   
Section of Government Libraries
Annual Report 1994-1995
Edward J. Valauskas (Internet Mechanics, 5050 South Lake Shore Drive,
Apt. 3214, Chicago, IL 60615, USA (fax:(+1-312) 363-0023; e-mail:
Valauskas@eworld.com)) was elected Chair of the Section of Government
Libraries succeeding Hans H. van der Neut (Netherlands). Ms Judith R.
Bernstein (Parish Memorial Business Library, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1496, USA (fax: (+1-505) 277-9813;
e-mail: rosen@unm.edu) was re-elected Secretary.
Standing Committee and Section Membership
Standing Committee membership totals 11 from 9 countries and one
advisor, an increase of two from last year. Section registration as of
July 1995 was 63 members, an increase of two over last year.
Projects
Pection on Government Libraries Brochure. Plans are moving forward to
provide translations of our brochure into Chinese, French, German, and
Spanish. The Chair will provide a draft of changes needed in the
current brochure in the Fall of 1995 which will be reviewed by standing
committee members before translations are commenced.
Directory of Government Libraries
The section proposes to produce a new Directory of Government Libraries
since the last Directory of Administrative Libraries published by Sauer
is 13 years old. The Chair will approach Sauer to see if they are
interested in publishing a new Government Libraries Directory.
Publications
The Section's Annual Newsletter is published in June/July by the
Secretary, Judith R. Bernstein.
Future Conferences
Beijing 1996. In keeping with the theme of the Beijing Meeting, "The
Challenge of Change: Libraries and Economic Development", the section
plans a program entitled "Free vs. Fee: Financing Government
Libraries". The Chair will contact speakers.
Copenhagen 1997. Tentative plans call for a program on disappearing
Government Libraries and how this affects access to information.
Potential topics are: Why do libraries close or merge? what happens to
the material? how are such decisions made? what are the results to staff
and clients?
Istanbul Meeting
The Section presented a series of papers on the theme: "The Internet:
Information for Government Libraries". Section members presented two
papers. Edward Valauskas opened the session with the theme: "An
Introduction to the Internet: Information for Government Libraries".
Judith Bernstein spoke on "The Internet: Information for Government
Libraries; Selected Sources in the Americas and Europe". Turkish
colleagues provided two papers. Prof. Hassan Isin Dener spopke on "The
use of Internet in Government Libraries: The case of Turkey" and Dr.
Serhat Cakir presented "The library of the Scientific and Research
Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and the Internet: a Case Study". Over one
hundred people attended the session.
Papers presented
Introduction to the Internet: Information for Government Libraries
by EDWARD J. VALAUSKAS
Abstract:
Government agencies are utilizing the Internet as a means to promote
tourism and economic development, provide diplomatic documents and
foreign policies, describe legislative and bureaucratic activities, and
make statistical, technical, and scientific results available. The
Internet presents both citizens and their governments with a paradox: can
a computing environment which transcends state boundaries actually
improve day-to-day operations, reduce costs, and minimize red tape?
Successful implementations of the
Internet prove the value of Internet-based services and information in
reaching larger audiences and making a bureaucracy more responsive with
less expenditure.
The Internet: Information for Government Libraries: Selected Sources in the Americas and Europe
by JUDITH R. BERNSTEIN
Abstract:
The Internet is fast becoming one of the most important sources of remote
and current information for libraries, but it still remains a
decentralized system which has not yet been adequately organized,
catalogued or indexed. The opportunity is the capability of building
customized databases to fit each client's needs with the sophisticated
searching tools the Internet provides. The challenge is to filter out the
useful data from among the mass of glittering graphics and frivolous fun
and games. This paper lists and describes major sites on the Gopher and
World Wide Web which provide gateways to useful data sources, and
discusses search tools which can help in accessing these sources. Some
suggested sites which provide government data, and sources for further
help on the Internet, are listed. Sites to explore which can help improve
one's searching capabilities are recommended.
The Use of Internet in Government Libraries: The Case of Turkey
by HASAN DENER
Abstract:
Turkish government libraries began using the internet in 1993. Together
with an increasing growth in the membership of the network, problems
arose. However, most of these problems were the extensions of already
existing difficulties confronted by government libraries. With the aid of
the results of an institutional library survey and of more detailed
observations of a sample of 7 government libraries, the major
administrative, economic and technical problems were identified and
discussed. Conclusions were reached which made it possible to work
towards some solutions.
The Library of the Scientific and Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)
and the Internet: a Case Study.
by DR. SERHAT CAKIR
Abstract:
In this paper the use of Internet in the Library of the Scientific and
Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) is discussed as a case study. The
connection of Turkey to the internet was provided by the collaboration of
TUBITAK and Middle East Technical University in 1993. During the last
two years the growth of Internet users in Turkey reached 20% per month.
Almost 90% of the users are from the academic environment. Parallel to
this development the impact of global networks on the library of TUBITAK
is shown.
In the first part of this paper, the problems and the penetration of the
new technologies in Turkey are discussed. The most important stage is
the Internet training phase for library users. The number of internet
users and other statistical data is given. In the second part, the
problems of the interaction between librarians and new Information
technologies is presented. A statistical comparison of the use of
INTERNET in Turkey and in other parts of Europe and the Middle East is
presented. Suggested solutions to networking problems in Turkey are
summarized in the last section.
Judith R. Bernstein
Parish Business Library
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Tel: 505-277-5054
Fax: 505-277-9813
E-mail: Internet: rosen@tagore.phys.unm.edu
BITNET: rosen@unmb
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