eblida

Strategy for the future

outline plan

APPROVED BY the 
EBLIDA
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

	

November 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1-	Executive Summary	3
2-	Objectives	3
3-	Background and context	4
4-	Scope and approach	4
5-	Timescale and reporting	5
6-	Experience and competence	5
7-	Advisory Group	6

1-	Executive Summary

At the Executive Committee meeting in Copenhagen in October 1999, a discussion took place on the direction and priorities for EBLIDA. The Executive Committee agreed that there was a need for a strategic discussion on the future direction of EBLIDA. There was a further discussion at the Executive Committee meeting in Stockholm in March 2000 and a short paper was presented to the EBLIDA Council in May 2000, based on the work programme 2000-2001.

It was agreed that the strategic plan should be at least medium term and cover three years. It will consist of two tiers: strategic plan and work programme (annual action plan). In addition, the plan will define priorities, taking into account resources at the secretariat. A further suggestion may be that a longer term view should also be included.

The draft strategy plan will be made widely available and will be open to comment and suggestions from members of EBLIDA. The plan will be submitted to the EBLIDA Council meeting in Bremen in May 2001 for approval.

This outline plan sets out the objectives, approach, timescale, reporting and estimated budget for the strategy review. The Executive Committee have approved this outline plan and also the external members of the strategy advisory group. This outline is intended to provide a baseline for the strategy advisory group.
2-	Objectives

The major objective of the strategic plan is to define the direction and priorities for EBLIDA 2001-2010.
This is in response to the rapidly changing information environment; the information society and the new culture economy, technical and organisational convergence issues, new professional profiles, enlargement of the European Union to central and Eastern Europe. Adoption of the draft EU copyright directive and a major focus hitherto of EBLIDA, is expected during 2001.

The strategic plan may cover:

•	vision or mission statement;
•	policy direction, including broad subject areas on which EBLIDA should concentrate;
•	priorities, taking into account resources;
•	impact of the work of EBLIDA, including image/identity and brand;
•	publications and promotion;
•	membership, including library sectors and other domains;
•	define target groups;
•	resources and financing, including secretariat;
•	geographic spread, including CEE countries;
•	co-operation with other organisations, relationship to IFLA;
•	international co-operation.

The strategy advisory group will assess strengths and weaknesses and provide practical recommendations e.g. introduce an award scheme for European professional achievement and/or young professionals to raise the profile of EBLIDA.

3-	Background and context

EBLIDA will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2002. Much has changed since the inaugural meeting in The Hague on 13th June 1992. Nothing short of a communications revolution has taken place and the Internet has transformed information work. Advances in technologies have opened up new opportunities and new ways of accessing and presenting information. The role of libraries, information providers, publishers and users have blurred and are converging. The formation of the single European market and legislation designed to harmonise the internal market have had an impact on the library environment. The European Commission has recently introduced a raft of initiatives e.g. e-Europe, designed to stimulate the Information Society in Europe, which is competing globally with the U.S. and other regions of the world. At the same time, countries of Central and Eastern Europe are being assimilated into the EU.

These changes give rise to the following issues:

•	how can EBLIDA best respond to this changing environment;
•	how can EBLIDA build on past success to emerge as a mature organisation;
•	how can EBLIDA successfully diverge into other relevant areas.

4-	Scope and approach

-	An advisory group will be established, consisting of 3 independent external experts appointed by the Executive Committee. In addition, the president of EBLIDA will sit on the advisory group;
-	the Executive Committee will act as a reference group for the review;
-	the advisory group will be co-ordinated by the director of EBLIDA;
-	the advisory group will appoint a rapporteur;
-	the advisory group will draft the strategic plan and advise on any matters relating; 
-	the strategic plan will consist of two complementary tiers: strategic and working plan. The work programme (action plan) will be updated annually.

Long term strategic plan
2001-2010	

Medium term strategic plan
2001-2003	

Work programme
2001-2002	Work programme
2002-2003	

-	The advisory group will meet twice in The Hague; once at the start of the review to brainstorm the issues and plan the work of the group and once to finalise the draft plan;
-	the rapporteur will then present the final draft strategy plan to the Executive Committee for discussion and final approval;
-	the final draft strategy plan will be published on the EBLIDA Website, pending approval by the EBLIDA Council in Bremen in May 2001;
-	the rapporteur will present the draft strategy plan to the EBLIDA Council  in Bremen in May 2001;
-	a Web forum and email list will be established for communication by the advisory group;
-	as part of the methodology, there will be wide consultation with EBLIDA members and with selected key players;
-	progress will be reported on the EBLIDA list, the EBLIDA Website and with Hot News (monthly) and Information Europe (quarterly).
5-	Timescale and reporting

The strategy plan must be available for approval by the EBLIDA Council in May 2001.

