APLIC-INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATOR

Winter/Spring 2004, Issue #79

President's Message

By Zuali Malsawma, Population Reference Bureau

On March 31st I will pass on the gavel to Anne Ilacqua who will be the new APLIC-I president. It has been truly a privilege for me to serve as president. I took the post reluctantly but leave it fondly and with assurance that I'm passing on the reigns to able hands. I would like to thank Anne for a superb job on planning the upcoming conference. It will be a good one, and as usual, several other industrious APLIC-I members had a hand. Thank you all!

Many of our members participate in our popular listserv, but I would encourage all members to participate in other APLIC-I activities as well. The annual conference is a great chance to meet each other, to hear entertaining speakers, and to learn about new resources for our collections and tools for managing our libraries. Serving on the Board will give you better insight, fondness and appreciation for the organization. Submitting articles to our newletter will keep all of us informed of each other's activities.

As past-president, I will be looking around for potential new Board members. I hope to find members willing and able to attend two Board meetings per year--one of them at the annual conference and the other usually at the home city of the vice-president. It will be an experience you will not regret.

2004 Annual Conference Approaching

By Anne K. Ilacqua, APLIC-I Vice-President

Conference planners are looking forward to getting together, this month with their colleagues/counterparts from other population and family planning libraries in the city called "The Hub of the Universe". The Conference dates of March 29,30 and 31st we hope will assure mild weather in the beautiful city of Boston! There is still room to accommodate a few more attendees, so if you've been on the fence, take the leap today, and register. Because the conference is small and so specially focused towards the interests of our members, there is always useful information to glean, and friendships to gain and renew.

The Association for Population/Family Planning Libraries & Information Centers International (APLIC-I)'s 37th Annual Meeting,

"Global Information Dissemination & Management: Focus on Health,"

will be held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts on March 29 - 31, 2004. Please see the conference schedule for details about the content of the conference and brief biographies of the presenters.

If you missed the registration deadline, register on site at the conference, on Tuesday, March 30, 2004, at 8:30 AM, just print out the registration form and bring it with you along with a check for the appropriate amount.
APLIC-I Conference registration form online

News from the Field

Building a global Information Society with libraries as key actors

By Modou Fall Sall, Information and Documentation Center, African AIDS Research Network, Dakar, Senegal

Even if well organized libraries are not always numerous for varied reasons in developing countries, many efforts to enable the accessibility of relevant literature are undertaken by information professionals. Libraries networks and associations exist in different parts of the world.

From 3 - 4 November 2003, the International Federation of Libraries and Institutions (IFLA) organized a Conference in prelude to the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) at Switzerland.

The principal objectives of this Pre-World Summit Conference were the following:

• To obtain that libraries are considered as key tools which help to guarantee a high quality of service, varied contents and a universal access to needed information;
  
  
• To obtain that all propositions which aim the development and the accessibility of libraries and information Centers in the whole world are accepted in the (1) Declaration of Principles and in the (2) Action Plan.

Considering that the libraries community must have a key role in the delivering of an equitable global Information Society, IFLA invited knowledgeable information professionals to participate at this Conference with the theme: "Libraries at the heart of the Information Society".

Librarians who are powerful advocates, coming from 70 countries, met in United Nations Office in Geneva to discuss about the usefulness of libraries in the developing Information Society. During these two days, librarians achieved the following tasks:

• To examine and to improve the two documents of the WSIS (Declaration of Principles and Action Plan) which drafts were unsatisfactory references to libraries;
  
  
• To meet with countries Representatives in United Nations in order to convince them about the key role libraries must have in the Information Society.

After inaugural communications related to WSIS and IFLA's involvement, seven regional round tables (French speaking Africa, English speaking Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, Central Asia, South-East Asia and Oceania, Europe 1 + Northern America, Europe 2) to permit participants to have discussions focused on the Declaration of Principles and the Action Plan were organized. Bilateral meetings with governmental delegates held the second day were important moments during which librarians attempted to persuade officials about the necessity to develop, to promote and to reinforce libraries activities in their respective countries in order to build a global Information Society to be favourable to all people.

Modou Fall Sall
Senegalese Participant at the IFLA
Pre-World Summit of the Information Society
Information and Documentation Center
African AIDS Research Network
Dakar, Senegal

Spotlight on a Member

By Funmi Akhigbe, INFO POPLINE Manager (Production), INFO project, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs

I have enjoyed every bit of the many years I have been working as a librarian. I could not have chosen a better profession. I have always belonged to a library association, so joining the APLICI in 2002 was a natural course to take as a professional.

Presently I am the production manager for the POPLINE bibliographic database on population, reproductive health and related health issues. My primary duties are to coordinate and supervise the systems and staff that produce POPLINE database and disseminate its information to health professionals and researchers around the world.
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins University, I was Assistant Project Manager of the document delivery contract at the National Agricultural Library, Beltsville MD from 1997-2001.

