pro-gramme has established ways todeal with problems of commoninterest as a whole which, becauseof their complexity and importance,could hardly be solved individuallyor particularly.

The driving force behind this pro-gramme is naturally information,considered as an economic resourcerequiring cost coverage for its trans-formation into a useful and preciseelement in intellectual processesrelated to decision-making. Manysolitary efforts have been made inthe region, but not all that are real-ly needed--often beyond national

information policies. Because theyare absent or have not been consid-ered, this has become a task thatmust be dealt with if we want tolower costs and get more efficientfinal results in decision-making atnational and regional levels whichwill ultimately be useful for thepopulation at large.

Because as a programme it is stillalive, although not very active as oflate, its general purpose has beenand is to strengthen autonomy andthe individual and joint abilities ofthe national institutions in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean to cre-ate and operate organization mech-anisms and access to informationresources, enhancing their use byestablishing, implementing, assess-ing and managing their respectivedevelopment plans, programmes,policies and actions.

The years have gone by and accom-plishments have not been uniformin all Latin American countries.Some, like Mexico, Costa Rica,Venezuela, Colombia, Chile,Argentina, and Brazil, have beenmore successful. Nevertheless,advances have not been thoserequired for the development need-ed in the region if our goal is toachieve something equivalent towhat is found in developed coun-tries, and if the interaction amonggovernments, individuals andgroups in a globalized world inter-connected by telecommunicationsand the interactive flow of informa-tion is considered indispensable.



John D. Byrum, Jr.

John D. Byrum is currently chief ofthe Regional and Cooperative Cata-loging Division at the Library of Con-gress where he has been employedsince 1974. In his current position,he is responsible for the Library'scataloguing of materials from orabout the Middle East and all ofAsia as well as for serving as theLibrary's secretariat in support ofthe Program for Cooperative Cata-loging.

Byrum was given the Esther J. Pier-cy Award in 1975 for outstandingcontributions to technical servicesand the Margaret Mann Award in1997, the American Library Associ-ation's highest honor in the fields ofcataloging and classification. Healso received the Library of Con-gress Award for Special Achieve-ment, the Award of Meritorious Ser-vice, and its Award for Superior Ser-vice.

Byrum has been active in IFLA formore than two decades in variousroles. He is currently honorarymember the Standing Committee ofthe Section on Cataloguing and iscompleting a term as secretary tothe Standing Committee of the Sec-tion on Bibliography. He was chairof the Working Groups which pro-duced ISBD(CF) and ISBD(ER).Byrum has chaired of the ISBDReview Group since 1986. He hasauthored numerous articles on arange of cataloguing topics. MrByrum can be contacted at theRegional & Cooperative CatalogingDivision, Library of Congress LM-535, Washington, D.C. 20540-4380, USA (fax: +(1-202)7076511;e-mail: [email protected])

[Mr Byrum's paper was delivered duringthe 66th IFLA General Conference andCouncil, Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18 August2000.]

Before discussing the proceduresby which the ISBDs are pre-

pared and updated, let me providesome background informationabout this important IFLA initia-tive.1

The ISBDs date back to 1969, whenthe Committee on Cataloguingsponsored an International Meetingof Cataloguing Experts. This meet-ing produced a resolution whichproposed creation of standards toregularize the form and content ofbibliographic descriptions.

As a result, the Section on Cata-loguing put into motion workwhich ultimately would provide themeans for a considerable increasein the sharing and exchange of bib-liographic data. This work resultedin the concept of the InternationalStandard Bibliographic Description(ISBD), which has now endured fornearly 30 years. In the view ofmany bibliographic expertsthroughout the world, the birth andmaturing of the ISBDs have provedto be IFLA's most successful effortat promoting the cause of catalogu-ing standardization. Indeed, onemight venture the opinion that inthe history of cataloguing no otherstandard has enjoyed such a highdegree of acceptance as that accord-ed to the ISBD concept. The indi-

vidual formats to which the ISBDconcept have been applied are nowused by bibliographic agencies,national and multinational cata-loguing codes, and cataloguersthroughout the world.

The first of the ISBDs to be pub-lished was the International Stan-dard Bibliographic Description forMonographic Publications(ISBD(M)), which appeared in 1971.There have followed projects to pro-duce ISBDs for Serials, Non-BookMaterials, Cartographic Materials,Rare Books, Printed music, and,most recently Electronic Resources.For article level publications,Guidelines for the application ofthe ISBDs to the description ofcomponent parts was issued.

