Library Organisations

National and international library services

• Association for Information Management (Aslib), "actively promotes best practice in the management of information resources, represents its members and lobbies on all aspects of the management of and legislation concerning information at local, national and international levels."
• Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM) was established in the UK in 1993 to undertake research with a practical focus to support operational work in all kinds of library and information services.
• Educause helps "shape and enable transformational change in higher education through the introduction, use, and management of information resources and technologies in teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and institutional management."
• Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) has as its main remit "to provide a body of tangible, electronic resources and services for UK Higher Education, and to affect a cultural shift towards the acceptance and use of said resources and services in place of more traditional information storage and access methods." The site describes these efforts and has links to articles on electronic resources.
• Electronic Library - Open University of Hong Kong aims at providing remote access to library resources, online databases, Internet resources, and other useful information available in Hong Kong as well as overseas, with a view to supporting the development of distance learning, teaching and research activities of the University. Some resources are available only to OUHK staff and students.
• Gabriel - Gateway to Europe's National Libraries is the World Wide Web server for Europe's National Libraries represented in the Conference of European National Librarians. It attempts to bring national libraries in Europe closer together by providing a single point of access for the retrieval of information about their functions, services and collections.
• NetLinkS "aimed to encourage the further development of networked learner support (NLS) within UK higher education.... The projects activities and resources will be of particular interest to library and information staff in learner support roles, but they are also aimed at people working in IT support, open/distance learning, teaching/learning support - and anyone else interested in information support for learners and researchers in the networked environment"
• Standing Conference of National and University Libraries (SCONUL) works "to improve and extend the influence of university and national libraries of the UK and Ireland."
• Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) represents the whole of higher education in the provision and development of academic, management and administrative information systems, providing a network of contacts and a powerful lobbying voice.
• UK Office for Library and Information Networking (UKOLN) is a national centre for support in network information management in the library and information communities. It provides awareness, research and information services.
• Telematics for Libraries R&D in the Libraries sector of the Telematics Programme aims to facilitate access to knowledge held in libraries throughout the European Union while reducing disparities between national systems and practices. Topics covered include networking (OSI, Web), cataloguing (OPACs), resource discovery, imaging, multimedia (CD-ROM), distance learning, public libraries, music information, standards, copyright and policy coordinaton.

If you have any suggestions for additions to this list, please send details to us at deliberations@londonmet.ac.uk

Last updated: 9 September 2002