AFRICANA LIBRARIANS COUNCIL

AFRICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION

Business Meeting

Washington, D.C.

Friday April 30, 1999

2:00-4:30 pm

Minutes: Final Version

Present:

Dawn Bastian (Northwestern U), Angel Batiste (LC), Helene Baumann (Duke U), Julianne Beall (LC), Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA), Phyllis Bischof (UC Berkeley), Joe Caruso (Columbia U), Jill Coelho (Harvard), Moore Crossey (Yale), Andrew de Heer (Schomburg Center), David Easterbrook (Northwestern U), Greg Finnegan (Harvard), Karen Fung (Stanford), James Gentner (LC), Miki Goral (UCLA), Beverly Gray (LC), Marieta Harper (LC), Maggie Hite (World Library Partnership, Inc.) Al Kagan (U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Elizabeth Layton (LC), Deborah LaFond (SUNY Albany), Joe Lauer (Michigan State U), Bob Lesh (Northwestern U), Ken Lohrentz (U of Kansas), Peter Malanchuk, (U. of Florida), Judy McDermott (LC Afa/OrOp), Sibyl Moses (Catholic University of America), Valerie Mwalilino (LC), Lauris Olson (U. of Pennsylvania), Laverne Page (LC), Loumona Petroff (Boston U), Elizabeth Plantz (Northwestern U), Mette Shayne (Northwestern U), Elisabeth Sinnott (NYU), Andrea Stamm (Northwestern U), Janet Stanley (Smithsonian Institute), Gretchen Walsh (Boston U), Laura Wendell (World Library Partnership, Inc.), David Westley (Boston U), Marion Frank Wilson (Indiana University), Joanne Zellers (LC).

1. Welcome, introductions and brief announcements

Beverly Gray welcomed ALC members and guests to the Library of Congress. B. Gray acknowledged the work of Joanne Zellers, ALC Chair and the LC local arrangements committee (J. Zellers, Angel Batiste, Julianne Beall, Lavonda Broadnax, Kay Elsasser, Beverly Gray, Marieta Harper, Valerie Mwalilino, Laverne Page, Fentahun Tiruneh). B. Gray read the text of a message (summary below) from Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services and Carolyn Brown, Acting Director for Area Studies who had to attend a meeting in Philadelphia.

The Library of Congress (LC) is proud of the role they have played with the ALC in support of enriching education on Africa, facilitating research on Africa and participating in ALC's multifaceted programs. The initial LC and ALC collaboration led to its first formal meeting at the Library of Congress in June of 1958. This session gave impetus to the LC's own plans to develop a special reference and bibliography section for Africa South of the Sahara. The African Section began in 1960 thanks in part to money from the Carnegie Foundation. LC has consistently been represented in an ex officio capacity on the ALC Executive board. The Library of Congress expresses its gratitude to the ALC for efforts such as the cooperative Africana Microform Project (CAMP), the ALC Cataloguing Committee, the Bibliography Committee, the Conover Porter Awards and the production of excellent Africana research tools. ALC may take pride in its innovative efforts to develop essential interlibrary cooperation and acquisition of Africana materials.

2. Approval of Minutes of the ALC business meeting in Chicago, Illinois, Oct. 29, 1998

Minutes were approved with corrections offered by Mette Shayne. The revised Chicago minutes will be resubmitted to J. Zellers to post to the ALC Web page.

3. Future Meetings

Fall 1999- Philadelphia selection of date

The ALC Executive Committee recommended that the spring ALC meeting begin on Nov. 10th, 1999 (one day before ASA sessions begin) in order to allow members to attend ASA conference sessions. Motion carried. J. Zellers requested that any programs should be submitted to her by May 7th.

Spring 2000 - UCLA April 6-8

Ruby Bell-Gam and Miki Goral announced that they are working on a Web page for the meeting but will post after the fall meeting to avoid any confusion with the fall and spring programs. A group visit to the Getty Center is being planned.

Spring 2001 - Indiana University (Bloomington)

Marion Frank Wilson invited the group to Bloomington on behalf of her institution.

4. Brief Reports

** ALC Cataloguing Committee Report

The very successful Subject Funnel workshop (April 29th) was reviewed. Ten people attended. L. Plantz will forward handouts from the workshop for those who could not attend. Due to the building closure of the Madison Bldg., the Cataloguing Committee meeting was abbreviated.

**ALC Bibliography Committee

Ken Lohrentz reported that the major theme focused on cooperative projects which have been discussed on the listserv. The African database connection involves connecting various bibliographic sources using Z39.50 technology. K. Lohrentz raised the question, "What are the arrangements that need to be made to bring this together?" The hope is to provide better access to journals published in Africa. The inclusion of CODESRIA and the Nairobi LC office was also considered. K. Lohrentz asked that, for those who did not get a chance to make institutional reports due to building closure problems, to please submit any reports to the ALC listserv.