During the early years, especially inrelationship to the first two ISBDs,that for monographs and that forserials, there was clearly lacking aconsistent foundation for the pro-gram in terms of definition of dataelements and specification of prin-ciples for bibliographic descriptionacross all formats. So, it developedthat ISBD(S), for example, deviatedfrom ISBD(M) in some basic ways;the most prominent difference wasin their variant rules for recordingtitles and statements of authorship.As a result and to insure that theseparate ISBDs would thereafter beharmonious in their treatment ofdata elements and prescribed punc-tuation, IFLA representatives metwith the Joint Steering Committeefor Revision of AACR2 to preparethe ISBD(General). ISBD(G) hasprovided a frame-work to which allISBDs have been made to conformever since.

Next there followed what might becalled "the first general review pro-ject". To conduct this project, anISBD Review Committee wasformed. It first met in August 1981and has been in place to serve asthe IFLA Cataloguing Section's


The Birth and Re-birth of the ISBDs: Process andProcedures for Creating and Revising the International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions

Maintenance Agency ever since(although for a period of time itsname was changed to the ISBDMaintenance Committee for rea-sons which will be explainedbelow). Ultimately it was renamedthe ISBD Review Group.

There were three major objectivesset out for the first general reviewproject:(1) to harmonize provisions, achiev-

ing increased consistency;(2) to improve examples; and(3) to make the provisions more

applicable to cataloguers work-ing with materials published innon-roman scripts.

In addition, two narrower objectivesmotivated this particular revisioneffort:(1) to review the use of the equals

sign (as its use in bibliographicdescriptions has been thesource of some controversy);and,

(2) to consider proposals regardingthe ISBD for Non Book Materi-als emanating from specialistgroups such as the InternationalAssociation of Music Librarians(most prominent of which wasto remove "machine-readabledata files" as a format from thisstandard).

By the end of the decade, the ISBDshad been thoroughly considered,and they were re-published in"Revised editions". In addition, aseparate ISBD was created formachine-readable data files, whichappeared in 1988 as the Interna-tional Standard BibliographicDescription for Computer Files(ISBD(CF)). However, because ofthe rapid advancements in technol-ogy, the need for revision of thisISBD quickly arose, resulting in thepublication of the ISDB for Elec-tronic Resources (ISBD(ER)).

In the early 1990s, the CataloguingSection with the cooperation of theSection on Classification and Index-ing set up a Study Group on theFunctional Requirements for Biblio-graphic Records (FRBR). Oneimmediate consequence of thisdevelopment was the decision tosuspend most revision work on the

ISBDs while the FRBR Group pur-sued its charge to "recommend abasic level of functionality andbasic data requirements for recordscreated by national bibliographicagencies." Also suspended to awaitthe results of the FRBR study was aproject then in progress to identifythe components of a "ConciseISBD(M)" - that is, a standard set-ting out the minimal bibliographicfeatures of an acceptable record.This project was put on holdbecause it was expected thatFRBR's findings would in effectprovide such a base-line. Duringthis period, the ISBD Review Groupbecame the ISBD MaintenanceGroup, a change of name reflectinga decision that it should deal onlywith ISBD problems that neededattention prior to issuance of theFRBR recommendations.

In 1998, the FRBR Study Group didpublish its Final Report after its rec-ommendations were approved bythe IFLA Section on Cataloguing'sStanding Committee.2 At that timethe ISBD Review Group was recon-stituted to resume its traditionalwork. As expected, Cataloguing'sStanding Committee asked theISBD Review Group to initiate afull-scale review of the ISBDs. Theobjective of this "second generalreview project" was to ensure con-formity between the provisions ofthe ISBDs and FRBR's data require-ments for the "basic level nationalbibliographic record."

In the ISBDs, national bibliograph-ic agencies are called upon to "pre-pare the definitive description con-taining all the mandatory elementsset out in the relevant ISBD insofaras the information is applicable tothe publication being described." Tofacilitate implementation of thisprinciple, the ISBDs designate as"optional" those data elementswhich are not mandatory whenapplicable; in the case of particularISBDs, a review of the Outline (con-sistently provided in each standardat paragraph 0.3) will reveal whichdata elements are optional. There-fore, the main task in pursuing thesecond general review has entaileda close look at the ISBD data ele-ments which are mandatory to

make optional any which areoptional in FRBR. (In no case is adata element mandatory in FRBRbut optional in the ISBDs.)

