Advisory Council on Latin American and Iberian Information Resources
ACLAIIR

MINUTES of the Annual Meeting of Consultation held on Wednesday, 18 July 2001 at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, Senate House, London WC1E 7HU.

Present:

Apologies:

1. Minutes of theAnnual Meeting of Consultation of Wednesday, 19 July 2000

   The minutes were approved.

   
   
2. Matters arising

   Under 3a Electronic Journals: the question was raised as to whether the meeting still thought that the electronic journal phenomenon did impact less on Latin American Studies than on other subject areas, or whether the position had changed.It was noted that fewer of the major publishers handled Latin American material, and that there was less available electronically, since it was not possible to sign up with a major publisher and obtain large quantities of periodicals for electronic consultation: there was no JSTOR equivalent specifically for the subject area. However, free journals existed, and the situation was improving: UTLANIC, and universities such as Tulane and Madison (Wisconsin) provided links to free journals. The SciELO database was highlighted as an example of a government funded project to implement a virtual electronic library, in this case covering a selected collection of Brazilian scientific journals. The phenomenon was not following the same pattern as with English language material, so at present it could be said to impact less.

   
   
3. Chairman's Annual Report

   The Chairman read out his Annual Report (see Appendix A), and copies of it were distributed to those present. His contribution to the work of ACLAIIR was greatly appreciated

   
   
4. Accounts for 2000/2001
   

   ACLAIIR 2001		STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT
   INCOME	£	EXPENDITURE	£
   Opening balance 1/1/01	3987.25	Travel	56.20
   41 Subscriptions @ £15	615.00	AGM catering deposit	100.00
   AGM fee	15.00
   C.U.P. for flyers	50.00
   Halifax dividend	33.48
   Total Income	4700.73	Total Expenditure	156.20
   Minus expenditure	-156.20
   BALANCE AT 16/7/01	4544.53

   The subscription rate was to continue at the current rate of £15 for 2002.

5. Election of Committee members and officers

   Carmen Suárez was re-elected to the Committee.
   
   The Chairman, Robert McNeil, announced that he was standing down, thereby necessitating an election for a new Chair. Nominations were received for Geoff West, an election followed, and Geoff West was elected as the new Chairman.
   
   On behalf of the Committee and the membership, the Chairman-elect then proposed a vote of thanks to Robert McNeil for his work as Chair.
   
   Robert McNeil relinquished the Chair at this point, and Geoff West took over.

   
   
6. Programme of work
   1. ACLAIIR web pages
      The correct url for the ACLAIIR web page is http://www.kcl.ac.uk/aclaiir/aclaiir.html.
      
      Ann Lees reported that the King's College web site had undergone a relaunch.
      
      If the content of the ACLAIIR page were to be enhanced with the names and work addresses of members, members would have to be asked for their permission first. If the Newsletter were to be mounted, a decision would have to be made as to which parts of it would be most usefully mounted on the web page.
      
      Ann Lees said that it was time for someone else to take over the running of the ACLAIIR web page. If ACLAIIR had its own domain name, it would make it easier to change host institutions. The initial cost for this would be in the region of £100, and after this a cost of £50 p.a..
      
      The meeting was asked if it thought that it would be a good idea for ACLAIIR to have its own domain name, and it came to the conclusion that it would be more appropriate for it to do so.
      
      A host would be needed for the new ACLAIIR web page. Alison Hill thought that the British Library might be able to act as host and would investigate this possibility. She hoped to have an answer by the next Committee meeting on 24 October 2001. John Laidlar thought that Manchester University might be able to act as host if the British Library could not.
      
      
   2. Newsletter
      The Newsletter had not yet been delivered from the printers. A draft copy was circulated. When it had arrived, the printed version would be circulated with C.U.P. flyers: ACLAIIR had received £50 from C.U.P. for this.
      
      The question was raised as to whether the Newsletter should be mounted on the web page, and if so, should all of it or just part(s) of it be mounted.
      The hard copy was appreciated. There was a feeling that if the Newsletter were to be freely available, in entirety, on the web page there would be less incentive for people to join ACLAIIR, and that the current practice of having just the Contents page electronically available was adequate.
      An electronic archive of earlier issues in full text form was acceptable, but the latest issue should only be available as full text in paper copy.
      The current distribution list for the Newsletter was in the region of 100 copies. The current Newsletter acts as a journal of record for the previous year.
      
      Volunteers would be welcome to help with the editorial work for the Newsletter, especially on the Iberian aspects. A reviewer of Hispanic sites would be particularly appreciated.
      