J. Caruso asked if the ALC had a representative to the ASA Publications Committee for Philadelphia. J. Zellers stated that P. Malanchuk reported that there had been no developments since the last meeting but that she would speak to Peter about the upcoming meeting in Philadelphia.

G. Finnegan asked J. Zellers to comment on the status of the ASA move and its current operations. J. Zellers agreed to report on this at the end of the meeting.

** ALN Report

J. Lauer reported that Marion Frank Wilson volunteered to become the new ALN editor beginning with the October 1999 issue. J. Lauer and the ALC membership rapidly accepted her offer. J. Lauer reported that January and April are late but are forthcoming. J. Lauer asked committee Chairs to please forward minutes to the ALN editor for selective submission in the newsletter.

**Book Donations Task Force

A. Kagan reported that the group looked at the revised procedures document for application and was approved with slight modifications. The document has been sent to the ASA board for approval. The grant application submission date for the awards has been changed to July 1st (previously March 1). A notice will be submitted to the ASA news as well as an electronic distribution to appropriate listservs. The project of revising the handbook was discussed and the work for doing so was distributed.

** Title VI

G. Walsh reported that the library cooperation project has been in effect for six years and is nearing the end of the first second year cycle. The first project was the Senegal Archives Project, which took a great deal of work to set up.

G. Walsh recognized J. Caruso's efforts on this project. The second cycle focused on two projects: the Senegal Archives project and an attempt to collect dissertations and theses from African Univerisities by establishing partnerships between U.S. and African universities. This has also proved difficult to set up, but progress is being made. There are ongoing problems with intellectual property issues and these continue to be discussed. This has been a healthy and useful discussion. They are developing policies that protect the authors, the institutions and materials. The Senegal project continues and will be reported on at the CAMP meeting by J. Caruso. This has been a truly successful project and is also illustrative of all the difficulties that are encountered in such a project.

Because there is no open competition for Title VI funding every three years, it is not possible to be sure what institutions will be in the Title VI group during the next cycle. The 3 year project acquired was the Dissertations and Theses (DATAD). There will be competition for proposals. Composition of Title VI Centers has not been determined. We don't know who is going to be in the group for the next 3 years. However, in each of the 3 year cycles, the competitors have put into the proposal a paragraph of common language about library cooperation. G. Walsh was asked to prepare a position paper of what cooperative projects ALC had been engaged in. This paper was distributed at the bibliographers meeting. Upon request, G. Walsh will send the paper to those who have not received it.

The current Title VI directors have followed ALC recommendations. G. Walsh commented on the positive reception from Title VI directors. The fact that they took the report and used these recommendations without substantially changing them is a vote of confidence for ALC efforts. $1500-$2000 per year has been awarded and will be used at the discretion of each recipient institution. The money for each Title VI Center will be used to support the following:

1. Partnership with the National Archives in Senegal and other African archives in microfilming key documents;

2.acquisition of African theses and dissertations;

3. compilation and dissemination of a union list of African Newspaper holdings in U.S. libraries; and

4. creation of African database connections.

The point that Africana Library cooperation is not a Title VI project but involves the entire Africana Library cooperation has been emphasized and understood by Title VI directors and faculty.

A few minor changes to the common language were raised. The question of the coordinator was tabled for the next cycle because we don't know what institutions will be in the group. The position paper was discussed in the Bibliography Committee. There were a number of revisions a suggestion was put forward create a more general ALC document out of the position paper and modify the Title VI focus. G. Walsh and group will be working on this over the next few weeks.

A. Kagan reported on U of Illinois' progress with dissertations. UIUC will be acquiring theses from Mohamed V University in Rabat, Morocco. A. Kagan will be meeting with Arabic language specialists to select titles from a list of theses, most of which are in Arabic; some in French. (2) UIUC has received a print-out from Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Maputo, Mozambique). The print-out is from their database of theses and dissertations. A. Kagan will be going to Maputo in June 1999 to finalize an acquisition agreement.

J. Lauer reported continued progress in getting dissertations from the University of Zimbabwe, and Ruby Bell-Gam of UCLA and Lauris Olson of U Penn reported on their discussions with universities in Nigeria.

**Union List of African Newspapers (ULAN)

D. Easterbrook reported that there was a very brief ULAN meeting as there had been little activity since last fall due to changes at CRL. Major issues were revisited and the process for achieving them was mapped out. Draft sample pages for ULAN had not been widely distributed to members of the ALC group. Originally, there was a listserv established for members of ULAN. D. Easterbrook will put a note on the ALC listserv and make this available to anyone who wishes to subscribe. At the CAMP meeting, D. Easterbrook will distribute photocopies of pages that M. Rudeen drafted so that people can see the initial directions that have been taken. He requests member feedback. The current plan targets the first two bodies of newspapers that will appear, CRL and Mette's list of journals is the direction that the group will proceed with. This project has been funded by the Mellon Foundation and the ARL global resources project. Funds from the Mellon Foundation will be used to support technical services aspects. Monies will fund staff at CRL to bring up the Union list of African Newspapers.

