FYI France: President's Report, Conseil Sup. des Bibl.(pt.2of2)

[Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.SF.CA.US>]

FYI France: President's Report, Conseil Sup. des Bibl.(pt.2of2)

from:   Jack Kessler
        kessler@well.sf.ca.us

(In Part 1, Michel Melot, President of the Conseil Supe'rieur des
Bibliothe`ques, summarized French library and information networking
events of the past year and pointed out several of the issues which
will be worked on this year. His discussion of the specific networking
issue was begun. Here he describes the formation of the French
librarians' e-conference BIBLIO-FR, he mentions several of the problems
caused for libraries by networking, and he concludes with a discussion
of the current problems of French music libraries.)


(from the Rapport du Pre'sident 1993, published last month, by the
Conseil Supe'rieur des Bibliothe`ques, written by Michel Melot,
translated by jk:)

A group of librarians, unhappy over the absence of French libraries on
the most heavily used international networks, met at the Conseil
Supe'rieur des Bibliothe`ques on June 28 to launch an electronic forum
for French libraries, today known as "BIBLIO-FR"
(biblio-fr@univ-Rennes1.fr), which has had a rapid success,
particularly among French - speaking librarians of North America: of
today's 400 subscribers, 176 are American and 56 are Canadian.

This initiative was pursued under the auspices of the Conseil
Supe'rieur des Bibliothe`ques, as it favored cooperation among
libraries and the opening of French libraries to the outside world, two
objectives which are among the Conseil's primary goals. On the one hand
France and the French world should have their place on these networks,
and the fact that the Ministry of Culture and of French Language was
the first to place its own databases on the largest network, the
"Internet", supports this policy. The objective is realistic, as was
demonstrated by the network "Brise" of the St. Etienne libraries,
and the perspectives opened by the experiences and projects of the
universities at Caen, Grenoble and Montpellier.

On the other hand, the possibilities respond to one of the questions
posed on the occasion of the construction of the Bibliothe`que de
France. One recently has seen American and Russian schools connected
inexpensively thanks to the daily usage of electronic networks, and Mr.
Gore has announced his project ("I give you this challenge: that in the
year 2000 you will see connected all our classrooms, all our libraries,
our hospitals and our clinics...)("Albert Gore annonce une relance de
la course a` la communication interactive", _le Monde_, 14 janvier
1994) in terms which recall those used by Mr. Mitterrand in 1988. But
the use of networking will not arise from Mr. Gore for French users,
and if the implementation by university libraries of the network
Renater, which allows high - speed connections, is under way, that of
public libraries remains tied to connections to "regional connects",
financed by local government, the Ministries, or large research
organizations.

>From this perspective, France does have some advantages. At the
research level, the INRIA (Institut National de la Recherche en
Informatique et en Automatique) plays a central role and contributes
its expertise. At the users' level, we already have at our disposal the
Minitel, a commonly - accepted tool permitting us -- even though
perhaps at a low service level -- to offer, to each home, services
which some think elsewhere might be reserved only for a specialized
elite.  The relationship between the global possibilities of access to
knowledge offered by the electronic networks, and the access to all
which they permit, in France with the Minitel, is not yet established.
Thus the libraries -- there are more and more of them -- which offer
their catalogs on the Minitel often are disappointed at their rates of
consultation, and ask themselves how they might improve the service to
become better known at first, but also how to become more attractive,
better presented, and truly interactive.

If dial - in access to library catalogs still is small, the general
function of communication still is under - estimated, and certain
services enjoy an unanticipated success, like e - mail which, foreseen
merely as a device for speeding up the return of overdue books, has a
tendency to transform itself into an ongoing dialog between reader and
librarian: for asking questions, suggesting acquisitions, and
participating, in a certain way, in the life of the library. Another
advantage of library catalog consultations on the Minitel is to
distribute the readers better among the different libraries of a city,
and get them to visit several sites, permitting the equalization of
acquisitions and activities of a group of libraries. These experiences
at times reveal the lack of relations among the libraries and the other
communications services of the city, encouraging the library to better
integrate itself into the municipal system.

An effort of education and information for librarians remains to be
undertaken, if they are to take into account all the ramifications that
this evolution implies, an effort with which the Conseil Supe'rieur des
Bibliothe`ques will associate itself to the full extent of its mission
and its means.


The Weakness of Music Libraries

Several members of the Conseil Supe'rieur have been concerned for the
weakness in France of the music sections of public libraries,
particularly in matters concerning music loan, which is very developed
in the Anglo - Saxon countries.

