Strengthening SLA's Global Visibility
Substance and Culture in Tunisia
Remarks to the Washington, DC Chapter
Wednesday, 22 February 2006
National Press Club
Thank you, Anne, and good evening, everyone! I am so pleased and excited to be here with you - the heart and soul of the home chapter of SLA. It's so nice to be able to visit with a group of SLA members for an evening - AND THEN GO HOME!
The last three years have been filled with visits to SLA chapters around the world, but none pleases me more than being here tonight. I say that not simply because I can sleep in my own bed and see my family, but also because I have a great affinity for this chapter simply because it is SO ACTIVE. Whether it's local programming or getting involved in international relations or nominating peers for SLA awards, you set the standard for other chapters in so many ways. So Shirley, please stand and accept my congratulations to you and the rest of the DC/SLA Chapter Board for the hard work you've put into tonight and every endeavor you've taken on. That Board includes the following people, and I'd like to ask that you all rise when I call your name:
President-Elect Susan Fournier
Second Vice President Suzanne Pilsk
Immediate Past President Sheryl Rosenthal
Recording Secretary Anne McGowan
Corresponding Secretary Jenny Wood
Treasurer Erin Clougherty
And directors Gail Kouril and Kristina Lively
Thanks to all of you for working hard and making SLA/DC such a great community within SLA.
I know there are other important people including SLA Board member Lynne McCay and two past presidents of SLA: Donna Scheeder and Guy St. Clair. Thanks to all of you for being here.
I'd also like to thank Factiva for sponsoring this event. My good friends Anne Caputo and Lorraine Bell have done it once again for SLA, and I really do appreciate it. As you all know, Anne serves on the SLA Board of Directors, and has done a wonderful job in her capacity as Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect.
While I'm thinking about it, I would like to offer in absentia my congratulations to Clare Hart, who will be leaving her post as CEO of Factiva to take on a senior leadership role with their parent company, Dow Jones. I am proud to call Clare a friend. She is a class act, a solid friend to SLA, and I wish her well in her endeavors at Dow Jones.
I would also like to recognize Taoufik Chebbi from the Embassy of Tunisia, who is here with us tonight. I truly enjoyed my time in your country, and I appreciate your support of this event.
The DC Chapter is also well-known for its active engagement in international relations activities. We've seen members of the chapter involved in outreach efforts to support libraries in developing nations, disaster relief support in the wake of horrific loss, or educational training for librarians and information professionals around the globe, and each and every experience leads to one result: expansion of the SLA community beyond its traditional scope. People like Sue O'Neil Johnson, Barbie Keiser, and Jane Myers are the face of SLA for many librarians around the world, and they are making a positive impact on the future of the profession.
The work of this chapter has inspired other SLA members to take action. Just last year, after the devastating tsunami hit southern Asia, the SLA Board of Directors formed a task force on natural disasters. Led by Dav Robertson from North Carolina, the task force created IPANDA - the information professional alliance on natural disasters and accidents - to connect the SLA community together in times of emergencies to support recovery efforts and to help fellow librarians and information professionals recover from their loss.
Barbie Keiser, who is a member of this chapter, is another member of that task force. Upon joining the effort, she immediately began to explore the possibility for a formalized plan to help donate computer equipment to those in need around the world. As a result, we at SLA Headquarters just announced today that we've created a partnership with the World Computer Exchange to help coordinate SLA member involvement in their efforts.
SLA has always been able to proudly state that we have members in 80 plus countries around the world. And yet we've struggled to define how we are truly international. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you that SLA is more international than ever before!
Of course, our staff at headquarters has adopted the philosophy that being international isn't simply about saying it or claiming it with members in 80 countries. It's about "walking the walk," with investments of time, money, and personnel into activities around the globe that reflect our values. It's also about leveraging the value of our people ... members and staff ... to seek out new opportunities for spreading our wings and connecting with decision-makers, influencers, and leading thinkers. It's about changing our point of view so that we adopt the mindset of where we want to be in the world, not where we are.
This philosophy is what drove my involvement in the World Summit on the Information Society. First, allow me to provide you with a little background information.
