IFLA 1997: Libraries and Information for Human Development

by Dorothy McGarry

A beautiful city, good weather, a good conference center, many interesting things to see and do, and the company of interesting and knowledgeable colleagues made this year's IFLA conference another memorable one. Many museums and libraries were available for visits, and sightseeing trips were held for delegates and accompanying persons.

At the IFLA Council and General Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark, August 29-September 5, 1997, attendance broke previous records with a total of 2,976 persons from 141 countries, including countries never before represented at an IFLA conference. Included in this number were more than 170 librarians from 86 developing countries who were able to attend because of grants from DANIDA (the Danish Foreign Ministry). Anje Rasmussen (Danida Documentation Centre and an SLA member) worked with the granting process and the delegates who attended.

Robert Wedgeworth (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) finished his second term as President, having served the maximum of six years. Wedgeworth was elected as an IFLA Honorary President. Christine Deschamps (Bibliothèque de l'Université Paris V - René Descartes, Paris and a sitting IFLA Executive Board member) was elected as his successor. During the closing session, Leo Voogt (Secretary General of IFLA) had arranged for a tribute to Wedgeworth, with the conference organizers from each of the countries where IFLA met during Wedgeworth's terms presenting him with a hat or hats representing the nation where the conference had been held and a variety of roles Wedgeworth played during those years. The U.S. Association IFLA members, including SLA, sponsored a farewell Presidents' reception at the end of the conference. Also, on the occasion of his retirement as President of IFLA the U.S. Associations proposed the establishment of a special Fund for IFLA Conference participation from the developing world. The IFLA Executive Board accepted this proposal with great enthusiasm during the Conference and will be working with the American library community and other interested colleagues to establish the particulars. More news of this will be posted on IFLA-L and on IFLA's Web Site: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/.

Nancy John (University of Illinois at Chicago) was one of six people elected to the Executive Board of IFLA. The others were Klaus-Dieter Lehmann (Die Deutsche Bibliothek), Kay Raseroka (University of Botswana Library), Derek Law (King's College London), Ekaterina Genieva (Library for Foreign Literature named after M.I. Rudomino, Russia), and Sun Beixin (National Library of China). The first four were elected to initial terms of four years; the last two were re-elected to two-year terms.

Elections were also held for Chairs and Secretaries of Sections, Coordinating Boards, and Round Tables, and for Chair of the Professional Board. Ed Valauskas (Internet Mechanics) was reelected Chair of the Section of Government Libraries and Chair of the Division of Special Libraries, and therefore as a member of the PB. David McQuillan (University of South Carolina) was reelected Chair of the Section of Geography and Map Libraries. Zohreh Imam (Knight-Ridder Information) was elected Secretary of the Section on Serial Publications, David Bender (SLA Executive Director) was reelected chair of the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations, and Jesus Lau (Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez) Secretary of the Round Table on User Education. Nancy Anderson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) was appointed Information Coordinator for the Section of Science and Technology Libraries, Judith Bernstein (University of New Mexico) for the Section of General Libraries, David McQuillan for the Section of Geography and Map Libraries; Una Gourlay (Rice University), for the Section on Document Delivery and Interlending, Barbara Perry (Joint Bank-Fund Library, International Monetary Fund) for the Section on Statistics, and Jesus Lau for the Round Table on User Education. Sissel Nilsen (Bærum Public Libary, Bekkestua, Norway) was elected Chair of the Professional Board.

At the second Council meeting, a resolution was presented on freedom of expression and access to information around the world. The IFLA Executive Board had reviewed the report of the Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (CAIFE) and recommended that it be accepted by the Council. The deliberations of the Committee, the Guest Lectures at the past two General Conferences and the interest shown by the membership in this topic suggested that IFLA establish some continuing mechanism to address this important area of activity. The IFLA Council voted to recommend that the Executive Board establish a Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression that will advise IFLA on matters of international significance to libraries and librarianship in this area, including, but not limited to: Censorship of library materials; Ideological, economic, political or religious pressures resulting in limitations on access to information in libraries, or restrictions on librarians and other information specialists who provide reference and other information services.

Danish Minister of Culture Ebbe Lundgaard presented an offer to establish an office in Copenhagen to support the committee's work.

