----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The following information about the Association of Canadian Map Libraries
and Archives conference next year may be of interest to you.
 
       ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN MAP LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
                     1994 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
 
The members of the conference planning committee are Flora
Francis (chair), Cathy Moulder, Colleen Beard, and Richard
Pinnell.  In 1994 the conference will be at the University of
Guelph in Guelph, Ontario from Tuesday, June 7 to Saturday, June
11; these dates are tentative but only in the sense that no
formal agreement has yet been made with the university.  Flora is
responsible for local arrrangements at the University of Guelph
whereas Cathy (McMaster), Colleen (Brock), and Richard (Waterloo)
are arranging the program.
 
Some of the sessions being considered include the following; it
is important to note that these are simply ideas at this time and
that nothing has been finalized yet.
 
Public Access to Digital Data: a panel discussion with
representatives from various levels of government (municipal,
provinicial, federal).  This panel deals with the supply side of
digital data.  Related to this topic, we may invite Bob Maher
from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to talk about
access to natural resources information in general.
 
Role of Map Libraries (in the acquisition and provision of
digital data) as Perceived by GIS Users: a series of papers
presented by those who make use of digital data.  This session
deals with the application side of digital data.
 
Historical Cartography: some suggestions included inviting Don
Measner to talk about the Historical Atlas of Canada (volume 2),
Professor Alun Hughes (Brock) to talk about historical surveys of
Niagara County, and/or Dr. Elizabeth Bloomfield (Guelph) to
discuss her historical and cartographic research in the counties
of Wellington and Waterloo.
 
New Initiatives in Map Librarianship: ideas that were discussed
included a) coping with shrinking budgets and b) aggressively
promoting and marketing our collections and services.  With
regard to shrinking budgets, there could be discussion about the
merits of charging user fees (e.g., for the use of airphotos by
consultants), cooperative collection development, and extensive
use of the Internet.  Marketing becomes important in an
environment where patrons have access to sources other than map
libraries for the supply of cartographic information.
 
Tour: the committee is considering arranging a tour of the GIS
facility at the Guelph Agriculture Centre, which is affiliated
with the Ontario Centre for Soil Research.  Soil maps and general
system land use maps are available from the Centre in digital
form.
 
Field Trip and Annual Banquet: the committee discussed combining
these two events.  The field trip could be a journey into
Mennonite country in parts of Wellington and Waterloo (including
a Mennonite market and Elora) and/or it could be a sweep along
the Niagara Escarpment from Guelph to Milton, Dundas and
Ancaster.  A suggested location for the annual banquet was the
Ancaster Mill in Ancaster (near Hamilton).
 
Workshops: exporting data from Digital Chart of the World;
cataloguing digital data; mining the Internet; using Statistics
Canada's digital boundaries files.  With regard to this last
topic, the suggestion was made that we invite someone from
Statistics Canada to give a demonstration.
 
Miscellaneous: the committee is in favour of scheduling the
business meeting in the morning.  In the past these meetings have
tended to be quite lengthy, thus interfering with plans for the
annual banquet.  It is hoped that a resdistribution of surplus
maps held by the National Archive of Canada can be organized.
And finally, the committee is sensitive to the needs of the
archival members of our association and will attempt to plan
sessions that are inclusive in terms of their relevance to all
members.
 
The members of the committee welcome your comments and input on
this very preliminary program.  Please send suggestions for
additional sessions to any member of the conference committee.
 
Cathy Moulder  (email [log in to unmask]
Colleen Beard (email [log in to unmask])
Richard Pinnell (email [log in to unmask])
Flora Francis (email [log in to unmask])
 
Richard Pinnell
University Map and Design Library
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
e-mail: [log in to unmask]