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Annual Meeting Minutes


Saturday June 24, 2006, 1:30–3:30 p.m.


Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, Napoleon Ballroom


Charles E. Malone, Coordinator


Jeff Knapp, Secretary

Coordinator Charles Malone called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. Present: Marcy Allen, Brett Cloyd, Dan Coyle, Sherry DeDecker, Mary Fetzer, Christof Galli, Jennie Gerke, Gordon Grahame, Linda Johnson, Jeff Knapp, Danielle Lachter, Chuck Malone, Catherine Morse, David Oldenkamp, Christina Perantonakis, Sandy Peterson, Aimee Quinn, Robert Rohrbacher, Bruce Samuelson, Helen Sheehy, Amy Stewart-Mailhiot, Sara Striner, Lynne Stuart, Louis Takács, Triinu Tombak, Will Wheeler, and Susan White.

The agenda was approved with the addition of a U.N. depository discussion requested by the Coordinator.

The Minutes of the Midwinter Meeting 2006 were approved with one amendment requested by Robert Rohrbacher, the Liaison to the Cataloging Committee. The report from the Cataloging Committee Liaison should read: “Robert Rohrbacher reported. The committee meeting will be held on Sunday and will include an update from GPO regarding separate records
for separate formats.” (addition is in italics).

Committee Liaison Reports

Cataloging Committee: Robert Rohrbacher reported. The committee discussed the Library of Congress’s decision to cease creating series authority records in their cataloging.

Education Committee: No report.

Government Information and Technology Committee: Brett Cloyd reported. The committee will meet on Sunday, June 25, and plans to discuss GPO Access on Akamai, how GITCO can become more involved, a summary of programs, and how to increase involvement in GITCO.

Legislation Committee: Amy Stewart-Mailhiot reported. Met on Friday, June 23 and discussed the IRS Form Survey, Resolution SOD 301, the EPA libraries funding situation, and federal libraries in general.

Program Committee: Chuck Malone reported on the meeting in Elizabeth Margutti’s absence. The committee worked on amending the mission and bylaws to expand their role to include both programs and preconferences. Discussed the details of the 2007 preconference in Washington D.C. and approved a program for 2007 for Rare & Endangered Government Publications Committee. Decided to put involvement in video conferences on hold.

Publications Committee: Marcy M. Allen reported. Committee will meet on Sunday, June 25 and will discuss general publication issues, and whether to start an Occasional Papers Series.

Rare and Endangered Government Publications: Catherine Morse reported. There was an update from August Imholtz on paper and ink and REGP program, and also a discussion on where REGP should cover digital documents, which are usually considered GITCO’s realm. She would like feedback on how REGP should be involved and who should handle digital documents. GITCO is considered more focused on federal documents. David Oldenkamp expressed his opinion that international digital documents should be the purview of IDTF, since these documents are indeed “endangered.”

IFLA: Sandra Peterson provided a report written by Jackie Druery, in her absence. IFLA’s Government Information and Official Publications Section (GIOPS) sponsored a seminar with Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) in Addis Ababa in March 2006 entitled “Strategic Management and Use of Government Information in Africa.” Papers from the seminar are available from the GIOPS website. The 2006 World Library and Information Congress will be held in Seoul, South Korea from August 20
^th to 24
^th.

Agency Liaison Program: Susan White reported. Susan expressed her appreciation for the reporters for providing a very worthwhile service. The most recent collection of reports included the first report from ESCAP in a long while.

Reports and Announcements from Vendors and Agencies

Renouf: Gordon Grahame announced a new statistical platform available from Renouf called “iGoStats” which provides online access to international statistics from various IGOs. Renouf is collecting feedback on it currently and is offering it on a free trial basis, with expected subscription availability offered in the fall. Interested parties can contact Renouf’s serials department to set up a trial.

Bernan: Bruce Samuelson reported that Bernan is now the authorized North American Sales Agent for the IGO collection from MyiLibrary. Also, ALA’s Patrice McDermott is leaving to join OpenTheGovernment.org and is publishing a book with Bernan,
The State of Public Access to Federal Government Information, in the fall.

LexisNexis: Dan Coyle announced that in 2007, LexisNexis plans to offer PDF attachments for all IGO statistical publications covered by IIS. The documents will be accessed by searching the IIS abstract and indexing records in LexisNexis Statistical. More details will be made available at Midwinter 2007.

World Bank and IMF: Triinu Tombak announced new series being published in the areas of agribusiness, infrastructure, and East Asia issues, and a new
World Development Report 2007. The
African Development Indicators 2006 has been revamped as well.