The Council also approved a resolution urging the government of France to take urgent measures to guarantee the ability of public libraries and librarians to act in accordance with the Unesco Public Library Manifesto. Recently there have been actions by the National Front in France, which have concerned many libraries. Libraries have been subject to censorship of books and periodicals by the local authorities and the neutrality and impartiality of librarians have been seriously questioned.

The Council voted to recommend that the Executive Board establish a Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters that will advise IFLA and its constituent groups with respect to: Copyright and Intellectual Property; Economic and trade barriers to the acquisition of library materials; Disputed claims of ownership of library materials; Authenticity of electronic texts; Subscription and license agreements; Other legal matters of international significance to libraries and librarianship.

Another council resolution urging that Chinese be added as an official IFLA language will be considered by the Professional and Executive Boards. This follows the precedent established when Spanish was considered for addition to the list of IFLA languages several years ago.

Part of each IFLA conference are the receptions held for the delegates. This year's receptions included one in the Øksnehallen, hosted by the Minister of Culture; City Hall receptions at one of three City Halls (Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, or Gentofte); and receptions in a choice of libraries. Some embassies also had receptions for delegates from their countries. One evening over 30 SLA members, some attending the conference and many from Denmark, met for dinner at an excellent restaurant, where we could meet and talk with each other in a leisurely setting. Bruce Hubbard (SLA Board of Directors and a resident of Copenhagen) arranged for the dinner.

The U.S. Association members of IFLA (including SLA) hold a caucus each election year and discuss various issues of the conference, voting procedures, and other topics. Following the caucus one of the Association members arranges a reception on behalf of all of the members. This year was SLA's turn, with an excellent reception arranged at the D'Angleterre Hotel.

This year the IFLA Express (the daily conference newsletter) was issued also in French.

More than 150 papers were delivered, and approximately 170 translations were provided. Some of the sessions had simultaneous interpretation. Full text of the papers and translations is available on IFLAnet. Three Guest Lectures were given: Sir Roger Elliot (Chairman of the ICSU Press) spoke about the impact of electronic publishing on the scientific information chain; Ursula Owen (Editor and CEO of Index on Censorship) spoke about censorship, access to information and freedom of expression; and Esther Sibanyoni (State Library of Pretoria, South Africa) spoke about the many community projects she has set up since the state of emergency in South Africa. The full text of these papers will be published in the IFLA Journal for October/November 1997. More than 20 workshops were also held. There were 184 exhibitors, providing an opportunity for delegates to see presentations from many countries. An Internet Bar was also provided, with a number of terminals available for use by the delegates. More than 200 Danish librarians and students volunteered to assist at the conference.

The Pre-Session Seminar was on "Bridging the Information Gap Through New Technology," and was attended by 42 librarians from developing countries.

SLA Executive Director David Bender and several other SLA members have provided reports on aspects of the conference. Some of these people will present fuller reports in SLA unit publications.

Individual reports from SLA members:

Renee Bush reported on the Section of Biological and Medical Libraries.

The Section of Biological and Medical Libraries sponsored two very well-attended programs:

"Improving Access to Electronic Scientific and Medical Information" (jointly sponsored with Section of Science and Technology Libraries) Five speakers addressed issues related to the changing roles of sci/tech and health sciences librarians and the challenges associated with providing access to a vast array of electronic resources, from electronic reserve materials to bibliographic databases and full text journals. An especially timely and informative overview of the Universal Numbering Code (UNC) was also provided as part of this session.

"Resource Sharing in Medical Libraries: Informatics and Human Aspects," a full-day workshop was held at the Danish Royal Pharmaceutical Library; co-sponsored by the European Association for Health Information and Libraries. Five papers were presented on different aspects of networking including: a view of the future of networking; the problems and opportunities associated with sharing resources and integrating library services; telematics and issues of professional competence; and the human aspects of the new ways of working made possible by new technologies. In addition to these stimulating talks and the subsequent discussions, the workshop included presentations from representatives of the four workshop sponsors about their latest developments and works-in-progress in the area of electronic resources.

The Standing Committee has nine members, five of whom are new, from seven countries, plus five corresponding members. New officers were elected: Chair, Jérôme Kalfon (Bibliothèque de l'Université René Descartes--Paris V), and Secretary-Treasurer and Information Coordinator, Ysabel Bertolucci (Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA )

The SC discussed several possibilities for future IFLA conference programs. It was decided that, considering the success of past efforts, full-day workshops should continue to be offered in addition to an open session. The Section of Science and Technology Libraries' expression of interest in working with this Section on a joint session for Amsterdam was enthusiastically received.

