Appendix 2
In early 2000 Myrna Koch, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and Maria Eugenia Gomez, European Southern Observatory, Chile, contacted 18 libraries in the Latin Americas and asked for comments about the bibliographic facilities within these libraries. The comments presented here are based on the six responses which were received from five librarians, one researcher and the personal knowledge of the authors.
Immediately noticeable is a substantial difference between libraries belonging to big universities and institutions as compared with those of smaller institutions often located further away from the main population centers. On this occasion time did not allow us to contact libraries without e-mail connections, but obviously this is a task for the near future, especially as we may assume that these libraries would be among those that might benefit the most from the PAM-APF.
Big university and institutional libraries have more financial resources and good technological support. Their catalogues are available online, they have access to electronic journals as well as big scientific databases via Internet. Furthermore, it is usual for the library personnel to have the necessary education and background to take full advantage of this high level of communication. Nevertheless, large libraries also face problems such as limited budget for acquisition of bibliographic material. These difficulties are much more pronounced for smaller libraries which often have to survive without purchasing any textbooks. Some even reported that they had to discontinue subscriptions of some of the main journals.
One way to cope with these problems has been to create centralized acquisition of bibliographic material. This means that smaller libraries have access to books and periodicals which may be requested from a main library which acts as the purchaser.
Resource sharing is common where several specialized libraries within related subjects have agreed to the free exchange of their material. For instance, a library in Guanajuato, Mexico, maintains a complete collection of SPIE publications, which has been made available to neighbouring libraries.
Interlibrary loan has become a first level tool to provide users with the information they need.
Throughout Chile a regulated Interlibrary Loan agreement exists between the university libraries; there are agreements with Government Institutions and investigation Institutions and also, there is an exchange for the supply of journal articles.
However, the extent and success of this type of service depends heavily upon the personal contact and networks created by individual librarians. Often assistance between libraries is carried out on an informal basis and no fees are then involved. It is most effective within a limited geographical area although a lesser amount of material may be obtained via fax or using the net.
There is no doubt that electronic publishing has had a revolutionary impact in developing countries as well as in developed countries. Although journals published electronically normally involve a subscription cost, many more people are now able to access them. A single institutional subscription may permit the entire staff to read the journal online. It would be even more equitable if a way could be found to offer developing countries completely free access to all journals within the interest sphere of the PAM-APF.
Brazil has developed a government policy to promote information and communication networks but this is an exception. The many private institutions in Latin America tend to cater to their own group of users, often at the exclusion of others, sometimes even charging for their services. Although this can be understood from an economic point of view, it does not promote an atmosphere of friendly cooperation.
It is worth mentioning that there are libraries belonging to important international organizations placed in Latin America supplied with all modern infrastructure to provide their users with first level service. These libraries strongly interact with the national ones to the benefit of all.
Cooperation is extremely important for the libraries located in developing
countries, since they face mostly common problems, and sharing the accumulated
experience could benefit them all. This is one of the most important aims
of the PAM-APF.