Global Gleanings # 21: South African contributions to the international literature

Posted on 2024-09-01 by Peter Lor

This column of news, views and snippets from the international literature of books, libraries, and information, was written in July and appeared in the September 2024 issue of LIASA-in-Touch, the quarterly newsletter of the Library and Information Association of South Africa.

South and southern African researchers are increasingly publishing excellent and relevant research findings in overseas journals, to which not all of us have access. In this instalment of “Global Gleanings” I draw attention to fourteen articles published overseas in 2023 by South African authors and other authors (such as postgraduate students from other African countries) connected to South African universities. Seven of the articles appeared in IFLA journal and six in Information development, both good choices to ensure that colleagues in the Global South take note of South African contributions. Continue reading →

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Mauro Guerrini honoured

Posted on 2024-07-28 by Peter Lor

I’m pleased to report that my good friend, Professor Mauro Guerrini, who recently retired from the University of Florence, has been awarded the title of Emeritus Professor. Mauro was Professor of Library Science, Cataloguing, Metadata and Classification, and served as Dean of the Masters programme on Cataloguing in Archives, Library Science, and Codicology. He has written many articles and books, some of which have been translated into other languages. Recently, his book From cataloguing to metadata creation; a cultural and methodological introduction, was published by Facet Publishing and ALAstore. He is also the editor-in-chief of JLIS.it, a peer-reviewed electronic journal, which is published in Italian and English.

I have known Mauro since 2007, when IFLA awarded the 2009 World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) to Milan. Mauro, who was then the President of the Italian Library Association (AIB), chaired the national organising committee. As IFLA’s Secretary General, I worked closely with him in the planning of the Congress, and we have been friends ever since. Organising a major international conference is an arduous and often stressful exercise involving various parties (including IFLA, the national committee, the relevant government and regional ministries, and a conference organising company). These parties have divergent and sometimes conflicting interests. Collaboration in such an exercise does not always lead to long-term friendships!)

In Italy being named an emeritus professor is no routine matter but a signal honour, awar

Festschrift for Mauro Guerrini’s 70th

ded by a decree of the Italian Minister of Universities and Research. If this were not enough, a Festschrift (Bergamin and Possemato 2023) had just recently appeared to celebrate his retirement at the age of 70. It is entitled Guardando oltre i confine: Partire dalla tradizione per costruire il futuro delle biblioteche (Looking beyond borders: Building on tradition to construct the future of libraries). The list of authors of the approximately fifty essays is a veritable roll call of the leadership of the Italian profession (many having studied under him), and also includes international authors. Mauro has a wide circle of friends. I was honoured to receive an invitation to contribute to the book as well (Lor 2023).

 

Congratulazioni mio caro amico, e anche se so che non resterai seduto a non fare niente, ti auguro molti anni per goderti la pensione e la tua famiglia.

References

Bergamin, Giovanni, and Tiziana Possemato, eds. 2023. Guardando oltre i confini: partire dalla tradizione per costruire il futuro delle biblioteche. Studi e testimonianze per i 70 anni di Mauro Guerrini. Rome: Associazione Italiana Biblioteche.

Lor, Peter Johan. 2023. “Ludwig Jahn’s walkway: Librarians between past and future.” In Guardando oltre i confini: partire dalla tradizione…, 219–29. Rome: Associazione Italiana Biblioteche.

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IFLA centenary book: call for chapters

Posted on 2024-07-20 by Peter Lor

I’m delighted to report that IFLA’s Library History Special Interest Group has issued a call for chapters for a book that is planned to mark IFLA’s Centenary in 2027. The intended scope of this book, which will be published by De Gruyter, publishers of the IFLA Publications (“Greenbacks”) series, is the history of IFLA in its broader international context, including both transnational and regional perspectives on IFLA and the history of libraries and the information society over the past 100 years.  The editors plan to organize the volume under the following broad themes:

  • The future of libraries in an era of ubiquitous information
  • Informational utopia – networks, knowledge organization, and the global rise of libraries
  • Cold War and the dawn of information technology
  • Information for All – access and information justice amidst globalization

For more information go to the announcement on the IFLA website.

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Global Gleanings # 20: Celebrating Books, reading, and libraries

Posted on 2024-06-10 by Peter Lor

This column of news, views and snippets from the international literature of books, libraries, and information, was written in April and appeared in the June 2024 issue of LIASA-in-Touch, the quarterly newsletter of the Library and Information Association of South Africa. (Events have overtaken us. The South African general election is behind us, and coalition talks are under way.)

Books are for sharing

As I write this, we’ve just had World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April. It was first celebrated in Spain on 7 October 1926, the birthday of Miguel de Cervantes de Saavedra (1547-1616), Spanish author of what is thought to be the first great Western novel, Don Quixote (from which we derive the word ‘quixotic’, meaning idealistically impractical). In 1995 UNESCO created “World Book and Copyright Day”, choosing 23 April to celebrate it because both William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Cervantes died on that day, and it was also the birthday of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616). De la Vega, born in Peru as the son of a Spanish conquistador and an Inca noblewoman, was an important chronicler of the Inca civilization and the Spanish conquest of Peru.