IFLA Headquarters requested that the Section provide support for the BIREME (Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information, formerly named Biblioteca Regional de Medicina) conference in Costa Rica in March 1998. The Standing Committee voted to provide approximately $1,200 for materials and travel expenses for an instructor. (BIREME is a center of the Pan American Health Organization which is the regional office of the World Health Organization for the Americas.)

The Section, which serves as a bridging committee in the years between meetings of the International Congress on Medical Librarianship, intends to communicate with the ICML planning committee regarding potential speakers for the next Congress (which will be held in 2000 in London) and will be requesting representation on the ICML organizing committees for future Congresses.

The Standing Committee discussed the possibility of revising Ursula Poland's World Directory of Biological and Medical Sciences Libraries. In the year to come, a working group (Renee Bush, SUNY at Buffalo; Monique Cleland, retired; and Hilda Nassar, American University of Beirut) will try to determine the feasibility of creating a directory which would be up-dated continuously, available via IFLAnet, and the scope and most desirable features of such a directory.

Dorothy McGarry reported on the Section on Cataloguing

The Section had a very busy schedule during the Copenhagen conference. There were two Standing Committee meetings, the open programme, participation in the open forum of the Division of Bibliographic Control, cosponsorship of two workshops, and a number of working group meetings.

The International Standard Bibliographic Description (Electronic Resources) had been approved and has already been published. The ISBD Maintenance Group met (I am a member of that group), and decided it was necessary to look at all of the ISBDs against the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records which had been prepared for final approval at this conference. The group will revert back to its former name, ISBD Review Group. Among the issues to be considered following the review at this time is whether a "concise" ISBD would be useful or needed. The group could also look at interrelationships of the ISBDs when dealing with mixed media, e.g. a serial map in digital form and see if the ISBD (General) should be revised to provide guidance. It was thought best not to wait for the general review to begin work on reconsidering ISBD (Serials), so a new group was formed for that purpose. This latter group will consider, among other things, metadata, electronic serials, and issues of seriality.

The first part of Anonymous Classics is almost ready for publication. A second phase will add other countries.

Among other projects, the SC set up a Task Force on Guidelines for OPAC Displays. I was asked to chair this Task Force. A listserv is being set up in Lund, Sweden for communication. There will be representation also from the Sections on Bibliography, Classification and Indexing, and Information Technology. A proposal for funding for a consultant will go to the Professional Board this fall, and if approved, it is anticipated that a report and recommendations will be ready for the SC by the 1999 conference.

The open programme had three papers: "DanBib: a union catalogue applied for user friendly flexible querying," by Troels Andreassen (Roskilde University Library, Denmark), and Tommy Schomacker (Danish Library Centre); "IFLA study on the functional requirements for bibliographic records: report," by Olivia Madison (Iowa State University), and "The future of cataloguing and cataloguers," by Michael Gorman (California State University, Fresno)

The workshops were on "Future of Communication Formats," and as a part of the Division of Bibliographic Control, "Authority Control: Developments and Prospects," both joint with the UBCIM Core Programme.

Some ideas for the 1998 Amsterdam conference were discussed, including: cataloguing and how it is important for users, e.g. how reference people exploit the catalogue; a Netherlands paper focused on networking activities and the PICA system, and how it improves service to users; and as an aftermath of the AACR2 conference in Toronto in October 1997, focus on how national revision is going. There will be a workshop on the new ISBD (ER).

Ingrid Parent (National Library of Canada) was reelected Chairman/Treasurer; Maria Witt (Médiathèque de la Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris) was elected as the new Secretary.

Dorothy McGarry also reported on the Section on Classification and Indexing.

The open programme included papers on "The varied usage of the Dewey classification system at the Bibliothèque nationale de France," by Suzanne Jouguelet of the BNF, "The order of catalogues--towards a democratic classification and indexing in public libraries," by Hanne Albrechtsen (Royal School of Librarianship, Copenhagen, Denmark), and "The key role of classification and indexing in view-based searching," by A. Steven Pollitt (University of Huddersfield, UK).

