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CAUL news - corrections

The editors wish to advise that the national borrowing scheme referred to in Helen Hayes' News from CAUL article in the June issue will not completely free - some universities in the ACT and NSW have insisted on retaining a joining fee.

Also, CAUL has had its own domain name for some time; the URL is http://www.caul.edu.au

Now it's Royal Swets & Zeitlinger

Swets & Zeitlinger are obviously pleased to announce that the company has been accorded 'Royal' status on its one hundredth birthday. For a Dutch company to receive the designation of 'royal', it must meet such criteria as being in existence for at least 100 years, having a good reputation and being well known nationally.

The Queen of the Netherlands' Royal Commissioner for South Holland, Jan Franssen, recently presented a certificate of royal decree to Pieter Rustenburg, chairman of the Board of Directors for Swets & Zeitlinger Holding.

The company was founded in September 1901 when Adriaan Swets and Heinrich Zeitlinger opened a bookshop in Amsterdam specialising in both new and antiquarian scientific books. Swets & Zeitlinger quickly became world renowned as a library supply company, and in the 1930s a division was added dealing with backsets of journals. Not long afterwards, Swets & Zeitlinger grew from being solely a bookshop into a supplier of journal subscriptions, the success of which necessitated a division dedicated entirely to managing this aspect of their business.

Swets & Zeitlinger is a global publishing and information group that operates in 20 countries with a staff of nearly 1200 employees. Swets & Zeitlinger is the world's largest distributor and service provider of scientific and professional information, with a focus on the academic and business markets. Their professional services, which comprise the provision and management of both print and electronic information, are spread across six divisions: Swets Backsets Service, Swets Blackwell, Swets Farrington Document Systems, Swets Publisher Services, Swets Test International and Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers.

Swets Blackwell launches SwetsWise

Swets Blackwell, one of the world's largest providers of subscription and information management solutions, is proud to announce the launch of SwetsWise, their new web-based subscription service. SwetsWise will provide corporate users and information specialists with an exceptional online order and subscription management tool, together with back-end support via an experienced customer service network. The service became available in early July, following its successful preview at the 2001 Special Library Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas in June.

Alex Byrne elected to the Governing Board of IFLA

In the elections for the new Governing Board, the following candidates were successful: Alex Byrne (Australia), Derek Law (UK), Sissel Nilsen (Norway), Ana Maria Zimmerman (Argentina), Jianzhong Wu (China), Sally McCallum (USA) and Ellen Tise (South Africa). They will serve a two-year term on the Governing Board, beginning at the end of the Boston conference in August. This was also the first time that members of IFLA's primary board were elected by postal ballot under the new Statutes.

Alex Byrne has served for four years as chair of IFLA's Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) committee. Derek Law has served for four years as IFLA's treasurer. Both Sally McCallum and Sissel Nilsen have previously served as chairs of the Profession Board. Alex Byrne, Ellen Tise, Jianzhong Wu and Ana Maria Zimmerman will be serving on IFLA's primary board for the first time.

At the same time, Kay Raseroka, director of Library Services at the University of Botswana, has been voted president-elect by IFLA members. She will succeed Christine Deschamps as president in August for a two-year term.

Australians can now delve into corporate past

The TransData Corporation announced today that it is donating its vast collection of over 30 000 Australian public company annual reports to the National Library.

The donation will assist the National Library to provide a comprehensive annual reports collection to the public. According to Meredith Batten, national library serials manager, "the collection will be useful to many people including independent researchers, company employees, business and political journalists, economists, accountants and students".

The agreement between the two organisations involves cataloguing and preserving of the collection by the National Library after TransData Corporation has digitised their collection. Readers will be able to access the physical reports in the National Library's public reading room.

Both parties will benefit from the agreement. The Library will have an enlarged collection of public reports many dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. The advantage for TransData Corporation is the provision of safe and secure storage for their documents while making them available to the public for research and academic studies.

Meredith Batten said 'the National Library of Australia is pleased to take over the reins of preserving TransData Corporation's annual reports collection. Their donation will enhance our existing collection.'

The Library has received the first consignment of 900 annual reports for the years 1999 to 2000.

James Harker-Mortlock, managing director of TransData Corporation, said 'Australia's colourful corporate history, which is a work of art in progress, is to be preserved for teaching future generations of Australians and we are pleased to donate our collection to the National Library of Australia.'

