Tag Archives: IFLA

[IFLA-L] Media Alert: Journal Explores Debate on Two Row Wampum Treaty

Journal Explores Debate on Two Row Wampum Treaty

Leiden (NL) / Boston (MA) – 23 July 2013

Brill, the international scholarly publisher, is pleased to announce the publication of a special free issue of the Journal of Early American History (JEAH) that focuses on the Two Row Wampum treaty, a historical agreement between the Dutch and the Iroquois that purportedly took place on 21 April 1613 – a date that is based on an allegedly forged document.

On 9 August 2012, the Syracuse Post-Standard revealed that supporters of the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign—which draws attention to environmental concerns and native sovereignty rights in light of the Two Row Wampum treaty anniversary—had been contacted by two scholars advising them that the document establishing the date upon which the quadricentennial anniversary was being calculated was a forgery. Consequently, a debate ensued regarding the authenticity of the document. The public discourse showed a lack of confidence in scholarly inquiry and certain individuals intimated that scholars may be driven more by political concerns than by professional standards.

The editors of the JEAH—Jaap Jacobs, L.H. Roper, and Bertrand Van Ruymbeke—were intrigued and troubled by this debate, which raises questions about the wisdom of professional scholars engaging in what might be seen as lobbying activities. The debate seems to question the basis for historical scholarship—documentary-based research versus oral traditions, for example.  The most significant concern is that the investigations into what might have happened in 1613 are being overshadowed both by an argument over the authenticity of the Tawagonshi document and by the current political and social significance of the 1613 date as it relates to the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign.  To address the historical questions at the heart of the debate, the editors invited Paul Otto, expert on intercultural relations in New Netherland, as co-editor with Jaap Jacobs to produce an issue specially focused on the Tawagonshi and Two Row history.

In publishing this special issue of the JEAH, the intention of the co-editors is not to take sides in the debate but to shed as much light as possible on the historical context of this important anniversary through scholarly inquiry. Different aspects of the presumed 1613 treaty are addressed by experts in the field, including a linguistic analysis of the allegedly forged document, the early years of Dutch trade in New Netherland, Iroquois (or Haundenosaunee) diplomacy and oral tradition, Dutch-indigenous relations, and the history of wampum.

“First, the Tawagonshi document is a forgery and not a later copy of a lost original,” Paul Otto (George Fox University) and Jaap Jacobs (University of St Andrews), co-editors of the special issue, state in summarizing their findings.  “Second, whatever agreements or negotiations traders […] may have made with native peoples, these could not be construed as diplomatic treaties between sovereign people. Establishing both of these facts does not, however, discredit the tradition of an agreement between Dutch and Iroquois representatives that later became the basis for English and then American negotiations with the Iroquois.”

For more information on this media alert, please contact Nozomi Goto, Editor, at [email protected].

About Brill Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in 20 main subject areas, including Middle East and Islamic Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, History, Biblical and Religious Studies, Language & Linguistics, Biology, and International Law, among others. With offices in Leiden and Boston, Brill today publishes almost 200 journals and around 600 new books and reference works each year, available in both print and electronic form. Brill also markets a large number of primary source research collections and databases. The company’s key customers are academic and research institutions, libraries, and scholars. Brill is a publicly traded company and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam NV. For further information please visit www.brill.com.

View this media alert online: http://www.brill.com/news/journal-explores-debate-two-row-wampum-treaty

[IFLA-L] International Meeting of Experts on the Safeguarding of Mali’s Cultural Heritage, UNESCO Headquarters, 18 February 2013

Following the Director-General of UNESCO’s decision to assist the Government of Mali in restoring and rebuilding its cultural heritage, UNESCO has established a working group of experts from all its partners, including IFLA, with the purpose of preparing an action plan for the restoration and reconstruction of the country’s cultural heritage and building the necessary capacity. More details are available here.

Ellen Tise will represent IFLA in the Expert Group which will work mainly via electronic communication. As the Past President Ellen has an excellent understanding of IFLA and also our work on cultural heritage through our Blue Shield membership and UNESCO. Also, Ellen is a member of the UNESCO Memory of the World advisory board; is Chair of the National Library Board in South Africa – the South African government and National Library have been working with the Mali government on a number of projects re the manuscripts and other cultural heritage; is the Director of Library Services at Stellenbosch University and so is familiar with work being done by a number of universities in Africa working with the cultural heritage in Mali and is well-placed to liaise with these institutions; and is well-known to African library and cultural heritage colleagues. Ellen’s role will focus on liaison across the participating organisations.

The working group was launched with an international expert meeting and the ‘Solidarity for Mali’ event on Monday the 18th of February 2013 in Paris. IFLA was represented through Christiane Baryla, Director of the IFLA Preservation and Conservation (PAC) Core Activity. Throughout the day, experts of cultural heritage worked on fine-tuning the action plan for the protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the region. In  collaboration with our colleagues  (ICA, ICCROM, ICOM, ICBS),  IFLA insisted notably on the need for an assessment not only of the damages but also the situation before the damages from the conflict. IFLA pointed out the necessity of organizing training seminars in the different fields of  preservation, restoration, digitization and disaster’s management  and recovery. The UNESCO action plan is not yet finalised.

