BOBCATSSS on the Donau and the Danube: The 1998 and 1999 Symposia

Citation

Pourciau, L.J. (1999), "BOBCATSSS on the Donau and the Danube: The 1998 and 1999 Symposia", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 16 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.1999.23916gac.001

BOBCATSSS on the Donau and the Danube: The 1998 and 1999 Symposia

Lester J. Pourciau

Background

BOBCATSSS is an acronym for a group of European educational institutes in library and information science. It takes its name from the cities where the founding institutes of BOBCATSSS are situated (Budapest, Oslo, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Tampere, Sheffield, Stuttgart, and Szombathely). Since its inception, the institutes of Kharkov in Ukraine, Moscow in Russia, Sofia in Bulgaria, and Tallinn in Estonia have joined BOBCATSSS. Its fundamental purpose is to promote educational and research assistance, and cooperation among West and East European library educational endeavors; and to build a beneficial network for students and for lecturers.

The annual BOBCATSSS symposia are perhaps unique in the world of librarianship in that they are entirely organized by library school students. For the first five years of the symposia, all held in Budapest, the Hogeschool van Amsterdam had been in charge. For the sixth BOBCATSSS symposium, the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen took over responsibility. Almost 300 participants from 21 different countries, and three different continents, attended and participated in the BOBCATSSS 98 Symposium, and more than 200 from more than 20 countries participated in the 1999 event.

BOBCATSSS 1998

As had been the case with the five preceding, the 1998 Symposium was held at the Szechenyi Library on the banks of the Donau River in Budapest, Hungary. The theme of the symposium was "Shaping the Knowledge Society." Some 50 different papers were presented over a period of two days. Anyone with any experience in providing local arrangements for any symposium or conference knows very well the great deal of work that goes into such. Because BOBCATSSS 98 was organized and administered by students at the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen, a very special note must be made of the contributions to the symposium success provided by the National Szechenyi Library, and students and lecturers from Berzsenyi College, Szombathely; and Eotvos University in Budapest. Additionally, the BOBCATSSS Symposium was under the auspices of EUCLID and ADAPT-New Book Economy BIS, and also under the patronage of the Secretariat General-Consul of Europe.

In the original call for papers, the theme of the Symposium was articulated by raising the question of what the Knowledge Society might be, and whether such a society might be a successor to the Information Society. More specifically, it was voiced in terms of the question of which role the information specialist might have in shaping the Information Society. The consequences of the growth of the amount of information (however poorly understood and/or defined this concept might be) laid the basis for the theme of BOBCATSSS 98. The need for a more structured approach to information handling is increasing and information specialists and librarians hold a central position in the process of transforming this information into knowledge. As a consequence, new roles are emerging which parallel information flow. Information literacy as a skill signifying the ability to locate, process, and use information effectively is increasingly important. Equal access to information is a function of information literacy and thus continuing professional education and user education are essential in the process of obtaining the skills.

All of these various concepts and questions were addressed in one way or another throughout the Symposium. Papers were invited and were presented on a variety of topics including Human Resource Development under which were subsumed papers addressing continuing professional development, digital educational programs and the role of educational publishers, and measuring human resource need. Democracy and information and information literacy were spoken to in terms of ensuring access to information for everybody in the digital society, the development of information literacy skills, the topic addressed in a paper by this writer, and the consideration of interests of minority populations throughout the world. The question of quality was particularly spoken to by papers speaking to the role of the information specialists in evaluating the quality of search engines, software, hardware, and database labels. Knowledge management was the topic of several different papers developing mechanisms to filter and to synthesize information to discuss total quality management, and document management. The final general category subsuming papers presented at the Symposium was that of future roles for the information specialists, and several papers discussed various facets of user education in a network environment.

International Cooperation

The format of BOBCATSSS 98 was such that multiple sessions were conducted simultaneously and this, of course, prevented any observer from hearing all of the presentations made. Nevertheless, there were several that interested this writer. Julia Tcherniakova and Leo H. E. van Zoen reported on a training program in which she and he participated (see Figure 1). They described their international training program as a form of continuing professional education. It was offered to the largest centralized system in Moscow, Russia, the system N-1 of the South administrative district, which consists of 23 public libraries. In October of 1996, and again in December 1997, Mr van Zoen visited Moscow and spoke to groups of professional librarians on marketing analysis, strategic planning, and communication. During these visits, Ms Tcherniakova served as his assistant, interpreter, and translator. Each of his seminar presentations was defined as a project with very specific aims and objects so that the results of it could be measured. The particular focus was training library specialists in practical ways and methods of management and marketing.