A new Working Group was set up to look at subject heading languages throughout the world, building on the "Principles Underlying Subject Heading Languages" document. The latter was sent out for world-wide review with a due date at the end of October 1997. It will be published after revision by the Working Group on Principles Underlying Subject Heading Languages and a vote by the SC. I am a member of the latter WG, and have been appointed to the new one.

Plans for Amsterdam include a cooperative indexing system in the Netherlands. the use of LCSH and LCC in a non-North American environment, and the Russian translation of the DDC. There will be a half-day workshop on the UDC and a half-day on the French translation of the DDC.

Ia McIlwaine (University College London) was elected as the new Chair and Edward Swanson (Minnesota Historical Society) as the new Secretary.

Una Gourlay reported on the Section on Document Delivery and Interlending.

Many members of the Section on Document Delivery and Interlending Standing Committee and others interested in the issues of resource sharing met first in Aarhus, Denmark for the 5th International Conference on Interlending and Document Supply, jointly organized by the IFLA Office for International Lending, the Danish Research Library Association, and Statsbiblioteket, State and University Library, Aarhus.

The conference title was "Resource Sharing Possibilities and Barriers" and for three days we explored the opportunities and difficulties for sharing information which exist in different parts of the world. Speakers from ten countries discussed a variety of topics, including cultural, economic, and technological issues. The next conference will be in South Africa in two years, and already the Committee is planning some advance financial assistance for attendees from other African countries. The IFLA Office for Interlending will publish proceedings for this conference.

Moving on to Copenhagen, our committee was already charged up and ready to go. Those of us traveling from Aarhus had the pleasure of being taken by bus, stopping in Odense to visit two libraries and the Hans Christian Andersen birthplace.

Most papers presented at the conference are available on the IFLA Web Site; the Document Delivery and Interlending Section also has a page; its URL is http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/VII/s15/sidd.htm. There you can see reports on the projects underway.

At this conference the section shared a joint program with Information Technology on the ILL Protocol. This was a fairly technical program outlining the capabilities of the protocol and its application in the ILL environment. Our second program addressed the issues of preservation as they relate to resource sharing, with consideration for both print and electronic media.

We look forward to the assistance of technology in solving some of the problems of sharing information around the world, but the need for lending books continues and we hope that projects like the IFLA Voucher Scheme and international packaging guidelines, which will be a future project, will encourage libraries to lend their materials more freely worldwide.

Martha McPhail reported on the Section on Education and Training:

The Section on Education and Training offered several well-attended opportunities for IFLA participants to exchange information on Library and Information Science education and continuing professional development. The Section, one of IFLA's largest, attracted 150 to its open forum on "Library and Information Science Education and the Electronic Environment." Topics covered distance learning and the role of libraries in delivering education for literacy and lifelong learning, LIS education in the networked environment, and the challenges of developing LIS curricula suitable to educate librarians for the electronic library. This general theme was continued at SET's day-long workshop held at the Royal School of Library and Information Science. The Royal School, with 150 faculty and 1000 students, has taken a leadership role internationally in developing education and training for the electronic library. SLA member Ismail Abdullahi, a graduate of the Royal School, presented a paper on the imperative need to recruit multinational, multilingual students into LIS programs worldwide, as so many nations have large immigrant populations which are underserved in libraries. Faculty from the Royal School led small groups in discussing educating information specialists in the sciences, teaching quality management, navigating a virtual library, constructing image databases, creating multimedia learning packages, and other practical concerns.

SET elected new officers for 1997-99: Judith Elkin (University of Central England in Birmingham) is Chair, and Aira Lepik (Tallinn Pedagogical University in Estonia) is Secretary. SET finalized its Medium-Term Programme for 1998-2001 and created an Action Plan for 1998-99.

Workshops on LIS education will be offered in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and possibly Africa. SLA member Evelyn Daniel will review the IFLA Standards for Library Schools, created by Hans Peter Geh in 1976, for updating by the SET. SET informational brochures will be revised and printed in five languages.

SET's open forum and workshop for the 1998 annual conference in Amsterdam will continue to investigate the theme of "Equivalencies and Harmonization of Library and Information Science Degrees" as well as educating LIS professionals for the electronic library.

McPhail will assist Ken Haycock (University of British Columbia) in writing the text of the Medium Term Programme and will translate the English text into Spanish.

David McQuillan reported on the Section of Geography and Map Libraries.

