An Age of Discovery: Distinctive Collections in the Digital Age

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) are co-hosting a Forum, "An Age of Discovery: Distinctive Collections in the Digital Age." It will be held October 15-16, 2009, in Washington, DC, immediately following the ARL Membership Meeting.

The Forum builds on the work of the ARL Special Collections Working Group. The goal is to focus attention on opportunities available in the digital environment for leveraging the strengths of special collections, making them more widely accessible. The co-hosts seek to bring together librarians, archivists, and others with responsibilities for stewarding special and distinctive resources, and to identify strategies for advancing this goal. Intended Audience

The forum is open to all. In particular, directors of research and academic libraries, archives, and historical societies are encouraged to attend, along with other staff members who have responsibilities that encompass special collections.

Program sessions will address:

• Why Are Special Collections Important? Exploring the Value Proposition
• Collaborative Strategies to Build Cross-Institutional Collections
• Special Collections as Laboratories for Researchers and Students
• Integrating Special Collections into the Enterprise
• What Changes with Digital Content?

The Fall Forum programs have a reputation for high quality engagement of strategic issues and this year's program is no exception. We recommend that Directors of research and academic libraries and archives plan to attend the full Forum and consider doing so with a member of their staff who has responsibilities for the library's special collections.

See the Forum Web site for speaker and program details. http://www.arl.org/events/fallforum/forum09/index.shtml

Registration Deadline September 25

Registration is $275 per person for individuals affiliated with an ARL or CNI member institutions; $325 for all others. The registration deadline is September 25.

Fellowship Awards Deadline September 14

With the generous support of the following sponsors, we are able to offer a limited number of Fellowship Awards to assist Forum participants with the costs of their travel and accommodations to attend the Forum.

Fellowship Award Sponsors

• The Council on Library and Information Resources
• Preservation Technologies
• OCLC
• EBSCO
• Atlas, Inc.
• Alexander Street Press

See the Forum Web site for information on Fellowship Awards. The deadline for applications is September 14.

For more information, contact:
Sarah Segura
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
sarah@arl.org

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The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries at comprehensive, research-extensive institutions in the US and Canada that share similar research missions, aspirations, and achievements.

The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. Some 200 institutions representing higher education, publishing, network and telecommunications, information technology, and libraries and library organizations make up CNI's Members.

UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World 2009 Prize awarded to National Archives of Malaysia

Postcard from Singapore to Shanghai, China.

© National Archives of Malay

21-08-2009 (Paris)

On the recommendation of the Jury, the Director-General of UNESCO designated the National Archives of Malaysia as the winner of the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize for 2009.

The Archives will be presented with its award of $30,000 on Jikji Day, 4 September 2009, in Cheongju City, Republic of Korea.

The National Archives of Malaysia was selected by the Jury in recognition of its outreach, educational and training programmes in the area of preservation within the Asian region. The Archives actively participates in international activities supporting preservation and has become a key institution in matters relating to preservation and access, establishing itself as a national resource for the rescue of documents damaged by flood and fire.

It thus becomes the third winner of the Jikji Prize, after the Czech National Library (2005) and the Austrian Phonogrammarchiv (2007). It was chosen from a shortlist of four nominations that also included Mr Vassilios Peltikoglou from Greece, the Brukenthal Museum Library in Romania and the National Archives of South Africa, all of which were judged to have made an important contribution to the field of preservation of documentary heritage.

In making its recommendation, the Jury took the following factors into consideration: the significance of work already undertaken in the area of preservation that is beyond the candidate’s regular functions, long-term preservation strategy, sustainability, and international outreach.

The UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize serves to promote the objectives of the Memory of the World Programme and to commemorate the inscription of the Jikji, the oldest existing book produced using movable metal print, on the Memory of the World Register. The Prize is open to governments of Member States and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) maintaining formal relations with UNESCO.

La Dra.Emilia Bernal-Rosa ha fallecido

Catedrática de la Escuela Graduada de Bibliotecología
y Ciencia de la Información (1969-1988)
Profesor Emeritus de la Universidad de PuertoRico, Recinto de Río Piedras (1999)

Ayer, jueves, 13 de agosto de 2009, muy temprano en la mañana, a eso de las 4:00, nuestra querida Emilia Bernal-Rosa, Alila, nos dijo en un susurro, muy suavemente, tranquila, en el cálido ambiente de su pueblo natal, San Sebastián… Hasta luego.

Con hondo pesar comunicamos su inesperada partida.

Farmacéutica y Bibliotecóloga puertorriqueña, fue uno de los pilares de la formación académica del grado de maestría, en nuestra entonces denominada Escuela Graduada de Bibliotecología, de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, iniciándose en la cátedra, precisamente en el 1969, año de su fundación. Obtuvo su grado de Bachiller en Ciencias (Farmacia), de la Universidad de Puerto Rico; el grado de maestría en Ciencia Bibliotecaria de Rutgers University, y el doctorado en filosofía y letras con especialización en el campo de la bibliotecología y la información, de la Universidad de Illinois, en Urbana.

Muchos fueron los estudiantes que se enriquecieron con sus conocimientos y ejecutorias profesionales a través de los cursos de Fuentes de Información y Referencia, Recursos Bibliotecarios en las Ciencias Naturales, Principios de Catalogación por Materias e Indización, Índices: teoría y práctica; Métodos de investigación aplicados a la Bibliotecología, y Organización de recursos informativos.

Investigó y publicó en revistas profesionales del campo, tanto en Puerto Rico como en el exterior, enalteciendo la bibliotecología puertorriqueña.

Su excelencia académica la hizo merecedora de diversas distinciones provenientes de organizaciones profesionales internacionales tal como Beta Phi Mu, Capítulo Alpha, de la Universidad de Illinois, y de la Lección Magistral Josefina del Toro Fulladosa, máximo galardón de la Sociedad de Bibliotecarios de Puerto Rico. La Universidad de Puerto Rico la honró con el título de Profesora Emérita, concediéndole todos los derechos y las atribuciones académicas de personal docente que conlleva esta distinción académica.

La Familia de la Escuela Graduada de Ciencias y Tecnologías de la Información se une a la Familia Bernal Rosa en estos momentos difíciles de entender; se hermana y abraza a todos y cada uno de sus integrantes, cálidamente, juntando los corazones para compartir el hondo sentimiento que les embarga. Rogamos al Señor Todopoderoso que les brinde el bálsamo consolador con la promesa y seguridad de que habrá un mañana de encuentro, esperanzador.

Hasta luego, querida Alila. Dejas un recuerdo hermoso, de calidad humana muy especial; dejas una estela de excelencia en el campo de la información, en la bibliotecología puertorriqueña.

Al decirle hasta luego, elevamos humildemente la oración sencilla del Padre Nuestro, al Todopoderoso, con todo el cariño y la admiración que sentimos, para que Nuestro Señor acoja tiernamente a Alila en su seno, con mucho amor, y la coloque en la alcoba más acogedora que tenga en su Aposento Alto para que descanse y disfrute de la inmensa paz sempiterna, rodeada de sus libros, de sus recuerdos hermosos, más preciados…

Que la Paz del Señor sea siempre contigo, querida Alila.

El velatorio de la Dra. Emilia Bernal-Rosa es en su pueblo natal San Sebastián. La funeraria es San Sebastián Memorial, en la Carr. 111, del Barrio Guatemala (787.896.2155). La capilla ardiente estará abierta hasta las 2:00 de la tarde de hoy cuando se oficiará una misa. A las 3:00 de la tarde la comitiva fúnebre partirá al cementerio privado Pepino Memorial Park.