Currently, the library is organising and cataloguing the annual reports presented to the National Library. The reports will be made available to the public shortly.

Media Enquiries: Stacey Ward, communication and marketing, National Library of Australia, telephone 02 6262 1634, e-mail sward@nla.gov.au.

Terrorism, the internet and free access to information

The recent terrorist attacks on New York and Washington shocked and appalled librarians and information professionals around the world. The loss of life and destruction of facilities, including 9- libraries, horrify us. IFLA joins with our library colleagues and the people of the world in mourning the innocent victims and extend our deepest sympathy and support to the families and friends of victims, the survivors and others who have suffered.

Calls to restrict the core human rights to freedom of expression and free access to information are reported in the wake of these tragic events. It has been suggested that some of the suspected hijackers may have communicated with each other by using internet services at public libraries. Terrorists are alleged to have used the World Wide Web to help plan their outrages. Such implications are being used to justify restrictions on free speech and freedom of information and increased surveillance.

But we have not heard the other side of the story. Use of internet news sites doubled during the week after the attacks. Families and friends used e-mail to check on the safety of their loved ones - across city and across the world. Website operators responded to the thirst for news by bolstering their servers and increasing the frequency of updates. The result was that people throughout the world used websites and streaming audio and video feeds to get up to the minute information on the events and their aftermath.

This demonstrates the force of the ideal of free access to information and freedom of expression. It may be misused but it strengthens the peoples of the world.

The campaign against terrorism is to won. A vital strategy is to safeguard the best access to information. Barriers to the free flow of information should be removed, especially those that promote inequality, poverty and despair.

The chair of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee, Alex Byrne, said:

We should build respect and understanding between the diverse cultures of the world. We should help construct communities where people of different backgrounds can live together as neighbours. Freedom is something for which we must fight, not by limiting it but by strengthening it.

The commitment to intellectual freedom is a core responsibility for the library and information profession worldwide. Libraries have a responsibility to guarantee and facilitate access to expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity. To this end, libraries provide access without fear or favour. That openness is a safeguard of our freedoms. It cannot be limited without endangering those freedoms.

IFLA proclaims that the libraries and information profession of the world will respond to these tragic events by redoubling our efforts to see free access to Information and freedom of expression worldwide.

New IFLA Guidelines

Licensing principles
The worldwide marketplace for all types of electronic information resources is developing rapidly as publishers and vendors creating electronic information seek to attract libraries of all types (academic, public, national, national and special) as their customers. Today, libraries around the world continue in their role as mediators between users and producers of information and cultural expression. This role persists even more energetically, it appears, for electronic information than for print.

Recently IFLA's Executive and Professional Boards approved a set of Licensing Principles which should prevail in the contractual relationship and written contracts between libraries and information providers. Aspects that have been touched upon by these principles include: the law, access, usage and users, and pricing.

The text of the IFLA Licensing Principles is available on IFLANET at http://www.ifla.org/V/ebpb/copy.htm

International lending and document delivery
The shared use of individual library collections is a necessary element of international co-operation by libraries. Just as no library can be self-sufficient in meeting all the information needs of its users, so no country can be self-sufficient. The supply of loans and copies between libraries in differing countries is a valuable and necessary part of the process of Interlibrary Lending (ILL).

Recently IFLA's Professional Board approved a completely new set of principles and guidelines for International Lending and Document Delivery. These were prepared in a close co-operation between the IFLA Office for International Lending and the IFLA Section on Document Delivery and Interlending.

These principles and guidelines can be found on IFLANET at http://www.ifla.org/VI/2/p3/ildd.htm

Librarians and publishers working to a common agenda

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the International Publishers' Association (IPA) have established a joint steering group to work together on matters of common interest.

The group has now met three times. It has agreed upon the following mission statement:

Recognising that publishers and libraries share the common objective of the transmission of information from the author to the end-user, the mission of this Group is to improve library/publisher relations throughout the world through cooperative initiatives and ongoing dialogue and communication for the mutual benefit of the two communities. As technological developments are changing the way both communities operate, it is important to identify and promote areas of synergy and discuss ways to address divergences.

The Group of eight members is co-chaired by Ingrid Parent, member of IFLA's Executive Board and Herman P Spruijt, member of IPA's Executive Committee.