The ISBD Review Group began byexamining the International Stan-dard Bibliographic Description forMonographic Publications(ISBD(M)), last revised in 1987. Thechanges which the Review Groupproposed to make in the next itera-tion of this standard were posted onIFLANET. The availability of theproposal was widely announced onappropriate electronic discussionlists, and those with commentswere asked to reply by July 15th.The Review Group considered sug-gestions received from several indi-viduals, institutions, and catalogu-ing groups at its meeting held inconjunction with the August 2000IFLA Conference. A draft revisionhas now been produced and willsoon be posted to IFLANET.

In addition to this general reviewnow underway, there are currentlyalso underway special projects torevise the ISBD for Serials and theISBD for Cartographic Materials.Although there are several goalsbeing pursued, both projects areseeking to incorporate provisions todeal with electronic versions ofpublications within the scope ofthese two ISBDs. These two ISBDswill also need to incorporate thespecifications for basic level nation-al bibliographic records.

Thus, after 30 years, IFLA's ISBDprogram has yielded standards forrepresenting bibliographic data forall types of library materials andmaintained these standardsthrough one or more revisionprocesses. To make the ISBDs morereadily available and to make themavailable at no cost, the ISBDReview Group has begun to convertthe texts to machine-readable formfor posting on IFLANET. Last year,ISBD(ER) was published electroni-cally, and very shortly the ISBD forrare books and the General ISBDwill be brought up on IFLANET.The Group is hoping that all theother ISBDs will be digitized andmounted later this year and next.

The Birth and Re-Birth of the ISBDs


Meanwhile, the Review Group hasasked the UBCIM Director to publi-cize an authoritative list of the"ISBD Family" on IFLANET, andthis was accomplished in early2000.3 In addition, UBCIM is solic-iting through its regional officesinformation regarding translationsof the ISBDs for the purposes ofidentifying for the public definitiveversions available in languagesother than English. So far, informa-tion regarding Dutch, Finnish,French, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian,Macedonian, Slovak, Slovenian, andSpanish language translations hasbeen provided and can be accessedthrough links on IFLANET.4

Procedures are essential in all stan-dardization work in order to ensurethat the steps by which a documentbecomes a new or revised standardare well known and meticulouslyaccomplished. The ISBDs are noexception to this rule. As a result, atthe 1989 IFLA Conference, the Sec-tion on Cataloguing adopted aschedule and established proce-dures for development and distribu-tion of such documents as new orrevised ISBDs.

Normally, initiation or revision ofan ISBD will result from workaccomplished by a Working Groupappointed by the Section on Cata-loguing's Standing Committee -sometimes in cooperation withother IFLA sections. In view ofrecent developments, it is well tostress here that it is the Section onCataloguing which enjoys "owner-ship" of the ISBD program. OtherSections or groups which wouldlike to propose new or revisedISBDs are not free to undertakesuch ventures on their own: theyneed to begin the process by com-municating recommendations toCataloguing. In any case, wheredesired format expertise is avail-able elsewhere in other IFLA sec-tions or in other organizations, theStanding Committee will seek toestablish ISBD projects jointly.

To initiate an ISBD project, Cata-loguing's Standing Committeeappoints a chair and the member-ship of a Working Group to takeresponsibility for it. The Working

Group is expected to generally con-form with a overall schedule for thepreparation, review, and publicationof documents, which is set down atthe beginning of every ISBD pro-ject. The time required to developand revise the text will vary accord-ing to the complexity of issues to beresolved; normally projects take aminimum of two years to complete.

There are nine steps to accomplishbetween the start up and finish ofan ISBD project.

1. Development of draft text2. Duplication and distribution for

worldwide review3. Worldwide review and comment4. Revision of draft text 5. Review by ISBD Review Group6. Final revision 7. Duplication and distribution for

voting 8. Voting by Standing Committee(s)9. Final editing and publication of

manuscript (print and electronic)

Regarding these steps, some furtherdetails are worth highlighting. First,any appointed Working Group isexpected to work closely with theDirector of the UBCIM Programmewho is well prepared to help withthe coordination of activities andprovide procedural guidance. TheWorking Group is also expected tokeep the Cataloguing Section andany other participating section wellinformed regarding the progress oftheir ISBD project. The member-ship of the standing committeessponsoring and participating sec-tions participate in the worldwidereview. In addition, also entitled toparticipate in the review are allassociation, institutional honoraryand affiliate members of the Sec-tion on Cataloguing, and of anyother sponsoring Section as well asmembers of the ISBD ReviewGroup. Following the conclusion ofa world-wide review, the chairper-son of the Working Group, in con-sultation with the other members ofthe Working Group, is expected toconsider all comments received andto revise the draft text accordingly.Nevertheless, the Working Group asa whole retains authority for decid-ing on the disposition of comments

and determining the contents of theresulting text.

