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Minutes of twelfth EBLIDA annual Council meeting, Estoril, Portugal, 15 May 2004 |
These minutes were approved by the Council in Cork, Ireland, May 2005.
Financial Statement 2003
In October 2003, the Executive
Committee had been requested by its President that an Executive member gave
support to deal with financial matters. In doing so, Jan Ewout van der Putten,
President and Chair of the meeting, thanked EBLIDA Director for preparing the
necessary documents and gave the floor to Klaus-Peter Böttger, BDB (Germany),
Executive Committee member, who reported on the financial statement 2003 and the
draft budget 2004.
A Financial Statement 2003 was produced by Bouwer & Officier in cooperation with
the Director. K P Böttger referred to the annual activity report, p. 20-22 and
the EBLIDA Strategy (Item B Membership).
He briefly explained some of the important figures. Overall, the current
financial situation of EBLIDA is satisfactory despite a small loss of € 4.813,00
which has been deducted from the capital, the main reasons being the recruitment
of an administrative assistant by the “Uitzendbureau” and of new Director during
2003, expenses which will not occur during 2004. Although there is no major
concern, there has been a decrease in the Secretariat internal costs in
opposition to a small increase in external costs.
K P Böttger explained also that there had been a mistake when estimating costs
with regard to meetings in 2003. Despite income might have increased from EU
projects and higher reductions than those estimated, the final amount only
varies € 66, 00 on what it had originally been assessed.
He moved on to talk about membership differences; the subtle differs from the
estimate in € 170, 00 which means a difference of 0, 5%, although there is some
shifting between the different accounts. On the other hand, debts had also been
overestimated; this means a loss of € 3.115, 00 due to financial problems of one
French member which could not pay its fees according to Band D.
With regard to savings, EBLIDA had € 48. 235, 00 in 31 December 2003. Following
the rule that a company must have enough financial means so as to be able to
perform its duties during at least half a year, EBLIDA would be out of risk with
such amount.
There were no comments.
The Financial Statement 2003 was approved.
Draft Budget 2004 (Income/Expenditure)
Klaus-Peter Böttger pointed out
that the draft budget 2004 had been discussed at Executive meeting in October
2003 to conclude that it was rather difficult to approve a budget four or five
months after the year starts, however this was unavoidable if the EBLIDA working
schedule was to be pursued.
He explained that the draft budget for 2004 had been calculated on the basis of
final results from 2003. The Executive Committee really believed that the budget
would allow for EBLIDA to successfully continue with its work.
With regard to income, he mentioned that an increase of 4% had been agreed for
annual membership fees, together with an estimate of eight new associate members
as well as the possibility of holding an EBLIDA workshop on GATS. Written off
debts had also been taken into account. On the other hand, there was a French
Full member who has requested cancellation as of January 2005, thus there will
be less income from Full Membership.
With regard to expenditure, there will be no temporary employees during 2004;
however there is an estimated increase of 4% for salary costs and of 2% for
internal costs.
The Executive Committee had discussed the budget on 13 May and proposed to amend
Item 11 Promotion as follows: other promotion is estimated on € 3.000, 00 and
divided into two parts - € 1.000, 00 for membership campaign and € 2.000, 00 for
other promotion. This however does not affect the total expenditure (estimated
costs). He also referred to the estimated balance of € 1.478, 00 (Item 23),
including projects and clarified that there were positive results of income
expected from projects in 2004, therefore there was no need to touch EBLIDA
savings.
Klaus-Peter Böttger expressed his reliance towards EBLIDA Director and EBLIDA
Staff to pursue their duties and maintain housekeeping and financial accounts
appropriately.
EBLIDA President stated that both income and expenditure were available on the
website and referred to a small change on figures relating to membership
campaign, already explained by K P Böttger.
As regards income, Paul W J L Gerretsen stated that there was a difference
between the estimate figures given in 2003 and 2004 and asked why the
approximate figures for 2004 were so precisely estimated e.g. all estimate
figures for 2003 end by 0 contrary to those for 2004. EBLIDA Director explained
that the figures for 2004 were based on adding up numbers and probably more
accurate due to a 4% membership increase. K P Böttger added that Bouwer &
Officier had advised to calculate the internal costs for 2003 with an increase
of 2% for 2004; in consequence there were more accurate figures.