The digital revolution has fundamentally changed the way people think, behave, communicate, work and earn their livelihood. It has forged new ways to create knowledge, educate people and disseminate information. It has restructured the way the world conducts economic and business practices, runs governments and engages politically. It has provided for the speedy delivery of humanitarian aid and healthcare, and a new vision for environmental protection. It has even created new avenues for entertainment and leisure. As access to information and knowledge is a prerequisite to achieving global growth and development, it has the capacity to improve living standards for millions of people around the world. More important is that better communication between peoples helps resolve conflicts and attain world peace.
Paradoxically, while the digital revolution has extended the frontiers of the global village, the vast majority of the world remains unhooked from this phenomenon. With the ever-widening gulf between those who have knowledge and those who seek it, the development gap between the rich and the poor among and within countries has also increased. As a result, it has become imperative for the world to bridge this digital divide.
Recognizing that this new dynamic requires global discussion, the International Telecommunication Union - a United Nations organization devoted to advancing the development of international communications technologies -- decided in 2001 to hold a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and place it on the agenda of the United Nations. The Summit would be held in two phases: phase one took place in Geneva in 2003, while phase two took place in Tunis in 2005.
Within the global library community, the topic received a great deal of attention. In fact, I've been involved in discussions on the digital divide with other library association executives around the world since I joined the SLA staff almost 3 years ago. Most of this interaction has taken place through my involvement in the International Federation of Library Associations, or IFLA. We at SLA Headquarters were monitoring the evolution of the WSIS process from 2003 onward; but once we realized that the build-up to Tunis might yield some troublesome proposals, the time for deeper involvement had arrived. Given the obvious role of libraries in the sharing and dissemination of information worldwide, it has been altogether appropriate for SLA to engage the issues up for discussion through WSIS via our strong relationships in IFLA. I am proud to tell you that the SLA-IFLA ties have paid off well, as we have worked through IFLA to ensure that the needs of information professionals worldwide are understood. I attended the IFLA meetings prior to the first phase of WSIS in 2003, and SLA President Pam Rollo attended the IFLA meetings prior to the second phase of WSIS just last year. At each meeting, IFLA adopted a plan of action for the global library community with regard to the desired outcomes of each phase of the Summit.
In particular, IFLA has addressed the issues related to the digital divide by advocating the use of libraries for improving access to the Internet and the global information infrastructure - and librarians as trainers in their communities -- rather than creating a new system or infrastructure that would cost much more and likely yield less impactful results.
The first Summit phase was held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2003. The objective of the first phase was to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for all, reflecting all the different interests at stake.
Nearly 50 Heads of state, 82 Ministers, and 26 Vice-Ministers from 175 countries, as well as high-level representatives from international organizations, private sector, and civil society attended the Geneva Phase of WSIS in 2003 and supported the Geneva Declaration of Principles and Geneva Plan of Action that were adopted. More than 11,000 participants from 175 countries attended the Summit and related events, so clearly this was a topic of great interest on a global scale.
The resulting Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action from the Geneva Summit set a process in motion to find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance, financing mechanisms, and follow-up and implementation of the Geneva documents. By the way, I brought a limited number of copies of those documents plus information from the Tunis phase, just in case you'd like to review the outcomes. See John Crosby to obtain a copy.
In order to reach agreement on those solutions and formalize any agreements, the Tunis Summit in November 2005 was organized.
Though the process for such international dialogue often appears to occur without much controversy, the truth of the matter is that something typically happens that threatens to upset the intended results. WSIS is no different. In the time after the first phase of WSIS in Geneva, several Preparatory Committee -- or PrepComm - meetings were held in order to streamline the proceedings during the Tunis phase, which took place back in November of last year. A few weeks before the Tunis phase, however, several nations including the European Union began to call for a shift in the structure of Internet governance. While we currently enjoy a fairly devolved structure that allows for innovation and creativity to occur unfettered, these nations wanted to place control of the internet in an institution where all nations could be involved in its management.
I have always known that the Internet and digital information are the lifeblood of your profession. I also know that creating a bureaucracy for governing the Internet - a technological wonder that was created and grown with a minimum of government intervention - would have a chilling effect on the future of the medium. Given the overwhelming desire among most nations, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to lower barriers to access in developing nations, my view is that the last thing we need is a political apparatus that could weigh down the most democratic and open communications system ever created.
