6.    Draft Mid-Term evaluation of EBLIDA Annual Work Programme 2003 – 2004

María Pía González Pereira summarised the content of the document.  

Maria Koren suggested including deadlines for achievements and milestones coming up. 

After discussion the Executive agreed that in the next Mid-Term Assessment 2005 more details on achievements and coming up events would be included.

8.    EBLIDA Finances: Half-term Evaluation of Budget and Finances 2004 update

María Pía González Pereira said the mid-term balance made of the EBLIDA finances and Budget was positive. Bouwer & Officier stated in written their positive evaluation too.

Klaus-Peter Böttger commented that he had access to the corresponding information provided by the Director and he expected the finances and budget to be according to estimations by the end of the year. 

After discussion the Executive approved the Draft Budget 2005 which will have to be updated with latest data available before the next Executive Committee meeting.

10.    EBLIDA membership issues

María Pía González Pereira expressed her concerns for the recent cancellations of associate members, especially from the Nordic countries, and the lack of new applications for membership from the new EU countries due to their reported lack of funds.

• Membership working group

Jan Ewout van der Putten proposed to create a working group on membership issues composed by the Director, members of the Executive and representatives of new EU countries’ associations, in order to discuss the matters related to the EBLIDA membership and strategy on this regards. 

Britt-Marie Häggström said we know too little about the functioning of the new EU countries’ library associations and it is necessary that we understand how they work if we want to welcome them as EBLIDA members.  

Klaus-Peter Böttger said that the Goethe Institute have done extensive surveys on the status of the library world in these countries and EBLIDA could use this valuable information. 

María Pía González Pereira commented that the Country Reports under preparation within CALIMERA would also be a useful resource to take into account. 

The members of the membership working group are: Frode Bakken, Klaus-Peter Böttger, María Pía González Pereira, Pedro Hípola and Winnie Vitzansky. The group will designate representatives from new EU countries to participate in the discussions.  

• Letter new EU countries’ National Library & Archive Associations

María Pía González Pereira presented a draft letter to be sent by EBLIDA to the new EU countries’ national associations. The Executive decided that the final decision on the draft would be postponed until the next Executive meeting. The new Working Group on membership issues would propose a draft to the Executive for approval.

• FFCB

Further to their request the Full membership of French FFCB is cancelled with effect as of 1 January 2005.

• Merge Norwegian ABM –Utvikling requested

María Pía González Pereira notified the Executive that further to their notification to the EBLIDA Secretariat in 2004, the merge of Norwegian ABM –Utvikling as one Associate member will be effective as of 1 January 2005.

• Annual raise membership fees 2005

María Pía González Pereira explained that although the EBLIDA Council approved an annual raise of membership fees and staff salaries of 2% for 2005, the Dutch inflation (which at the beginning of 2004 was estimated at around 2.5%) had been lowered to 1.5% approx., as notified by Bouwer and Officier.  

The Executive decided to keep the annual raise at the rate of 2% for 2005.  

• Dutch Full Member NVB request

María Pía González Pereira commented the request of the Dutch member NVB to be kept on the same Band as last year due to their financial problems, although according to their annual non-profit turnover 2002, they had moved from Band C to Band E in 2004.

The Executive Committee decided not to accept their request and kindly ask them to pay their due invoice for 2004. 

11.    Cooperation with other organisations

• ICA

Berndt Fredriksson has been appointed member of the ICA Steering Committee on Professional Associations which is concerned with the professional education for archivists. ICA covers a broad spectrum of issues essential for the development of the profession of Archivists. Cooperation with EBLIDA is positive since the tasks of the two organisations do not overlap and complement each other.

• IFLA

María Pía González Pereira commented on her meeting in September with Mr Ramachandran, Secretary General of IFLA in order to discuss cooperation between EBLIDA and IFLA. 

After discussion the Executive decided that EBLIDA would not be voting in the IFLA elections procedure.  

• EUCLID

María Pía González Pereira said EUCLID was invited to participate in the EBLIDA PEG meeting in The Hague in October 2004. No reply has been received from EUCLID to present.

12.    EC Review of the acquis communautaire on Copyright and Related Rights: EBLIDA response and action plan

María Pía González Pereira explained the EBLIDA Position Paper on the EC review of the copyright legislation, further to consultation with the EBLIDA CEG members who are also monitoring the development of this matter. 

No further comments were made. 

13.    Information on lobbying issues

No further comments were made.  

14.    Monitoring Issues

• Creative Industries

Britt-Marie Häggström commented that creative industries issues dealt by the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee are being monitored. She said many EBLIDA members are interested in participating in an EBLIDA working group on culture matters. 

• World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

Winnie Vitzansky said developments are being monitored. She suggested liaising with Marian Koren in drafting an EBLIDA Position Paper on this regards which they would later on send to María Pía González Pereira and the Executive Committee members. 

• Info Points

Marian Koren said it is important that EBLIDA has an opinion on this matter as in many EU countries Info Points are hosted by Public Libraries. Libraries could play an important role especially connected with the Information Society. 

After discussion the Executive decided that María Pía González Pereira drafts an EBLIDA Position Paper on this regards.

15.    EBLIDA Working Groups

• World Trade Organisation (WTO) Working Group

Frode Bakken commented on the main concerns for libraries regarding the GATS negotiations. Health and Education are sectors with great importance.  

