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International Federation ofLibrary Associations and Institutions

N E W SNo. 5 Summer 1997 ISSN 1350- 2670

CHANGE AT THE TOPThe Round Table has beenquite successful over theyears considering thedifficult subject matter andthe widely varying attentionthat is paid to newspapers -on one side we haveadvanced countries like theUSA and the UL wherenationwide newspaperprogrammes see tosystematic cataloguing andsecurity microfilming ofextant holdings while on theother side librarians in manycountries neither have thefunds nor the expertise,often not even theawareness, to deal withnewspapers in a competentway. It is regrettable thatRobert Harriman steppeddown as a chairman of theRound Table but afterserving in this capacity forthe last twelve years it isalso understandable; alsoduring the coming years wewill be able to draw fromhis vast experience and theprogressing achievements ofthe US Newspaper Program.While Hartmut Walravenswas elected new chairpersonof the Round Table at itsBusiness meeting in May,1997, there will be norevolutionary changes in itspolicy. The projects andactivities for the next yearshave been outlined already;there will be a new focus onthe eastern Europeancountries with their large

newspaper holdings, and anattempt will be made to winthe co- operation of moreAsian, African and LatinAmerican countries. The newchairperson is director ofBibliographical Services ofthe Berlin State Library whichis now - after the unification -again Germany's largestlibrary with about 9 millionprinted books, many specialcollections (music, maps,oriental and Westernmanuscripts, governmentpublications etc.). TheBibliographic Servicesdepartment focuses on theGerman Serials Database withabout 900,000 serials titlesand their holdings in Germanlibraries. it includes also about25,000 newspapers, andcurrently the holdings(estimate up to 20,000 titles)of the Archives of Parties andMass Organisations (formerlyInstitute of Marxism-Leninism) are catalogued intothe database. Unfortunately,there is no nationwidenewspaper programme inGermany yet. In addition, thedepartment is als6 in chargeof the authority file ofcorporate bodies which iswidely used by Germanlibraries, and the internationa1administration of both theISBN and ISMN systems.

Hartmut Walravens

Hartmut Walravens, New Chair

FROM THEIFLA ROUND TABLE ON NEWSPAPERS

Bob Harriman who stands down as Chair of the Round Tablethis month. In interview with Bob will appear in the next issue

due in March 1998.

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NEWS FROM THE ROUND TABLE

Membership and Address List August,1997

Prof. Dr. H. BohrmannBibliotheken der Stadt DortmundInstituts fur Zeitungsforschung derStadt Dortmund 41/ZIPostfach 1050 534600 DORTMUND 1 Germany�00 49 23150 23216Fax: (231) 50 26018

Ms. Majken Bremer- Laamanen HelsinkiUniversity Library Centre forMicrofilming and ConservationSaimaankatu. 6 50100 MIKKELI Finland�00 358 55 151037Fax: +358- 55- 151228

Mme. Else Delaunay Department desPeriodiques Bibliothèque Nationale 58rue de Richelieu 75084 PARIS CEDEX02 France� 00 33 147 03 84 22Fax: +33142 46 84 47e- mail: else.delaunay@brif.fr.

Ms. Elena Garcia- Puente Lillo Head ofTechnical Services Hemeroteca NacionalBiblioteca Nacional Magdalena 10 28012MADRID Spain �00 34 1 5807807WOFax: +5775634e- mail: i.torrecillas@bnees

Geoffrey Hamilton 7 Frankscroft Peebles,Scotland EH459DX� 01721724150

R. Harriman LS/SRD (4160) Library ofCongress WASHINGTON, D.C. 20540USA�00 1202 707 5946Fax: +1 (202) 707 6333e- mail rhar@loe.gov

Beti Jones (Editor) Department of PrintedBooks National Library of WalesABERYSTWYTHCeredigion, SY23 3BU, Wales�00 44 1970 623816Fax: +970 615709e- mail beti.jones@llgc.org.uk

Galina Kislovskaya Library for ForeignLiterature Nikolo Jamskaya Street 1MOSCOW 109189 Russia�00 7 095 915 55 32Fax: +915 36 37e- mail: genieva@libfi.msk.su

Lars OlsonKungliga BiblioteketP.O. Box 5039

S- 102 41 STOCKHOLM SwedenFax: 00 46 8 6116956

A. B. PhillipsThe British LibraryGreat Russell Street

LONDON WC1B 3DG England�00 44 171412 7541Fax: +71412 7736e- mail: andrew.phillips@bl.uk

Mohamed Raouf BelhassenBibliothèque Nationale20 Souk el AttarineBP 42, Tunis 1008 Tunisia� 00 216 1249 902Fax: +00 216 1342 700