Figure 1.Julia Tcherniakova speaking about the cooperative endeavour between Russia and The Netherlands

In May of 1997, three Russian librarians visited The Netherlands. The itinerary for this visit was organized by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and included working visits to a variety of different public libraries, the department of information service and information management of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and several other information organizations. The manager of the Russian library system, one of the three persons to visit Amsterdam, delivered two different lectures while there. In presenting the results of this venture in international cooperation, Tcherniakova and van Zoen identified what they considered to be the more important achievements. Among these are the enhancement of professional skills, a broadening outlook, and an improved focus on communication with different groups of users. Additionally, participants in the project learned that Russian libraries had a lot in common with the libraries of The Netherlands and were faced with the same kinds of problems. It also helped them see themselves and their work from a different perspective, and provided them with several new ideas for dealing with difficult situations in Russian libraries. Their only real regret was that more participants were not able to participate in the project, and that there were insufficient funds to maintain it on an ongoing basis.

Among the presentations addressing principles of democracy and equal access to library and information resources was a description by Elena Nikodinovska of the National and University Library in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, and Solzica Popovska of the same library of Macedonia as a country in transition facing new information challenges. They described the Republic of Macedonia as a young country in process of transition with particular activities being undertaken to establish something of a digital society. Among the activities they mentioned were the automation of various working processes including libraries and the adequate training of staff and users so as to prepare them to participate in worldwide information transfer. They focused on the particular need in Macedonia to direct attention to the needs of all library users by supplying wide access to data and to primary documents.

In the same vein, Katarzyna Zurawska and Bronislaw Zurawski, both of Nicholas Copernicus University in Poland, spoke of digital educational programs and sources in Poland, briefly describing a variety of Polish educational programs and offering something of a detailed comparative analysis of these. They argued that education in schools, secondary schools, and universities in Poland must be complemented on a large scale by self-learning, particularly by means of digital educational programs and sources. Their conclusion was that digital educational programs and resources will increasingly become fundamental components in shaping the Knowledge Society in Poland.

As was mentioned earlier, credit for the professionally refreshing and rewarding experience that was BOBCATSSS 1998 must be focused primarily on the BOBCATSSS team, a group of students from the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen, Denmark.

BOBCATSSS 1999

The 7th International BOBCATSSS Symposium was held from 25 to 27 January 1999 at the Istropolis Center for Arts and Congresses in Bratislava, Slovakia. The Bratislava effort was novel in that for the first time students and faculty from two universities participated in the organization of the Symposium. These were the Department of Information Science of the University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt, and the Stuttgart University of Library and Information Studies ­ University of Applied Sciences. This organization team from Germany was supported by members of the faculty of Arts at the Comenius University in Bratislava, and by the Goethe Institute in Bratislava.

The Learning Organization

Participants in the Symposium numbered almost 200 and came from more than 20 different countries (see Figure 2). Approximately 65 individual presentations were made addressing the three general themes of the Symposium: the Learning Society, the Learning Organization, and Lifelong Learning. In addition, Frank Thissen and Elizabeth Messerschmidt, students from HBI (Hochschule für Biblioteks-und Informationswesen) in Stuttgart, conducted a workshop on "Web Design for Distance Learning." Different facets of the three overall Symposium themes were treated each day in one of four different tracks where papers were presented simultaneously. Among the topical headings applied to various segments of the four tracks were "Information Technology for the Learning Society," "Qualification for Information Professionals," "Knowledge Management," "The Learning Society," and "Lifelong Learning by Means of the Internet." "The Learning Organization" surfaced as a topical heading several times during each of the two full days of paper presentations, and various points of view and experiences with and about The Learning Organization were conveyed, including this writer's paper, "The Relationship among Information Technology, Information Literacy, and the Learning Organization."

Figure 2.BOBCATSSS 1999 participants from Denmark, Russia, the UK, and the USA

When presentations are made during simultaneous tracks at any symposium or conference, all participants are put in the position of picking and choosing which they might wish to hear, or in which they might wish to participate. Such was indeed the case with the BOBCATSSS Symposium. Among the more interesting paper presentations, at least to this writer, was that of Olga Shlykova of the Moscow State University of Culture in Russia. Ms Shlykova spoke about the use of "Multimedia in Russian Library Education." Ms Shlykova opened her presentation by pointing out that most researchers agree that the development of multimedia technologies began approximately at the same time as the development of railroads toward the end of the nineteenthth century. She further made note that the term "multimedia" was first used before people paid much attention at all to computers. When the word "multimedia" was first used more than 30 years ago, the personal computer (PC) did not exist, and Bill Gates had not begun the development of the MS-DOS System, not to mention Windows. At that time, Ms Shlykova pointed out, the term "multimedia" had reference to pictures and rock carvings, hieroglyphs, and then books. Multimedia has enjoyed an increasing popularity as computer technologies have developed and that has given a new stimulus to the informatisation of society. Ms Shlykova made the point that it is obvious that information processing and the transmission and dissemination of and with multimedia will exercise influence in a variety of professional spheres as well as in everyday life for the foreseeable future.

