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Annual Report 1998

Full text of the 1998 Annual Report [HTML 107kb] [RTF 108kb 24pages] [PDF 107kb]

FOREWORD FROM THE PRESIDENT

The year 1998/1999 has been an exciting year for the Library Association of Ireland in this its 70th year. New policy making structures were introduced with existing Executive Board Committees being replaced with working panels as follows:

Children's and School Libraries Panel (Convenor: M Sliney) Public Library Development Panel (Convenor: P MacMahon) Information Society Panel ( Convenor: B Teeling) Europe and International Affairs Panel (Convenor: L Ronayne) Education and Training Panel (Convenor: M Turner)

The Association was represented on the National Policy on Libraries and Information Services, and a submission was made by the Association to this group. Meetings were held with a number of Government ministers including the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, and the Minister for Education and Science.

The Association welcomes the publication of the report Branching Out: a new public library policy and congratulates the Minister for the Environment and Local Government on its publication. We assure him of the Association's support in making the new public library service envisaged in the Report a reality.

The Association welcomes the grant provided by the Department of Education and Science to facilitate the primary school library research project.

Jennifer MacDougall's Consumer Health Research Project, Well Read: developing consumer health information in Ireland, was launched by the Secretary General of the Department of Health & Children, Mr J. O'Dwyer, and makes a welcome contribution to the literature. A feasibility study on the Development of a Consumer Health Information Database and National Delivery Service was also financed by the Department of Health and Children and carried out by Jennifer MacDougall.

The Association was represented at a number of professional conferences and meetings including EBLIDA (Helsinki), Scottish Library Association (Peebles), IFLA (Amsterdam) Public Library Authorities Conference (Harrogate) and the Library Association Royal Charter Centenary Celebrations (British Library).

The 1998 Annual Conference of the Library Association of Ireland and the Library Association Northern Ireland was held in Wexford (28 April - 1 May 1998) with some 193 registered delegates. Highlights were speakers from the Bibliographique National de France and the British Library, who spoke about their magnificent new National Library buildings.

As usual, the various sections and groups of the Association have been extremely active during the year, contributing in no small way to our continuing education. Active programmes of lectures and workshops on various aspects of librarianship and visits to outstanding libraries were carried out.

It was with deep regret that we learned of the death of a former President of the Association, Deputy City Librarian Mr Bob Casey who made a major contribution to the Association during his years with Dublin Public Libraries. I also regret to announce the death of Alan Eager, a former editor of An Leabharlann and Librarian to the Royal Dublin Society who died during the year. Alan's Guide to Irish Bibliographical Material, a memorable work, is well known to all librarians.

My role as President of the Library Association of Ireland for the third time, comes to an end at the Annual General Meeting. I should like to thank Jess Codd who is resigning as Secretary this year and to express my appreciation of all his good work. I should also like to thank the Executive Board members for their support and help during the past year, and to wish the incoming President every success. Beatrice Doran, President.

CONTENTS

Foreword
Honorary Officers
Executive Board
A Policy Making Structure for the New Millennium
A Local Creative and Learning Space
Libraries and Learning
Representing the Association: Committee, Conferences, Delegations
Committees & Panels of the Executive Board
Publications
Further Education Programme
Annual General Meeting 1998
Groups and Sections

Full text of the 1998 Annual Report [HTML 107kb] [RTF 108kb 24pages] [PDF 107kb]