Ursula SchadlichCoordinadora de RelacionosInternacionales Biblioteca Nacional deChileAvda. Libertador B. O`Higgins, 651C6digo Postal 1400SANTIAGO DE CHILE Chile� 00 56 2 633 8957Fax: +00 56 2 6321091

Mrs. Dora SecicNational and University LibraryUlica Hrvatske BratskeZajednice B.B.1000 ZAGREB PP 550 Croatia� 00 38516164111

Mr. Geoff SmithSecretary & TreasurerHead of The British LibraryNewspaper Library Colindale AvenueLONDON NW9 5HE England� 00 44 171412 7362Fax: +71323 7386e- mail geoff.smith@bl.uk

Dr. Henry SnyderCenter of BibliographicalStudies and ResearchRivera Library- 016University of California RIVERSIDECalifornia CA 92521- 0154USA� 00 1909 787 5841Fax: +909 787 4120e- mail: bm.chs@rlg.stanford.edu

Ms. Mary Jane StarrNational Library of Canada395 Wellington StreetOTTOWAOntario KIA ON4 Canada�00 1613 996 0680Fax: +613 947 2706

W. UbbensStaats- undUniversitatsbibliothekBibliotheksstrassePostfach 33 0160D- 28331 BREMEN 33 GermanyFax: 00 49 421- 218 2614

Dr Hartmut Walravens (Chair)Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin PreussischerKulturbesitz Potsdamer Strasse 33 D-10785 BERLIN Germany� 00 49 30 266 2337Fax: +30 266- 2378

Ms Olga YadykinaRussian State Library101000 Moskva, Vozdvizhenka 3RussiaFax: 00 7 095 2002255

Estonian NewspaperMicrofilming

Project

Helsinki UniversityLibrary and the NationalLibrary of Estonia starteda joint microfilmingproject in 1993. The aimof the project is thepreservation microfilmingof Estonian newspapers,their editions andsupplements from theyears of independence1918- 1940. About 120titles on 1211 reels of filmhave been filmed duringthis project, which will becompleted within a year.Among the newspapers arealso titles printed inEstonia in non- Estonianlanguages. Seven titleshave been filmed in

German and 4- 5 titles willbe filmed in Russianduring 1997. The EstonianAcademy of Sciences andTartu University Libraryparticipate by placing theirnewspaper collections at theprojects disposal.

International standards arefollowed. Guidance inmicrofilming newspaperstandards is given byHelsinki University Library,which also has placed amicrofilming camera at thedisposal of the NationalLibrary of Estonia. Thepreparation of thenewspapers and themicrofilming is done in theNational Library of Estonia.Unperforated 35mmpolyester based silverfiIm ofarchival quality is used. The

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Audiovisual Centre of theUniversity of Helsinki isresponsible for thetechnical quality of themicrofilms. The ArchivalNegatives are owned byHelsinki UniversityLibrary. Positive copies areoffered to the participatinglibraries.

Majken Bremer- Laamanen

Head of the Centre for Microfilming &

Conservation Helsinki University

Library

Newsplan and theHeritage Lottery

Fund

The UK LINCNEWSPLAN Panel hassubmitted an applicationfor the funding of afeasibility study into theestablishment of a UK wideco-ordinated programme ofpreservation microfilmingof UK local newspapersand the preparation of a fullscale lottery application forfunding for thisprogramme. The feasibilitystudy is regarded asessential to the success ofthe NEWSPLANprogramme and its longerterm programme ofmicrofilming newspapers,in order to ensure theirpreservation andaccessibility. Preliminaryinvestigations haveindicated the importance ofcontinuing the co-operative efforts of all partsof the United Kingdom.

If the application issuccessful someone will beappointed and aprogramme of work will bedrawn up in conjunctionwith the LINCNEWSPLAN PANELthrough the Chair andSecretary of the Panel, DrAnn Matheson, NationalLibrary of Scotland, andMr John Byford, BritishLibrary.

John ByfordHead, British Library

Newspaper Library

CanadianNewspapers

at the NationalLibrary of Canada

The National Library ofCanada currently collectsin hardcopy arepresentative sample ofCanadian dailies, allCanadian ethnicnewspapers, all Canadiannative newspapers andstudent newspaper receivedfrom the Canadianuniversity press. All printissues may be consultedon- site, or requests forarticles made throughinterlibrary loan. Variouslists of newspaperscurrently received areavailable through theNational Library's Webservice.

The National Library ofCanada's collection ofCanadian newspapers onmicroform numbers over200,000 reels. Recently, theNational Library made itslist of microform holdings

available on its Webservice. The list, organizedby province/territory andcity, contains over 2,300Canadian titles includingthe ethnic, native andstudent newspapers withinthe collection. Producedfrom an in- house findingaid, Canadian Newspaperson Microform. Held by theNational Library of Canadaprovides researchers andlibrarians immediate accessto information on thenature and extent of theseresearch materials. Allnewspapers on microform.are available on interlibraryloan, as well as on- siteconsultation.