As a result of this new development, an additional series of PrepComm meetings were scheduled in Tunis for the three days prior to the opening of the second phase of the Summit. At about this time, U.S. State Department put out a call for people to serve as public members of its delegation for Tunis. The U.S. Library Copyright Alliance - which is comprised of SLA, ALA and four other U.S. library associations - recommended me to serve as its representative as a public member of the delegation. It seems that my credentials in the government and my current role in the library community served as a great fit for the LCA and the State Department. It was an honor to be selected.
I suppose it would have been easy for me to have simply turned this into a shopping trip, as my role was purely consultative and I had no way of knowing whether my views would be solicited or wanted. I could not negotiate or speak for the U.S. government. I could advise the negotiators, but they were, in fact, very open to my suggestions and comments.
I made quick plans to arrive in Tunis on the evening of the first day of PrepComm meetings.
I began my participation the morning after I had arrived. Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed was that the Exposition Hall, where the Summit was taking place, was in the final stages of construction, as the Tunisian government had anticipated having a few more days to complete the work. With the last-minute scheduling of the PrepComm meetings, the hard-working people of Tunisia were placed in the unenviable position of hosting a major international event prior to completion of the facility. As a result, those of us in attendance had little access to food, only a handful of soda vending machines - thank goodness for Diet Coke - and a very crowded, hot room with no ventilation!
Of course, the primary topic of debate among the delegates attending the PrepComm meetings was the future of Internet governance. Currently, as we all know, the United States is home to the Internet and ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
To be sure, most nations around the world tend to perceive these activities as tantamount to controlling the Internet. Yet the dominant influences in the growth and development of the Internet are the private sector and academic innovators, not to mention any 13 year old who wants to IM his new girlfriend. Though its record isn't perfect, the US government generally does not get in the way or impede the progress of the Internet growth.
A number of nations, however, saw WSIS as an opportunity to control a resource that we believe should remain free from political influence and misguided bureaucracies. Specifically, the European Union began voicing some of the same claims of US control that had previously been made by China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other nations who wanted to "move" the Internet and its naming system to a UN organization, or a new "forum" that would administer it. These countries knew they would have to make their move at the PrepComm.
The delegations of the United States and other nations recognized the importance of giving all peoples of the world a voice in the future of the Internet, but also believed in the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The U.S. Delegation's spokesperson was sharp, thoughtful, and respectful of other nations' views and perspectives. I was proud to be a part of the deliberations, to represent LCA, and to have the negotiators listen to my views and incorporate my thinking into their language and positions. I want to add that the U.S. Foreign Service officers involved in the Summit did an excellent job advising us and making sure that we represented the United States well.
Each of you would have been equally as proud as I was to see our country's negotiators in action. They knew the issues inside and out, and they listened - to public members of the delegation like me, and to representatives of other nations, whether they agreed with the US or not.
I was so impressed with them that they should not remain anonymous, so I'd like to name them here:
Ambassador David Gross
Dick Baird
Sally Shipman
John Schnitker
And Joyce Namdé
They did an excellent job of striking a balance between addressing the needs of the developing world and resisting the advances of other governments who wanted to cloud the picture with a bureaucratic governance system.
I would also like to recognize two representatives of the U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services, who helped to keep library and freedom of information issues at the forefront of the delegation's conversations: Nancy Weiss, General Counsel; and Mary Chute, acting director of IMLS. Also, I want to recognize Joan Challinor who represented the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, for her tireless advocacy on behalf of our community. They had seats at the table, and never wavered in their support of this community's best interests.
The PrepComm lasted 3 long days. There were pointed comments and dozens of private meetings among the delegates. Each paragraph of each outcome was discussed and amended until agreed upon, with the work being completed after 11:00 PM on the third day.
The Summit itself was, as I said earlier, a formality, after the PrepComm meetings were completed. A series of 8 plenary sessions took place from morning until night for three days where nations, NGOs, private sector and civil society representatives took turns giving brief speeches and reacting to the agreements reached during the PrepComm.
