Dear Colleagues and
Friends,
This is now the fourth 1999 issue of our Newsletter, the last for 1999
and the last for this Millennium. So it is time to sum up past events and make some
projects for the future. The history of EAHIL is well known to all of you, after the big
celebrations of the EAHIL 10th Anniversary in 1997 organized under the presidency of
Elisabeth Husem. Following that we had the successful Utrecht conference in 1998 and the
interesting Tartu Workshop last summer. It was the first time that we succeeded to move so
far East in Europe and I hope that this contact can be the first of a profitable
cooperation. I already know that the Nordic countries have special projects to support
their neighbours in the development of new initiatives.
The EAHIL secretariat has changed its seat: after many years of long
and dedicated cooperation Roselyn Hoet retired in 1998, and it was decided that an
Association as large as EAHIL should offer the persons working therein a better
environment. So we have changed both the methods of running daily affairs and the
location. The move from Belgium to the Netherlands has caused minor problems, but now
things are running well thanks to the strong character of Suzanne Bakker, our EAHIL
Supervisor.
Professional awards have been introduced and an active cooperation has
been established with MLA, for which we have to thank Donna Flake. In addition,
professionally speaking we have seen many changes: from paper to electronic journals, from
online searches to CD-ROMs, from LAN to Internet and Intranets, from intermediation to
dis-intermediation. And what will follow?
I am sure that as professionals we will still have a future: all the
new technologies have not yet overwhelmed our activities, and both librarians and
information officers have shown themselves to be flexible enough to adapt their job
profile to the new requisites. If necessary we can and will evolve further. EAHIL, too, as
an Association will change. As you all know from the section 'Association News' written in
detail by Liisa Salmi, a working group is already revising the Statutes, which we would
like to adopt at the General Assembly in 2000, a good starting point for the new
Millennium.
Moreover in London it will be the first time where we shall hold our
biennial conference together with principal associations of medical librarianship and this
will be once more an opportunity to compare with others. After that other events have
already been placed in the agenda:
Italy in 2001, Germany in 2002, Norway in 2003, Spain in 2004 and
....Suggestions and offers are welcome. Finally I would like you to remember the Editorial
Board, the previous one under the chair of Luisa Vercellesi and the present one with Sally
Wood and Ioanna Robu. The efforts of the Editors are immense: the calls for contributions,
the receipt of them, the subsequent translations and the conversion of files from PC to
Mac...Thank you for your excellent work. A thought also for the Board and Council members,
who share and cooperate with me in managing the Association.
So now I would like to wish you and your families all the best for this
year and as the Germans say...ein guter Rutsch ins Neujahr!
Manuela Colombi,
EAHIL President
Contens No. 49
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