Library Automation Association in Georgia

Library Automation Association in Georgia(LAAG) was founded on May 18, 1995 on the      bases of automation departments of the main libraries: the National library of Georgia, the  Central Library of Academy of Science, the Scientific Library of Tbilisi State University, State Technical Library and National Medical Library.

 The main aims of the association are:
- to consolidate specialists working in automation departments or groups of Georgian libraries, information centers, or elsewhere making real steps to the automation and computerization of libraries;
- to promote the use of modern information technology in libraries;
- to organize training courses in modern information technology for librarians;
- to develop standards for information processing in Georgia based on international standards;
- to create union, universally available information and bibliographic systems;
- to advance cooperation between libraries in Georgia and with analogous foreign organizations.

Activity
The association actively supported two Georgia - United States of America Library Conferences in 1995 and 1997. English - Russian - Georgian Dictionary for Library and Information Science was prepared to the 1st Georgia - USA Library Conference in 1995 by members of LAAG.

At the beginning of 1996 the association prepared for publication and the Georgian Constitutional Protection League published UNESCO's Public Library Manifesto.

In 1996 thanks to the Eurasia Foundation, the association organized the computer training class with LAN of six computers and the Current Awareness and Document Supply Service. The training program consisted of the study of micro CDS/ISIS software, UNIMARC, and other topics. International workshop on UNIMARC was conducted within the framework of the project. The aim of the Current Awareness and Document Supply Service is active awareness of printed production in Georgia and document supply in any format. It is the only agency that provides complete and up-to-date information on the production of Georgian publications.

At the end of 1996 thanks to the Open Society - Georgia Foundation (Soros Foundation) the association arranged Internet training courses for librarians.

Library Automation Association in Georgia, from the first day of its foundation in 1995, regards the coordination of information exchange between libraries as one of its main goals. Since September 1996 the association has been a member of State Technical Committee "Informational Technologies -TC18", and works very actively on the national standards for the coding of Georgian script. Proposal for the 8-bit standard is ready for adoption. The association has already passed the first stage of primary introduction for UNICODE (16-bit coding) and makes steps towards its implementation.

Participation in the international conferences
1. National library conference was conducted by the Mount-Holyoke College from the USA and the National Library of Georgia under auspices of IREX (July, 1995, Tbilisi, Georgia).
2. IFLA-95 and IFLA-97 general conferences.
3. UNESCO International Workshop on CDS/ISIS/M and CD-ROM technologies (December, 1995, Tbilisi, Georgia).
4. Internet Training workshop, 1995, Warsaw, Poland.
5. CEN (European Standardization Committee) workshop. 1996, Bled Slovenia.
6. International Conference on Library Automation in Central and Eastern Europe(April, 1996, Budapest, Hungary).
7. Library Management and Information Technology(May, 1996, Vilnius, Lithuania).
8. International workshop on UNIMARC (Eurasia Foundation, September, 1996, Tbilisi, Georgia).
9. 10-th International UNICODE Conference. 1997, Mainz, Germany.
10. "Crimea 95" and "Crimea-97".
11 Library as an Information Center. TransCaucasian Conference for Librarians (IREX, May, 1997, Yerevan, Armenia).
12. ISSN Meeting (April, 1997, Budapest, Hungary),
13. International ISBN Workshop (Open Society - Georgia Foundation, June, 1997, Gudauri, Georgia).
14. Georgia - USA II Library Conference (IREX, September, 1997, Tbilisi, Georgia).