Having made the case for the importance and value of multimedia, Ms Shlykova then went on to describe a variety of Russian multimedia products, identifying them as falling into three general categories: 11 percent games, 5 percent magazines, and 29 percent video-CD. The remaining Russian multimedia products are of a wide range of categories. Ms Shlykova presented a strong case for the use of multimedia in Russian library education pointing out that the retention capacity of sight is much higher than that of hearing. She also emphasized the importance of color in multimedia presentations. In summary, Ms Shlykova pointed out that multimedia technology improves library education by enhancing the richness of information in a way that cannot be done with traditional methods, by integrating different types of information (text, graphic, sound, animation) in a dynamic and interactive way not otherwise possible, and by allowing students to select information which corresponds the most appropriately to their learning needs and their levels of cognition.

Under the topical umbrella of the Learning Organization, Michael Kristiansson of the Royal School of Library Information Sciences in Copenhagen, Denmark, presented "An Operational Definition of Information Policy for the Global Economy." He began his presentation by defining the concept of Information Policy (IP) so as to make this concept directly applicable to the Library and Information Science field. He distinguished between two different IP concepts, a concept which is concerned with IP as a field of study unto itself, and a concept of IP which refers to an active policy which, for example, might be understood as an Information Policy applicable to the field of agriculture. He pointed out that:

• •

  there is currently no common understanding of Information Policy as a concept;

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  the majority of publications in the Information Policy field deal with the macro aspect of Information Policy (IP) at the national level whereas only a limited part of the literature considers individuals and organizations; and

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  the literature concerning Information Policy is multifaceted and reflects the fact that a wide variety of authors, including researchers, government officials, lay people, and politicians, are contributing to it.

Kristiansson's paper and presentation were designed to examine the distinction between the concepts of Information Policy qua Information Policy, and Information Policy as a formalized effort to change social, economic, cultural, organizational, and political processes.

Lifelong Learning

In addressing the topic of Lifelong Learning via libraries, Christine Dugdale of the University of the West of England in Bristol spoke about "Helping Today's Students to Become Tomorrow's Self-Learners." Dugdale's opening comments stated the obvious, that human beings learn every day of their lives, and that this form of learning has taken place throughout the entirety of human history. However, advances in communication technology have allowed information providers, information managers, and system providers to transform information and knowledge into tradable commodities. Thus, information has become a new currency with "Lifelong Learning" being "Learning for Life," "Learning throughout Life," and "Lifeline Learning." Because of this, international, national, and local governments and organizations have begun to address "Lifelong Learning" as a vitally important new concept, a panacea for poor economic performance, low educational achievement, poverty, and unhappiness.

She then reviewed a variety of actions taken and decisions made throughout Europe about learning initiatives. She spoke about responsibilities for libraries and librarians that are new because of the digital context within which we all live today and which have been prompted or motivated by some of the national and local initiatives taken with regard to Lifelong Learning. She then described various collaborative efforts made at British universities to promote the cooperation between and among libraries, librarians, and the university faculty; and noted that, although library and academic staff have collaborated in supporting teaching before, they have never so meticulously used new technologies ­ in this case, information technology ­ to work closely together. She expressed the hope that such efforts will create a pattern of teaching that will break through traditional university cultural barriers and hierarchies.

A characteristic of the BOBCATSSS Symposia identified earlier in this brief report is that they are organized, planned, and implemented by students, in this case, by students from two different universities in Germany. One of the presentations made was by Sabine Madel, a student at the Hochschule für Bibliotheks-und Informationswesen, Stuttgart, and Wiebke schellkes, a student at the Fachhochschule Darmstadt. These two students spoke about "Running BOBCATSSS '99: Knowledge Management for a Distributed Project Team." For the first time, they said, students from two different universities participated in the organization, planning, and management of the BOBCATSSS Symposium. They reviewed basic principles of Knowledge Management, and then described the efforts and responsibilities assumed by both the Stuttgart and the Darmstadt teams. They made reference to a variety of problems which they encountered in causing the Bratislava experience to be the success that it was, and closed by pointing out that they really applied the science of Knowledge Management in their efforts.

Summary

The fact that a high-quality Symposium attracting scholars from a variety of different countries can be planned, organized, and managed by students is a strong attraction of the BOBCATSSS Symposia. By undertaking these responsibilities, the students involved experience a genuinely complicated and demanding professional role. It is wonderfully beneficial to them to have this experience in the early stages of their careers. BOBCATSSS-98 and -99 were genuine successes and credit for this must be directed to the student teams.

Planning is well under way for the 8th International symposium, BOBCATSSS 2000, to be held in Krakow, Poland, January 24-26, 2000. This 8th endeavor will address the theme, "Intellectual Property versus The Right to Knowledge," and again will be organized by students from the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Denmark, in cooperation with Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Further information about BOBCATSSS 2000 may be obtained at http://ix.db.dk/bobcatsss/

Lester J. Pourciau is Director of Libraries, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee. E-mail: pourciau@memphis.edu