News

eIFL.net will present a paper at IST-Africa 2010

eIFL.net will present a paper at IST-Africa 2010 which will take place in Durban, South Africa 19-21 May, 2010. We are part of the workshop on the 20th of May " Research Interoperability, Digitization Techniquest and Digital Preservation: the European context" which starts at 16:00.

The IST-Africa Initiative is supported by the European Commission under the ICT Framework Programme 7 (FP7). IST-Africa 2010 is the fifth in an Annual Conference Series which brings together senior representatives from leading commercial, government & research organisations across Africa and from Europe, to bridge the Digital Divide by sharing knowledge, experience, lessons learnt and good practice and discussing policy related issues.

Full program and more details are available at:http://www.ist-africa.org/conference2010/

January-February newsletter issue available online

Our January-February 2009 newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our January-February 2010 newsletter.

November-December newsletter issue available online
Our November-December 2009 newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our November-December 2009 newsletter.

September-October newsletter issue available online
Our September - October 2009 newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our September-October 2009 newsletter.

2008 eIFL.net Annual Report
The eIFL.net team is pleased to share with you our 2008 Annual Report, providing a summary overview of the rich fabric of activities in the eIFL network. This is the first time we have dedicated ourselves to publishing an annual report, and we hope you like the design and enjoy the content. We would like to thank all the donors, the national library consortia in eIFL.net countries, and the ever-growing network of eIFL's friends all over the world that are helping us to bring access to knowledge to such a a vast range of library users.

2008 Annual Report

July - August newsletter issue available online
Our July - August 2009 newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our July-August 2009 newsletter.

Case Studies of Low Cost Digitization Projects
eIFL.net looked into digitization projects that are "low cost" by analyzing data collected through a survey and phone interviews with librarians in the eIFL network. The case studies included in this report collectively seek to answer this question: how can libraries in eIFL countries manage digitisation projects given the cost and policy requirements?

The main message from the reports is reflected in the following quotes: “we cannot afford to wait with digitisation because some of our collections are in bad condition"..... "we want to open up our cultural heritage to a new and broader audience" ..... "teaching and research need much more convenient electronic copies of publications." And in conclusion “therefore we [tried] a Do-It-Your-Self approach with our own staff and … not too expensive equipment” ....“maybe the results are scanned images only and don’t meet some of the standards … but we need digital content and need it quickly: our users and our collections are asking for it.”

To read the report prepared by Repke de Vries, please visit www.eifl.net

May - June newsletter issue available online
Our May - June 2009 newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our May-June 2009 newsletter.

March - April newsletter issue available online
Our March - April 2009 newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our March-April 2009 newsletter.

eIFL.net Endorses International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Consortial Licenses

Written on behalf of the many library consortia across the world that participate in the ICOLC (http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/), this statement has two purposes. It is intended to help publishers and other content providers understand better how the current financial crisis affects the worldwide information community and to suggest a range of approaches in the best mutual interest of libraries and the providers of information services.

The statement forecasts about the impact of the current economic crisis on libraries and library consortia, including widespread, sharp and prolonged cuts in budgets for libraries and consortia and the amplifying impact derived from exchange rate fluctuations. Against this background, the statement suggests a series of principles and approaches to guarantee effective continuing collaboration between library consortia and publishers.

To see the full statement and the list of library consortia that have already endorsed it please go to the ICOLC site.

January - February newsletter issue available online
Our January-February 2009 newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our January-February 2009 newsletter.

November - December newsletter issue available online
Our November - December newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our November-December newsletter.

September - October newsletter issue available online
Our September - October newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our September - October newsletter.

eIFL Director receives IFLA Medal for groundbreaking work with libraries in transition and developing countries
Rima Kupryte, Director of Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL.net) was honoured by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) at the 74th World Library and Information Congress in Quebec, Canada. The IFLA Medal is one of the highest professional accolades and is awarded to an individual for their distinguished contribution to international librarianship.

Please read our PRESS RELEASE, August 14, 2008.

eIFL Program Brochures available in several languages
We have created a special section where eIFL general and program brochures can be downloaded freely. As we are doing with selected pages of our web site, it is our intention to make these brochures available in languages other than English in order to reach out an increasingly wider community. Thanks to Abdrahamane Anne, librarian of the University of Bamako (Mali), eIFL program brochures have just been translated into French, which adds to the Portuguese and Spanish versions.You can get them at http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/about/brochure.

July - August (Summer issue) newsletter issue available online
Our July - August (Summer issue) newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our July - August (Summer issue) newsletter.

May - June newsletter issue available online
Our May - June newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our May - June newsletter.

March - April newsletter issue available online
Our March - April newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our March - April newsletter.

January - February newsletter issue available online
Our January - February newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our January - February newsletter.

November-December newsletter issue available online
Our November-December newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months.
Please read our November-December newsletter.

Welcome to eIFL 7th General Assembly in Belgrade

eIFL would like to thank the local organizing committee for all their arrangements and assistance for the eIFL General Assembly 2007 to take place in Belgrade, Serbia, on November 8-10. We all look forward to meeting with them in a couple of days!

eIFL also thanks all the sponsors for their support to this major annual knowledge sharing conference which brings together eIFL country coordinators, staff, board members, publishers and invited speakers in the field of library and information sciences.

The final programme is available here .

September-October newsletter issue available online
Our September-October newsletter issue is already online, with the latest news on all eIFL programmes, next steps on several fronts, updates on our upcoming 7th General Assembly in Serbia in November and an overview of exciting projects planned by local library consortia in many member countries for the next couple of months. Please read our September-October newsletter.

Summer newsletter issue available online
The issue brings together the most updated information about eIFL ongoing initiatives on the content, open access, copyright and related matters for libraries and free and open source software fronts. Some exciting news about library consortia in eIFL countries are also featured.
Please read our July-August newsletter.

Libraries in developing countries: eIFL joins the BBC in broadcasting to the world

With an average listenership of 163 million people worldwide, the BBC World Service provides international news, analysis and information in English and 32 other languages. The Word, a weekly look at books and writing, this week explored libraries, a vital foundation of literary culture, and their role in developing countries. Rima Kupryte, eIFL Director, was joined by two librarians from Uganda to discuss the changing face of libraries in Africa from reading tents to telecentres and the new opportunities in the digital world. Rima highlighted the lead role of librarians in transforming connectivity for the education and research community in Malawi and the importance of having access to up-to-date information for development.

South African author Justin Cartwright explains why libraries are important to him and prize winning novelist Lionel Shriver, believing that there is no greater leveller than giving people equal access to information through libraries, has left her money in her will to a public library.

You can listen to it anytime here

New Newsletter Issue available
You can read our May-June issue at www.eifl.net/News and Events