Barcelona / Ljubljana 29th May 2014
Dear Colleagues,
Last week (22-24 May 2014)
we had the splendid Conference in Ljubljana. This 19th Conference was a turning point in the
existence of our Map Expert Group/Groupe
des CartothŽcaires (GdC). As you may know, the new
strategyproposed by LIBER to face
the 21st century has not included Expert Groups anymore. On December 2012 all
LIBER Expert Groups were closed (Manuscript
Experts and Security Network have
joined the CERL-Consortium of European Research Libraries).
The Map Expert Group Board
decided to go on with the Conference in Ljubljana in order to discuss the future
placement of the Group. In the meanwhile we were looking for other
possibilities i.e. the possibility to join an ÒumbrellaÓ organization.
The nature of cartographic
materials we are dealing with turned our focus to the world of cartography,
with a particular interest to the ICA-International Cartographic Association
and especially to the ICA Commission on Digital Technologies in
Cartographic Heritage. The Chair
of this ICA Commission, Evangelos Livieratos accepted our invitation to attend
the Ljubljana Conference and informed us about the possibility for an
association of our Group with this ICA Commission, keeping our Group's
independence regarding the organization of its activities. He also pointed out
that two, out of five, Terms of Reference of
this Commission are relevant to the objectives of our Group.
We considered this form of
cooperation interesting for the future of our Group taking into account the
support offered by the ICA Commission to have a separate set of web pages
within the Commission's web site. Another advantage of an association with this ICA
Commission was the possibility for our Group members to submit and publish
articles in the peer-reviewed International Web Journal e-Perimetron relevant to the work and interests of our Group.
This journal is in close relation with the ICA Commission on Digital
Technologies in Cartographic Heritage.
During the Ljubljana
General Assembly of our Group the following decisions were adopted:
1. A new
International Group (not only strictly European as it was before) is formed
under the name: Map & Geoinformation
Curators Group, in acronym: MAGIC.
The Logo will be designed on ideas and suggestions given by the Group members,
which should be sent to the Board asap;
2. MAGIC is
associated with the ICA Commission on Digital Technologies in Cartographic Heritage;
the relevant links for this association will be established soon;
3. The MAGIC Terms
of Reference are to be focused mainly on: the improvement of the collection
development, cataloguing, new services and new technologies, access and
preservation;
4. MAGIC would
achieve soon its international character, although at a first phase the
majority of membership is European. The Board proposed to establish
contacts and relations with other national and international map curators
groups;
5. MAGIC is open to
all types of map collections kept in libraries as well as in archives, museums
and any other relevant institutions.
The National Library of
Latvia will be the organizer of the next MAGIC Conference at Riga. We hope to
strengthen the renewed Group there.
Remember: see you in RIGA, 2016!
Please also notice that
our partner ICA Commission organises its 9th Workshop Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage in Budapest, 4-5 September 2014. We are all
invited to participate. The 10th Workshop of the series will be held
in Corfu, in May 2015.
The Board members of the
new Group will remain as it was with only few changes:
- Carme Montaner (Cartographic and Geologic
Institute of Catalonia)
- Renata Šolar (National and University Library of Slovenia)
- Annik Anceau (University of Liege)
- Olivier Loiseaux (National Library of
France)
- Wolfgang Crom (Berlin State Library)- Pending confirmation
- Liudmila Zinchuk (Russian State Library)
- Marcy Bidney (American Geographical Society
Library; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries), our first international
member!
Anyone willing to join the
Board is very welcome!
We need the help from all
of you to distribute around the news
about the changes. Please, publicise MAGIC to the Map Collections community
and to anyone you think that may be interested.
Last but not least, we are
inviting you to visit the new MAGIC website!
On behalf of the Board of
MAGIC Group,
Carme Montaner (carme.montaner@icgc.cat)
Renata Solar
(renata.solar@nuk.uni-lj.si)