Cooperation and French Collections in Academic Libraries of North America: CIFNAL, etc.

Cooperation and French Collections
in Academic Libraries of North
America: CIFNAL, etc.
Heather Lea Moulaison, PhD
enssib
Villeurbanne, France
December 5, 2012

Agenda
• CIFNAL, its history and its structure
• Some current initiatives at research libraries in
North America (samplings from the Sussman
study)
• Your potential for involvement

CIFNAL/ICBFN
• The Collaborative Initiative for French and North
American Libraries/ Initiative de collaboration entre les
bibliothèques françaises et nord-américaines
– http://www.crl.edu/grn/cifnal/index.asp
– A new and important effort to enhance international
cooperation among francophone and North American
academic and research libraries through the exchange of
ideas and resources.
– Initiated by French Studies specialists of the Western
European Studies Section (WESS) of the Association of
College and Research Libraries Division of the American
Library Association in 2005
Coulombe, D. (2007-8). Collaborative Initiative for French and North
American Libraries / Initiative de collaboration entre les
bibliothèques françaises et nord-américaines (CIFNAL/ICBFN). French
Studies Library Group Annual Review, 4, 22-25.

ACRL has seventeen sections to help members individualize their ACRL experience through
specialized programming, preconferences, discussion lists, recognition, and focused
activities.

Western European Studies Section = Section des études de l’Europe occidentale
African American Studies Librarians Section
Anthropology and Sociology Section
Arts Section
Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Section
College Libraries Section
Community and Junior College Libraries Section
Distance Learning Section
Education and Behavioral Sciences Section
Instruction Section
Law and Political Science Section
Literatures in English Section
Rare Books and Manuscripts Section
Science and Technology Section
Slavic and East European Section
University Libraries Section
Women and Gender Studies Section

Origins of CIFNAL
• The origins of CIFNAL/ICBFN go back to an
international WESS Conference in Paris in 2004,
– a paper delivered by Tom Kilton – then at the University of
Illinois –, entitled “A French-American Resources Project:
Needs and Potentials in a World of Migration.”
– Kilton’s vision was instrumental in the articulation of the
concept of a GRN-based group for French resources.
– Four large areas of potential collaboration were identified
in his paper:
1. Collection Development and Reference
2. Bibliographic Control
3. Digital Projects
4. Document Delivery.


CIFNAL origins, continued
• As a result of this recommendation, an ad hoc committee was
formed and a proposal to launch this collaborative initiative was
presented to the Global Resources Network at the Center for
Research Libraries; this proposal was subsequently approved in
2005.
• Under the leadership of the ad hoc committee a development plan
and by-laws were written; the membership officially adopted them
in 2007. Based on this success, an interim Steering Committee
composed of Sarah G. Wenzel (chair), Tom Kilton (past chair), Jeffry
Larson, Sarah Sussman, and Kati Radics, working in close
partnership with James Simon, Director of International Resources,
and Judy Eckoff Alspach, GRN Project Coordinator, both at CRL,
have completed CIFNAL/ICBFN’s transition to a GRN-based project.
A newly elected Steering

Finding a “home” for CIFNAL
• Center for Research Libraries (CRL) http://www.crl.edu/ ‘s Global
Resources Network http://www.crl.edu/grn/index.asp (GRN) is the
primary supporter of CIFNAL (even thought the idea came from
WESS)
– The Global Resources Network, a voluntary and collaborative initiative
of higher academic research institutions, is playing a key role in the
expansion and enhancement of access to international scholarly
resources.
– Recognizing that academic and research libraries are becoming
increasingly interested in providing access to international resources
and in working on collaborative projects with partners worldwide,
CIFNAL/ICBFN is joining similar GRN-based programs such as:
• the German-North American Resources Partnership (GNARP)
• the Cooperative African Newspapers Project (AFRINUL)
• the Digital South Asia Library (DSAL), and
• the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project (LARRP).


