6.    EBLIDA Strategic Communication

Moved to the Saturday agenda.

There were no changes in relation to the budget proposal 2007 discussed at the EC Meeting in Budapest. Andrew Cranfield noted that the budget for 2007 operates with a deficit of 9.300 EURO.

8.    Update Annual Work Plan

The Director gave a brief update on the Annual Work Plan. The President noted, under cooperation with other organisations, that it might be worthwhile looking into more cooperation with the booksellers and the Federation of European Booksellers (FEB). Barbara Lison noted that in some countries e.g. Germany, the booksellers and the publishers are very much interlinked.

The Director will arrange a new meeting with FEB to discuss issues of common interest.

9.    Updates on EBLIDA lobbying activities and monitoring issues

Prior to the meeting, the three expert groups - CEG, PEG and Trade and Libraries Group - had all submitted short written reports of activities. Finn Vester noted that it is very useful to have these reports in written form ahead of the meetings.

The Director informed the EC that the Trade and Libraries Group will hold its next meeting in Copenhagen on the 12^th and 13^th of December. The issue of merging the Trade & Libraries Group and the Copyright Expert Group was discussed. Toby Bainton remarked that, in his opinion this was not a good idea, as the discussions would become too broad. At the meeting in Copenhagen the exact nature of the Trade and Libraries Group’s remit will be discussed.

Discussion of the PEG proposal was postponed till Saturday. 

10.    EBLIDA Workshop on EU legislation and Libraries

No comments.

The Director suggested that a working group be established to discuss the strategy for 2007-2010. This was approved by the EC. The Working Group will consist of the President, the Director, Toby Bainton, Jill Martin and Gerald Leitner. The Working Group will meet in London on the 4^th and 5^th December 2006 at the offices of SCONUL.

Point postponed till Saturday.

13.    Preparation for EC Meeting in March 2007

The EC meeting will be held on the 9^th and 10^th March 2007 in Coimbra, Portugal.

14.    Location for EC Meeting October 2007

The EC agreed that the Director should investigate the possibility of arranging this meeting in Tallinn. Barbara Lison would forward the name of a possible contact to the Director.

Under this point the proposal from Thórdís T Thórarinsdóttir (The Icelandic Library and Information Science Association) regarding the Council Meeting 2007 was discussed. The EC gave its unanimous approval to the agenda and agreed that the Director should complement this agenda with at least two more speakers.           

Saturday 7 October 2006

1.    [Item 12.    Cooperation with other library organisations] - LIBER, CENL and IFLA

The memorandum of understanding between LIBER and EBLIDA was discussed. Bas Savenije reported that he has been appointed to the Board of LIBER and as such would be able to report briefly to EBLIDA on LIBER activities and vice versa.  

Barbara Lison reported that she was pleased with the memorandum but felt that the paper might focus more on the perspective of the user. The Director responded by saying that the mission statements of the two organizations had been used, but that a redrafting of the EBLIDA mission statement could perhaps be taken into account by the Working Group on the strategy for 2007-2010.

Finn Vester thought that the idea of attending each other’s board meetings might be too time-consuming and suggested that this only happen if there were agenda points of utmost relevance for coordination and broad discussion.

Bas Savenije noted that LIBER was approaching national library organizations as potential members to strengthen their position and broaden their membership. It was noted that LIBER wants to increase its membership fees, but of course it is unclear whether new funds can be realized.

A discussion on the possibility of a joint secretariat EBLIDA/LIBER or other forms of administrative cooperation were discussed. Helena Patricio noted that EBLIDA is an umbrella organization and broader in scope that LIBER, and therefore this could be problematic. Other EC members were also skeptical about the feasibility of a merger. The President noted that if LIBER were to establish a secretariat with a director, then there might be a rationale in sharing the resources to create a stronger administrative/intellectual base for the two organizations. 

It was agreed that the Director would continue to monitor the situation and ensure an ongoing dialogue with LIBER.

