AMICALnet

First Planning Meeting

Exploring Consortial Possibilities
between American International Colleges and Academic Libraries:
Presentations and Workshops for the Development of a Consortium

May 7-9, 2004
The American University of Paris
31 av. Bosquet - Paris (7th arrondissement) - France

Organized by the University Library, the American University of Paris, thanks to funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Creating a Network

Administrators, librarians and information technology specialists from independent American liberal arts colleges and universities in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East are invited to convene in Paris to learn more about each other, discuss resource and information sharing, and explore consortial possibilities. The proceedings will address the following challenges and opportunities:

• Electronic resources: joint selection, assessment, and purchasing models
• Collective negotiation of licensing agreements
• Resource-sharing
• Collaborative staff -training programs
• Working groups to share policies, guidelines, and 'best practices'
• Compiling comparative reports and data for benchmarking
• Organizing support for curricular reform, uses of new media, and instructional technology

Sharing a Global Vision

Transformations in American higher education and new trends in information technology are reconfiguring the delivery of information resources in academic institutions such as ours.

Our services and resource needs have always crossed national borders, but they now require more and more non-traditional networking.

During this first international seminar, we plan to articulate ways in which we can work together to build global partnerships.

Participating institutions are invited to send a team that represents leadership in the following areas at their institution:

• library collections and services
• instructional technology
• curriculum development