With regard to expenditure, Paul W J L Gerretsen referred to Item 14
Travel and expenses and asked whether EBLIDA President Travel expenses
were taken into account. J E van der Putten explained that, in most cases, when
either the President or any Executive Committee member travelled, their own
organisation was able to cover the costs; this being the reason for President
Travel costs to be reduced and/or removed. It would also alleviate EBLIDA costs
in general. He also pointed out that this was a weakness within the organisation
and further action should be taken into consideration in view of possible
members of EBLIDA Board with not as many financial resources in the future.
There were no further questions.
Jan Ewout van der Putten thanked Klaus-Peter Böttger for his report.
The Draft Budget 2004 was approved.
EBLIDA Director explained that the Executive
Committee met on 13 May and decided that EBLIDA President and Executive
Committee will contact the national associations in the new member states after
enlargement on 1 May 2004 so as to begin the membership campaign to bring them
on board. This is one the main targets of EBLIDA within the next coming years.
As regards key point (bullet) 1 “new members 2004”, EBLIDA
President stated that a letter would be drafted and sent out to all national
associations in the new member states to invite them to become EBLIDA members.
He notified that the next Executive Committee meeting is to take place in Prague
(Czech Republic), as part of an initiative to hold future meetings in new member
states for a three-four year period. This would be a great opportunity to
further develop cooperation and networking with the different associations in
new member states e.g. Executive Committee meetings, workshops, etc.
EBLIDA Director welcomed the new EBLIDA members, in particular those coming from
acceding countries. Complete details of new members are cited in the annual
activity report, p. 20-21. EBLIDA President invited the Council to present their
opinions/ideas on how to recruit new members.
Tommaso Giordano, Italian Library Association, suggested taking into
consideration the possibility of applying special reduced fees when recruiting
new members from acceding countries, at least during their first membership
year.
It was agreed to give further consideration to his proposal.
With regard to key point (bullet) 3 “annual raise membership fees for
2005”, K P Böttger referred to Item C Resources of the
EBLIDA draft strategy 2004 – 2007, p. 6 “The Membership fees will be
increased on an annual basis […]” to point out that EBLIDA main expenditure was
personnel costs and an option to balance such costs would be to increase
membership fees in accordance with the yearly Dutch inflation rate. It had been
thus decided to increase the membership fee 2005 up to 2.3% which is the current
inflation rate in The Netherlands.
EBLIDA President mentioned that personnel salaries would also be increased
according to the CAO – a Dutch ‘agreement’ used to estimate staff costs working
in public libraries in The Netherlands.
Regarding key point (bullet) 4 “EBLIDA members’ voting rights”,
Pernille Drost, Danish Union of Librarians, requested a clear and concise
clarification on what suggestions had been made by associate members. She
claimed it would be fairly interesting to hear what associate members would have
liked the Council to discuss before concluding. EBLIDA President explained that
EBLIDA was an association of associations, however there was a need to further
debate how EBLIDA members understand membership. Pernille Drost believed that
associate members should not have voting rights as this was a right given to
full members, in turn representing in most cases associate members at national
level. However she said that the debate should take place in order to answer
their request; it was not appropriate to incorporate the issue in the agenda and
then avoid the debate as this would not be satisfactory to those who requested a
response.
Jan Ewout van der Putten concluded that the issue had been explained and debated
at several occasions, however no call for a change to the Constitution had
arisen, hence it was rather clear that EBLIDA members did not wish for further
action. Pernille Drost claimed she was happy with such conclusion as long as it
had been agreed and concluded by the Council.
Liam Ronayne, Library Association of Ireland suggested that a representative of
each of the full members went back to their own organisation, explained that the
issue had been raised at Council and asked for their opinion on full membership.
This would mean a delay but he agreed that full members should have the voting
rights and associate members some benefits in terms of being well ahead on
European developments. He did not believe that associate members could expect
having voting rights in an organisation of the nature of EBLIDA but suggested it
might be an idea to get back to full members and have it discussed at national
level first, then bring it back to Council for further debate.
