1. LIBER’s role in supporting
European Research Libraries
Wouter Schallier
Executive Director

2. Content
 Mission
 Who we are
 What we do
 Some of our activities
 Annual Conference
 Important changes
 Priorities 2009-2012
 Benefits of membership
 Thank you/Questions

3. Mission
 “LIBER represents and promotes the
interests of research libraries in Europe”
 Efficient information services
 Access to research information
 Innovation in end user services
 Preservation of cultural heritage
 Efficient and effective management
 Cf. USA: ARL; Canada: CARL; UK: RLUK

4. Who we are
 Almost 400 institutions, from over 40
countries
 Research and national libraries, information
centres, research centres, archives …
 People with a particular interest in strategic
issues for European research libraries

5. What we do
 Meetings, conferences, workshops on
strategic issues
 Advocacy and lobbying
 Sharing professional knowledge,
dissemination of documentation
 Publication of position statements
 LIBER Quarterly (http://liber.library.uu.nl/)
 Fostering partnerships and cooperation

10. Some of our activities
DRIVER Damage atlas
Maps LIFE
OAI Europeana LIBER
Travel Quarterly
VAT Quality and
Annual
Digitisation performance Library
Conference
Architecture
European Library
DART- (Digital)
Passport
Europe Security Preservation
Leadership Network
and human Copyright PEARL
resources SPARC
Rare books Europe
PARSE Insight

11. Digital preservation
 Scale and complexity of long-term DP and
access
 Production, dissemination and preservation
of research in Europe
 European initiatives and EU policy
 The choice for research libraries: do it
yourself or rely on trusted third parties

12. PEARL
 Principal Europeana Aggregator for
Research Libraries
 To make metadata and data (full text, images
etc.) of European research libraries more
visible
 To strenghten the concept of one European
digital library
 Collaboration with national libraries
 TEL as the library aggregator for Europeana

13. Annual conference
 http://liber2009.biu-toulouse.fr
 Aim: exchange, discuss, recommend
 Organising committee + Programme
committee
 Innovative and strategic topics
 Interaction is key: break out sessions,
posters, networking

15. Important changes
 Copenhagen -> The Hague
 Foundation under Dutch law
 Appointment of Executive Director
responsible of general management
 Appointment of Assistant
 Revision of strategy and structure of the
organisation

16. Strategic questions
 What are our priorities?
 Which services do our members expect?
 What is our role vis à vis other organisations
(SPARC Europe, EBLIDA, IFLA, CENL,
CERL…)?
 Which internal organisational structure serves
our goals best?

17. Priorities 2009-2012
 Scholarly communication
 Digitisation and resource discovery
 Heritage collections and preservation
 Organisation and human resources
 Services for LIBER members

18. New LIBER structure

19. LIBER events
 17 April 2009: Digital Preservation Workshop
“Curating Research 2009 - e-Merging New
Roles and Responsibilities in the European
Landscape”, The Hague
 http://www.kb.nl/curatingresearch
 17-19 June 2009: Workshop on Innovations
in Scholarly Communication (OAI6), Geneva
 http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?co
nfId=48321

20. LIBER events (2)
 30 June – 3 July 2009: “Innovation through
Collaboration” - LIBER Annual General
Conference, Toulouse, France
http://liber2009.biu-toulouse.fr/
 19-21 October 2009: Digitisation workshop,
The Hague
http://www.libereurope.eu/node/391

21. Why join LIBER?
 be part of the biggest network of European library
professionals
 participate in discussions, activities, collaborations
etc. that are relevant to European research libraries
 be a partner in projects which LIBER is winning in
competitive EU funding applications
 contribute to responses and lobbying activities in
which LIBER engages at an EU level
 contribute metadata records and full-text content to
Open Access services (such as the DART-Europe portal of
research theses) which LIBER is running on behalf of its
membership

22. Why join LIBER? (2)
 receive a reduced fee (minimum 25% and up to 50%)
for all LIBER seminars, workshops and conferences for all
members of your institution
 have voting right in LIBER’s Meeting of Participants
and therefore have a voice in the European library landscape
 be candidate for election to the LIBER Executive
Board
 pay a reduced fee for the journal LIBER Quarterly PoD
(75 euros instead of 450 euro)

23. Join LIBER!
 Institutions from Central/Eastern Europe have
50% reduction on the annual fee!
 175 euro (instead of 350 euro)
 = less than 15 euro per month!
 = less than 0,5 euro per day!
 Application form for membership:
 http://www.libereurope.eu/node/200

24. Thank you! Questions?
Wouter SCHALLIER
LIBER Executive Director
(National Library of The Netherlands)
P.O. Box 90407
2509 LK The Hague
The Netherlands
T: +31 70 31 40 729
F: +31 70 31 40 197
M: +31 6 29 04 79 52
E: wouter.schallier@kb.nl
Skype: wouter.schallier
W: www.libereurope.eu