      It was noted that some institutions gave budget information to be included in the Newsletter and that others did not. This was due to a variety of reasons, but the main problem would appear to be that of presenting meaningful figures e.g. some institutions would have a budget for literature, history, economics etc. but none specifically for, say, Latin American Studies, some might just specialise in and collect one particular aspect of an area study such as history, some would include periodicals and electronic databases but others would just give monograph budgets, some of the institutions would be Copyright Libraries and receive all U.K. published books free etc..
      
      
   3. Directory of Latin American and Caribbean Collections
      Alan Biggins, who was unable to attend due to staff shortage at ILAS, had sent an email report explaining that there had been more delay (due to Valerie Cooper's ill-health and redundancy, the impending arrival of a new manager, and staff shortage) for which he was deeply sorry. But he said that they were working on the final updates, and would definitely be handing the final text over to the ILAS Editor that week. The Director would then write his foreword and the book would printed during August.
      On behalf of all those present, the Chairman thanked Valerie Cooper and Alan Biggins for all the work that they had done.
      
      
   4. Accounts of 19th Century Latin America
      Paula Covington of Vanderbilt University, who is working on this project with Robert McNeil, had brought a first draft copy of this over with her on a recent visit. Approximately 2 years work would be needed to complete the project.
      
      
   5. Survey of Newspapers and News Magazines
      This project has been shelved.
      
      
   6. British Library's Co-Operation and Development Fund
      It had been decided not to proceed with a bid for the proposed Latin American serials listing project since any Latin American serials project could be superceded by a "British Union List of Serials" project, which was now under investigation.

      The British Library's New Strategic Directions document was mentioned, and the meeting was asked if ACLAIIR should respond to the collaboration and development issues raised in it.
      The universities of Essex and Sussex would both be formulating a response, so would the German Studies Library Group, and other interested parties.
      It was felt that a variety of responses were needed, from groups and individuals, and the meeting was in favour of ACLAIIR sending a response. Robert McNeil undertook the task of preparing ACLAIIR's response, and asked the meeting to e-mail him with their opinions on the subject so that he could include these in the response.

   7. Liaison/Links with Outside Bodies/Communication Channels
      1. Reports from E-Mail Lists: Latam-Info and Iberia
         
         Latam-Info.
         The transfer to JISC was fairly smooth. The list was thriving with 350+ members.
         
         Iberia
         Robert Howes gave the following report:

         During the year July 2000 to June 2001, a total of 124 messages was circulated, making an average of 10.33 per month.
         As at 17 July 2001, the list had a total of 176 registered e-mail addresses. Allowing for people who have more than one registered address, the list has a total of 173 members.
         The membership is predominantly based in the UK academic community, but we have members worldwide, as can be seen from the following breakdown of domain addresses:

         ac.uk	87	ar [Argentina]	2
         co.uk	7	de [Germany]	2
         bl.uk	2	br [Brazil]	1
         org.uk	2	fi [Finland]	1
         com	24	fr [France]	1
         org	3	hu [Hungary]	1
         net	2	nz [New Zealand]	1
         edu [USA]	10	ro [Romania]	1
         pt [Portugal]	9	se [Sweden]	1
         es [Spain]	8	sg [Singapore]	1
         au [Australia]	3	uy [Uruguay]	1
         it [Italy]	3

         
         The list clearly has a wide audience and I would therefore encourage members to post messages to it in order to maintain communication.

         Robert Howes
         IBERIA Joint List Owner 17 July 1001

      2. Reports on/from SLAS/REDIAL/SALALM.

         SLAS
         Alan Biggins sent the following report by email, to be read out at the meeting:
         " I attended the committee meeting on 22 May. SLAS were very interested in the written report on ACLAIIR's recent activities, and this is being reproduced in the next SLAS Newsletter .
         Annual conference 2002 is in Norwich (UEA)
         Meeting for 2003 is in Manchester
         Next Committee meeting is 26 October, in Edinburgh."

         REDIAL
         REDIAL's annual conference is to be held in Bordeaux 16-18 September 2001.
         Alan Biggins and Geoff West would be attending.

         SALALM XXXXVI: Tempe, Arizona
         Alan Biggins and Geoff West had attended, and Geoff West had circulated a report to the Committee, which could be edited for the next Newsletter.
         SALALM XXXXVII is to convene in Ithaca, New York on 01 June 2002, and the venue for SALALM XXXXVIII will be Cartagena.