Jan Ewout van der Putten concluded that the issue will not be brought back into
debate until associate members had presented some suggestions on what their
needs are. It was not planned to change members’ voting rights in the
Constitution, therefore further action could only take place once associate
members had presented their views.
María Pía González Pereira explained that those associate members concerned had
requested the Council not to change the Constitution regarding voting rights,
but to consider the possibility for individual institutions and/or organisations
with significant financial means to become EBLIDA full members. According to the
EBLIDA Constitution, only national associations are entitled to become full
members; this would give them voting rights as full members.
There were no further comments.
Lobbying issues
Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
On 30 January 2003, the European Commission presented a proposal for a directive on the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights [COM (2003)0046
] aimed at effectively combating counterfeiting and piracy. EBLIDA issued a position paper in August 2003. The Directive on the enforcement of intellectual and industrial property rights e.g. copyright and related rights, designs, patents and trademarks was adopted in April 2004.
Professional Qualifications
The creation of the EBLIDA Working
Group on Professional Education was decided by the
EBLIDA Executive Committee in The
Hague in October 2003. The current members of the working group are Sue Brown,
Chair, CILIP (UK), Britt-Marie Häggström, DIK (Sweden), Pedro Hípola, FESABID
(Spain), Tove Pemmer Saetre, Bergen University College (Norway), Eloy Rodrigues,
BAD (Portugal), Kristina Virtanen, Helsinki City Library (Finland) and María Pía
González Pereira, Director EBLIDA.
EBLIDA held a
seminar on Libraries, Archives and Information sectors facing the European
Higher Education Area on 14 May. On 18 May, the Council reached political
agreement by qualified majority (with Germany and Greece voting against) on the
proposal for a Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications. Once
formally adopted, the text will be submitted to the European Parliament for
second reading.
Click
here for further information on professional
qualifications.
Copyright Directive: Implementation status
The Directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the Information Society was adopted in May 2001. Member States agreed to implement before 22 December 2002. Greece and Denmark met the December 2002 implementation deadline. Italy and Austria implemented the Directive in April and June 2003 respectively. In July 2003, the Commission sent reasoned opinions to Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the UK which are still in the course of implementation. Click here for further information on copyright.
Public Lending Right: EBLIDA Statement 2004
After the European Commission opened in January infringement procedures against six member states over public lending rights and commercial rental rights, EBLIDA issued a statement in March 2004, drafted in cooperation with the EBLIDA Copyright Expert Group, in which it called for exemptions to be respected in those countries where they are already applied to cultural and educational reasons.
María Pía González Pereira invited those who were interested in having further information on these issues to contact the EBLIDA Secretariat.
Winnie Vitzansky, Danish Library
Association, briefed the Council on WSIS, the World Summit on the Information
Society and highlighted that 2003 had been a very important year for global
lobbying for libraries and their role in the Information Society (IS). She
explained that IFLA together with national library associations had for the
first time joined forces and managed to make an impact on WSIS, a UN initiative,
in cooperation with ITU (International Telecommunications Union). The main goal
of WSIS is to transform the information age into an information society by
bridging the growing gap between rich and poor.
The Geneva Summit 2003 is to be followed in Tunis in November 2005. A Geneva
declaration and action plan will be further developed before final adoption in
Tunis. IFLA and national associations made a formal statement to reflect the
importance of libraries, archives and museums in the global knowledge society. A
number of national/international initiatives are taking place (see
IFLA).
Winnie Vitzansky briefly commented on the main lessons learnt during the
lobbying process:
IFLA and national library associations need to bring together any ongoing actions to allow for lobbying actions be carried out globally;
It is necessary to persuade national representatives and policy-makers to pay more attention to the role of libraries and libraries’ needs;
There is a need, both at national and international level, to share common values and interests, exchange views and best practice and work closely in partnerships. Winnie Vitzansky mentioned alliances created in Denmark amongst e.g. United Nations, Danish Institute for Human Rights and several players working with third countries;
A combined global lobbying campaign should be set up as soon as possible.
