ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

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Latin American seminar on official publications makes recommendations

Librarians from 19 countries participated in the Latin American Seminar on Official Publications held in Mexico City from June 10-12, 1991. The meetings were held in the Biblioteca Nacional, a part of the Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliograficas (IIB) on the campus of the Universidad National Automona de Mexico (UNAM). This is the fourth seminar sponsored by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Government Information and Official Publications Section.

Presentations on official publications were made by individuals from the 17 Latin American countries invited to attend (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Republica Dominicana, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela) and in the English speaking Caribbean. The overview was followed by other papers that examined the definition of official publications, the need to study these materials, the use of official publications, bibliographic control of these materials, publications of the United Nations and the World Bank, and teaching about official publications in library schools.

A series of recommendations dealing with access, regulation, editorial policies, and dissemination were developed. Latin American governments were asked to adopt measures to strengthen the national libraries and other depository libraries so these may fulfill their responsibilities of acquiring, preserving, organizing, and disseminating the national official record, including state, provincial, departmental, municipal, and other publications. Government organizations charged with the planning of information policies were requested to regulate the production of official publications. Government agencies in general were asked to establish directives for an editorial policy which would include what, how, when, how much, and for whom to publish and that these consider elements of bibliographic control such as cataloging-in-source, ISBN, ISSN, etc. National libraries or depository institutions of official publications were asked to create the mechanisms to facilitate the fulfillment and dissemination of the legal deposit laws and related regulations, and to implement international standards for bibliographic description and access.

Following considerable discussion about teaching official publications in library schools, professional associations and library schools were asked to promote the education and training of human resources for the management of official publications and research on production, use, and availability of official publications. IFLA was asked to recommend to international organizations that periodic short courses for personnel who manage collections of official publications be offered. IFLA was also asked to sponsor a research project and bibliography to determine the state-of-the-art of official publications in Latin America.

The seminar, organized by Rosa M aria Femandez de Zamora of IIB, received assistance from IFLA’s Government Information and Official Publications Section and IFLA’s program on Advancement of Librarianship in the Third World, the Organization of American States, and the Biblioteca Nacional of UNAM in Mexico. Plans are to publish the proceedings of the seminar.—Barbara J. Ford, Virginia Commonwealth University I I