The National Library ofCanada's bilingual Webservice address ishttp://www.nlc- bnc.ca.These guides to thenewspaper collection arelocated at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ services/enews.htmfor the English version andhttp://www/nlc- bnc.ca/services/ fnews.htm for theFrench version.

For more information onCanadian newspapers heldby the National Library ofCanada, please contactSandra Burrows,Newspaper Specialist,Reference and InformationServices Division, NationalLibrary of Canada, 395Wellington Street, Ottawa,Ontario, Canada, K1AON4, or by e-mail atSandy.Burrows@nlc-bnc.ca.

Mary Jane Starr

Der Aprilaufstand1876inder Presse Osterreich-Ungarns. Ein Sammel-band aus Zeitschriften,Berichten, Mitteilungenund Artikeln in derWiener Presse. Zusamm-engestellt von Dr. DimiterDrandijski. Redaktion,Kommentar undBemerkungen Doz.Victoria Tileva. Sofia:Verlag der National-bibliothek St. st. Cyril undMethodius, 1996. 634pp.

The uprising against theTurkish rule in Bulgaria inApril 1876 is consideredone of the importantnational events inBulgarian historiography.Sources for the historiansare, of course, Turkisharchives but also thenumerous newspaperarticles that were publishedby the press of theneighbouring Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.Therefore it made a lot ofsense that a Bulgarianpatriot living in Vienna,Mr. Dtandijski, spent a lotof time and effort to collectthe respective articles andtranslate them intoBulgarian as German todayis a little known languagein the country. The materialwas passed on to theNational Library in Sofia,and there Ms. Tileva editedit for publication whileProf. V. Paskalevaprovided a preface thatgives the historic context.For the newspaperspecialist the introductionby the collector andtranslator is especiallyimportant as it provideslists

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foreign (pp. 385 - 422)newspapers. A number ofitems look more likejournals but it is useful tohave as much material aspossible available - thedetermination of theborderline is of no practicalvalue to the reader butmore a matter for thelibrarians. The titles arefiled alphabetically,subtitles, place ofpublication and holdings ofthe library are the mostimportant data given. Anumber of cross referencesis helpful. The index givesthe titles according toplaces of publication (pp.

423- 469); a convenientfeature is the addition ofthe dates of publication,resp. holdings.

The author hopes that thecatalogue may provide anincentive for a Greek unioncatalogue of newspapers; atany rate the ParliamentaryLibrary's microfilming unitis doing preservationfilming in order to saverare material fromdeterioration and make itaccessible to a wider circleof readers. The volume isvery well printed andproduced and deservesattention.

and brief characteristics ofthe analysed newspapers.The bulk of the volume istaken up by 380 newspaperarticles in Bulgariantranslation. A glossary ofterms, many of themTurkish (pp. 607612)proves helpful. The volumeis concluded by twoindexes, one of personalnames and one ofgeographical terms, and thetable of contents. Theintroductory material isprovided both in Bulgarianand ' German while thearticles themselves areoffered in Bulgarian only.This makes sense as thepublication turned out quitebulky already, and printingthe original texts, too,would have beenprohibitive.

This is an excellentexample of the value ofnewspaper reports forhistorical research,especially when little othermaterial is available. So farthe use of newspapers tothat extent has been ratherunpopular - newspapershave not only a lowerrating as historical sources,it is also time- consumingand labour- intensive tocompile the respectivematerial. The problemsusually begin already whentrying to locate thenewspapers in question.

The volume is excellentlyproduced considering thegrave economic difficultiesBulgaria is going throughat the moment.

The reviewer was able toreceive a copy of the bookdirectly from the director ofthe library, Ms. Gancrva,during a visit to Sofia. Asthe library was completelyout of money for postage, itwould have beenimpossible to mail it.Therefore it may not beeasy for interested partiesto get a copy, in spite of theedition of 700.

Parallel title: Newspapersin the Greek Chamber ofDeputies (1789- 1970).Descriptive cataloge.

The Parliamentary Libraryin Athens has a largecollection of newspapers.An earlier catalogueregistered 1,092 titles in1900 while the present newcatalogue lists 3,600 titles.In spite of the impressivebibliography on the Greekpress provided by thecompiler on pp. XXIII-XLbibliographic control ofGreek newspapers is still aserious problem. After apreface by Mr.Christopoulos (pp.IX-XX;English abstract pp. XXI-XXII) the present cataloguelists the holdings of theParliamentary Library intwo sections, Greeknewspapers (i.e. in theGreek language), and

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