1. Greetings from the Chair

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Greetings, SIG III members!

As the new Chair this year, it is my great pleasure to inform all of you that SIG III has won "the SIG of the Year" again. This great honor has been the result of all year continuous hard work of a team of sincere and devoted officers, former officers, and long time supporters like you who have been dedicated to the international mission of ASIST.

In the present global networked information environment, the international role of ASIS&T has become very critical. SIG III, the international wing of ASIS&T, will continue its commitment to a) promote better awareness among ASIST members and information professionals of the importance of international cooperation; b) facilitate and enhance better communication and interaction among ASIST members and their foreign colleagues on information issues; and c) provide a forum for exploring and discussing international information issues and problems.

SIG III will be 20 years old in 2002. As you will see, we are having great and exciting plans ahead. I believe, with SIG III members' active participation and support, we will continue another great performance to celebrate our 20th anniversary.

I wish you all a pleasant holiday season and a successful 2002!

Hong Xu, SIG III Chair

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2. 2001-2002 Officers

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Chair Hong Xu

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

hxu@mail.sis.pitt.edu

Chair-Elect Sue O'Neill Johnson

Consultant, National Library of Medicine

sueojohnson@msn.com

Immediate Bahaa El-Hadidy

Past-Chair & International Information Consultant, Tampa, FL

Treasurer elhadidy@luna.cas.usf.edu

Assistant Chair P. R. Goswani

(Outside U.S.) University of Delhi, Delhi, India

prg@fmsdu.ernet.in

prgoswami@hotmail.com

Assistant Chair- Chao-chen Chen

Elect National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC

(Outside U.S.) cc4073@tpts1.seed.net.tw (number 1 not letter l in this address)

Communications Yin Zhang

Officer Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

yinzhang@slis.kent.edu

InfoShare Suzanne Stemler

Officer Florida International University, Miami, FL

stemlers@fiu.edu

Outreach & Nadia Caidi

Membership University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Officer caidi@fis.utoronto.ca

Cabinet Rep Liwen Vaughan

University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

lvaughan@julian.uwo.ca

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3. 2001 Annual Meetings Activities Highlights

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SIG III Winning SIG of the Year Award two times in a roll!

SIG III was the winner of the SIG-of-the-Year Award AGAIN this time! This award is to recognize outstanding professional accomplishments and activities of an ASIS&T Special Interest Group. What made this award very special is the fact that SIG III won this award two times in a roll!

SIG III Sessions

At this annual meeting, SIG III sponsored or co-sponsored the following six sessions:

§ Information in a Networked World: Globalization and Cultural Identity

Moderated by Bahaa El Hadidy

§ Issues in Cross Language Information Retrieval and Processing

Moderated by Nathalie Leroy

§ Privacy: An International Perspective

Moderated by Shelly Warwick

§ Digital Divide: Issues, Policy and Case Studies

Moderated by Hong Xu

§ International Digital Library and Information Science and Technology Advances in Developing Countries, 2001

Moderated by Nathalie,

Discussion led by Sylvia Piggott and Sue O’Neill Johnson

§ Electronic Theses and Dissertations; A World of Ideas

Moderated by P. Scott Lapinski

International Reception, Silent Auction, and Raffle

The International Reception at ASIS&T 2001 Annual Meeting was held on Monday November 5 from 8:00 to 10:30 p.m. at the J.W.Marriott Salon III. Elsevier Science, Inc. donated generously $1000 to the reception. This year’s reception featured a dance presentation from a group of Indian children from Washington, DC area and some international music. This year’s reception attracted a large number of attendees as it always has!

The Silent Auction went really well at the International Reception. Thanks for all those who participated in the Silent Auction at the reception. Many SIG III members helped the auction by contributing wonderful items for sale, setting up and managing the sale, and buying the items.

A raffle to benefit the SIG III InfoShare Program was also held at the reception. The program sponsors ASIST membership for information practitioners from developing countries, residing outside the U.S., to help them benefit their information communities and the developments in their countries. This year, the winner, Bahaa, donated his winning $100 to the InfoShare Program. Thanks, Bahaa!

The Silent Auction and the Raffle together raised $545.50!

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4. SIG III Business Meeting Minutes

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ASIST SIG III Business Meeting, Nov 5, 2001

1. 12 noon, Mon., Nov. 5, 2001. The Business Meeting was called to order by Bahaa El-Hadidy, Outgoing Chair.

Present: Hong Xu, Incoming Chair, Ismail Fahmi, Irene Farkas-Conn, Yin Zhang, Yunfei Du, Yan Liu, Ben-Ami Lipetz, Tefko Saracevic, Sue O. Johnson, Liwen Vaughan, Cavan McCarthy, Omar E. Akchurin, Gretchen Whitney, and Suzanne K. Stemler.