The Section of Geography and Map Libraries had a full schedule of events at the meeting in Copenhagen. The usual pre-conference meetings of the Coordinating Board, Section Standing Committee, USA Caucus, and Officers' Reception, included the election of Section Officers. David C. McQuillan (University of South Carolina), was re-elected to a second 2-year term as Chair; Olivier Loiseaux (Bibliothèque Nationale de France) was re-elected Secretary; and Goran Baarnhielm (Royal Library, Stockholm, Sweden) was elected Treasurer.

A three-hour field trip by boat into the Øresund between Denmark and Sweden was arranged for Sunday, August 31. Participants observed the bridge/tunnel under construction between Copenhagen and Malmø, Sweden and various landscape features associated with the coast and seaports.

The first of three slide/paper sessions included presentations on the map collections at the University of South Carolina, University of Connecticut, and Pennsylvania State University were given by their respective librarians, David C. McQuillan, Patrick McGlamery, and Melissa Lamont. On Tuesday, an all-day field trip was arranged by rail and bus. The first visit was by train to the Scan Globe Factory in Havdrup, for a talk and tour of their facilities. Then a bus trip to the National Maps and Cadastral Survey in Copenhagen, for lunch, tours, and 3 lectures by staff members. Peter Korsgaard spoke about archive and historic maps of Denmark; Morten Lind spoke on the subject of metadata; and Anders Nielsen presented the mapping of Greenland. On Wednesday, the Section was hosted all day by the Danish Royal Library. The first two slide/papers were given by Olivier Loiseaux and Goran Baarnhielm on their map collections at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and Swedish Royal Library. The third talk of the morning was given by a German map dealer, Mr. Lamatsch, on the subject of indexing map sheets using ESRI's "ARC View" program. Following lunch in the Library canteen, a guided tour of the Royal Library, the construction site for the new addition, and the map collection, was given by map librarian Henrik DuPont. Robin Richardson (UK Military Survey) spoke on the "MODMAP" Database and David McQuillan presented a slide/talk on various map collections in the southeast United States and on the 1996 IFLA meeting in Beijing. This was followed by Internet demonstrations of catalogs in the Royal Libraries of Denmark and Sweden. Thursday, the Section was hosted all day at the Geographical Institute in the Geography Department at Copenhagen University. A workshop entitled "Digital Map Librarianship" was presented by Patrick McGlamery and Ellen Cromley (University of Connecticut); Melissa Lamont (Pennsylvania State University) and Kerstin Geitner (INFORM GIS A/S, Lyngby, Denmark). A workbook, "hands on" exercises, and complementary ARC View software were given to all participants. Friday and Saturday concluded the conference with administrative meetings and an all-day field trip around the Øresund to "Hamlet's" castle, north of Copenhagen; across by ferry to Lund and Malmø in Sweden; and back by ferry to Denmark.

Plans are already underway for next year's IFLA Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, featuring visits to historic map collections and more training for the future on the Internet.

Edward Valauskas reported on the Section of Government Libraries.

The IFLA Section of Government Libraries had a lively open session. The theme of the program was "The Availability of Government Information as a Means of Strengthening Democracy." Four speakers addressed this issue from different perspectives, beginning with Tuula H. Laaksovirta (Director and Chief Librarian in the Parliament of Finland). Her presentation, entitled "Public Administration - Public Knowledge," examined the larger issues of information for Nordic democracies, with specific examples from the Finnish Valtipa Network (http://www.vn.fi/vn/um/index.html). Ms. Laaksovirta's talk was followed by an interesting analysis of the European Commission's digital efforts by Neville Keery (Head of Library Services for the Commission in Brussels). Keery's speech, "The Challenge of Openness as European Union Information Goes Electronic," looked at the opportunities and difficulties in presenting an increasing array of documents online. Many EU documents are available from Europa, http://europa.eu.int as well as other Web servers. Keery echoed Ms. Laaksovirta's paper by remarking that "Openness and information should never be taken on trust, whatever the goodwill of politicians and public servants."

