Category Archives: Publications

Qatar Digital Library

‘Qatar Digital Library‘ is a free digital archive of cultural and historical heritage of the Gulf developed by Qatar Foundation, Qatar National Library and The British Library.
Below is a paragraph straight from the site about what you can find in it.

WHAT CAN I FIND IN THE QDL?

Content currently available on the QDL was developed during the first phase of the partnership, reaching a total of 500,000 images by the end of 2014. More content is being added all the time, but current highlights the QDL is proud to showcase include:

  • India Office Records that span the period 1763–1951, comprising files from the Bushire PoliticalResidency Records and the Bahrain Agency Records
  • J. G. Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf , Oman and Central Arabia (1908, 1915), a classic introduction to the history of the Gulf
  • 500 maps, charts and plans of the Persian Gulf and the wider region
  • The Private papers of Sir Lewis Pelly, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf between 1862 and 1872
  • Arabic Scientific Manuscripts from the British Library’s Manuscripts Collections, covering topics such as medicine, mathematics, astronomy and engineering
  • A selection of photographs, postcards and other printed objects as well as sketches, drawings and watercolours; etchings, engravings and illustrations
  • A selection of audio collection materials including 200 shellac discs recorded in Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq between 1920 and 1940

IFLA Sustainable Development Goals Efforts

LA has been working with the international library community—as well as civil society and member states—to develop its position on the creation of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and help ensure that crucial elements such as access to information are included in the UN post-2015 Development Agenda. Throughout this process, it is important that libraries are seen as being part of the conversation.

Last week, an advance “Synthesis Report of the UN Secretary-General On the Post-2015 Agenda” was released. The Report outlines the priorities and main goals of the post-2015 UN Development Agenda and has a serious goal: to transform our economies, our environment, and our societies. IFLA welcomes the Report and the inclusion of access to information, and encourages the United Nations to recognise the role of access and skills as an essential pillar in the transformational agenda for sustainable development. Unfortunately, we are disappointed that the report lacks substance on the potential of ICTs for development.

We encourage the UN and its Member States to use the Lyon Declaration during the next stage of intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda to inform the inclusion of access to information, and the skills to use it effectively by:

·         Acknowledging the public’s right to access information and data, while respecting the right to individual privacy;

·         Recognising the important role of local authorities, information intermediaries and infrastructure such as ICTs and an open Internet as a means of implementation;

·         Adopting policy, standards and legislation to ensure the continued funding, integrity, preservation and provision of information by governments, and access by people;

·         Developing targets and indicators that enable measurement of the impact of access to information and data.

IFLA has already released a Toolkit to support library institutions and associations and other civil society organisations to advocate for access to information in the context of post-2015 UN Development Agenda—thereby empowering signatories of the Lyon Declaration to make the voice of the library community heard on a national level.

What next?

Following the publication of the final synthesis report at the end of December 2014, IFLA will produce a revised version of the Toolkit with specific talking points and examples to support meetings with member state representatives that library associations and institutions will organise in early 2015.

The final synthesis report will become the baseline for the negations and meetings that will take place throughout 2015, in the lead up to the Special Summit on Sustainable Development. IFLA will be participating in some of the meetings, including:

·         High-level thematic debate on the means of implementation for the post-2015 development agenda (February 2015)

·         Millennium Development Goals Report 2015 (July 2015)

·         Millennium Development Goals Gap Task Force Report (September 2015)

·         Special Summit on Sustainable Development (September 2015)

Read the full response online.

 

School libraries and multilingual education article

The CLELE (Children’s Literature in English Language Education)  Journal – http://clelejournal.org/journal-profile/ – has just published a very interesting paper, written by Stephen Krashen and Janice Bland, which promotes the need for school libraries in multilingual education.  http://clelejournal.org/category/current-issue/ and http://clelejournal.org/article-1-2/ .

European school report

The NMC, in collaboration with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture (DG EAC), the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS), Inholland University, Qin AS, and Cellcove Ltd., released the NMC Horizon Report Europe > 2014 Schools Edition. This is the first edition of the NMC Horizon Report that explores technology uptake in primary and secondary schools among the 28 European Union Member States. The report is being translated into more than 20 languages. See the report at http://www.nmc.org/publications/2014-nmc-horizon-report-europe-schools

Call for chapters

You are invited to contribute a chapter to a forthcoming book entitled Global Action on School Library Guidelines. The book will be co-edited by Dr. Barbara Schultz-Jones, from the University of North Texas in the USA, and Dr. Dianne Oberg, from the University of Alberta in Canada, and published in June 2015 by IFLA and d​eGruyter Saur. The Joint Committee of IASL and IFLA School Libraries will serve as the advisory committee for the project.The  focus of the book will be the ways in which members of the school library community worldwide have developed, revised, promoted, and implemented school library guidelines in their country or their province/state/county or their local school district/administrative unit. There will be a chapter about the international IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines as well.

Each chapter will describe, in 3000-4000 words, a specific case of action related to school library guidelines. The description or “case study” will include: a description of the action and its aims or objectives; the context of the action; strategies and resources used to carry out the action; outcomes; assessment and evaluation; and contact/s for further information. These case studies are intended to serve as a guide or an inspiration for others facing similar challenges.
Examples of topics about which you may wish to write include, but are not limited to, the following:​
-Developing national school library standards and/or guidelines
-Efforts to implement new school library standards and/or guidelines
-Transitioning a school library to a learning commons
-Changing school and/or school library culture or expectations to align with guidelines

Here is the planned timetable for the project:
15 September  2014:  Submission of proposals for chapters
​01 October 2014: Notification of acceptance of proposals
15 November 2014:  Submission of full chapters
08 December 2014:  Feedback to authors and requests for​ revisions
15 January 2015:  Submission of the revised final chapter​s​
31 January 2015: Submission of final copy of the entire book to the publisher
​
Contact doberg@ualberta.ca for submission template.​