Once the Working Group is satis-fied with the draft, it is forwardedto the chairperson of the ISBDReview Group to review it for gen-eral conformance to the overarch-ing ISBD principles and particularconformance to the provisions ofISBD(G). This step is necessary toprovide consistency across theentire "family of ISDBs", so thatbibliographic records for differentformats can be efficiently processedand integrated when desired intosingle databases. The chairperson ofthe Working Group next prepares afinal text. At that point the new orrevised ISBD is ready for balloting.If the majority vote is affirmative,the UBCIM Programme Directorproceeds to establish arrangementsfor publication, both for purchase inprint and freely available in an elec-tronic version on IFLANET.Although procedures allow for neg-ative vote - in which case, the chair-person of the Working Group willconsult with the Standing Commit-tee to determine what course ofaction to pursue - such an outcomehas never occurred.

The procedures were establishedmore than a decade before theadvent of electronic communica-tions which have made possibleconducting business more efficient-ly on the Internet. Today, as is wellknown, it is easy to dispatch evenlong documents almost instanta-neously to colleagues throughoutmuch of the world and to exchangecorrespondence without the consid-erable delays often encounteredwhen using postal systems forinternational mailing. It is also rou-tine to mount a document on a website and to conduct professionalexchanges as members of electron-ic discussion networks. Contrast theadvantages of today's "instanta-neous" flow of messaging with theinefficiencies of the "manual" modein terms of standardization process-es! Implementation of the ISBDprocedures had proved quite costly;for example, more than 400 copiesof the proposed ISBD for ElectronicResources, a large document, had tobe photocopied and mailed to desti-

John D. Byrum, Jr


nations on every continent. In addi-tion, because "snail" mail is oftenslow to reach its destination, theimpact on the ISBD proceduresresulted in six month periods forworldwide review for documentdelivery, evaluation, and return ofcomments. Even then replies oftenwould continue to trickle in longafter a particular group had fin-ished evaluating the replies thatwere timely.

Thus, because of the economywhich it provides, both in relationto postage saved and in terms oftime saved in distributing docu-mentation, the ISBD Review Grouphas become interested in modifyingits procedures to take advantage ofthe Internet. This explains why theGroup decided experimentally tohandle the recent proposal toupdate ISBD(M) by using the webas the primary vehicle for conduct-ing the worldwide review. Thechanges were posted prominentlyon IFLANET and their availabilityfor study and comment wasannounced on IFLANET and sever-al other electronic lists. Since theproposed changes were consideredlikely not to be controversial theGroup decided to set the reviewperiod at four months. The ISBDReview Group was thus able tohave in hand at its August 2000meeting the comments resultingfrom this review and to make finaldecisions regarding them at thattime. This experiment was judged asuccess!

As a result, the Review Group hasdecided that henceforth all ISBDorigination and update work shouldmake use of the Internet, althougha general mailing to the sectionmembership will offer to continuehard-copy drafts sent via airmail toany members who certify lack ofconnectivity to the Internet. New orchanged ISBDs will be posted toIFLANET and also be availableupon request for e-mail transfer as

textual attachments. The schedulefor worldwide review will be adjust-ed to allow normally three to sixmonths for study and comments.Early alerts will be posted toIFLANET and other e-lists so thatgroups could organize themselvesfor study and comment during theperiod allowed.

Thus, in this area, IFLA is under-taking to maximize the opportuni-ties which today's technology offersby way of improving the inter-change of information and views inits cataloguing standardizationwork. Not only will projects benefitfrom more timely development butalso the technology will save con-siderable costs in terms of repro-ducing draft texts and purchasingtheir delivery.

