Angus Miller, the Common Services Coordinator, held an initial meeting to forward the establishment of the One UN Library. He underscored the mandate originating from the OMT Action Plan for 2007-2008. The lead library, UNESCAP Library was viewed as the obvious site for the merger due to its size and restricted access to the public. Steps to move forward were discussed particularly that the four agencies need to weed their existing collections. ESCAP has access to an off-site storage space which is a commercial rental space. Paul Thomson may be contacted for details of this storage space located at Bang-Na. Circulation rules, access rights to books and expanding their respective collections, and that no costs would be incurred were also discussed.
The issue of online information databases and resources was also discussed, in view of the migration from hard copies to soft copies. As most of the UN agencies are part of UNSEIAC, the UN System Electronic Information Acquisition Consortium, some decisions regarding access and license agreements will be further discussed.
The advantages of a common One UN Library were discussed and how all the agencies could benefit from this cooperative venture: space savings, and more efficient access by specialized and general users. Dissemination through displays and monthly themes were also covered.
1 comment:
Good words.
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