The EBLIDA Seminar on GATS will be the first international Seminar on this matter focusing on implications for libraries.

María Pía González Pereira will request participation of the EBLIDA CEG members in the Seminar and to hold the next CEG meeting in connection with it. 

Marian Koren said EBLIDA should organise this kind of events in countries where costs are cheaper in line with the EBLIDA strategy to attract members from new EU countries. 

Britt-Marie Häggström highlighted the need for the Executive members to promote the event within their national networks. 

• EBLIDA Copyright Expert Group (CEG)

María Pía González Pereira commented that the next CEG meeting would take place in Paris on 26 November 2004. The CEG members cooperate on a permanent basis with the Director on the drafting of the EBLIDA Position Papers on the matters of their concern.  

Further to the request of the CEG members the Executive Committee decided that the CEG propose a new Chair who will be eventually approved by the Executive. 

• EBLIDA Professional Education Working Group (PEG)

Pedro Hípola commented the Report provided by Sue Brown of the first meeting of the EBLIDA working group on Professional Education (PEG).

Pedro Hípola suggested the inclusion of archivists’ representatives in the PEG working group. 

Berndt Fredriksson expressed his willingness to participate in the PEG. 

Britt-Marie Häggström recommended checking the Certidoc website where excellent material is available on the work done as regards certification of professionals.

16.    EBLIDA Projects

• CALIMERA

17.    EBLIDA Website and Hot News

• EBLIDA Website

María Pía González Pereira presented the statistics on the usage of the website available from the EBLIDA website service provider. Visitors to the EBLIDA website have increased in the last few months.

Pedro Hípola suggested having more detailed statistics on which are the most visited pages.

• Hot News

Disa Svenskberg said it would be good to put more emphasis on the promotional objective of Hot News, especially in the first pages. 

After discussion the Executive decided to maintain the paper version of Hot News as members have not given clear indication of need for a change.

18.    Any other business

• EBLIDA Annual Council 2006

María Pía González Pereira notified the Executive members of the Iceland offer to host the EBLIDA Council meeting in 2006.  

After discussion the Executive decided that although they are grateful for the kind invitation from Iceland, two consecutive annual Council meetings in Northern European countries would not be advisable in line with the EBLIDA Strategy to move closer to new EU countries. Therefore the Executive kindly asks Iceland to postpone their invitation for 2007. 

The Executive decided that the EBLIDA Annual Council 2006 will take place in Budapest (Hungary).

• Saint-Gobain Archives

María Pía González Pereira explained the situation as regards the participation of Mr. xXx in the EBLIDA Seminar ‘…’ held in Estoril (Portugal) on 14 May 2004, in connection with the EBLIDA Annual Council meeting. Mr. xXx was invited, further to being recommended by Archivist colleague …, to give a 15-minutes presentation on European Archives. In the invitation letter it was clearly stated that EBLIDA is an organization with limited resources; therefore speakers were kindly requested to take this fact into account as regards expenses and travel costs.  

Mr. xXx sent a cost claim to the EBLIDA Secretariat of 1.476.50 Euros, which is far beyond any reasonable expenses claim for 1 day visit and 15 minutes presentation. 1.206,85 Euros were claimed for the air ticket Paris – Lisbon; 155,75 Euros for 1 night hotel stay in Lisbon; 113.50 Euros for taxi expenses. 

María Pía González Pereira wrote to Mr. xXx on 29 June 2004 requesting his cooperation in order to share some of the high costs claimed with his organisation. No reply has been received at present.  

After discussion the Executive decided that EBLIDA will process the Invoice and pay the amount claimed. It was decided that in the future a fixed amount will be stated as a limit for expenses reimbursements.  

• Finnish request for EBLIDA action: UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity

Sinikka Sipila (Finnish Library Association) notified the EBLIDA Secretariat about the UNESCO resolution to draft an International Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions (Resolution 32C/34), and requested EBLIDA to react in line with the EBLIDA Strategy 2004 – 2007.   

After discussion the Executive decided that María Pía González Pereira analyses the UNESCO document and comment back to the Executive members on recommended actions. When EBLIDA decided on any action on this regards, IFLA will be notified.  

• Brief assessment of the Seminar on current EU relevant issues for Libraries

Jan Ewout van der Putten said EBLIDA is pleased to have the presence of the participants in the Seminar. It has been made clear that new EU countries’ library representatives are very much willing to debate particular issues of concern.  

• EBLIDA Annual Council 2005

Pedro Hípola commented that further to the previous experience where the Danish umbrella sent a letter to the EBLIDA Secretariat stating their disappointment on the organisation of the Uppsala Council meeting, EBLIDA should pay attention to the calendar for the preparation of the next Council meeting in Cork and to the democratic procedure for the elections.  

After discussion it was agreed that María Pía González Pereira would draft a calendar for elections and Council organisation and forward it to the executive members.

19.    Next meeting

After discussion on inconveniences due to clash of dates it was decided to celebrate the next Executive Committee meeting in Helsinki on 12 March 2005. Further to the kind invitation by Mr Andris Vilks, Director of the National Library of Latvia, the Executive Committee will meet in Riga for their autumn gathering in 2005.

20.    Closure

Jan-Ewout van der Putten closed the meeting expressing the EBLIDA gratitude to the Czech colleagues and all the representatives from all over Europe who attended the Seminar on Friday afternoon.

Last updated: 18 October 2006