      3. Language Studies Library Groups Joint Meeting and Proposed Joint Workshop on Electronic Journals/Resources
         Jill Kempshall explained to the meeting how she had been trying to gauge interest in the formation of a loose federation of language groups, given the current tendency for people having to 'cover' several different language areas and for those people to belong to more than one language group. As a result of this, a joint meeting of representatives from the different Language Studies Library Groups (the French, Italian and German Groups and ACLAIIR) was to take place on 28 August 2001 at the University of London Library. Of those present, Geoff West and Christine Anderson were to represent ACLAIIR, Ann Lees was to represent the GSLG, and Jill Kempshall, who was herself a member of several different groups, was to attend as main liaison person between the groups.
         The aim of the meeting would be to discuss liaison and co-operation between the groups, and to try to arrange a programme for a joint meeting of all members of all the groups. This joint meeting would include a workshop based on a theme of joint interest e.g. electronic journals/resources. If anyone had any ideas for a theme for such a workshop they were to contact their group representatives.
         
         
   8. ACLAIIR Grant Proposal
      Given that the ACLAIIR account had a current surplus, the question had been raised as to whether a certain amount could be put to use in assisting research in the fields of Latin American and Iberian studies e.g. towards travel assistance, publication costs etc. It was felt that the research should be library related and resource focused e.g. a bibliographic or archival focus.
      The Alison Northover Bursary was mentioned as an example that could be followed.
      The amount of any grant from ACLAIIR could be fairly small and need not be given every year, but should be tied to a writing of a report on the subject of the grant for the Newsletter and/or the ACLAIIR web page.
      A suitable mechanism would have to be set up to award such a grant.
      Geoff West asked the meeting to inform Ann Lees if they knew of any suitable models to draw on.
      Other alternatives were mentioned:
      that ACLAIIR should identify worthy projects and offer financial assistance;
      that ACLAIIR should keep the surplus to fund ACLAIIR publications and initiative.
      
      The matter was to go back to the Committee for further investigation.
      
      
7. Latin American STC Project (University of California, Riverside)
   The University of California, Riverside was the British Library's partner in the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (ESTC), and is now working in partnership with the British Library and others in the construction of another database, the English Short Title Catalogue.
   Dr. Henry L. Snyder was the moving spirit behind various projects, including a project (now under way) to construct the Latin American Short Title Catalogue, a union catalogue and bibliography of material printed in Latin America up to 1850.
   The onus will be on the Bodleian and the British Library to contribute, as they are the greatest sources of pre 1850 Americana in the UK. It was recognised that Spain would be a major source of information and materials for the project, and Geoff West said that he would investigate the Spanish links to the project and inform the Committee in due course.
   
   
8. A.O.B.
   On behalf of the meeting the Chairman thanked Donald Munro for hosting and organizing the Annual Meeting of Consultation, and thanked Christine Anderson for assisting.
   
   
9. Date of the Next Meeting
   The Chairman moved to change the name of the Annual Meeting of Consultation to the Annual General Meeting. There were no objections.
   The next Annual General Meeting will be hosted by Cambridge University, and will take place on Wednesday, 10 July 2002.

Appendix A.

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT, 2001-09-04

ACLAIIR continues to face the millennium in a healthy state, and once again we must express our gratitude to the Treasurer. The Committee would also like to pay tribute to Christine Anderson, our new secretary, for the amount she has achieved during her first year, and also (once more) to Ann Lees, for her work on the ACLAIIR website (still available on http://www.kcl.ac.uk/aclaiir/aclaiir.html).

The 2000 Annual Meeting of Consultation took place in Senate House (as does the current meeting), in the Durning-Lawrence Library which was itself a part of the University of London Library. Unfortunately a mishap with the rail services (it was the Queen Mother's birthday, and the IRA decided to commemorate it) led to the number of apologies outstripping the number of those present, for (I think) the first time. Although I was myself among the apologists, I should like to join with the rest of the Committee in thanking the staff of the Library, and in particular Christine Anderson for the work involved in the task of keeping so many Hispanist librarians happy.

This is an exciting year for ACLAIIR, in that many librarians (including some of our own members) are thinking of starting similar groups to cover other languages: the Committee is delighted to put its expertise at their disposal. I am also delighted to be able to congratulate Carmen Suárez, of Canning House Library, who has won a grant from the National Lottery Foundation to ensure the continued automatization of the Library, known to so many of us.

In my last report (covering 1999-2000) I mentioned Latin American and Caribbean Library Resources in the British Isles, edited by Alan Biggins and Valerie Cooper, the directory so long in preparation. This time we all hope for prompt publication, despite the changes that in the last year have beset the Institute of Latin American Studies. Further projects are still under active consideration, to go ahead after the publication of the directory. The exchange of experience meeting I promised in my last annual report will, it is hoped, follow this year's Meeting of Consultation.

As is the case every year, your Committee has been following developments in all other Hispanist and Latin Americanist organizations, including SLAS, REDIAL, SALALM and other bodies, many of which have been the beneficiaries of ACLAIIR participation.

Robert A. McNeil
16 July 2001