Center for Research Libraries
(CRL)
Programmes des collections Programmes Programmes d’achat
du Réseau de
Collections thématiques recherche Achat sur demande
Études régionales
Thèses du doctorat
mondiale Achat proposé
Achat partagé
Revues de recherche (GRN)
Journaux mondiaux

Initiative de Project des
collaboration entre les ressources
Partenariat des germano –
journaux africains bibliothèques
(AFRINUL) françaises et nord-américaines
nord-américaines (GNARP)
(ICBFN/CIFNAL) Projet des
Bibliothèque ressources de
numérique recherche sur
de l’Asie du l’Amérique
Sud (DSAL) latine
Association Internationale Francophone des Bibliothécaires Documentalistes
5 août 2008
(LARRP)
Le Réseau des Ressources Mondiales (du Centre des Bibliothèques de Recherche [CRL]) et le contexte de l'ICBFN
Sarah G. Wenzel (University of Chicago)

CIFNAL’s initial goals
1. Improve access to French and French-
language resources for North American
partners as well as access to North American
resources for French and Francophone
partners, and
2. Encourage collaboration between North
American and Francophone establishments,
endeavoring to develop connections
between the collections.

http://www.crl.edu/grn/cifnal

Membership in CIFNAL
• Membership in CIFNAL/ICBFN is open to institutions and individuals
who are involved in higher education and scholarly research, and
are interested in participating in expanding the availability of
resources relating to French and francophone studies.
– Annual memberships for institutional members of CRL are currently
set at $250 and $350 for non-CRL members.
• There are currently 45 member institutions in North America
– Individuals who work at institutions that are not institutional members
may join CIFNAL by filling out the Individual Participant Agreement.
There is no membership fee for Individual Members of CIFNAL.
• Currently, there are 19 individual members of CIFNAL in the United States,
but also elsewhere in North America, in Europe, in Africa, etc.
• Further information on members:
http://www.crl.edu/grn/cifnal/member-list
• Membership and the participant agreement are available on the
CIFNAL web site http://www.crl.edu/grn/cifnal/about-cifnal/join

Consortial agreements
• Currently, CIFNAL has entered consortial agreements
for electronic products critical to the study of the
French language and to conduct research on French
scholarship. These include Le Grand Robert, CAIRN,
and the Electronic Enlightenment.
• The work of Jeffry Larson (Yale, now retired), Sebastian
Hierl (Harvard), Sarah Sussman (Stanford) and James
Simon (CRL) has resulted in exploring and developing
consortial agreements for electronic resources. An
example of such a subscription is the Grand Robert
électronique.
http://www.crl.edu/grn/cifnal

CAIRN
• Another example of a consortial agreement negotiation is CAIRN.
– “Cairn.info is a leading French language e-journal database which is
highly regarded for its scholarly content. It was first developed by four
leading publishing houses: Belin, De Boeck, La Découverte and Erès
with the aim of improving the internet presence and distribution of
scholarly journal publications for the human and social sciences. With
the additional association of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
from February 2006, and later the support of such organisations as
Gesval, a publishing arm of the University of Liège) and Le Centre
National du Livre, it is now widely considered as a key database for
francophone content in these subject areas.
– “Over the years the content of Cairn has expanded from journals to
magazines and e-books. The full service currently includes over 300
full text e-journals. These are sub-divided into a number of thematic
collections which include law; economics; geography; history;
philosophy; psychology and linguistics.
• Institutions can opt to subscribe to the whole database or a range of sub-sets.

Dawson, H. (2011-12). Review of Cairn.info French Studies Library
Group Annual Review, 8, 7-10.