For WSIS, libraries started to
campaign rather late. The IFLA final statement came to life once the EU had
already finalised its position paper on WSIS, which made the national lobbying
actions a rather difficult process. The 2005 Summit is under preparation. As
part of its lobbying actions, IFLA is expected to draw up more statements during
the summer. Winnie Vitzansky urged all national library associations to find out
who will be the negotiators, make contact with them, and try to cooperate in
view of approaching their governments once an IFLA statement was finalised and
available. She also urged EBLIDA to follow up similar actions on behalf of its
members at EU level.
Referring to the words of Ms Kay Raseroka, IFLA President Winnie Vitzansky
believed that it is an issue worth fighting for to guarantee that people across
the globe have the information they need for life, prosperity and freedom.
Grethe Rostbøll, Danish Library Association asked if the Civil Society
Declaration had also been signed by IFLA and whether there had been any
reactions to it. Winnie Vitzansky explained that although it had been signed, it
has not yet been debated. Marian Koren, Vereniging van Openbare Bibliotheken,
The Netherlands and member of the IFLA Governing Board said that a follow-up
document had been drawn up including the Civil Society Declaration, what has
been done so far and the next steps e.g. some key action points to be followed
up. This document will be further discussed by the IFLA Governing Board in
August this year.
Winnie Vitzansky said that once debate has taken place, IFLA was expected to
approach national library associations and ask them to react. Marian Koren noted
that the working papers should be prepared in good time; however some delay in
drafting papers may occur due to some recent changes at the IFLA MLA Section and
Secretariat.
Jan Ewout van der Putten asked Council members to raise the issue at their
associations and to take this information into account for institutions to keep
as updated as possible.
Cultural Industries
Britt M Häggström, DIK, Sweden
briefed the Council on cultural industries. She explained that what it started
as cultural industries and then creative industries had already been discussed
at Council meeting in Uppsala in 2003 (see Item 2 cultural heritage and
culture 2006, 10 May 2003).
On 9 April 2003, Commissioner Viviane Reding wrote to the President of the
European Social Committee (ESC) to request that an exploratory opinion be drawn
up on Europe's creative industries. The ESC set up a working group in autumn
2003 and Britt M Häggström, EBLIDA former President and Executive member was
invited to become a member. She explained the working group consisted of diverse
players who talked about culture. Despite many differences and opinions, the
group agreed on some conclusions:
Creative industries do not aim at creating a common European cultural policy but
at trying to use European culture and make the most of European cultural
diversity. Culture and cultural industries contribute to economic and social
growth, while cultural diversity is a forceful power for the EU. Europe's
cultural industries are important for wealth and employment creation. Also
stressed was the issue of access for all to culture and cultural heritage.
The Culture Parliamentary Committee adopted the own-initiative report by Myrsini
Zorba on cultural industries in July 2003; the report names the various cultural
industries including museums and libraries. In turn, The ESC adopted on 28
January 2004 a key exploratory opinion on Europe's cultural industries,
deploring the weakness of the budgetary provision for actions that support
culture and, by extension, the creative industries. In its opinion, the ESC
focuses on specific issues which together are considered to be of particular
relevance for future Community action. Britt M Häggström was very satisfied with
the report drafted by the ESC Rapporteur, M Rodriguez Garcia-Caro (Spain) which
presents a very good view on creative industries as well as on access to culture
providers. The ESC opinion brings in libraries and museums as cultural
institutions.
Britt-Marie Häggström pointed out that if any follow-up document after this
report is drawn up, it will bring an opportunity for EBLIDA to create a new
working group on culture so as to follow up any developments once the new
Commission and Parliament begin their duties after European elections.
Although the report is ‘on hold’ at the moment, it is an opportunity for
libraries, archives and museums to get financial means as cultural institutions
who play an important role as culture providers.
She passed on a non-paper to Council delegates and asked them to keep an eye on
any further developments at national level as well as trying to influence their
European representatives to make sure culture and cultural institutions were
taken into account when developing cultural policies and funding.
There were no comments.