Old Business

Status of IFLA Representative: The changeover date for the new representative is technically during the middle of the 2007 IFLA Conference in Durban, South Africa. The 2007 Conference will probably be the last conference for Sandra Peterson as representative. Marcy Allen has volunteered to serve as the next representative and has been approved by the GODORT Steering Committee. The next and final step will be to obtain approval from ¾«¶«´«Ã½International Relations.

Planning for June 2007 Preconference: Chuck Malone and Susan White updated everyone on the status of plans for the preconference to be held in Washington, D.C. before 2007 Annual Conference. Thanks to Triinu Tombak, the World Bank will be hosting the preconference. The date will be Thursday, June 21, 2007, and a tentative schedule was distributed. At least 60 attendees are expected. Amy Quinn will provide a welcome to the attendees, since many non-GODORT members are expected. A representative from the World Bank will provide a welcome as well.

Susan White is working on the schedule. It will not be “dumbed-down” session for new users. The targeted attendee will be one with a sophisticated system of electronic documents, who is keen on finding the ways to access international documents on the web and has the tools necessary to get into them.

There will be no way to cover everything about international documents, but it is hoped that by covering some key sources, such as the United Nations, European Union, and World Bank, attendees will be more confident in searching on their own. It is hoped that an underlying message of the preconference will be that if they are interested in learning more, they can join IDTF.

The committee is trying to keep the price reasonable, estimating 60 attendees at $140 per person. GODORT Steering might want a higher registration fee. The committee wants to create a good impression and image with the preconference, and would like to take advantage of revenue-producing events like preconferences to help ¾«¶«´«Ã½and GODORT continue with the valuable programs they provide. Vendors will be covering some expenses, and it was recognized that groups like GODORT and IDTF could not exist without the support we receive from our vendors. Susan White added that the IDTF’s relationship with its vendors will likely impress many attendees.

General comments and suggestions were then solicited on the logistics of the preconference, including:

• Should an afternoon coffee break be provided? The consensus generally supported this idea.
  
  
  
  
• Provide a tour of the joint IMF/World Bank library.
  
  
  
  
• Have a presentation on free databases offered by the World Bank, and/or a presentation on fee databases?
  
  
  
  
• Be sure to provide some activity that involves moving around, such as a tour, since attendees will be spending a lot of time sitting.
  
  
  
  
• Include one or two agencies from the developing world to present.
  
  
  
  
• Offer a tiered fee structure, such as a reduced rate for students and retirees, GODORT members, etc.
  
  
  
  

Bruce Samuelson of Bernan offered to get some of the other presenters together to put together a CD-ROM as a giveaway.

IDTF Working Group’s Report and Proposals on Service to IDTF Members and the Profession: In David Griffith’s absence, David Oldenkamp covered the handout that listed the Working Group’s proposed projects. The proposed projects listed were:

1. Create online information on IGO RSS feeds and pull them together into an IGO news blog;
   
   
   
   
2. Solicit authors to write books and articles for GODORT on topics suggested by IDTF;
   
   
   
   
3. Creation of an online database providing specialized information on the publishing and distribution policies and practices of IGOs and national governments;
   
   
   
   
4. Create a directory of IDTF members willing to answer questions about specific IGOsand
   
   
   
   
5. Promote collaborative collection development in order to ensure that major research libraries in the U.S. and Canada are acquiring nearly all available IGO and national government documents.
   
   
   
   

New Business

Adoption of any of the Working Group’s Recommended Activities: After some discussion of each of the proposed projects, it was clear that there was specific interest in proposal 3, the online database. Some discussion ensued about how to proceed with the database, such as who will host it, how to populate it, how will it be delivered, etc., after which the Coordinator asked the Working Group to continue working on the items, focusing on proposal 3 and how to keep it current and up-to-date. He then thanked the Working Group for their work.

Congratulations to new IDTF Officers and Members: The Coordinator thanked all who helped him in the last year, and asked members to continue to create educational opportunities for people without an international documents background. He will work to help with future programs. Congratulations were offered to the incoming Coordinator, Christof Galli, and the incoming secretary, Brett Cloyd.

U.N. Depository Library Discussion: David Griffith was unable to attend the meeting, but asked that a discussion take place about the U.N.’s apparent plan to cease sending printed documents to U.N. depository libraries. Many depository libraries have reported a sharp decrease in the number of printed documents they are receiving. It has been reported that the U.N. is in the process of sending out a questionnaire to depositories to gauge feedback on the possibility of ceasing print distribution, although it is believed that they have already decided to move forward and are just looking for justification.

After some brief discussion and expressions of concern from members, Chuck Malone asked anyone interested in assisting in preparing a response to the U.N. to contact him.

Adjournment: With no further items from the floor, the meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.