					      2  0  0  0				2  0  0  1
	SEPT	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	
Specification
     Approval by Executive Committee		
	X									
Strategy advisory group
     Appointment
     Establish Web forum
     First meeting
     1st draft strategy plan & 2nd  
     meeting		
		X								
		X								
			X							
					X					
Consultation phase   
     Approval by Executive Committee
     member consultation		
					X					
					X	X				
Analysis and final report
     Final draft strategy plan
     Approval by Executive Committee
     Approval by Council		
							X			
							X			
									X	
6-	Experience and competence

The advisory group will consist of independent experts with the following knowledge and experience:

-	wide experience of library and information work at a European level;
-	track record of strategic and practical issues;
-	knowledge and experience of EBLIDA and other professional associations;
-	understanding of the new information environment and emerging issues;
-	critical judgement;
-	vision.

7-	Advisory Group

Strategy Review Advisory Group : 

David Fuegi is a partner in the consultancy company MDR Partners. David was educated at Cambridge University [Modern Languages – French, German, Italian] and is a Chartered Librarian. He was Library Advisor to UK government ministers responsible for Libraries at the then Office of Arts and Libraries from 1983 to 1986.  Until late 1997, he was senior manager for Essex County Council (Libraries), responsible for revenue budgets in excess of £4m and income budgets of more than £2m.

He was chair of the UK Committee on Public Library Statistics from 1984 to 1998, was involved in establishing the PLUS co-operative user survey for public libraries and manages IPF’s Public Library Benchmarking Club. He has a longstanding commitment to library performance and national and international policy frameworks for libraries.  He is responsible for the business planning workpackage of the TACIS Telrus Project with the Russian State Library in Moscow. He has been involved in assessing public library plans and recently drafted standards for UK public libraries for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

He worked on the PUBLICA concerted action for DG Information Society of the European Commission and on its predecessor project, PLDP. He is also involved with the ISTAR public libraries project for the then DG5 and with a number of other international projects. Last year he was involved in the Feasibility Study for the Library and Information Commission [now RESOURCE], which established the London Libraries Development Agency.

David manages the LIBECON2000 study which collects and publishes statistical and economic data on libraries across 29  European countries. He is joint author of “Library Performance Indicators and Library Management Tools”  [1995] and of “Study of Library Economics of Central and Eastern Europe”  [1998] both published in Luxembourg by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities and author of numerous articles.

Teresa Hackett will co-ordinate the strategy advisory group. Teresa has worked as Director EBLIDA since February 2000. Previously, she worked on the Libraries Support Team in Luxembourg, providing technical support & services to the Libraries Programme under the Fourth Framework Programme, on contract from the British Council.  

In addition to experience working in a variety of library services, Teresa has managed Customer Support for an UK library automation company, involving consultancy, project management, HelpDesk, technical training and support worldwide.  She later worked for the British Standards Institution, responsible for electronic product sales and development before joining the British Council Munich to set up and manage a new electronic Information Centre. Teresa is a graduate of University College, Dublin in German, History and Politics and has a postgraduate diploma in Library and Information Studies from the UK Polytechnic of North London. She is a chartered member of the Library Association (UK) and an associate of the Institute of Information Scientists.

Britt-Marie Häggström, was elected president of EBLIDA in 1999. Previously, Britt-Marie was a member of the EBLIDA Executive Committee for four years and has been a member of the IFLA standing committee for public libraries for the past six years. She has been president of the DIK 
Association, a Swedish trade union and professional organisation with 17,000 members for librarians, museum curators, archivists, logopedists and information officers, since 1984. In addition, Britt-Marie has been responsible for major projects, such as organising 1500 library units in Sweden to become centres for public information, prior to the referendum on Swedish membership of the EU, supervised by the Swedish department of foreign affairs.

Britt-Marie lectures widely throughout Europe on the role of the libraries and has published papers on the freedom of information, the changing role of the librarian, etc.

Rolf Hapel has been the Director of Aarhus Municipal Libraries since 1994 and has more than 20 years’ experience in the Danish public library system. Rolf took part in a Danish Ministry of Culture committee examining the role of libraries in the Information Society, resulting in a report which forms the basis of new public library legislation in Denmark. He has also been a member of a steering group instigated by the Danish Technology Council, examining the future public library, of working groups preparing strategies for DANBIB, the new Danish national catalogue system and for formulating computing strategies for the Danish National Library Authority. The introduction of computing and telematics into public libraries are amongst his achievements. Developing strategies for the application of information technology in new library services targeted at different user groups, e.g. refugees and immigrants, has been another area of interest. Rolf has written many articles on library-related issues and is a frequent speaker at conferences, both nationally and internationally. He was active in the PubliCA consortium 1997-99, a European Commission-funded platform for public libraries, and is currently a member of the International Network of Public Libraries, funded by the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Ariane Iljon was until recently advisor to Frans de Bruïne, Director of Directorate D: IST: Content, Multimedia Tools and Market, DG Information Society of the European Commission, with special responsibility for strategic orientations, in particular networking museums, archival systems, libraries and the use of cultural data. Ariane has over 20 years experience at European level. As Head of the Libraries Unit, Ariane was responsible for the development and success of the European Telematics for Libraries research programme and has written many articles, attended conferences and delivered papers worldwide.

Teresa Hackett
The Hague, November 2000