Monitoring issues
Euro Info Points
Marian Koren
briefed the Council on Euro Info Points; one of the different EU means to inform
the general public about EU activities. She explained that Info Point Europe
signed in 2003 a contract with the European Commission and received € 20.000 as
well as access to training, databases, resources and exchange of best practice.
The Commission however found out that the legal framework to provide for such
funding was no longer sufficient. A contract cannot last more than three years.
It was thus decided that such funding would no longer be available as of 2004.
Some EBLIDA members were alerted and EBLIDA took action and sent out a letter to
the European Commission (see Annex 7 of
annual activity
report).
A new communication was issued by the Commission on 20 April 2004 which
addresses the new situation after enlargement; it also presents an evaluation of
current networks e.g. Carrefour. The new proposal presents two ways of
organising Info Points: a new network for EU member states and central
governments to be responsible in new acceding countries.
Info Points have representatives in every member state, resources in their own
languages; however they offer rather spontaneous information.
Marian Koren urged EBLIDA to express concern and repeat what it was already
explained in the letter to the European Commission that “existing library
networks should be used and included as information centres” as potential
partners. She invited EBLIDA members to think about any options and make efforts
to bring Info Points into the library. She mentioned that EU information centres
already exist in certain new member states and proposed that national library
associations in new member states as well as EBLIDA send out a letter to
highlight these issues.
It was agreed to take further action and send out a letter supporting libraries
as providers ‘carriers’.
There were no comments.
Espaco Memória dos Exílios
EBLIDA
President gave the floor to A Pina Falcâo, BAD, Portugal who thanked the
municipality of Cascais for holding the EBLIDA meeting at Espaco Memória dos
Exílios, a library dedicated to the memory of exiles who came to this region
during the civil war in Spain and the World War II; many people from different
countries and social conditions.
He talked about a famous Portuguese diplomat, Aristides Sousa Mendes
(1885-1954), a hero for many who fought against his own government for the Jews
situation in the years previous to World War II. Salazar (the Portuguese fascist
dictator) gave Sousa Mendes the consulate of Bordeaux in France. Salazar managed
to maintain Portugal's neutrality in the war, but his own personal opinions
favoured Hitler. The library, which holds a collection of around 1,000 books, is
dedicated to those who exiled.
Library staff distributed catalogues of the library (English version) for
Council delegates.
International Council on Archives
Berndt Fredriksson, Swedish Association of Archivists took the floor to inform the Council on ICA, the International Council on Archives.
Berndt
Fredriksson highlighted that for the purpose of EBLIDA to broaden and deepen its
cooperation with archives, it is essential to have closer relationship with
ICA. He noted however that ICA has not been so
reluctant concerning EBLIDA in the last years. He talked about his predecessor
in EBLIDA Executive Committee, former Director of the Swedish National Archives
and reminded EBLIDA on how important it was for ICA to develop close cooperation
with EBLIDA.
ICA is strongly dominated by archive institutions, especially national archives.
Berndt Fredriksson believed that interaction would be better developed if
directed in particular to SPA, the ICA Section of Records Management and
Archival Professional Associations which aims at promoting cooperation between
professional archival associations and cooperative activities within
professional communities. He arranged a meeting with this section which was held
in Paris in March 2004. During the meeting, cooperation with EBLIDA was
discussed for over three hours; three major points were at debate:
Lobbying for the public and/or third parties requires strong cooperation between libraries and archive, but with consciousness as it is feared that librarians take over the role of archivists.
There is a strong desire to formulate standards for qualifications and professional education. On this regard, Berndt Fredriksson mentioned that a lot was happening since there are many different standards in different countries and regretted that the seminar held on Friday morning on professional qualifications did not fully take archivists into consideration.
Rules of disposal (destroying information, personal data) were the demanding task. He referred to the European Data Protection directive, which calls for personal data to be destroyed as soon as possible resulting fatal to significant research on individual cases. It happens also in third countries. Despite being currently reviewed, disposal of sensitive data, should seriously be taken into account and followed up.
Berndt
Fredriksson believed that work based on concrete issues of common interest will
make cooperation a success. Further debate on what issues EBLIDA should
concentrate on will take place at the next Executive Committee meeting.
