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Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER
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© LIBER and author
Published from: LIBER Quarterly, the journal of European research
libraries, ISSN 1435-5205, Vol. 8(1998), No 2. With permission from K.G. Sa
ur Verlag, Munich, Germany
E-mail: Thomas Klöti
WARNING: Internet-addresses in the screendumps are not valid anymore!
Libraries, archives and documentation centres constitute an important link between the products of the map manufacturers and their users. The Map Librarian Team, established by the Association of Swiss Librarians (Vereinigung Schweizerischer Bibliothekare) became operational in 1980. Within the team, a lively exchange of experiences is cultivated on the one hand, and on the other, topics are taken up and projects realised.
The actual impetus for the following intensive occupation with the topic 'digital maps', which is currently taking place within the Swiss map librarian system, came from Barcelona. The 8th Conference of the Groupe des cartothécaires de LIBER in 1992 directed a Swiss organisation committee (ETH Library Zürich, Central Library Zürich, Municipal and University Library Berne) to organise the next conference. With the preparation of the conference, the theme of which was to be 'Digital Maps in Libraries' we trod on new ground. As the members of the organisation committee did not, in first instance, have recourse to personal experience, we moved away from libraries and informed ourselves instead about existing projects and products. During our investigations we came into contact with competent specialists from the fields of science, civil administration, as well as commercial suppliers. Further information was gleaned from specialist literature.
An unpublished survey of SIK-GIS proved to be particularly valuable. On 16 November 1993 we carried out, albeit within the bounds of the team, a workshop entitled 'Digital Maps', at the ETH Library in Zürich. This resulted in an exchange of ideas and experiences. What the new medium was capable of was presented in a demonstration session. Another product of these preparations was the index Digitale Karten in der Schweiz - Produkte, Datensätze und Anwendersysteme, compiled by Jürg Bühler and Thomas Klöti and which has been in great demand since. The 9th Conference of the Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER, took place from 26 - 30 September 1994 at the ETH in Zürich and provided the opportunity for an European exchange of ideas and experiences. Along with its theme 'Mapcuratorship in transition: computerized forms of maps, a new environment', new developments (digital maps, geographic information systems, etc.) were presented and offered for discussion. The proceedings of this conference were published in The LIBER Quarterly, Vol. 5 (1995), No. 3.
Following this stimulating conference, some of the ideas could be put into practice. The desire to utilise actively the facilities offered by Internet was one of the focal points. Through the Homepage of the Map Librarian Team on the World Wide Web an attractive research aid could be made available to users of Swiss map collections. On this page information is provided regarding the goals of the team, whilst the membership list provides information regarding contact persons. Also on this page are details of conferences, exhibitions and publications. For example, the above mentioned index Digitale Karten in der Schweiz - Produkte, Datensätze und Anwendersysteme, which constitutes a building block to a metadatabase for digital maps and other related data, can be electronically called up. Furthermore, the journal Cartographica Helvetica, which is published by the Map History Team of the Swiss Association for Cartography (Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Kartographie), is presented and, in particular, a table of contents and summaries of the newest editions in English are available. From the Homepage it is possible to connect to other participants of library and map library systems.
Happily, Swiss libraries are well represented on the Internet. As the computer was used for and is being used primarily for the bibliographical indexing of maps in on-line catalogues, this means that the catalogue data can now also usually be called up on the Internet. Some libraries also present their special or map collections on the Internet. There are also some 'pioneers' who are offering digital maps which are recorded on computer discs or CD-ROMs, on publically accessible computers. At the present time, consideration is being given to the idea of feeding digital maps into the network (with local access), as well as to the idea of making geographic information systems accessible.
Fig. 1. New Challenges.
With the wider distribution of integrated systems and on-line public access library catalogues (OPACs) new challenges
arise. The 9th Conference of the European Mapcurators Group, which took place in September 1994 at the ETH Zürich,
had as its topic 'Mapcuratorship in transition: computerized forms of maps, a new environment'. Digital maps are becoming
a new area of work.
Swiss Map Librarian Team, Reports
Fig. 2. The Swiss Library of Maps
Access is via the network 'SWITCH': The calling up of the various catalogues, such as the
Swiss National Library (Schweizerische Landesbibliothek), ETHICS Library Co-operation
(ETHICS-Verbund) and the Swiss-German Library Association (Deutschschweizer
Bibliotheksverbund DSV) is carried out via 'telnet' or 'tn3270'.
Figure 3. The virtual Library of Maps
Libraries, archives and documentation centres constitute an important link between the products
of map manufacturers and their users. With the establishment of 'virtual map libraries' new
possibilities and opportunities are created for this mediating function.
Figure 4. The Ryhiner project
Municipal and University Library Berne: The Ryhiner Collection Homepage
Figure 5. The Dial-in on-line catalogue
Municipal and University Library Berne: The Ryhiner Collection: The dial-in on-line catalogue
References
BÜHLER, Jürg, und Thomas Klöti (1995). Digitale Karten in der Schweiz: Produkte, Datensätze und Anwendersysteme. Hrsg.: Arbeitsgruppe Kartenbibliothekarinnen / Kartenbibliothekare (BBS), Zürich und Bern. 2. Auflage.
GUBLER, Martin, and Thomas Klöti (1995). The colour microfilm as preliminary stage of digital maps.
In: The LIBER Quarterly, 5, 1995, p. 287-291.
KLÖTI, Thomas (1994). Arbeitsgruppe Kartenbibliothekarinnen / Kartenbibliothekare.
In: The LIBER Quarterly, 4, 1994, p. 427-430.
KLÖTI, Thomas (1995). Making the Ryhiner Collection Accessible - World Wide Web as possible aid in the provision and distribution of old maps.
In: Abstracts, Curriculae vitae. 16th International Conference on the History of Cartography. Vienne 11-16 September 1995, p. 97-98.