Mexican Libraries: An Overview* Jesús Lau, Ph.D. Director, USBI VER Library, and Coordinator, UV Virtual Library Universidad.

Presentación del tema: "Mexican Libraries: An Overview* Jesús Lau, Ph.D. Director, USBI VER Library, and Coordinator, UV Virtual Library Universidad."— Transcripción de la presentación:

1 Mexican Libraries: An Overview* Jesús Lau, Ph.D. jlau@uv.mx www.jesuslau.com Director, USBI VER Library, and Coordinator, UV Virtual Library Universidad Veracruzana /DGB Boca del Río, Veracruz, México www.uv.mx/usbi_ver www.uv.mx/bvirtual *The first version was presented at Transborder Library Forum, 2005

2 Objectives - Topics Talk about institutions that shape Mexican libraries: –Library schools –Associations –Vendors –Serials –Conferences Evaluate challenges and contributions

3 Demographics  14th in geographical size  7th in exports  2nd trade partner of the US  Largest Spanish-speaking country  2nd economy in Latin America  A middle income country  Literacy 93%  Ranks with some of the best libraries in Latin America

4 Library Historical Dates: 900 – 1700´s (Fernández de Zamora, 1988)  1400 Amoxcalli – Aztec codex (Amoxtli) libraries  1511 First book to arrive in Mexico from Europe  1539 First Printing press  1555 First book published in Mexico - Alonso de Molina Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana  1788 Opening of the first public library – Turriana Library  1790 First Copyright law  1790 Foundation of the National Achives - Archivo General de la Nación (Original name: Archivo General de la Nueva España)

5  1867 Decree to create the National Library – Biblioteca Nacional  1882 National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics (Originally as Dirección Geografía y Estadística, DGE) – Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, Geografía e Informática  1921 First Department of Public Libraries, Ministry of Public Education - Dirección de Bibliotecas Populares  1922 First public library building - Biblioteca Publica Cervantes  1924/1954 Mexican Association of Librarians – Asociación Mexicana de Bibliotecarios, AC  1945 National School of Library and Archive Sciences – Escuela Nacional de Biblioteconomía y Archivonomía Library Historical Dates: 1800 - 1950

6  1956 Opening of the UNAM Main Library Building - Biblioteca Central UNAM  1957 First National Library Conference - Jornadas Mexicanas de Biblioteconomía, organized annually since 1974  1970 Foundation National Council of Science and Technology (An early funding body for special and university libraries) – Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología  1972 Starts first library science Master´s Degree – UNAM  1975 First academic library building of a technological institute – IT Saltillo  1979 Foundation of the National Association of Professional Librarians - Colegio Nacional de Bibliotecarios, AC  1978 First Mexican integral (mainframe) library system – LIBRUNAM, UNAM Library Historical Dates: 1950 - 1980

7  1983 First release of library software SIABUC (Most popular free library software in Latin America, Universidad de Colima  1984 Foundation of the National Council for Academic Libraries – CONPAB-IES, Consejo Nacional de Asuntos Bibliotecarios de Instituciones de Educación Superior  1986 First librarian to get a Ph.D (From the US) - Jaime Pontigo  1999 UNAM Ph.D. Program opens - UNAM  2003 Mexican Information Literacy Standards - UACJ Library Historical Dates: 1990 - 2000

8 Library Statistics (INEGI, 2008) TypeLibrariesVolumes School5,428*17,162,907** Academic1,133**16,422,598** Special227*2,576,889** Public7,331*27,067,572** National1**1,250,000** Others5**449,160** Total14,12564,929,126 * INEGI 2008 **INEGI 2005

9 Library Education  10 Library and information science schools 8 Undergraduate 4 Master´s programs 1 Ph.D  2 Two distance programs (One is web based)  1 Offers archives studies

10 Library Associations  AMBAC - Asociación Mexicana de Bibliotecarios, AC, 1924 www.ambac.org.mxwww.ambac.org.mx  CNB - Colegio Nacional de Bibliotecarios, AC (CNB), 1979 www.cnb.org.mxwww.cnb.org.mx  ASAR - Asociación de Administradores de Recursos Informativos, AC (Chihuahua), 1998 www.asar.org.mx www.asar.org.mx  BIBAC - Asociación de Bibliotecarios en Biomedicina, AC, 1976 www.difusion.com.mx/proficsa/www.difusion.com.mx/proficsa/

11 Library Associations (2)  ABJ - Asociación Jalisciense de Bibliotecarios, AC (AJBAC), 1979 www.ajbac.org/www.ajbac.org/  ANBAGRO - Asociación Nacional de Bibliotecarios Agropecuarios, AC, 1983  AMABPAC - Asociación Mexicana de Archivos y Bibliotecas Privados, AC, 1994 www.amabpac.org.mx/ www.amabpac.org.mx/  Others: Nuevo León, Baja California, Michoacán, Sonora