Berndt Fredriksson stated that the SPA Section is to be re-elected during an
international congress on archives to
be held in Vienna (Austria) in August. Berndt Fredriksson has been invited to
become a member of the section and nominated by his association; results however
will not be announced until August.
Britt-Marie Häggström asked whether it was sufficient to be nominated by his
organisation or it would be necessary for other organisations to support his
nomination. Berndt Fredriksson explained that the rules are that members of SPA
must be members of ICA in accordance with Article 3 of the ICA Constitution.
Member associations may nominate candidates for election to the Steering
Committee and take part in their election. He would confirm whether support from
other organisations would be required and notify EBLIDA for further support if
necessary.
There were no further comments.
EBLIDA Director had been
requested by some members to provide further details on CALIMERA, Cultural
Applications: Local Institutions Mediating Electronic resources Access (see
annual activity
report, p. 16-17). CALIMERA is a European Commission funded Coordinating
Action, submitted under the 'Technology-enhanced learning and access to
cultural heritage' call, which started in December 2003.
CALIMERA aims at identifying a research agenda for local cultural institutions
(libraries, archives and museums). The European Commission is very concerned
about cooperation among cultural institutions. These institutions are facing
research and technological needs when providing services to their citizens.
EBLIDA is part of the CALIMERA Management Board and leads work package 4 which
concentrates on dissemination, networking and training. So far one kick-off
meeting has taken place in Lisbon in December 2003; a second meeting for all
partners and country coordinators (briefing) was held in Brussels in January
this year. EBLIDA is also responsible for issuing the CALIMERA newsletter which
will be published every three months to disseminate project information.
Disa Svenskberg, Finnish-Swedish Library Association asked if the newsletter
would be available on the website. EBLIDA Director said that the newsletter will
be available on the website but also disseminated via email to the CALIMERA
mailing list.
With regard to finances, EBLIDA has a budget of € 26,408. An advanced payment of
€ 10,000 was received in May. EBLIDA negotiated with the European Commission to
receive advanced payments and present cost claims every six months as to avoid
cash flows.
María Pía González Pereira invited members to contact the EBLIDA Secretariat for
further information or check out the CALIMERA website.
There were no further comments.
The minutes were approved.
There were no comments.
There were no comments.
The minutes were approved.
14. Any other business
Marc Storms, VVBAD (Belgium) suggested to take
European elections as an opportunity to present challenges faced by libraries to
representatives at national level and asked EBLIDA to develop a common procedure
to be followed up by all national associations when making contact with new
elected Parliament; a concerted action e.g. working paper aimed at highlighting
the main topics and issues at European level which might affect the information
sector would be advantageous.
EBLIDA President suggested that a working paper should be adopted on time before
European elections. He also congratulated the Flemish Community of Belgium for
its successful lobbying at national level and wished for the same working
procedures at EBLIDA level.
Paul W J L Gerretsen, Leiden University Library (Netherlands) mentioned the
Leiden Declaration, the outcome of a workshop attended by the Royal Library and
the universities of Amsterdam, Leiden and Oxford amongst others. The Leiden
Declaration aims at highlighting the important role of libraries in giving
access to the academic cultural heritage for educational purposes. He said the
Declaration will be forwarded to EBLIDA once it has been finalised and called
for EBLIDA members to support it. EBLIDA President responded that the Leiden
Declaration would be discussed at the next Executive Committee meeting, if
finalised.
Marian Koren referred back to the Council meeting in Uppsala in 2003 to insist
that national associations as well as EBLIDA as a whole should be more proactive
when it comes to Presidencies and Commission work programmes. She believed
EBLIDA should try to include library-related issues of interest into the EU work
programmes as well as informing EBLIDA members about learning outcomes and
follow-up actions so such issues can be put forward onto the next Presidency.
She considered that EBLIDA had missed this opportunity in the past and had not
taken into account when drafting the strategy and work programme. She called for
the Executive Committee to include it in its next agenda for further debate.
Jan Ewout van der Putten asked Marian Koren to bring the issue before the
Executive Committee in view of preparing the work programme 2005; he insisted
however that this would be better approached at national level and pointed out
that EBLIDA lobby cannot succeed if lobbying actions at national level are not
further developed.
