My responsibilities continue to include liaison with two commissions, Maps and the Internet chaired by Michael Peterson of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Cartography and Children chaired by Jacqueline Anderson of Concordia University in Montreal and two international library organizations, LIBER and IFLA. Executive Committee meetings were held in Beijing August 4-9, 2001. Separate reports have been published in the ACMLA Bulletin on the conference that took place at that time, as well as other meetings. The guidelines for archiving of ICA materials were finalized. Discussions regarding publications continue. General and contact information about ICA may be found on its web page: http://www.icaci.org/.

Maps and the Internet Commission

The Maps and the Internet Commission sponsored a successful pre-conference workshop in Guangzhou before the ICA conference in Beijing. It was co-sponsored by the Guangdong Academy of Science, South China Normal University and the ISPRS Commission IV/2. It was attended by participants from 11 different countries. A total of 24 papers were presented over the 3-day period. Eighteen papers from the workshop were published in the Journal of South China Normal University, Natural Science Edition, July 2001. The workshop included simultaneous translation into Chinese and was attended by about 70 people. This year it sponsored two sessions including 10 presentations concerning the distribution of maps and spatial data through the Internet at the Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles in March. Several workshops were held in Europe during the Fall, Winter and Spring with plans unfolding for an Annual Meeting and Workshop in Karlsruhe, Germany for September 2002. A "Maps and the Internet" book proposal has been formally approved by Elsevier with plans to have it ready in 2003. See the Commission web page for additional information: http://maps.unomaha.edu/ica/Maps%26Internet/default.html. 

The current terms of reference of this ICA commission are:

1. Focus attention on disseminating maps and spatial data through the Internet.
2. Examine Internet map usage and project future areas of growth.
3. Examine web map user issues to better serve user needs.
4. Promote the exchange of information about effective Internet mapping for an international audience.
5. Improve user access to maps by examining the potential of Internet map metadata.
6. Promote instruction on Internet mapping.

Cartography and Children Commission

The Cartography and Children Commission held several meetings during the ICA conference in Beijing in August 2001. Recently, Peter van der Krogt, University of Utrecht, prepared web pages for the 2001 competition which may be found at http://www.icaci.org/children2001/. The Commission is responsible for most of the organizational aspects of the Barbara Petchenik Children's Map Competition and a new theme has been chosen for the 2003 competition which is "Making a better world for children" which has also been approved by the ICA Executive. In addition, there will be up to 10 prizes at the competition of $50 each. This year the Commission is meeting in Brazil. There are two back to back events, a CCC meeting focusing on "The themes, methods and results of the lines of research of the International Commission on Cartography and Children" in Diamantina, August 4-7( morning), which is followed by participation in an international meeting in Rio de Janeiro, August 7 (evening)-10, the First Ibero-American Symposium on Cartography and Children, where the theme is "Research and Perspective in Cartography for Students." See the Commission web page for additional information: http://artsandscience.concordia.ca/ica-ccc/index.html. 

The current terms of reference for this commission are:

1. To maintain and build upon the commission's existing international database of people working or with interests in mapping and children so that this inventory can be made available on the World Wide Web, in digital or paper format (product : web publication)
2. To enlarge the commission's select bibliography on topics related to mapping and children and the various technologies appropriate to generating cartographic images and solving spatial problems (product : web publication).
3. To organize regional workshops or conferences to promote the sharing of national and regional perspectives, experiences, teaching philosopies, and technologies, all in order to enhance the abilities of children and teachers as makers and users of maps, to solve a variety of spatial problems of concern to children. Summaries of these events can be disseminated through various ICA publications and on the commission's web site (product : workshops, oral papers, printed papers).
4. To develop closer links with other international bodies concerned with children. These would include the IGU Commission on Geographic Education, UNESCO, and UNICEF (product : report).
5. To assist the Executive of the ICA in the preparation of guidelines, and the organisation of the Barbara Petchenik Children's Map Competition (product : report).
   

The LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeènnes de Recherche) Groupe des Cartothécaires has a web site of http://www.kb.nl/infolev/liber/intro.htm. Jan Smits (jan.smits@kb.nl ), Royal Library, The Netherlands is the Chair of the group. The 13th LIBER conference will be held September 3-7, 2002, in Helsinki, Finland (Chairman Finnish Organizing Committee: Pirkko Korttinen, pirkko.korttinen@helsinki.fi ). The theme is: "Strategies for Survival: collections, data, institutions." Registration or paper presentation requests to be sent before 1 April 2002 to: Mr. Chris Fleet, Map Library, National Library of Scotland, 33 Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SL, United Kingdom; E-mail: c.fleet@nls.uk. A form and additional information is available on the web page, http://www.kb.nl/infolev/liber/13th.htm.
The IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) Section of Geography and Map Libraries is chaired by David C. McQuillan, davidmcq@sc.edu, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. Their 68th conference and council meetings will be August 18th - 24th, 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland with the theme of “Libraries for Life: Democracy, Diversity, Delivery.” There isn’t a detailed program on their web page yet, but eventually it may be found at http://www.ifla.org/VII/s6/sgml.htm for the Section and at http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla68/prog02.htm  for the main IFLA information. Proposals for papers should go to the section chair. Melissa Lamont and Alice Hudson have been working on the program with Melissa serving as Secretary of the Section. There will be a number of paper sessions, field trips to Glasgow and Edinburgh libraries, and “legendary” IFLA Receptions. Contact Melissa at mlamont@whoi.edu for additional information. The 2003 IFLA meeting will be in Berlin.

21^st International Cartographic Conference and 12^th General Assembly

The 21^st ICA semi-annual conference with the theme "Cartographic Renaissance" and the 12^th General Assembly will be held in Durban, South Africa, 10 - 16 August 2003. The first circular and a web page (http://www.icc2003.gov.za/) are available. Elri Liebenberg, a member of the organizing committee, as well as an ICA Vice President, is the liaison with the Executive Committee and the organizing Committee. The Executive Committee will meet with the organizing committee in Durban this August, as well as with the Executive Committee of the International Geographical Union. Possible cooperative efforts will be discussed. The deadline for the submission for abstracts for paper presentation for the conference is 30 October 2002. Other information is available either through the circular or the web page.