Beyond these considerations, ISBDstandardization procedures shouldbe continuously reviewed to enableIFLA to maintain its cataloguingleadership, during what is nowproving to be yet another transitionperiod. Such standards as theISBDs have guided the work ofnational cataloguing committees inupdating their codes to foster inter-nationally accepted practices.Today's publications patterns arechanging, largely as a result of theelectronic environment in which weincreasingly function. As interest inmetadata to promote control andaccess to electronic resourcesincreases, the ISBDs will enjoy newopportunities to influence contentand use of these schemes, sincemost of them will define data ele-ments already familiar to theISBDs. On the other hand, not onlyare there new bibliographic situa-tions to consider, but not every bib-liographic practice already in placecontinues to be as useful now as itwas formerly.

The Anglo-American CataloguingRules (AACR) and the Regeln fürdie alphabetische Katalogisierung

(RAK), to name but two of theworld's most prominent catalogu-ing codes, are engaged on majorrevision projects. The challenge toIFLA is to be sure that these coderevision projects continue to recog-nize the need and importance ofinternational harmonization and donot unfold in isolation. The ISBDReview Group is well positioned toassist the Cataloguing Section inthe area of bibliographic descrip-tion by initiating communicationswith groups revising national cata-loguing rules to seek their coopera-tion in maintaining an internation-ally acceptable framework. Nodoubt the national code revisionprojects will have many suggestionsby way of improving the ISBDs,and IFLA should welcome this pos-sibility as a means of ensuring thevitality of its own standards. Mod-ern procedures for standards devel-opment and review will play amajor role in enabling IFLA tomeet this challenge.

Therefore, it is necessary for IFLAto maintain leadership in coordinat-ing such projects with its own stan-dardization efforts and to rekindlecommitments of national librariesand national and multi-national cat-aloguing committees to cooperationin maintaining bibliographic prac-tices that will enable exchange ofcataloguing data in the cost-effec-tive manner which will benefitusers throughout the world.

References

1 For a more detailed introduction tothe ISBDs, see: Byrum, John, "TheISBD's: What They Are and How TheyAre Used" International Cataloguingand Bibliographic Control v. 23, no 4:67-71 (Oct./Dec. 1994).

2 Available at http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm

3 Available at http://www.ifla.org/VI/3/nd1/isbdlist.htm

4 Available at http://www.ifla.org/VI/3/nd1/isbdtran.htm

The Birth and Re-Birth of the ISBDs


Presented to: The Fifth General Assembly of theWorld Blind Union, Melbourne,Australia, 20-25 November 2000 byRosemary Kavanagh, Chair Stand-ing Committee IFLA Section ofLibraries for the Blind (SLB) (E-mail: [email protected])

My task today is to explain thework of the International Federa-tion of Library Associations andwhy cooperation is imperativebetween the World Blind Union(WBU) and IFLA's Section ofLibraries for the Blind (SLB).

Library service is about the organi-zation and distribution of allexpressions of knowledge and it isfundamental to literacy and the cul-ture of learning. Free library serviceis the foundation of democracy, cit-izenship, economic and socialdevelopment, scholarship and edu-cation in progressive societies. Thefollowing quote is taken from theOkinawa Charter on the GlobalInformation Society of the G8 Sum-mit in Japan, July 22, 2000:

"a key component of our strategymust be the continued drive towarduniversal and affordable access...wewill continue to...pay particularattention to the needs and con-straints of the socially under - priv-ileged, people with disabilities andolder persons and actively pursuemeasures to facilitate their accessand use.. We are committed to pro-vide all our citizens with an oppor-tunity to nurture IT Literacy andskills through education, lifelonglearning and training. We will con-tinue to work toward this ambi-tious goal by getting schools, class-rooms and libraries online andteachers skilled in IT and multime-dia resources"1

Leaders from the most powerfuland wealthiest countries recognizethe importance of intellectual capi-tal, skills and libraries in trans-forming social and economic condi-

tions. What they hold as good for allof society we too must hold as goodalso for blind people everywhere.

The challenges are enormous. 80%of the world's blind people live indeveloping countries, most are notliterate and have no access tolibraries. They live in poverty andsocial circumstances more extremethan the general population, the'poorest of the poor2. 95% of blindchildren do not attend school inmany parts of the world and do notlearn to read braille. In a worldwhere information doubles everytwo to three years and less than 3%- 5% of published materials areaccessible, we ask our blind stu-dents to excel on less than 5% ofwhat sighted students have avail-able to them, and in many develop-ing countries we have nothing forthem at all Accessible informationremains the single most profoundissue for libraries serving blind peo-ple.