Toby Bainton said he thought the memorandum was a good and useful document and the rest of the EC agreed that this should be the basis for future cooperation. The Director will meet with LIBER representatives later in the autumn.

The project proposal from CENL (Conference of European National Librarians) was discussed and approved.  Toby Bainton has been invited to attend the next meeting between CENL and FEP (Federation of European Publishers).

Disa Svenskberg reminded of the decision that acronyms be written in full the first time that they are mentioned.  

An IFLA/EBLIDA meeting is planned for October. The Director suggested that IFLA continue to monitor/lobby WIPO issues, while EBLIDA concentrate on the European issues. The EC approved this suggestion for a division of tasks.

2.    [Item 6.     EBLIDA Strategic Communication]

The Director reported on the status of the new website. As it was not possible to show the website in the meeting room it was agreed that the URL would be sent to the EC for comments the week after the EC meeting. The new website will be launched at the beginning of January. After some discussion it was agreed that all EC member’s email addresses would be on the site. 

The suggestion for a twice monthly electronic update to replace Hot News was accepted. A table of content will be emailed to all members with links to the specific articles/notices in a PDF document available on the website. The e-updates will also be made available immediately on the website e.g. there will be no delay for public access to these documents. 

The proposal for a quarterly newsletter was also discussed, but the EC agreed that this would stretch the resources of the EBLIDA secretariat. However, it was felt that some form of printed publication from EBLIDA would be a strength for the organization. The EC agreed upon the publication of an annual yearbook. The precise format and content will be discussed at the next EC meeting.

3.    [Item 9.    Updates on EBLIDA lobbying activities and monitoring issues]

Barbara Lison wanted to know if the PEG proposal that was being presented was for discussion or a decision was to be reached.

The President said that it was a discussion and no final decision on the continuance of the PEG needed to be reached at this EC meeting. The EC should advise the director on whether, in cooperation with PEG, to create a concrete project proposal based on this report. 

The EC agreed that Alexandra Horvat should represent EBLIDA at the BOBCATSSS meeting in Prague. 

At the PEG meeting in Paris (where EUCLID and CERTIDOC were represented) a joint EBLIDA/EUCLID conference on LIS education was discussed. Helena Patrício said that the Portuguese Library Association would be happy to host this event. The EC approved in principle, but issues of funding and expenditure need to be discussed.

The Director will investigate the possibility of this and the financial implications for co-hosting such a conference.

Helena Patrício introduced the PEG proposal as discussed and agreed upon by PEG in Paris at the beginning of September. Barbara Lison asked the question whether this would meet with the approval of our members and Bas Savenije asked whether mobility within the LIS sector was a problem or not. 

Despite some feedback from some member states on the issue of whether the LIS profession is regulated in some countries, we do not have a complete and precise picture of the situation. The President noted that the exact nature of this issue has to be resolved and reported back to the EC. 

The question of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the mapping to LIS curriculum recommendations remains a possible co-project between EBLIDA, CERTIDOC and EUCLID. Ideally a project such as this should increase the possibilities of mobility within the European LIS sector, insure quality and bring formal and non-formal qualifications into a relevant framework.  

The President noted that such a project can only be established with funding from a external source e.g. the EU. It is not so much the size of the project that is the important element here, but that any project undertaken must add to the work of EBLIDA and not subtract from it. 

From these discussions it was concluded that the Director, in close cooperation with the PEG group, would investigate the possibilities of a European funded project.

15.    Any other Business

Finn Vester asked whether EBLIDA was aware of the NAPLE Conference being held in Helsinki from the 19^th to the 20^th October. The Director will try and get an invitation for this conference. 

It was decided to postpone issues on membership till the strategy meeting in London in December.

There was a short discussion of the project proposal form sent to us by FEP. The proposal would be discussed at the EBLIDA/FEP meeting in Brussels on the 12^th October. The EBLIDA representatives at this meeting were mandated to support the project, if this was deemed to be worthwhile.

16. Closure

The President closed the meeting and thanked everybody for their contribution.