Tommaso Giordano, AIB (Italy) mentioned that further cooperation with IFLA would
be beneficial at a time when IFLA Secretary General had shown interest in
meeting with EBLIDA Director for dialogue. He also said that more effort should
be put into working with other related organisations as to try developing
initiatives of common interest to the information sector as well as further
involving such organisations into EBLIDA work. He suggested organising a seminar
on a specific subject to involve such players; this could be held in parallel
with the EBLIDA Council meeting as an opportunity to create synergies and
alliances. EBLIDA President welcomed his proposal.
Saara Ihamäki, Finnish Library Association spoke, on behalf of her association and President, about the new Constitutional Treaty for Europe. She mentioned that some NGOs, including the Finnish Library Association, had drafted a position paper to call on the Council to amend some articles; the main concern being that cultural services should be voted under unanimity rather than QMV
(Qualified Majority Voting). She invited interested members to contact the Finnish Library Association for further details.
EBLIDA President explained that the Finnish Library Association had warned
EBLIDA about certain articles of the draft EU Treaty which could harm the future
of library-related services. The issue had been discussed by the Executive
Committee who forwarded to the WTO Group to follow up. He also said that some
national associations in Scandinavian countries were taken actions and invited
the Council to contact the EBLIDA Secretariat for further information. He stated
that if more members were interested, the issue could be taken up and followed
via the EBLIDA website; he regretted however that discussion could not take
place at Council due to lack of information (the position paper was not
available) but was happy to report back on the issue.
EU leaders reached agreement on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for
Europe at the European Council in Brussels on 17 and 18 June 2004.
Britt-Marie Häggström asked Toby Bainton, SCONUL (UK) whether it was possible for the WTO Group to look into the connection between constitutional matters and professional qualifications and GATS as to have a clear distinction among these issues. Toby Bainton welcomed the question and said that it would be further investigated. EBLIDA President said that EBLIDA members would be further informed once the WTO Group had concluded its analysis.
Jan Ewout van der Putten
invited Council members to bring in any ideas and/or suggestions to be
considered in view of preparing the next Council meeting.
Pernille Drost expressed her satisfaction as a Council delegate for the first
time but suggested to allow for more involvement in the way that delegates were
given not only the agenda but also a clear picture of what is to be discussed
and the reason for such discussion to be held e.g. membership voting rights. She
proposed to hold the meeting in two different parts: one day to introduce the
items of agenda and discussion and a second day to allow for conclusions and
final decisions to be agreed upon. This would ease the process of having to
conclude on an item without the possibility as a whole of understanding the
issue at debate. She believed there was no time to either understand the issues
on the agenda or further discuss/exchange views on them.
Françoise Danset, ADBDP (France) agreed with Pernille Drost and claimed that,
although all papers distributed prior to the meetings were nicely prepared and
presented, there was not enough time to understand, to debate and conclude on
the items of agenda, especially for new participants. She suggested having more
concise information on those topics of particular interest but rather complex to
be argued in order to have a clear vision on what is to be achieved at debate.
Saara Ihamäki also agreed and suggested to use concrete examples to make the
item easier to identify and understand.
Winnie Vitzansky also agreed and asked the Executive Committee to consider how
these meetings can be used to interact, exchange information and best practice
so as to have a better view of what has to be followed up and what has to be
achieved. What has been done is already described in the annual activity report;
thus the meetings should rather focus on follow-up actions; she believed that
increasing awareness and cooperation were perfect tools to develop follow-up
plans that would guarantee fine results.
Thordis Thórarinsdóttir, Icelandic Library and Information Science Association
suggested creating small round tables/working parties for specific areas under
discussion during Council meetings to bring participants to interact, better
understand the subject and work closely together; final outcomes could then be
presented as a whole.
Jan Ewout van der Putten and María Pía González Pereira very much welcomed these
comments and thanked the Council for its participation. Comments will be very
useful in view of preparing future meetings.