2. A motion for approval of the agenda was made and approved.

3. Members introduced themselves.

4. Results of election and/or appointment of officers stand as follows:

Chair: Hong Xu

Past Chair: Bahaa El-Hadidy

Chair Elect: Sue O'Neill Johnson

Assistant Chair (outside U.S.): P.R. Goswani (India)

Assistant Chair (outside U.S.): Chao-chen Chen (China)

Treasurer: Bahaa El-Hadidy

Communications Officer: Yin Zhang

InfoShare Officer: Suzanne K. Stemler

Cabinet Representative: (open)

Outreach and Membership Officer: (open)

Gretchen responded to a question as to when new officers take over their duties: official time is at the Board Meeting, which this year is Thursday, Nov. 8.

Since two positions remained open a motion was made and approved that Nadia Caidi be Outreach and Membership Officer and Liwen Vaughan be Cabinet Representative.

5. Review of SIG III Activities, 2000/01:

§ Addition to agenda:

Budget report: $1219 (week of Oct.29, 2001)

-$230 travel expenses

-$130 printed invitations for International Reception

Total: $ 859

International Reception: -$1200 (est. cost)

Elsevier donation: +$1000 for Reception

Total: $659 (est.)

§ Conference program of 2001: six sessions were proposed; all six were approved. Of these several were co-sponsored with other SIGs.

§ International Papers Competition: we had six winners last year. Two of the winners were flown in to the ASIST Annual Meeting. (Nathalie and Sue raised $6400 to support the Competition.) All monies raised were spent. Nathalie may not be able to assist during the upcoming year due to relocation. A question was raised as to whether we should continue with the program; Bahaa encouraged that we do so. Sue agreed to coordinate the Competition and will work with Yunfei and Nathalie.

Ben asked if the papers are published. The top three were published in the Bulletin, an additional two from Ethiopia were published, and one final paper from India is being published in the next issue. Last year 9 of the papers were published in International Information Library Review by Academic Press. 18 papers not published are on the SIG III website, and the Communications Officer is asked to link all the papers that have appeared in the Bulletin. Discussion ensued as to increasing the marketing of the Competition (members present who want to help with marketing signed a sheet) and perhaps publishing papers in our own e-journal. This would act to build reputations of contributors. It was added that IFLA does promote our International Papers Competition and that an article written by Sue and Nathalie appeared in D Lib magazine.

Tefko asked about topics for papers and suggested Digital Libraries since we have an audience and track record with that topic. This was informally agreed upon but the matter may be up for discussion in the future.

InfoShare Program: Suzanne offered brief overview of the program for newcomers. Ideas for additional fund raising such as sending flyers to ASIST Chapters to enlist support and increasing promotion in the Bulletin were discussed. Irene suggested we write a note of thanks to each sponsor and encourage their continued participation.

SIG Web Site and Newsletter: Yin Zhang, our new Communications officer, will take over these responsibilities.

Update on the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) Inauguration and the ASIST/BA Conference of 2003: April 23-25 is the inauguration; Joseph Busch and Bahaa El-Hadidy will represent ASIST at that event. The conference will be co-sponsored by ASIST and BA. Conference topic will be Digital Knowledge and preservation of knowledge in different media. Brewster Kale has offered to work with BA on digitizing and sharing of resources.

The meeting was adjourned until Tues., Nov. 6th at noon.

Minutes submitted by Suzanne K. Stemler

ASIST SIG III Business Meeting, Nov 6, 2001

12 noon, Tues., Nov. 6, 2001. Business Meeting reconvened.

Present: Yin Zhang, Michel Menou, Hong Xu, Liwen Vaughn, Yunfei Du. Irene Farkas-Conn, Nathalie Leroy, Bahaa El-Hadidy, Yanquan Liu, Murilo Cunha, Sue O'Neill Johnson, Suzanne Stemler.

6. New Planned Activities for 2001/2002

Member fees for information specialists from developing countries: Sue stated that SLA recently created virtual memberships and suggested we approach the board with this membership model. Sliding fees may also be a possibility but administration would be difficult and time consuming. No conclusions were reached and the issue remains open to further discussion. Sue agreed to follow up on the topic after January.

Increasing SIG membership to include members from outside the U.S.

Co-sponsoring workshops and conferences with other societies outside the U.S.

Developing an international publishing program. LIS journal in the English language to provide translations of the most important Chinese articles. Yanquan Liu agreed to follow up with Dr Meng Guangjun in Beijing. Those interested in the project will then discuss next steps via e-mail.

7. Planning SIG sessions for 2002 Annual Meeting.

Six sessions were agreed upon for next year:

§ Information Society Metrics in the Global Environment (suggested by Liwen)

§ Multicultural Aspects of Information Organization (suggested by Nathalie)

§ The Global Information Theater (suggested by Michel); Michel also suggested a poster/discussion session as a special event to accompany the 20th anniversary of SIG III.

§ From Babel to Modern Times: Cross Language Information (Yunfei and Nathalie). SIG III will ask History SIG if they would like to co-sponsor.

§ The Digital Divide II (suggested by Hong)

§ International Competition on Digital Libraries (Sue, Yunfei, and Nathalie)

The Meeting was adjourned until 4 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Suzanne Stemler

4 p.m. SIG III Business Meeting reconvened.

Present: Hong, Yunfei, Nathalie, Sue, Yin, and Suzanne.

