Monthly Archives: May 2021

Session 8 during the 3rd International Bibliographic Congress, April 30, 2021

The last week of April 2021 was marked by a significant event. It was during these days that the III International Bibliographic Congress Bibliographic Information in Digital Culture was held. The organizers were the Russian Library Association, the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian National Library, the Russian State Library, and the Russian State Public Scientific and Technical Library. For the first time, the event was held in an online format.

The topics of the Congress were extremely diverse. The strategy for the development of bibliographic activities at the international level was discussed. The problems of formation, distribution and promotion of bibliographic information were considered. Special attention was paid to the development and implementation of new international and domestic standards of bibliographic description. In addition, the Congress participants discussed the linguistic aspects of the presentation of metadata on the web, and models of functional requirements for bibliographic and authoritative records.

On April 30, 9 reports were presented at the session of Section No. 8 devoted to strategies and methods of bibliographic activity in the digital age. Among the speakers were representatives of libraries and universities in Moscow, Kemerovo, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk. The issues of international bibliographic activity, the formation of consortia, the creation of electronic bibliographic manuals and hybrid resources with elements of bibliography, professional competencies of bibliographers, and others were discussed.

Tatiana Likhovid (Moscow State Institute of Culture) in her report highlighted the diverse activities of IFLA to support research in the field of bibliography. Natalia Gendina (Kemerovo State Institute of Culture), together with her colleagues, presented the report Bibliographic products as part of electronic information resources of libraries: transformation of nature and functions in the era of digitalization. Postgraduate student Pavel Prikhozhev (Scientific Library of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation) spoke about the organizational forms of cooperation in library and bibliographic activities. The participants listened with great interest to the speech of Olga Lavrik (State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) on the creation of a system of information resources aimed at supporting scientific research. Natalia Sitnikova (Chelyabinsk Regional Universal Scientific Library) highlighted the features of information and bibliographic activities of regional libraries in the era of digital technologies.

The participants of the meeting unanimously recognized that digital technologies bring with them fantastic opportunities and promise exciting prospects. At the same time, it is important to remember that the pursuit of innovative technologies should not be thoughtless. When using digital technologies in bibliographic activities, it is necessary to realize the limits beyond which the use of digital systems becomes irrational. Digitalization should be based on a solid foundation of classic bibliography, on accumulated theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

Report contributed by:

Marina Neshcheret, moderator of section No. 8

Russian State Library (Moscow)

member of the Standing Committee of the IFLA Bibliography Section

The session recording is available on YouTube (in Russian)

Panel on National Bibliographic Resources during the 3rd International Bibliographic Congress, April 28, 2021

When invited to participate in the panel on National Bibliographic Resources, moderated by Mathilde Koskas, chair of the Bibliography Section, I was concerned about being able to participate due to time zones. Organizers and participants(!) were very flexible in holding the panels involving North American panelists in the evening (in Novosibirsk) so that they could be in the early morning on the east coast of North America.

The other panelists were:

  • Miriam Björkhem, National Library of Sweden
  • Nataliya Konstantinovna Lelikova, Russian National Library
  • Boris Rodionovich Loginov, Central Scientific Medical Library, and the National Information and Library Center (LIBNET)

We responded to these 5 questions:

  1. What is the specificity of National Bibliographic Resources?
  2. Is there still a role for national bibliographic resources when international resources are available?
  3. What is the relevance of national bibliographic resources in the digital era?
  4. How important is it to work collaboratively for creating national or international bibliographic resources?
  5. What should we do to keep national bibliographic resources relevant, used, strong in the future?

Nataliya (a former member of the Bibliography SC) gave a shout out to the Section’s National Bibliographic Register, a good way to get a snapshot of national bibliographies around the world.

We highlighted the special role of national bibliographies even in a digital context with many international bibliographic databases, first in gathering the national output in one place, and fundamentally as a provider of authoritative metadata. Whether digital resources should be included on the same footing as print, and if so, which of them, was seen as linked to legal deposit legislation and practices. Lack of visibility can hinder the support for the maintenance of national bibliographies, leading to the need for continued advocacy.

View the recording on YouTube.

Simultaneous translation was essential for the success of the panels which included Russian and English speakers. The translators allowed panelists to have a real dialogue and meaningfully react to each others’ points.

Bibliographic Information in Digital Culture, 3rd International Bibliographic Congress, April 27-30, 2021

This III International Bibliographic Congress was organized by the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPSTL SB RAS), Novosibirsk. It follows the first congress held in 2010 at the Russian National Library and the second in 2015 at the Russian State Library.

Originally to be held in-person in Novosibirsk in September 2020, organizers had to rethink the formula and chose a new date. Re-conceiving the congress format to online, sessions were held during a time-slot broadly convenient to European and Central Asian participants. This opened awareness of the Congress to a broader audience and made it accessible beyond Russia. Statistics presented at the closing session showed 1180 registrants from 32 countries on 5 continents, 950 registrants were from all over Russia. Originally planned for 3 days, the Congress was extended to a fourth day as a total of 112 presentations had to be accommodated.

With its focus on bibliography, the Congress has a clear interest to the Bibliography Section. IFLA colleagues participated in organizing panels, moderating a session and presenting at the plenary session and at concurrent sessions.

The Congress started on April 27 with a plenary session, which included a welcome from Christine Mackenzie, IFLA President, and eight presentations, three from IFLA colleagues.

  • Mauro Guerrini: New perspectives of the Universal Bibliographic Control in the digital era
  • Mathilde Koskas: Report from the Chair of IFLA’s Bibliography Section: National Bibliographies and national bibliographic metadata in the age of mass information
  • Caroline Saccucci: Library of Congress CIP Program: Collecting the U.S. National Imprint

There were two panels at the end of the first day:

  • Using DOI in bibliographic reference – present and prospects for the future (recording)
  • МARC: Replace or remain? Moderator: Caroline Saccucci; panelists: Sally McCallum, Regina Reynolds, Nathan Putnam, Boris Rodionovich Loginov, Olga Nikolaevna Zhlobinskaya. (recording)

On April 28, the session “Modern directions for national bibliography – Bibliographic activities in the national libraries around the world” had reports from the national libraries of China, Bulgaria, Belarus, France, United Kingdom, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and several from Russia. The session “Collaborative cataloging as a form of bibliographic interaction between libraries”, moderated by Renate Behrens, chair of the IFLA Committee on Standards, included reports on aspects of union catalogues, authority files and standards from Russia, Iran, Germany, Italy, China, Canada, and Poland. Section members Aliya Saidembayeva (National Library of Kazakhstan) and Marina Neshcheret (Russian State Library) were among those who presented reports.

All recordings from the Congress are available on YouTube, individual sessions are best accessed from the Connect link in the Congress program. Very unfortunately the simultaneous translation is not captured, so that the Russian presentations are not accessible to a non-Russian speaking audience.