CIFNAL: Bibliothèque bleue project
• CIFNAL/ICBFN and ARTFL are collaborating with the Médiathèque de
l‟agglomération troyenne (MAT http://www.mediatheque-agglo-troyes.fr )
to create a publicly accessible and searchable version of the digitized
Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes. ARTFL has generously provided the initial
funding for this project as well as staff resources and technical expertise.
• The goals of this project will be:
– A publicly accessible and searchable version of the digitized Bibliothèque bleue
de Troyes.
– ARTFL will build a publicly accessible version of the Bibliothèque bleue de
Troyes under PhiloLogic software in Chicago. The TEI-encoded text will be also
added to the ARTFL databases restricted to subscribers, allowing for
comparative use and analysis.
– ARTFL will share with the Médiathèque de l‟agglomération troyenne the TEI-
encoded text of the Bibliothèque bleue and a copy of PhiloLogic
(http://philologic.uchicago.edu/)


CIFNAL: Microfilm Project
• The goals of this project are to identify, locate, and
publicize the existence of major sets of microfilm
pertaining to the history, culture, language and
literature of France and francophone countries.
• The selected microfilm resources have significant
research value and reflect holdings in European and
North American libraries and archives.
• This list can be found on the French Microform Sets
page of the WESSWeb (Western European Studies
Section).
• Ceres Birkhead (retired, University of Utah) was the
coordinator of this project.
http://www.crl.edu/grn/cifnal/current-projects/microfilm-project

CIFNAL: French Pamphlets
• French Pamphlets: www.frenchpamphlets.org.
– For more information, visit the French Pamphlet Project’s Facebook page or contact Matthew
Loving, Romance Languages Librarian at the University of Florida.
• The Collaborative Initiative for French Language Collections (CIFNAL) is working on
a new catalog of online French Pamphlets. The catalog will be a database
resource able to link users to full-text, digital facsimiles of French pamphlets made
accessible by CIFNAL member institutions, international partner collections, and
other freely accessible digital library collections, such as the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France’s Gallica collection.
• A core group of interested CIFNAL members are helping to organize the project.
Due the collaborative nature of the project, interested partners will be able to
easily add their digitized content to the project database.
• The resulting online finding aid will have the ability to link users directly into our
institutional collections, improving access for scholars and researchers around the
world.
• Coordinator: Matthew Loving, University of Florida

http://www.crl.edu/grn/cifnal/current-
projects/french-pamphlets

CIFNAL: Digital Library of the
Caribbean (dLOC)
• In accordance with a memorandum of understanding between CIFNAL and the
Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), the goal of this project is to work together
to improve and increase electronic access to francophone documents. These may
represent collections located in the French Caribbean or outside of the French
Caribbean with a focus on this region.
• Currently collaborating with the Haitian National Archives and other cultural
collections in Haiti, dLOC and its francophone partners have concluded historic
agreements to preserve and expand access to vital documents and materials. The
success of the dLOC model is based on mutual international cooperation. CIFNAL
members will bring additional linguistic and cultural assets to help dLOC reach out
to new French-speaking partners.
• Specifically, the two groups will work together to address needs related to:
– communication, partner relations, and translation
– meetings, training, fundraising, and grant writing
– collection development decisions and directions
– cultivation of relations with libraries and research institutes, specifically in France and the
French Caribbean.
• Coordinator: Matthew Loving, University of Florida

projects/dloc

Current research in French resources
• Sarah Sussman (Stanford) has been
researching and analyzing information about
current initiatives, digital libraries, and
collaborations in North American academic
and research libraries.
• Her forthcoming article on this topic will
appear in the BBF.

Sussman, S. (2012). Les collections francophones
en Amérique du Nord, BBF, 57(6): 26-30.