The increasing success of music teaching has been the object of reports
which, with reason, are congratulatory. ("Un secteur culturel en
de'veloppement: les e'coles de musique", in _De'veloppement Culturel_,
n.101, Nov.1993. See also: Fre'de'rique Patureau, _Les Pratiques
Culturelles des Jeunes_, Paris : La Documentation franc,aise, 1992.)
Elsewhere, librarians know -- by the constant increase of music
borrowing -- that music is one of the strong points in readers'
interests, particularly the young readers and adolescents whom one
wants to retain. If the music interests of the young appear to be on
the rise everywhere, one can only deplore the poverty of the music
offering of public libraries in full music scores which permit the
actual performance of works.

It must be said, first, that in the music field there must be an
improvement in relations between libraries and publishers, that is to
say frankly that there must be some accounting for the lost revenues
produced by the photocopying which loans to the home make so easy. The
prejudice caused by photocopying is more severe, in the music area than
in others, because of the comparatively higher investment involved in
the production of sheet music and because of their small editions. This
problem is generally resolved in music conservatories by the payment of
a fee by students. Its solution in libraries is a precondition of any
further development.

Having made an initial assessment of the situation, a committee of our
Conseil, chaired by Vice - President Franck Laloe:, concluded that the
loaning of music scores in France remains largely an affair of the
music conservatories, a situation which excludes the public other than
conservatory students and teachers. An inquiry made by the music
section of the Association des Bibliothe'caires Franc,ais, addressed to
336 music teaching establishments, received 161 responses, among which
114 establishments said that they possess music collections. However
only 67 said that they had a library. Inversely, the public libraries
in France offering music scores are the exception. In both cases there
is a problem of training qualified personnel.

Several visits to the best - known collections convinced us that the
missions of the conservatories in the matter of loans cannot be taken
on by public libraries, even though, here and there, some cooperation
might be possible.  The vocation of conservatories clearly is
pedagogic, and they must respond in the first instance, like any school
library, to the needs of their students and their teachers. The absence
of offerings in the public libraries therefore can only continue to
create confusions and makeshift solutions.

The municipal libraries with music collections of any importance are
very few in number: at Paris, the Discothe`que des Halles, but also the
Picpus Library, in the provinces several cities in the east, an area
with a strong musical tradition, like Mulhouse and Belfort, and a
project in the Bordeaux Library, and others. This rarity of collections
involves problems: the public is not near, one must come a long way to
borrow scores, and music libraries function as special libraries
without having either the means or the training to do so.

Lacking examples and practice, the basic questions of music
librarianship rarely are made known to the profession or the
government: help in creating collections comes from the Centre National
du Livre without public libraries' taking advantage of their access to
the help of the Direction de la Musique; bibliographic tools are
lacking, particularly for the non - classical music which interests the
users of public libraries, outside the education arena; the librarians
themselves are apt to avoid a costly activity which risks developing at
the expense of others; finally, the specialized training, as has been
analyzed elsewhere, is badly lacking, in both initial and continuing
education.

The development of music sectors poses difficult problems to the
managers of public libraries, beginning with the definition itself of
what it is to be a music library, with the idea of a me'diathe`que
which integrates the different media:  sound documents and scores,
which do not always address the same publics, do not necessarily
combine well.  The extension of score collections also requires a
thought and a policy: if it is clear that a municipal library ought to
offer different publication methods -- pocket scores and instrumental
music scores -- the same cannot be said for both separate parts and
orchestra scores which are too difficult to manage. To what point
should the librarian, supposing that one has the means, proceed?

Without doubt, the development of these services also reflects the
fragility of publishing and of bookselling in France in this area.
Foreign examples -- particularly of Germany and Great Britain, where
these services are active and up to date, to the great profit of
amateur musicians -- must be studied. This is why the Conseil
Supe'rieur des Bibliothe`ques placed this question on its agenda and
organized meetings assembling French experts. This study must be
pursued in 1994 by visits to establishments and the consultation of the
Direction de la Musique, of the commercial organizations of music
publishers, and of the international association of music libraries. A
more detailed study will be presented for the consideration of the
Conseil and published in our next report.


Bibliographic Note:  _Rapport du Pre'sident (Michel Melot) Pour
L'Anne'e 1993_ (Paris : Association du Conseil Supe'rieur des
Bibliothe`ques, 1994). ISSN 1157-360. 128 pages. Available from:
Association du Conseil Supe'rieur des Bibliothe`ques, Palais Garnier, 8
rue Scribe, 75009 Paris.

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