 

In establishing commemorations or events of this kind, UNESCO usually tries to make Continue reading →

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La biblioteconomia comparata: New Italian contribution to comparative librarianship

Posted on 2024-05-02 by Peter Lor

Bilotta, Anna. 2022. Principi, approcci e applicazioni della biblioteconomia comparata. Florence: Firenze University Press.

Cover of new book by Anna Bilotta

It’s difficult to keep up with all the topics I would like to blog about. Often interesting opportunities pass by uncommented. But better late than never, I want to draw attention to the recent publication of a book by Anna Bilotta (Bilotta 2022). Bilotta, who holds a PhD in documentation science from Sapienza University of Rome, teaches library management at the University of Salerno. A scholar with a solid record of publications in library and information science, she has written an admirably concise and readable text on comparative librarianship. I’m envious; maybe this is the accessible and less intimidating book I should have written had I not gotten bogged down in the massive doorstop I ended up producing (Lor 2019). Continue reading →

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Global Gleanings # 19: More disruption: perplexity and ‘burstiness’

Posted on 2024-04-01 by Peter Lor

This column of news, views and snippets from the international literature of books, libraries, and information, appeared in the March 2024 issue of LIASA-in-Touch, the quarterly newsletter of the Library and Information Association of South Africa.

Since I wrote about AI (artificial intelligence) and ChatGPT in Global Gleanings #16, the literature on it has burgeoned. At the 2023 IFLA World Library and Information Congress, I counted at least eleven sessions dealing with some aspect of AI. I was reminded of the impact of ChatGPT when, in a Zoom meeting with international colleagues, the editor of a respected LIS journal mentioned that he had been receiving article submissions with fake references, i.e., references to sources that do not exist, probably generated by AI. Continue reading →

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Sjoerd Koopman’s Library Postcard Collection

Posted on 2024-01-18 by Peter Lor

My friend and former colleague, Sjoerd Koopman, retired in 2010 as Director of Professional Programmes at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). A great communicator, throughout his career Sjoerd built up an extensive network of colleagues and friends. In 2000 he started collecting postcards depicting libraries throughout the world. Recently, he was interviewed by Kathleen McCook for her blog, Ebla to E-books: The Preservation and Annihilation of Memory. By the time of the interview Sjoerd had collected 17,594 postcards.

Sjoerd receives many duplicates. He donates all his duplicate postcards of US libraries to the American Library Association Archives, at the University of Illinois-Urbana, where they have been digitized. They can be viewed online free of charge. Continue reading →

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Global Gleanings #18: From Paris to King Louis I

Posted on 2023-12-20 by Peter Lor

This quarterly column of news, views and snippets from the international literature of books, libraries, and information, appeared in the December 2023 issue of LIASA-in-Touch, the newsletter of the Library and Information Association of South Africa.

 

It all happened in Paris

Rugby players and their fans were not the only important visitors to Paris recently. In September, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were in Paris on a state visit to renew ties with Britain’s ancient adversary and Twentieth Century ally. On the second day of the visit, Queen Camilla and French First Lady, Mme Brigitte Macron, launched a new UK-France literary prize. The Prix Entente Littéraire (Entente Literary Prize) is for young adult fiction and it is hoped that it will promote the translation of such fiction across the English Channel (Casassus 2023). Its name recalls the Entente Cordiale of 1904, which ended a millennium of rivalry and conflict between the two countries (“Entente Cordiale” 2023). Symbolism and optics! That’s part and parcel of diplomacy. To add French prestige to the occasion, the launch took place in the magnificently restored seventeenth century building of the Bibliothèque nationale on the rue Richelieu in the heart of Paris. (It is a peculiarity of French spelling that in the names of corporate bodies, only the initial words and proper names are spelled with capital letters.) Continue reading →

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Global Gleanings #17: South African contributions to the international LIS literature

Posted on 2023-09-07 by Peter Lor

This quarterly column of news, views and snippets from the international literature of books, libraries, and information, appears in LIASA-in-Touch, the newsletter of the Library and Information Association of South Africa.

Screen capture from Google serach

Lost to local colleagues?

Many scholars in the Global South prefer to publish their work in what were seen as prestigious ‘international’ journals rather than locally. In many countries, having work published in prestigious ‘international’ journals is a precondition for career advancement (Abrahams et al. 2008, 25; Meneghini, Packer, and Nassi-Calò 2008). Such journals can set very high standards, rejecting a large percentage of article submissions. But for an ambitious author, this makes it even more desirable to get published in them even though this may take much time and effort. Non-native English speakers face a further obstacle (Amano et al. 2023). There may be other impediments (Lor 2023).

By publishing in an international journal, South African authors can reach colleagues world-wide who can appreciate their specialist contributions, but this comes at a cost. Continue reading →

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Update on Satellite meeting of IFLA Library History SIG

Posted on 2023-07-24 by Peter Lor

The latest and final programme has been released at http://expositions.mundaneum.org/en/conference/preserving-our-origins-world-library-and-information-congress.

A reduced student registration fee has been introduced. At EUR 60 it includes refreshments, coffee breaks and lunch on Thursday 17 August and Friday 18 August.

 

 

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