IFLA will work closely with UNESCO, through our role in the Blue Shield to assess the impacts the conflict has had on libraries in Mali and will help to rebuild the library infrastructure. When the region has been declared safe UNESCO will consider sending a mission to evaluate the situation for cultural heritage. In the meantime IFLA is focusing  on drawing together information about colleagues who have experience with training or working in Mali, and what the situation was for tangible heritage artifacts before the conflict.

If you have any experience or knowledge with regards to the issues in Mali and would like to help please contact Julia Brungs.

Please see here for webversion.

Julia Brungs

Policy and Projects Officer

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

P.O. Box 95312
2509 CH The Hague
Netherlands

RELINDIAL Social Science Libraries SIG (Religious Libraries in Dialogue) IFLA 2013 Singapore

Call for Papers

Religious Libraries in Dialogue Special Interest Group

Theme: Tools developed for a better sharing of religious information

中文 | Deutsch | Español | français | Русский | العربية

The IFLA SIG RELINDIAL is seeking proposals for papers to be presented at a two-hour program to be held at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Singapore in August 17-23, 2013.

We request submissions from libraries in charge of religious collections and more or less involved in the dialog of these collections with the world, especially in their location. The submissions requested should present the ttools developed for a better sharing of religious information. All aspects of this topic will be considered, e.g.:

  • Training for religious information literacy around the world. What about Asia?
  • FRBR cataloguing and improvement of the religious literature study
  • Religious vocabularies and the semantic web
  • Open Access and religious information
  • Special databases and full text
  • Digitized heritage: World digital library, Gallica, Europeana, Hathi Trust, Google books… how to find his way in all this digitized material?
  • The existing European common catalogues and how to give them a new life in a world of Google practisers

Submission Guidelines

We prefer submissions that demonstrate real experiences/case studies – papers that tell a story. Papers presenting historical perspectives will also be considered. The program will feature up to five presentations of 15-20 minutes each with additional time for questions.

Papers should reflect the 2013 conference theme, “Future Libraries: Infinite Possibilities” and IFLA President Ingrid Parent’s theme, “Libraries – A force for change”

Language of the session:

Papers should be in one of the IFLA official languages. The session will not include simultaneous interpretation, therefore the presentation and presentation slides should be in English. However, if necessary, English presentation slides with the presentation in one of the official languages of IFLA are welcome.

Proposals should include:

  • title
  • abstract of no more than 300 words
  • brief biography for the speaker or speakers
  • E-mail contact address

Send proposals by February 28, 2013 via email to:

Odile Dupont Convenor of the IFLA SIG RELINDIAL E-mail: [email protected]

Please take into account: At least one of the paper’s authors must be present to deliver a summary of the paper during the program in Singapore. Abstracts should only be submitted with the understanding that the expenses of attending the Singapore conference will be the responsibility of the author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers.

Important Dates

February 28, 2013 Proposals/abstracts submission deadline
March 18, 2013 Proposals will be reviewed and successful candidates will be notified
May 17, 2013 Deadline for selected presenters to submit formal paper (for inclusion on the IFLA conference website and the Section’s website). Details regarding the format and length of the final paper will be sent to candidates whose abstracts are accepted.

 

Submissions

All proposals must be in before 28 February 2013.

Please note

All expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation etc., are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by IFLA, but a special invitation can be issued to authors.

Congress Attendance Grants

The Singapore National Committee and IFLA have worked hard to secure funds for Conference Participation Grants. Up-to-date information will be available on our Conference Participation Grants webpage.

Last update: 14 February 2013

Odile Dupont Chargée de mission pour la promotion et les réseaux de bibliothèques Responsable du SIG – IFLA RELINDIAL Expert auprès du Cfibd (Comité français international bibliothèque et documentation) Institut catholique de Paris 21 rue d’Assas 75270 Paris cedex 06 Tel : 33(0)1 70 64 14 27 Fax : 33(0)1 44 39 52 98 [email protected]
Catholic University of Paris Executive manager for the promotion and the libraries network Member of the European Theological Library Association, BETH Member of the American Theological Library Association, ATLA Convenor of the SIG – IFLA RELINDIAL

IFLA Satellite Conference “Social Science Libraries: A Bridge to Knowledge for Sustainable Development” August 8-10, 2011, Havana, Cuba

Colleagues –

We invite you to register for and attend the IFLA satellite conference “Social Science Libraries: A Bridge to Knowledge for Sustainable Development” which will be held from August 8-10, 2011 in Havana, Cuba. The conference is limited to 60 registrants. We hope the program will provide you with a basis for discovering the many possiblilities of open access and digital libraries. For more information and to register, please go to:

http://www.library.illinois.edu/cgs/IFLA/

which now includes the preliminary program.

We hope to see you there, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the main IFLA conference this year.

Lynne M. Rudasill
Chair, Social Science Libraries Section, IFLA
Associate Professor of Library Administration
Center for Global Studies – 217-265-6879
[email protected]