EBLIDA President gave the floor to Liam Ronayne, Library Association of Ireland,
who invited EBLIDA, on behalf of his organisation, to hold the thirteenth
Council meeting in Cork, European Capital of Culture in 2005, with the
University of Cork as a possible location. This would be the second time that
the Library Association of Ireland hosts the EBLIDA Council.
The next Council meeting will be held on 13 and 14 May 2005. On behalf of his
association and staff, Liam Ronayne said they would be delighted to cooperate
and make possible whatever the Executive and/or Council aims to achieve at the
meeting. He concluded looking forward to welcoming members to Ireland.
EBLIDA President thanked the Municipality of
Cascais, BAD and Antonio Pina Falcâo for hosting the meeting and organising the
social events. He also thanked delegates for their participation and warmly
welcomed their comments on how to bring more active cooperation into place.
Speakers at the seminar held on Friday morning were also thanked.
Klaus-Peter Böttger thanked the EBLIDA Secretariat and EBLIDA Director in
particular for arranging the meeting.
The meeting was closed at 13h00.
List of Participants
NAME |
ORGANISATION |
COUNTRY |
| Gerald Leitner | BVÖ, Austrian Library Association | Austria |
| Christa Mueller | Austrian Association of Librarians | Austria |
| Marc Storms | VVBAD, Flemish Association for Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres | Belgium |
| Claude Janssens | La Médiathèque de la Communauté Française | Belgium |
| Aleksandra Horvat | Croatian Library Association | Croatia |
| Hanne Pedersen | HK/STAT Denmark | Denmark |
| C Rasmussen | HK Kommunal | Denmark |
| Jens Lethan | HK/STAT Denmark | Denmark |
| Grethe Rostbøll | Danish Library Association | Denmark |
| M Skovgaard | HK Kommunal | Denmark |
| Finn Vester | Danish Library Association | Denmark |
| W Vitzansky | Danish Library Association | Denmark |
| J Vestergaard | HK/STAT Denmark | Denmark |
| Pernille Drost | Bibliotekarforbundet (Danish Union of Librarians) | Denmark |
| Saara Ihamäki | Finnish Library Association | Finland |
| R Metsakoivu | Finnish Association for Information Professionals | Finland |
| Tuula Ruhanen | Finnish Research Library Association | Finland |
| Disa Svenskberg | Finnish-Swedish Library Association | Finland |
| Hervé Colinmaire | ADBU | France |
| Gérard Briand | ABF, French Association of Librarians | France |
| Françoise Danset | ADBDP, Association of Directors of Regional Libraries | France |
| K Peter Böttger | BDB, Organisation of German Library Associations | Germany |
| Ilona Fonyo | Budapest University of Technology & Economics | Hungary |
| Livia Vasas | Association of Hungarian Librarians | Hungary |
| T Thórarinsdóttir | Information, Icelandic Library and Information Science Association | Iceland |
| Liam Ronayne | Library Association of Ireland | Ireland |
| T Giordano | AIB, Italian Library Association | Italy |
| Paul W Gerretsen | University Library Leiden | Netherlands |
| MP González Pereira | EBLIDA | Netherlands |
| Marian Koren | VOB, Netherlands Public Library Association | Netherlands |
| Carmen Morlon | EBLIDA | Netherlands |
| J E van der Putten | VOB, Netherlands Public Library Association | Netherlands |
| Madeleine Vrielink | EBLIDA | Netherlands |
| Ragnar Audunson | EUCLID | Norway |
| Maria José Moura | IPLB, Instituto Português do Livro e das Bibliotecas | Portugal |
| António J Pina Falcâo | BAD, Association of Portuguese Librarians, Archivists and Documentalists | Portugal |
| Jorge M Resende | Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian- Biblioteca de Arte | Portugal |
| Asumpció Estivill | Barcelona University | Spain |
| Pedro Hípola | FESABID | Spain |
| ML Martínez Conde | Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport | Spain |
| Olga Saíz | FESABID | Spain |
| Berndt Fredriksson | Swedish Association of Archivists | Sweden |
| Britt M Häggström | DIK | Sweden |
| Toby Bainton | SCONUL | UK |
Created: 15 December 2004
Last updated: 14 March 2006