Libraries for the blind are thelargest producers and distributorsof accessible content but are theywell positioned to take advantageof new developments in digitallibrary services? The SLB is theonly body dedicated to improvingthe opportunities, circumstancesand understanding of the speciallibrary needs of blind people any-where. The WBU is the largest bodyrepresenting the interests andneeds of blind people worldwide. Iam going to outline twelve initia-tives the WBU and IFLA must con-sider in order to improve libraryservices for blind people every-where. I hope this will promote abetter understanding of libraries.

Advocate access to information as a

fundamental human rightof blind people

Access to information is a basichuman right recognized in article

19 of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights and endorsed bylibrary legislation in many coun-tries. Many countries recognize thisby providing funding and legislat-ing free library services and settingup national networks to ensure thatinformation as a national resourceis shared, regardless of circum-stances or borders. Use publiclibraries as benchmarks for the typeof service freely available to thegeneral public which blind peoplesubsidize through their taxes. Workwith national and local libraries todevelop advocacy and marketingprograms which educate govern-ments and consumers.

Distinguish between library services and

transcription services

Many libraries for the blind origi-nated outside mainstream libraries,primarily as a transcription servicein blindness organizations. It isoften easy to confuse the two. Agood library service will ensure thatyou have the best information on atopic and if you cannot find a spe-cific book it will find alternatives orbetter sources of this information.More and more of that content intoday's world will be in a formatyou can convert to braille or listento with a speech reader. We seeblind users waiting for months oryears for a book to be transcribedwhile the information on that sub-ject is available from other sourcesand often in an electronic format.

Develop Zero Tolerancefor Duplication

Duplication is costly, regressive andwidespread. The same book may beproduced several times within acountry and internationally. Dupli-cation occurs because libraries donot have the ability to research suit-able alternatives. Make avoidance


Transforming Libraries For the Blind in the Learning Culture of the Information Age: The Roleof IFLA and the World Blind Union (WBU)

of duplication a necessity for fund-ing.

Insist that libraries forthe blind adhere to mainstream library

standards for organizingand distributing

collections

Standards are seen as a luxury tobe ignored. However, without stan-dards libraries cannot record,retrieve and share content as part ofa wider network or family oflibraries. Libraries unable to imple-ment accepted standards areexcluding themselves from bestcontent and from developing inter-connected digital libraries of thefuture.

Seek cooperative arrangements for sharing

resources

We have seen expensive equipmentplaced where without a good distri-bution mechanism it had littleimpact on increasing content. Goodlibraries do not work alone and toomany libraries for the blind work inisolation. Seek partnerships withuniversities and local libraries whohave access to the Internet and canassist in locating electronic contentfor conversion to braille or otherformats or train staff in libraries forthe blind; share bookmobile ser-vices to deliver braille books, play-back equipment or books on tapesto remote areas and those who arehousebound. Establish cooperative,regional networks that share equip-ment, collections, technologies andexpertise. Include the Ministers ofEducation from these regions orkey leaders in the information tech-nology industry who can helpadvance library service.

Support inclusive service models

Blind people and their familiesneed service and access to informa-tion in their communities. Inclusivemodels promote working with local

public, academic or nationallibraries in the communities whereblind people live. The IFLA/UNESCO manifesto for publiclibraries enshrines the duty of pub-licly funded libraries to serve allmembers of a community includingblind people. The Guidelines forLibrary Service to Braille Users arepublished. Use these tools to urgepublicly funded libraries to developpolicies for serving people in theircommunities. Demand a share ofthe public initiative to provide freeinformation to everyone regardlessof circumstances. This does notmean that libraries for the blindwill be replaced by public librariesbut that they will partner to explorecomplementary relationships.

Promote Best Practices

Study successful operations andurge governments around theworld to be cognizant of these suc-cesses. Do not re-invent the wheel.Libraries for the blind around theworld will be invited to submit pro-jects to a Best Practices Panel spon-sored by IFLA SLB. The winnerswill be announced at the SLB Pre-conference to be held in 2001.

Set up worldwide arrangements with

publishers and vendors

Copyright limits what can be pro-duced or even loaned amonglibraries. It would take forever tochange and align copyright laws inevery single country of the world. Itis time to try other solutions. TheSLB is examining international con-cessions from rights holders andpublishers for libraries for the blindto acquire their audio and electron-ic files for unabridged content.