Before relocating to the United States in 1997, I was Deputy University librarian and director of the medical library at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, in Nigeria. In my capacity as director of the medical library, I was instrumental in bringing the medical library to prominence to play the role of a national medical library. I coordinated the development of Nigeria's national health information database and also developed a program to build the capacity of the country's medical librarians. During my 18 years as an academic librarian, I coordinated health information development and dissemination projects for international non-governmental organizations, organized workshops and served as resource person at both national and international health information conferences in Africa, Europe and the US. I have authored 19 journal articles, 30 back of the book indexes and a doctoral research paper - - "Content and Situational Analysis of Reproductive Health Information in Nigerian print media." which I hope to complete someday…

I was president of the Association for Health and Information Libraries in Africa (1994-1996). I was also the recipient of both the British Council (Nigeria) Travel fellowship (1995) and the 1990 Cunningham International Fellowship of the Medical Library Association (US). I have an MLS and a B.Sc. (honors) in Zoology from the University of Ibadan, in Nigeria.

Out side of the library world I am very involved with church activities and have worked with teenage and women fellowship for many years before eventually becoming a Pastor's wife in 2002. Sunday is a very busy day for me. On the home front, my nest is gradually emptying - with two college graduates, one College sophomore and a high school junior.

I love to read, listen to music, cook and entertain.
Settling down in the US has not been very easy, but it has been worth relocating - I still miss the 365 days of sunshine!

Spotlight on a Member Library

The Ronald and Deborah Freedman Library at the Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan
By Yan Fu

The University of Michigan's Population Studies Center (PSC) was established in 1961. The mission of the center is to provide a supportive home for innovative interdisciplinary research and training in demography. The Ronald and Deborah Freedman Library was founded in the late 1960's to support the research activities of center's faculty associates, research affiliates, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students.

The library occupies about 2000 square feet of space with wireless Internet connection. It has a public computing area with six computers, two printers and one copier. The collection includes over 30,000 items with US government documents, UN documents, dissertations and working papers. Our US census materials started in 1890 and we have a fairly strong Taiwan and Thailand collection. The library subscribes to 70 journals and 3 newspapers. A list of journal and newspaper titles is available online. The reference collection has handbooks and encyclopedia in demography, sociology, psychology, economics and public health, you can view a list of titles at the reference section of the library. The library maintains a website with an online catalog.

The library is staffed by Lee Ridley and Yan Fu from 8 am to 5 pm. Center affiliates have 24 hour access to the facility with their ID cards. Lee and Yan provide the following services to center affiliates:

• Circulating contents pages of the latest journals
• Retrieving books and articles from other campus libraries
• Informing researchers of recent publications in their areas of interest
• Providing assistance with the use of services and resources at the University Library
• Providing instructions and tutorials
• Performing literature searches and citation searches
  
• Answering reference questions
• Maintaining a website of helpful and relevant links
• Exchange materials with other Population Center libraries
• Maintaining a reserve shelf for faculty members

The library moved to its current location in the spring of 2003. The new library space is well situated in the building with large windows and pleasing views. One of the goals during the planning of the new space was to make sure that the library is an inviting place where researchers and students can come and browse the current reading area and meet informally with their colleagues. Since the move, the library has been a hub for center's social events.

The center's move to the new location also placed us in the main building of the Institute for Social Research which offers the library new opportunities. We are looking forward to expanding our services to more potential users.

University of Michigan Population Studies Center Library has been an active member of the APLIC-I. We have benefited tremendously from the generosity of other member libraries in sharing ideas and materials. We are committed to do our part to ensure the continued success of the organization.

Happenings: Calendar of Events

Compiled by Nykia M. Perez and Yan Fu, please send additions to: nmperez@pop.upenn.edu.

APLIC-I Call for Submissions & Volunteers

The APLIC-I Communicator Needs You

Annual Conference Reporters needed to report on this year's Breakout Sessions & Presentations. Please let us know if you would like to report on one of the sessions, a brief or in-depth write-up for the next issue of the Communicator will be required. E-mail the APLIC-I Communicator Editors if you are interested in assisting with the Conference Issue: nmperez@pop.upenn.edu & yanfu@isr.umich.edu.

"Spotlight On Our Members" will profile a different member of APLIC-I in each issue of the APLIC-I Communicator. The member is selected from the membership list and is then interviewed by one of the Editors or members can volunteer to participate. The goal is to foster a broader appreciation of the diverse membership of the association. Do you have a story you would like to tell? Talk to us.

"Spotlight On Our Libraries" will profile a different type of information organization as per our APLIC-I in each issue of the APLIC-I Communicator. A member library is selected at from the membership list and is then asked to contribute a short description of their organizations library or information services. Members can also volunteer to participate. The goal is to foster a broader appreciation of the diversity in our member's organizations and to share the different types of work that APLIC-I members do. Did you want to know how another library does "it"? Here is where we will try to provide you with some answers.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you, Nykia M. Perez, nmperez@pop.upenn.edu and Yan Fu yanfu@isr.umich.edu.

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Last updated 03/12/03