1. Announcements.
2. A panel discussion on International Outreach

1. Announcements
1. Jesse Koennecke:  NetID logon to ILLIAD will go live January 8, 2008 along with new ILLIAD web pages.  There will be a work-around for users who do not have a NetID.  While registration by new users is still necessary, this will reduce the hurdle. 
2. Nancy Skipper:  Nancy, a member of the Reference & Outreach Committee, announced that the committee is working on a modest project to increase the information regarding reference services, CUL-wide, in the Library Gateway.  To help meet this goal, she asked each library to e-mail her (nss3@cornell.edu) two pieces of information:

                                                               i.      The link to their web page that provides information on reference service hours.

                                                             ii.      The name, position title and contact information for the person who coordinates or manages their reference service.

3. Virginia Cole:   Virginia updated us on recent changes to CUL's Alumni & Friends Access.  The site was recently moved to CommonSpot which makes updating and adding CUL news, the most successful and important function of Alumni & Friends Access, even quicker and easier.  With the move to CommonSpot, Find Articles (the subscription option to two databases) was disconnected after being deemed unsuccessful.  The question manager for reference questions was also disconnected, but the Ask a Librarian option remains functional.  AFA Ask a Librarian questions continue to go to Olin Reference where they are forwarded appropriately.  Any questions, confusions, complaints from alumni or library staff may be forwarded to Virginia at vac11@cornell.edu.

2. International Outreach Panel:  Stuart Basefsky, Mary Ochs, Thomas Mills, Maureen Morris, Sarah How.
1. Stuart Basefsky: The Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) News Bureau http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/index.html  This is an e-mail current awareness service that started as a courtesy to ILR faculty members—the e-mails were targeted to faculty research interests.  The service’s audience has expanded beyond ILR into one that is international.

                                                               i.      The e-mails go directly into a blog.

                                                             ii.      The service provides filtered information via a push technology.

                                                            iii.      The service allows Stuart to disseminate politicians’ intellectual content , which they would not otherwise do. 

                                                           iv.      With broad international sources and audience, Stuart says the service is essentially doing PR for the rest of the world.  International audience thinks of Cornell first when they want labor-related information.

                                                             v.      The service has been leveraged into international internships for ILR students.

                                                           vi.      Archiving?  This is handled via the blog, while key documents are placed into a digital commons.

2. Mary Ochs: World AgInfo Project http://worldaginfo.org/   This Gates Foundation-funded project seeks to bridge agriculture education with information technology.

                                                               i.      Site visits took place in India, Sri Lanka, Mali, and Zambia.  Mary visited both India and Zambia.

                                                             ii.      One focus of the project is on the markets used by farmers—what technologies can be used to provide the information farmers need to obtain the best price for their goods.  Delivery of information via cell phone is promising as the technology is much more common now.  (The developing world is essentially bypassing land-line technology.)

                                                            iii.      In Livingston, Zambia a meeting was convened to develop proposals to go forward to the Gates Foundation. 

                                                           iv.      Mary notes that even though the developing world deals with limited infrastructure, somehow people make the best of what is available.

                                                             v.      Grant application process?  Originated at the Gates Foundation, which wanted Cornell and Michigan State to be involved.

                                                           vi.      Does using cell phones make sense?  On a regionalized scale they work and offer a way to send both text and video to the user wherever they are.

3. Thomas Mills:  Two internationally focused events at the Law Library.

                                                               i.      Workshop on Asian Legal Research offered in conjunction with the meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law hosted by the Law School. 

1.      Workshop was originally a small in-house session done at Cornell.

2.      Having the captive audience of the ASCL conference, the workshop developed into a larger event, so expert speakers were brought in.

3.      The workshop was publicized via listservs and newsletters.

4.      32 attended, including students, professors, and law librarians.

5.      The presentations will be posted to the web, including links to guides.

                                                             ii.      The Starr Foundation Workshop http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhoWeAre/Partners/Starr/index.cfm

1.      Claire Germain and Radu Popa (NYU) worked together to bring this conference to Cornell. 

2.      Participants came from Brazil, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, and China.

3.      Idea was to create a true exchange, so not only were there program presenters, but the participants presented, too.

4.      Participants were very interested in technology and digitization.

5.      Significant professional connections were made that can be leveraged by the visiting librarians to the advantage of their home libraries.

6.      What about experts traveling to Africa?  This would be great as a way of taking expertise directly to where it is needed, but who would fund?

4. Maureen Morris:  The International Relations Round Table of ALA

                                                               i.      The RT includes international librarians plus Americans who do international work.

                                                             ii.      The RT is organized into multiple committees and has a sister libraries program.  http://www.ala.org/ala/irrt/irrt.cfm

                                                            iii.      Maureen has worked on bringing international librarians to ALA conferences and to ensure that they have a positive experience.

                                                           iv.      International librarians do numerous poster sessions at ALA to inform attendees on the various aspects of their libraries.

5. Sarah How:  The European Union’s Getting to Know Europe Program.

                                                               i.      Sarah was one of several Ithacans who traveled to the Greek isles through the program.

                                                             ii.      Because of the rich history of the area, Sarah wanted to promote digital preservation, in addition to literacy.

                                                            iii.      Sarah visited a research library on Kefalonia dating from 1503; it currently holds 60,000 volumes.  The library is digitizing an Ionian collection with a grant from the EU.

                                                           iv.      Sarah also noted Cornell’s Institute for European Studies http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/Europe/ and the mutually beneficial relationship it has with librarians.