M. Shayne asked what kind of cooperation can be expected from the Library of Congress and how will LC holdings be integrated in ULAN?

J. Zellers expressed that the Library of Congress will be collaborating. J. Zellers had invited M. Sweeney, Head of LC Newspapers section to discuss CAMP issues. J. Zellers spoke to him last year and asked about his Web site when she became aware of ULAN. M. Sweeney is aware of the project. The Newspaper Section just finished an inventory of the newspapers in December. J. Zellers understood that LC would begin loading on the Web what was immediately available. D. Easterbrook had a conversation with M. Sweeney last fall and understood that the LC was very supportive of this project.

J. Zellers asked J.Gentner from Overseas Operations to see if R. Thomas (LC Nairobi Office) had sent any information on newspapers. J. Gentner reported on the number of newspaper titles microfilmed and projected to be filmed.

45 titles from the Nairobi Office originating from a new Delhi shipment. These should be arriving soon.

60 titles to CRL

53 titles sent to Washington A total of 158 titles from Nairobi that are being filmed.

M. Shayne commended Ruth Thomas for her fabulous job of microfilming. She suggested that it is very important that we match her work on the west side of Africa. D. Easterbrook seconded M. Shayne's suggestion to put this on the agenda for fall.

** Executive Committee

Elections: The current Secretary agreed to continue for the 1999-2000 year in order to meet current by-law election terms. Nominations for Vice Chair, Chair Elect and 2 members at large will be elected at the fall meeting. J. Zellers encouraged nominations and requested that the membership forward nominations to M. Goral and D. Easterbrook.

Vicki Evalds has been ill. G. Walsh announced that she is doing well and expressed her regrets for not being able to attend the meeting. She has graciously volunteered her services.

5. Library of Congress Reports

J. Zellers reported on LC matters throughout the meeting, no separate report.

Overseas Acquisition and Operation Division

J. Gentner reported that the Quarterly Index has been published v. 8 (2) 1998 3,4 with cumulative in v. 9 for 1999 is now with the printer. Accessions list for v. 31(4) 1998 has been published. Currently in preparation serial supplement for 1998, 1999

Quarterly Index on the web -- Web site www.icipe.org/ citations for the quarterly index

1999, v. 1 1991-1988 are on, Beginning 1999 indexing a number journal citations published in Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana and Senegal. Also publications acquired by the Nairobi Office from the Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana and Senegal. Include addresses of publishers. Somalian reports and newspapers 1991 parts 2, 3 of reports and parts 2 of newspapers have been microfiched and fiche numbers are on the web. The group discount is not definite. J. Gentner asked people to hold off from ordering. J. Gentner will notify the group when and if a discount becomes available.

Newspapers New Delhi has taken from Nairobi office. This fiscal year there have been several acquisition trips to Ghana, Namibia and Zambia, Senegal, and Uganda. Future trips planned for this year (ending Sept. 30) include Botswana, Seychelles and Zimbabwe, Swaziland, There have been 45 shipments from the LC Nairobi office. Serials cataloging with OCLC and the CONSER project has begun. Bibliographic records

Ruth Thomas sends her greetings.

J. Caruso asked if Ruth Thomas has a preferred method of correspondence. He has the best luck getting her by fax. East coast daytime business hours do not correspond well with Nairobi business hours.

Moore Crossey asked if there is any intention to film later issues of the Weekly Review or any other periodicals? J. Gentner will ask R. Thomas and forward her response to the list.

V. Mwalilino reported from the Middle Eastern and African Acquisitions Section

V. Mwalilino reported on the entire re-organization at the Library of Congress that has affected several projects. The Acquisitions dept. is no longer under the Order Division. The Order Division and the Exchange and Gifts Division was abolished on Oct 1, 1997.

Overseas Operations (AFAOVOP)

Other newly created divisions are the Northern European division, Latin American division, African Middle East Acquisition Section (AMEAS), the Chinese Acquisition Section, and the Japanese, Korean, South/ SE Asian Section. The latter section has recently experienced a grave tragedy. Jim McCloud, who headed this section died recently at the young age of 46. His loss has greatly affected the section and the entire library.

The AMEAS section currently has 5 acquisition specialists, 2 acquisition assistants (2 vacant acquisition assistants). One of the assistant positions is brand new and that person will be responsible for acquisition of Hebrew language materials.

