Collaborative Initiative for French and North American Libraries

English | français

Collaborative Initiative for French and North American Libraries (CIFNAL)/
Initiative de collaboration entre les bibliothèques françaises et nord-américaines (ICBFN)

News

Next CIFNAL/ICBFN meeting: at AIFBD meeting in Montréal, August 6, 2008, with CIFNAL/ICBFN members presenting papers at the sessions August 4-5.

CIFNAL Participant Agreement for Institutions pdf

 

To promote and facilitate the cooperative exchange of ideas and resources between French and North American libraries, we have formed an initial working group under the aegis of the Global Resources Network of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL).

We believe that increasingly interconnected cultures result in a demand for efficient access to print and electronic resources irrespective of borders. We would like to explore areas in which French and North American libraries will mutually benefit from sharing ideas, information and resources. (Existing models at CRL include the Cooperative African Newspapers Project, the Digital South Asia Library, the German-North American Resources Partnership, and the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project.)

In this exploratory and formative stage, we would like to invite your participation in CIFNAL. We welcome your membership in the working group and your suggestions for future directions and projects. Ideas that have been proposed include :

  • improving access to French and French-language resources for North American partners as well as improving access to North American resources for French and French-speaking partners;
  • encouraging collaboration and inter-library loans between North American establishments; endeavouring to develop connections between the collections.

We are very interested in hearing your thoughts and opinions, whether or not you choose to join.

Participation in the working group requires a commitment to the creation and development of projects of interest to French and North-American libraries. We expect to function primarily through electronic communication and the telephone. Although the presence of every member would be welcome at regularly scheduled meetings, it will not be necessary to attend.

Link to CIFNAL workspace http://workspace.crl.edu
This is the password-protected wiki workspace for CIFNAL members.

Last updated March 21, 2008

The Global Resources Network, under the direction of the Center for Research Libraries, in collaboration with the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of American Universities