Session Number
10
Description
A major distinction must be made between communication/cooperation on the national or regional level and that on the international level. There are ot her barriers to be confronted and they are mainly of a technical, economie/poli tieal and cultural character.
The paper is restricted to IFLA's role in aiding international library communication.
IFLA's UBC programme must be said to constitute an important factor to remove technical barriers and four major thrusts can be mentioned: ISBD's standardization of forms of headings, the standardization of machine-readable bibliographie records and the improvement of national bibliographies.
Standardized communication formates have increased the awareness of the existence of a publication and where it is held. Barriers of an economic or political character to undermine these technical achievements faU within the scope of IFLA's programme of Universal Availability of Publications. To work towards its objective the programme aims to improve availability at aU levels, from the local to the international, and at all stages, from the publication of new material to the retention of last copies. At a pragmatic level solutions to the political problems of communication depend on finding a balance between the interest of the State and the right of access to information.
Although many countries have internal copyright agreements the difficulties in legislating copyright for transborder data flow must be resolved. IFLA has begun an International Study of Copyright of Bibliographie Records in Machine-readable Form. The first phase will be to elucidate the problems encountered by national bibliographical agencies today in their exchange of such information.
A second study is one on Copyright of Materials for the Handicapped. This will provide a survey of library serviee to such groups, both existing and desirable.
With regard to cultural barriers the language barrier perhaps presents the greatest obstacle to international communication and IFLA is responding positively to request for permission to translate or adapt its publications. All efforts are made to respect fully the national practice with regard to standards and norms composed for developing countries. The national bibliographical agencies should, however, undertake the responsibility for preparing the comprehensive bibliographie records of its national imprint. The acceptance and use of standards for libraries will have greater impact if these standards are promoted by local leaders in the library community. In this way the seminars held by IFLA and co-sponsored by Unesco to discuss topics as library education programmes and resource sharing of libraries can help remove communication barriers.
Communication between libraries should also be related to the various needs of different communities within a country, needs that ought not to be overlooked in developing a global information system. Greater attention should therefore also be paid to User Research.
IFLA's Role in Aiding Communication Between Libraries
A major distinction must be made between communication/cooperation on the national or regional level and that on the international level. There are ot her barriers to be confronted and they are mainly of a technical, economie/poli tieal and cultural character.
The paper is restricted to IFLA's role in aiding international library communication.
IFLA's UBC programme must be said to constitute an important factor to remove technical barriers and four major thrusts can be mentioned: ISBD's standardization of forms of headings, the standardization of machine-readable bibliographie records and the improvement of national bibliographies.
Standardized communication formates have increased the awareness of the existence of a publication and where it is held. Barriers of an economic or political character to undermine these technical achievements faU within the scope of IFLA's programme of Universal Availability of Publications. To work towards its objective the programme aims to improve availability at aU levels, from the local to the international, and at all stages, from the publication of new material to the retention of last copies. At a pragmatic level solutions to the political problems of communication depend on finding a balance between the interest of the State and the right of access to information.
Although many countries have internal copyright agreements the difficulties in legislating copyright for transborder data flow must be resolved. IFLA has begun an International Study of Copyright of Bibliographie Records in Machine-readable Form. The first phase will be to elucidate the problems encountered by national bibliographical agencies today in their exchange of such information.
A second study is one on Copyright of Materials for the Handicapped. This will provide a survey of library serviee to such groups, both existing and desirable.
With regard to cultural barriers the language barrier perhaps presents the greatest obstacle to international communication and IFLA is responding positively to request for permission to translate or adapt its publications. All efforts are made to respect fully the national practice with regard to standards and norms composed for developing countries. The national bibliographical agencies should, however, undertake the responsibility for preparing the comprehensive bibliographie records of its national imprint. The acceptance and use of standards for libraries will have greater impact if these standards are promoted by local leaders in the library community. In this way the seminars held by IFLA and co-sponsored by Unesco to discuss topics as library education programmes and resource sharing of libraries can help remove communication barriers.
Communication between libraries should also be related to the various needs of different communities within a country, needs that ought not to be overlooked in developing a global information system. Greater attention should therefore also be paid to User Research.