Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER
TRANSLATE ENGLISH to Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish!!!
Welcoming speech
C. Reedijk, Chief Librarian, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague
© LIBER and author
Published from: Bulletin Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, 28(1986)
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure, a great pleasure indeed, to welcome you, participants of this fourth meeting of the Group of Map Librarians of LIBER, the Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche. I also wish to welcome the participants of the Working Group for Map Curatorship of the Dutch Cartographic Society (NVK), for whom the first day of this meeting will serve as the autumn study day.
It is only in the last 15 years or so that cartographic materials have gained acknowledgement as independent information carriers in the field of library and documentation. This progress can be demonstrated by the following significant international developments:
- 1969
establishment of the IFLA Sub-Section of Geography and Map Libraries on the initiative of, among others, Walter W. Ristow, then Map Librarian of the Library of Congress. Its first chairman was Mr. Ib Rønne Kjelbo, Map Librarian of the Royal Library of Denmark, and its secretary Helen Wallis, Map Librarian of the British Library.
- 1976
first publication of the World directory of map collections under the auspices of the IFLA Sub-Section for Geography and Map Libraries. A second, revised edition will be published either this year or in 1985.
- 1977
Publication of ISBD(CM)
The Geography and Map Libraries Sub-Section becomes a full section of the IFLA Special Libraries Division.
- 1978
The first meeting of European map curators was held at the Royal Library, Copenhagen, at the invitation of the group's provisional chairman Mr. Ib Rønne Kjelbo. This meeting, sponsored by LIBER, had as its theme 'the use of ISBD(CM) in various countries', and was attended by about twenty map curators.
- 1980
Special provisions are made for cartographic materials in the second edition of Unimarc.
Second meeting of European map curators in Paris. The map curators representing institutions belonging to LIBER decide to formalise the group by choosing a president, Donald Moore, Map Librarian of the National Library of Wales; and a secretary, Mme Monique Pelletier, Map Librarian of the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris. The theme of this meeting was 'acquisition methods and reproduction'.
- 1982
Publication of Cartographic Materials: manual of interpretation for AACR2.
In the same year the third meeting of the group took place in Aberystwyth, Wales, the theme being 'the conservation of maps and related materials'. Monique Pelletier was chosen as president, and Sarah Tyacke, of the British Library Map Library, as secretary.
- 1984
The present, 4th, meeting of LIBER group of map librarians, with the theme 'map cataloguing and automation'.
Besides the World directory of map collections works have been published in the educational field which have helped to place map librarianship on a more scientific footing, such as:
- Map librarianship: an introduction< / Mary Lasgaard
- Map librarianship / Harold Nichols
- Map librarianship / Harold Nichols. 2nd edition.
- Map librarianship: readings / compiled by Roman Drazniowsky
- The map librarian in the modern world: essays in honour of Walter W. Ristow.
However, not only were there developments internationally, but here in the Netherlands the scene changed considerably. The 'Society for topographical-historical atlases' was founded as early as 1958, and was to a certain extent a forerunner to new developments:
- 1970
the Dutch Foundation Information and Documentation centre for Cartography (NSIDK) comes into being. A pilot-project was started by the Office for the Dutch Union Catalogue of maps (CCK), which resides under the aforementioned foundation.
- 1974
Founding of the Dutch Cartographic Society and the subsequent establishing of the Working Group for Map Curatorship in 1975. By organizing study days and courses and by making proposals to the Dutch Cartographic Society and affiliated organisations this Working Group has become an important influence on the development of mapcuratorship in The Netherlands.
- 1977
Publication of the first annual issue of the Bibliography of Maps published in The Netherlands by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Library).
- 1978
Publication of the map catalogue of the Dutch Soil Survey.
- 1980
Publication of the Guide to map collections in The Netherlands by the Dutch Cartograhic Society.
- 1982
Four day summer course concerning the description of cartographic materials, organized by the Dutch Cartographic Society in cooperation with the 'Federation of Organisations of Libraries, Information and Documentation Centres' (FOBID). During this course the first copy of the Dutch rules for the description of cartographic materials (a translation and adaptation of the English ISBD(CM)) was presented.
Publication of the Guide to topographical-historical atlases in The Netherlands.
- 1983
It became possible for the first time to follow a special course in mapcuratorship in the final year of the curriculum of the P.A. Tiele Academy, a professional school for librarianship and documentation. The course is organised in cooperation with the State School for Archivists and the Geographical Institute of the State University of Utrecht.
Automation is playing an increasingly important role. There are still some difficulties to overcome, but we are confident that in the long rum automation will prove to be an efficient and time-saving handmaiden.
Madame President, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that your meeting will have the success it deserves.
Back to GdC Homepage