Introduction

The Fifth Collection Description Workshop will concentrate on user needs, incorporating experiences from a range of disciplines and domains. The workshop will explore user studies and evaluation reports in order to highlight the ways in which CLD's can help to facilitate information disclosure and discovery.

The workshop will focus on the needs of the "end-user", who may be a researcher, a student or a member of the public. The workshop will also look at issues of accessibility with special reference to the physical accessibility of both collections and collection-level descriptions.

The full programme is yet to be finalised, but speakers will include:

• David Owen - Director of Share the Vision, (STV is a national consortium which exists to help improve library and information services for visually impaired people. Partners include the British Library, Calibre, CILIP, NLB, RNIB, SCONUL, Society of Chief Librarians, SLIC and TNAUK)
• Sarah Stark - Regional Liaison Co-Ordinator A2A, Public Record Office and Isobel Watson - London Archives User Forum and British Records Association.
• Dr Ian G. Anderson - Lecturer Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII) University of Glasgow - (who will be presenting a paper on historians information retrieval strategies).

Target Audience

The event is aimed at practitioners working in this area, especially those who are describing collections or developing and implementing services.