Highlights from the Sussman study
• Collections in Canada that focus on
French/francopohone works in Canada
• Collections in the United States that focus on
French/francophone works in the United
States
• [Collections in research institutions that focus
on the importance of French-language work]


Canada: BAnQ
• Pronounced B-A-N-Q (not “banque”)
• « Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du
Québec (BAnQ), à Montréal, a ouvert ses
portes en 2005, regroupant en une seule
institution (La Grande Bibliothèque) l’ancienne
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec et les
Archives nationales du Québec, et devenant
un des centres névralgiques de la ville. »


USA: Library of Congress
• « Aux États-Unis, la Bibliothèque du Congrès dispose
de remarquables collections portant sur ces
populations, leur histoire, leur culture, comme le
souligne son partenariat numérique avec la BnF, « La
France en Amérique, France in America », lancé en
2006.
• Cette bibliothèque numérique totalement bilingue
comporte des documents des deux bibliothèques
nationales relatifs à la présence française dans toute
l’Amérique depuis les premiers explorateurs jusqu’à la
fin du XIXe siècle. »


USA: La francophonie -- Africa
• La plupart des bibliothèques abritant des
collections africaines de niveau recherche sont
également membres du CAMP (Cooperative
Africana Materials project), le projet coopératif
concernant les documents africains, fondé en
1963 sous l’égide du CRL (Center for Research
Libraries). Il a mission de préserver les
publications rares et les archives portant sur
l’Afrique subsaharienne, et d’en favoriser l’accès
6. Il acquiert des microfilms et procède au
microfilmage de documents précieux ; la
numérisation de ces microfilms est en cours.

USA: La francophonie -- Asia
« D’autres bibliothèques possèdent également d’importantes
collections.
• L’université du Michigan s’est donnée pour mission de rassembler
les documents en français provenant du Vietnam, du Cambodge, du
Laos et de la Thaïlande.
• L’université de Californie, à Berkeley, dispose d’une bibliothèque
consacrée à l’Asie du Sud et l’Asie du Sud-Est (South and Southeast
Asia Library) dotée de fonds remarquables ; par le biais d’une
étroite collaboration en interne, on peut aussi trouver dans d’autres
bibliothèques de cette institution des documents se rapportant à
l’Asie du Sud-Est. Ces dernières s’intéressent tout particulièrement
aux études indochinoises renvoyant à la période coloniale française,
mais aussi à tout ouvrage scientifique en langue française consacré
à l’Asie du Sud-Est. »


Non-location specific collections
supporting social sciences research
• Collections both in and out of France in French
support research in North America.
– To provide the best service to their patrons, North
American librarians are quick to take advantage of
access to digital libraries and online research
supporting the missions of their libraries

The importance of “free”: Persée
• “A closely related service is Persée
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home
• This also focuses upon electronic publication in the social sciences
and humanities and was initiated by Le Ministère de
l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche -- Direction générale
de l’enseignement supérieur (MESR-DGES) in 2003 and is currently
managed at l’Université Lumière Lyon 2.
• It focuses on free access to historic sets of titles from academic
publishers including Collections Numériques de la Sorbonne and
L’Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS).
• The total number of titles digitised is currently smaller [than
CAIRN], but includes some extremely prestigious titles.
– There are more extensive back runs of other titles (including some
dating back to the 19th century) and a broader coverage of regional
areas outside of Europe.


The importance of “free”: OpenEdition
• “Another useful service is the OpenEdition site which offers the academic
community free access to a number of French language services.
• http://www.openedition.org/
• OpenEdition is run by the Centre for Open Electronic Publishing (Cleo), a unit that
brings together the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
L’Université d'Aix-Marseille, L’EHESS and L’Université d’Avignon et des Pays de
Vaucluse. It includes three platforms :
– Revues.org, which mainly focuses upon back files of academic journals. These usually operate
on a rolling wall of coverage with new content being added periodically. Abstracts are
provided for more recent content, with the facility for subscribers to access the full text. It
currently includes 337 journal titles and 22 book series. These originate from major French
university publishers, covering a broad range of social science and humanities subject areas.
– Calenda is a handy calendar of forthcoming events such as conferences, courses and
workshops. Users can subscribe via RSS feeds to receive continuous alerts.
– Hypotheses, which links to academic blogs. Blogs are becoming increasingly important to
academic publication so this resource is an excellent complement to the established academic
journal articles.