Discussion about expanding membership outside the U.S. continued. Sue stated that the Association can't afford reduced international dues but added that with Virtual Memberships our dollars would go further. Hong stated that we would need to make a proposal for a Virtual Membership category. Sue suggested that Yin, as our Communications Officer, write a proposal for attracting new members. The proposal might include addressing the role of the Assistant Chairs.

Hong suggested examination and possible revision of guidelines for InfoShare. Sue and Suzanne agreed. Suzanne will look into this and share suggestions for revision. Winners for this year need to be named and announced depending on money raised at international reception.

The Business Meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Suzanne Stemler

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5. Proposed sessions for 2002 Annual Meeting

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The following six sessions were proposed for next year:

1. Information Society Metrics in the Global Environment (suggested by Liwen)

2. Multicultural Aspects of Information Organization (suggested by Nathalie)

3. The Global Information Theater (suggested by Michel); Michel also suggested a poster/discussion session as a special event to accompany the 20th anniversary of SIG III.

4. From Babel to Modern Times: Cross Language Information (Yunfei and Nathalie).

5. The Digital Divide II (suggested by Hong). This session is a follow-up of this year's well-received session on this topic.

6. International Paper Competition on Digital Libraries (Sue, Yunfei, and Nathalie)

New ideas are still welcome! February 4, 2002 is the deadline for contributed proposals for technical and special sessions. If you are interested in presenting at the above sessions, or know a good speaker, please contact the proposer(s) of the sessions. Thank you!

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6. SIG III Welcomes New Members

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SIG III has gained the following new members:

Mr. Bambang Parmanto

parmanto@shrs.pitt.edu

University of Pittsburgh

6026 Forbes Tower

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Ms. Bonnie O'Dell

bjodell@u.washington.edu

Instructional Consultant

University of Washington

3336 - 8th Ave. NW

Seattle, WA 98119-1857

In addition, a one-year membership in ASIST and SIG III has been awarded under the InfoShare program to Subbiah Arunachalam and Ozy Orji. This award is in recognition of their fine work the two new members are doing in their respective countries to advance library and information science.

Name: Ozy Orji

Email: ozyorji@hotmail.com

Ms. Orjy is the Librarian of the United Bank of Africa, a member of the Nigerian Library Association, and a winner of the SLA Global 2000 Fellowship.

Name: Subbiah Arunachalam

E-mail: arun@mssrf.res.in

Country: India.

Brief bio provided by Arunachalam: I am currently a volunteer (since April 1996) with M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, a non-profit Trust engaged in research in sustainable development, food security, ecotechnology, etc. I am give the designation 'Distinguished Fellow'. Recently the Institute of Information Scientists, UK, conferred on me the Institute's Honorary Fellowship. There are 33 honorary fellows and I am the only Indian. Last month our Foundation's Information Village project won the Stockholm Challenge award. Please see details in http://www.challenge.stockholm.se.

I am on the editorial boards of half a dozen refereed journals including Scientometrics and Journal of Information Science. My articles have appeared in British Medical journal, New Scientist, Current Science, Journal of Information Science, Bulletin of ASIS, etc. I have spoken at two AAAS annual meetings, two IFLA Annual meetings and an SLA Annual meeting - all by invitation.

InfoShare is a program of SIG III by which a one-year membership in ASIST is awarded to colleagues in developing countries who face financial difficulties to join. It is meant to expose them to the benefits of being a member of ASIS in the hope this may help them find the support required for continuing membership. The program is financed by the generous donations of members and net outcome of SIG/III fund raising activities. Please visit INFOSHARE page for more information.

Welcome on board!

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7. Frequently Asked Questions about sigiii-l Subscriptions and SIG III Web Site

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The purposes of SIG III are--

to promote better awareness among ASIS&T members and information professionals of the importance of international cooperation;
to facilitate and enhance better communication and interaction among ASIS members and their foreign colleagues on information issues; and
to provide a forum for exploring and discussing international information issues and problems. SIG/III membership includes most non-U.S. ASIS&T members and a true cross-section of U.S. ASIS&T members.

The sigiii-l list is open to all (regardless of membership) and it is unmoderated. We felt that of all ASIS&T SIGs, International Information Issues especially needed the ability to communicate quickly and widely. In the past, we had taken the liberty of subscribing all members of SIG III based on the information available at headquarters. However, this year, the ASIST&T had problems to update list owners. Therefore, the Communication Officer has not been able to manage the list. Nevertheless, you may change your subscription as you would need by following the instructions below.

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The official Web site of SIG III is located at http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIII/index.html. Due to transition problems, the ASIS&T has not been able to provide access for the current Communication Officer to update the group’s official web space. Therefore, the SIG III’s web site is temporarily moved to http://www.slis.kent.edu/~yinzhang/sigiii until further notice.

Please contact the SIG III Communication Officer, Yin Zhang (yinzhang@slis.kent.edu), if you have any questions regarding the sigiii-l listserv and the SIG III web site.

This issue of SIGIII newsletter is compiled by: Yin Zhang (yinzhang@slis.kent.edu)