Nearly 50 Heads of state and 197 Ministers from 174 countries as well as high-level representatives from international organizations, private sector, and civil society attended the Tunis Phase of WSIS and gave political support to the Tunis Commitment and Tunis Agenda for the Information Society that were adopted on 18 November 2005.
The major development was an agreement to convene an Internet Governance Forum that will allow concerned parties to discuss overarching issues surrounding the Internet. The new body will not be involved in domain naming or day-to-day technological and administrative issues. It will, however, give all nations, as well as stakeholders, the opportunity to voice issues of concern without interfering in a system that, for the most part, works well.
I should note that the U.S. delegation insisted that the new Internet Governance Forum include more than government representation, so that it involves stakeholders from non-governmental organizations like SLA, and the private sector ' a clear reflection of the nature of the Internet's roots and its source of progress.
The new Internet Governance Forum will not have control of naming or technological development of the Internet, but it will give a voice to the nations of the world on the future of the medium. This collaborative, inclusive approach is crucial for the future of global information sharing and advancement.
The U.S. Delegation also succeeded in negotiating language on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the free flow of information, and I also had a voice in shaping that language. This was particularly important for the global community of librarians and information professionals moving forward, as many governments around the world would prefer to act as the sole source of information in various arenas. As the world gets smaller due to the enhancements in technology, we are all beginning to engage colleagues, customers, and partners around the world, including some in countries that are much less open than ours. Calling for greater freedom in the flow of information - especially information that contradicts government practices or policies - is essential for you to effectively do your job, and move accurate, unbiased information to the decision-makers in your organizations.
My time in Tunis was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was honored to be selected to represent you and the rest of the library and information community in the United States, and I was even more honored that the leaders of the U.S. Delegation looked to me for guidance and advice. But I can honestly say that the most important part of my experience is that my participation represented a dramatic leap forward for SLA as a player in the global information policy arena. Doug Newcomb and I continue to participate in the post-Tunis meetings sponsored by the State Department. The contacts we've made and the experiences we've had will advance the Association's advocacy goals moving forward.
Where do we go from here? As a result of creation of the Internet Governance Forum, several UN organizations are now jockeying for position to wrest some level of control over the subject of Internet governance and other outcomes of WSIS. So, instead of focusing our attention on one entity in WSIS, as we have over the last 3 years, we must carefully monitor a multi-headed hydra of organizations that could alter the scope of Internet governance very easily. We have to pay close attention to the new Internet Governance Forum, which will meet in October in Athens; monitor the ITU, which is in the process of changing its strategic plan so that it can take the lead on some of these issues; and track the actions of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization -UNESCO - which will also have a piece of the action. This puts us at SLA Headquarters in the crosshairs, as we attempt to stay on top of the developments and attend as many meetings as possible.
I'd like to conclude my remarks by tying all of this back to your involvement in SLA. Being active and engaging your peers helps to keep you in tune with the global nature of your profession and the influences on it. Tonight is an excellent example of that, and I hope you have enjoyed or have benefited from the experience. But there are other opportunities for participating and helping to shape the future of the profession.
First, SLA 2006 will take place this June in Baltimore. And, while I am certain that all of you will be with us to experience what is sure to be a great event, I'm hopeful that you'll spread the word to other colleagues in the chapter. Rest assured that there will be conversations there relating to WSIS and its outcomes. Let's be sure to support our friends in Charm City, just as we will want them to support us here in DC in 2009! To register for the conference, go to www.sla.org/baltimore2006
Second, I want to encourage all of you to participate in Click University's range of learning experiences. It is the future of learning for the library and information profession, and it already offers some really cool subject matter to help advance your career. And coming very soon, you and all other SLA members will be able to see tonight's presentation free of charge on Click U. Go to www.clickuniversity.com.
And finally, the election for SLA Board of Directors continues through 5 PM Eastern time on the 3rd of March. We have a great crop of candidates running this year, and we now offer a simple, easy-to-use online voting system that will make your voting experience a pleasure. More important is that SLA is governed by a representative Board ' one that is in tune with your needs and goals. So you're vote counts in ways that you might not even imagine. If you haven't voted yet, be sure to do so. Go to www.sla.org/evote2006. All you need is your last name and your SLA PIN.
I want to thank all of you for your time, I look forward to your questions, and thank you for being a part of the SLA community.
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