Nos amis les Canadiens
• Synergies
http://www.synergiesca
nada.org/ is “Canada's
SSH Research
Infrastructure”
– Provides content in the
Social Sciences
• In English
• In French

Hot off the presses!
“An important bibliography for
French and Francophone
research is now available
online for 1991- 2010, with the
possibility of coverage to 2012
in the near future; information
is available at
klostermann.de
Look for a link on the left side:
"E-Medien" ausführliche
Informationen zu "Klapp-
Online".”
This is another paid database.

The place of Western European
languages in US universities today
• “…Western European languages and literatures
are less significant on many of our campuses now
than 20-30 years ago, as we make room--
physically, budgetarily, in the curriculum--for
programs involving increasingly important
languages elsewhere in the world.”
Jeffrey Garrett
Associate University Librarian for Special Libraries & Director, Special
Collections and Archives Northwestern University Library
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
WESS-L@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU

Re-engaging interest in French
resources: the Digital Humanities
• Digital Humanities:
– Examples: Kolb-Proust Archives, University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Conferences: The Humanities and Technology
THATcamp Paris (25-26 September, 2012)
(Free!)
– Manifeste des Digital Humanities (2010)

Potentials for involvement
• From France
– Organize a conference
– Volunteer online
• From the United States
– Do a practicum with a CIFNAL participant library
– Find another library in the US or Canada with
French collections and do an internship there

From France: Organizing
• Organize your own
THATcamp for people in
Lyon:

http://thatcamp.org/help/plan/

From France:
Volunteering for the dLOC
• “There are many ways your expertise can
help. Whether working on collection development
projects or helping assure the quality of the dLOC web
site and its French language content and OCR data,
there are a myriad of ways to get involved today. One
of the easiest is simply to sign up for a MYdLOC
account which will allow you to submit new materials
online to the digital library and also add and edit
metadata directly.
• Please sign up today at the following
address: http://www.dloc.com/ufdc/?a=dloc1&m=hmp “

projects/dloc

From North America:
Going as a Student
• Visas, housing, and networks are more simple for students
– Going now is the BEST time
– You may never have another if you don’t go now
• Your English will not get better in Lyon, at least not as dramatically
• Sample ideas:
– University of California – work with the Romance Languages
Librarian on a CIFNAL project
– Partner library schools with French collections
– Look through the Sussman report in BBF and find and get help
making contact with the library directly
• Librarians love to talk about what they do and are flattered and
overjoyed to try to find a way for foreign students to participate in
their work.

References and acknowledgements
References
• Coulombe, D. (2007-8). Collaborative Initiative for French and North American Libraries /
Initiative de collaboration entre les bibliothèques françaises et nord-américaines
(CIFNAL/ICBFN). French Studies Library Group Annual Review, 4, 22-25.
• Dawson, H. (2011-12). Review of Cairn.info French Studies Library Group Annual Review, 8, 7-
10.
• Sussman, S. (2012). Les collections francophones en Amérique du Nord, BBF, 57(6): 26-30.
• Wenzel, S. (2008, Aug. 5). Le Réseau des Ressources Mondiales (du Centre des Bibliothèques
de Recherche [CRL]) et le contexte de l'ICBFN, Association Internationale Francophone des
Bibliothécaires Documentalistes (AIFBD). Montreal, Canada.

Acknowledgements:
I would like to convey a debt of gratitude to Sarah Sussman, Sarah Wenzel, and Matthew Loving
who very willingly shared materials with me so that I could, in turn, pass them along to you. I am
frequently at a loss when I reflect on how selfless and giving librarian colleagues can be. I am
lucky indeed.

Questions?

Thanks you!
Heather Lea Moulaison
moulaisonhe@missouri.edu

Cooperation and French Collections in Academic Libraries of North America: CIFNAL, etc.

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