Use the digital technologies of the

information age to createmore content for blind

people

Today both mainstream librariesand libraries for the blind are

preparing for more and more elec-tronic information and its distribu-tion. The move towards digitalaudio books is only one aspect ofthis. Electronic content will enablefaster transcription of materials intoan alternate format. Linkinglibraries through technologies willenable access to more information.It is imperative that libraries for theblind and the WBU ensure that theneeds of blind people for trainingand access are included in nationalplans for IT literacy.

Participate in the unioncatalogue developed bythe Library of Congress

Our Section endorsed the Library ofCongress' union catalogue whichincludes the holdings of manylibraries for the blind in the world.Use it to locate material before pro-ducing it. You can get copies of thiscatalogue on CD-ROM to keep inyour own countries today or it canbe accessed online via the Internet.

Recruit the right skills

Libraries require staff who knowhow to acquire, organize and dis-tribute information, are subject spe-cialists, familiar with library net-works, the Internet, informationtechnologies, transmission systemsand can apply these technologiesand standards. If you cannot hiregood professional staff, partner withan institution which does. We knowthat many staff from libraries forthe blind do not participate in someof the excellent programs at IFLAbecause their own lack of trainingmakes them unable to do so.

Urge Participation inIFLA and the Section ofLibraries for the Blind

IFLA should be part of everylibrary's training budget. It repre-sents over 135 countries and fosterslibrary service development world-wide. We are a volunteer organiza-tion of library professionals. IFLAdoes not provide funding for library

The Role of IFLA and the World Blind Union (WBU)


development. For example theSLB'S entire budget for the year is1,000 guilders.

The SLB has a Standing Committeeof approximately 20 members fromall over the world. It provides thebest opportunity for cooperativeproject development, training andawareness of library service, tech-nologies and digital library devel-opments. In March 2000 the firstworkshop on Library Systems andInternet Services for Libraries forthe Blind was held in the UnitedKingdom. A Pre-conference forLibraries for the Blind is plannedfor Washington, DC on August 15 -18, 2001. The theme is 'DigitalLibraries for the Blind and the Cul-ture of Learning in the InformationAge'. We want to examine ourfuture, in helping students, profes-sionals and anyone engaged in lifelong learning. In February 2001 weare combining our business meet-ing with a Forum for leaders inGreece who can help make a differ-ence in library services for the blindin their country. There are manymore initiatives, training opportuni-ties and working groups but not

enough libraries for the blind par-ticipate actively in IFLA for thesepurposes.

Over 80 libraries for the blind aremembers of the SLB and there arevacancies for six new members onthe Standing Committee. Togetherwith the FORCE Foundation SLB isseeking funding for one representa-tive each from Asia, Africa andLatin America for the next fouryears to ensure consistent represen-tation and success for initiatives inthose parts of the world. We workclosely with other Sections andDivisions within IFLA who coverareas such as UNESCO and theWorld Trade Organization on ourbehalf and establish the techniquesand standards which we apply butcould never afford to develop onour own.

Libraries are fundamental to litera-cy and culture in civil society. IFLASLB cannot solve the technologicaland resource gaps in developingcountries nor can we build success-ful libraries by donating a fewbooks or a few braille embossers."Old shoes for Bangladesh" are not

solutions for future success. Wemust move developing countriesinto the information age but 'Will'and 'Skill' are mighty forces forsuccess. IFLA through the SLBoffers the opportunity to set aframework in which future librariesfor the blind are interconnected,part of the global information net-work with the same set of aspira-tions for all its users regardless oftheir economic or other circum-stances. There are problems andstandards libraries for the blindneed to solve together but the WBUand IFLA must work together toadvocate and build good libraryservices. I close with an oldJamaican farewell, 'Walk Good MyFriends' but to this I add, let uswalk together with a better under-standing of how libraries work bestin literacy and culture.

1 Okinawa Charter on Global Informa-tion Society. http://www.g8kyushu-okinawa.go.jp/e/documents/it1.html

2 World Blind Union Brief to the 22ndCongress of the Universal PostalUnion, Beijing, China, September 8,1999

Rosemary Kavanagh


The Cairo Genizah: a Medieval Mediterranean Deposit and ... · Jewish religious philosophy against non-Jewish challenges. As far as their status in Islamic soci-ety was concerned,

Documents