12 Library Serials  Biblioteca Universitaria: Boletín informativo - Dirección General de Bibliotecas (UNAM)  Bibliotecas y Archivos (ENBA)  Información, producción, comunicación y servicios (Infoconsultores)  Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información (UNAM)

13 Library Serials (2)  Noticiero (AMBAC)  Memorias- Jornadas Mexicanas de Biblioteconomía (AMBAC)  Infobila – Bibliographic database (UNAM)  Other: Conference Proceedings

14 General Library Conferences –Jornadas Mexicanas de Biblioteconomía, AMBAC, 1957- –Coloquio Internacional de Bibliotecarios, FIL-UDG, 1993- –Reunión Celebración Biblioteca de Ciencia y Tecnología, IPN, 1999- –Reunión de bibliotecarios de la Península de Yucatán, UADY, 1994-

15 Specialized Library Conferences  Library Research –Coloquio Internacional de Investigación Bibliotecológica y de Información, CUIB, 1980-  Information Literacy –Encuentro sobre Desarrollo de Habilidades Informativas, UACJ, 1998- (Bi-annual)  Cooperation –Foro Transfronterizo de Bibliotecas, Host varies, 1990- (Bi-annual) –Amigos, UDLA, 2000- (Bi-annual)

16 Specialized Library Conferences (2)  Automation / IT –Interfaces, UCOL, 1983- –Enlínea@2004, ITESM-CM, 1998-  Academic Libraries –Conferencia Internacional sobre Bibliotecas Universitarias, UNAM, 2000- –Reunión Anual (de bibliotecas académicas), CONPAB, 1984-  Management –Coloquio sobre Capital humano y Liderazgo en Bibliotecas, UV, 2003-

17 Main International Vendors  Brodart  CSA  EBSCO México  Elsevier  Grupo Difusión Científica (Thompson)  Infoconsultores  Infoestratégica (Dialog, EIU, BL)  Información Científica Internacional (ICI)  ISI Emerging Markets  Infolatina  Proquest  OCLC  Swets Information Services

18 Mexican Library Software Companies Companies Janium Technology (Janium) Sistemas Lógicos (Logicat) Universidad de Colima (SIABUC) Strengths and comments  Strong library software presence of Mexico in Latin America  Need to keep abreast of users´ needs

19 Publishing Strengths:  Most big book publishers operate in country  Mexico is a leader in book printing in LA  Children´s literature has a good output Comments:  Bookstores are scarce, aproximate figures of all book outlets is 500

20 Serial Repository – REDALyC (http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/, 2008)  Major open access multidisciplinary journal repository  543………….Full-text journals  96,427………Articles  70,000 ………Daily articles download

21 Book Fairs  Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara (November)  Feria del Libro de Minería (México City, March)  Feria del Libro Infantil (November, México City)  Feria Internacional del Libro Universitario (Veracruz, September)  Fería del Libro de la Ciudad de Monterrey (September)  Several smaller book fairs take place in major cities

22 Books Vendors  CSI  Blackwells  Educomsa  GlobalBook  Grupo Difusión Científica  Nye Omicron  Somohano Express  YBP

23 Transborder Cooperation Relevant to Mexico  Library training  Visiting professors to library schools  Conference attendance  Speaking at conferences  Web information exchange  Librarians visits and stays  Translation of library materiales/publications

24 Transborder Cooperation Relevant to Mexico (2)  Exhibiting in Mexican conferences  Join library association membership  Collaborative preservation of special collections  Exchange of best library practices  Joint digital proyects, joint borrowing agreements

25 Conclusions  Important to know our Northern neighbours, it paves the way to cooperation  Mexican library scene is shaped on North American practices  Libraries date back to several centuries  Good library development in recent decades

26 Conclusions (2)  Current library challenges are: budgets, visibility, management and technology  Mexican library market is still small  There are opportunities for collaboration across borders  Cooperation is permeated by organization culture, and socio-economic development

27 References  Fernández de Zamora, Rosa María. “Cronología bibliotecaria mexicana 1900 – 1988”. En: Investigación bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información, vol. 2, (3), 1987.  Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática - INEGI [Accessed June 26, 2008]. www.inegi.gob.mx/inegi/default.aspx?s=est&c=2393 www.inegi.gob.mx/inegi/default.aspx?s=est&c=2393  Lau, Jesús. Directorio bibliotecológico México [Accessed June 26, 2008], www.jesuslau.comwww.jesuslau.com