Geographical responsibilities have also changed. New additions include coverage of 5 central Asian Republics (STANS). This responsibility is shared with the Islamabad Office. Armenia and Georgia (Transcaucus) are now under this jurisdiction as well. Coverage of 4 West African countries (Cameroon, Gabon, Senegal, Ghana) have been transferred for a trial period to the Nairobi Office jurisdiction. There has been a total net gain of 3 countries to AMEAS. V. Mwalilino introduced Liz Layton, Africana Acquisition Specialist, who has Cyrillic language expertise and will be responsible for managing Central Asian publications and South African acquisitions. She is a new recruit to the section as of September 1998.

V. Mwalilino stated that the LC mission has not changed. We attempt to acquire materials by all methods. System migration to "Voyager" is scheduled for October 1, 1999. This requires intensive administrative effort and time for the entire LC staff.

J. Zellers asked about the two year pilot program for the West African countries. Given that the 2 years are up, when will we know whether it will be permanent or will it be modified? J. Gentner isn't sure when but there is an evaluation to be made.

6. ALC Web Page

J. Zellers distributed handouts on the ALC Web page. J. Zellers requested that ALC members consider how the ALC Web page can be improved. J. Zellers also reported that as of April 7th, the LC finally got caught up with posting documents to the Web page. At this time, policies need to be made to address some of the problems encountered with the maintenance of the page. The ALC Executive Committee discussed J. Zellers concerns about archiving, retention of documents, procedures, and formats for accepting text. Should there be someone dedicated to be the Webperson? Who will updated official documents? J Zellers drafted a list of concerns and distributed to the group. Discussion followed. Archiving - How long should files stay up on the Web, for example meeting minutes. J. Zellers suggested that each committee or unit chairperson be the Web liaison for their group. J. Zellers requested a protocol for each document submitted. All documents should indicate the submission date and the e-mail of the person who submitted the document. Text can be sent in e-mail if it has not already been forwarded (to avoid editing of <<<). A paper copy could also be sent to the Webperson to assist with any diacritical markings. J. Zellers will draw up broad guidelines and circulate them to the Executive Committee and the membership.

7. Announcements, brief reports of institutions and other business.

*M. Shayne reminded people Conover Porter announcement needs to go out this summer for the next years award. Committee needs selections by the end of the year.

*African Imprint Library Service (AILS) Are they still in business? It was noted that they are in business but now have diminished activity.

*J. Caruso reported on the University of Iowa Electronic Journal Web Publication. David Westley's bibliography on African Female Genital Mutilation was received and was peer reviewed. It is ready to go to press.

*ALC Handbook

R. Bell-Gam offered a suggestion to the ALC Handbook reviewers to consider changing the title to make it more accessible to a broader audience. K. Lohrentz suggested that perhaps we should have a continuing section on acquisition with a more specific focus. The question of whether or not the handbook had the "imprimatur" of an individual or an organization? J.

Zellers thought that the reviewers should consider this and also wondered if we need two reviewers or possibly a committee to brainstorm on the Handbook and report at the fall meeting. J. Coelho, P. Bischof and G. Finnegan offered to work together on this. J. Zellers asked the group to please forward comments on the utility of the Handbook and/or any new information for the Handbook to this group. R. Bell-Gam suggested that there be an ongoing editorial team. J. Zellers reminded the group that we need a Web Liaison for that document.

*What is the official relationship (ABPR) to ALC? J. Zellers suggested that (ABPR) go under the Bibliography Committee section on the Web page.

*Laura Wendell, Executive Director of World Library Partnership (WLP) author of the manual "Libraries for All" have organized a trip to visit rural libraries in Zimbabwe. L. Wendell announced that there was space for two more people. She distributed information on the World Library Partnership. wendell@acpub.duke.edu Other visits include Grenada, Pilau, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Belize, Togo, Ghana, Malawi, Gambia. WLP needs a partner country to build.

*Conover Porter announcement, M. Shayne reminded people to forward selections for the Conover Porter by the end of the year.

*Michigan State University,

J. Lauer reported that the dissertation list which he prepared was abbreviated. J. Lauer applied for 2 grants in recent months: A proposal for a multilingual digital library for West African sources submitted to the NSF. This would include Wolof and French manuscripts from 19th-20th century Senegal. The second proposal is titled "Accessing African Scholarly Journals: Sustainable Electronic Publishing and Indexing of African Journals through International Cooperation." It was submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Education and calls for the electronic publishing of 20 African journals, the promotion of indexing in international databases, and the creation of a database of African journals.

*March 15 ASA papers and panels are due to ASA.

*A formal resolution was made to honor Mette Shayne's retirement from Northwestern University. There was a unanimous acclimation for the resolution.

The meeting adjourned at 4:50 pm

Respectfully submitted by Deborah M. LaFond

Deborah M. LaFond
>Social Sciences Bibliographer
State University of New York at Albany
1400 Washington Ave.
UL 205
Albany, NY 12222

dlafonde@cnsvax.albany.edu