More country-specific examples were provided by Elisabeth Sundholm (Ministry of Finance in Norway) and Violeta Botaco (Ministry of Finance in Slovenia). Ms. Sundholm's paper, "The Odin: The Central Web server for Official Documentation and Information for Norway," gave an excellent overview of this new way to locate official Norwegian documents, at http://odin.dep.no/ Odin has proven to be a valuable resource not only in Norway but abroad; one-third of the use of Odin comes from Internet users outside of Norway, in spite of the predominantly Norwegian nature of the documents. For Ms. Botaco in Slovenia, the lack of funds and space (the library fits into a space of less than 25 square meters in Ljubljana) meant that electronic solutions were the only options readily available to develop local collections and resources. A variety of local resources allow the Library to provide information to government officials, such as Infoklip, an electronic clippings service.

Some 60 IFLA delegates and participants attended the open session and engaged the speakers in a lively discussion of the issues. The session was moderated by the Chair of the Standing Committee, Ed Valauskas. Papers from the session are available on IFLANET at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/IV/ifla63/

The Standing Committee planned several programs and workshops for the 1998 and 1999 IFLA Conferences in Amsterdam and Bangkok. In Amsterdam, the Section will sponsor an open session and a workshop on the privatization of government libraries, an especially serious phenomenon in Europe and North America. The open session will examine the basic issues of library privatization, while the workshop will provide advice and information for those libraries and librarians anticipating a privatization move. In Bangkok, the Section will look at the entire meaning of quality - what is quality service? Who defines quality in a library and why? An open session and a workshop will treat the issues of quality in terms of government libraries.

In addition, the Section will begin to compile a listing of government libraries around the world. Following the example of the IFLA Section of Art Libraries, this effort will be based on the Internet, with a form available on the IFLANET site. This form will be available by the end of 1997.

The Standing Committee revised its Medium Term Programme for the period 1998-2001. The Programme will be posted shortly on the IFLA's Web server at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/VII/s4/

Valauskas was reelected Chair of the Standing Committee of the Section, and Judith Bernstein (University of New Mexico) was reelected as Secretary for two-year terms.

Monica Ertel and Wilda Newman both reported on the Section on Information Technology.

The Standing Committee held two meetings in Copenhagen. At the first meeting, a report was presented of the preconference seminar at the Danish Library School in Aalborg, Denmark. This preconference was titled "Bridging the Gap," and concentrated on the theme of implementing information technology in developing countries. Approximately forty librarians from Africa, Asia/Oceania, and Latin America were invited to participate. These librarians came together to write and discuss regional reports and personal action plans for taking this information back to their countries. Topics included training and education, networking on a national level, conservation and preservation, cultural acclimatization of hardware and software and IT implementation in developing countries. Plans were made to develop a training kit for librarians from developing countries.

The Standing Committee of the Section continues to be one of the most popular and most active groups within IFLA. Every year there is an increasing number of joint meetings with IT and this benefits not only program planning but the overall conference and contributes to more "intraneting' within the whole of IFLA.

The Standing Committee agenda, besides the usual welcome, adoption of the agenda, approval of the minutes from last year's meetings in Beijing, China, and financial and membership reports, included several items of special note. A new Chair was elected, Bruce Royan (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network); and a new Secretary-Treasurer, Evelyn Moore (USA). Elizabeth Cooley (OCLC) was appointed Information Coordinator.

Some program offerings this year included: (1) ILL Protocol Standard: Interlibrary Loan in an Open Networked Environment presented by the UDT Core Programme, the Section on IT, and the Section on Document Delivery and Interlending: (2) Z39.50: Information Retrieval in an Open Network Environment presented by the UDT Core Programme and Section on IT; and (3) Introduction to Internet Metadata presented by the UDT Core Programme.

A report was given on the Section's updated brochure, which Newman is handling. The brochure includes the new Scope Statement, Goals, and the Action Plan for 1998-1999. Newman has agreed to continue through the completion of this project, including its production into the five IFLA languages, even though she hs completed her term with the SC.

IT Project Reports were given on: (1) GUI Icon Standards, a US-Scottish project commissioned by IFLA in 1995. Newman is the current Project Leader with Bruce Royan, Project Support, and Steven Carr, Project and SCRAN GUI Web Site Support, both from Scotland; and (2) Design and Implementation of a Unified Standard of Cyrillic Information Representation in the Electronic Form, with Yakov Shraiberg and Yuri Hoblov, Project Managers, and a Working Group made up of Mikhail Goncharov, Alexander Goncharov, and Tatiana Ershova, Russia. The goal of this project is to push users towards ISO 8859-5. The two projects represent the main impetus for IT focus under the Section Action Plan, 1998-1999.

In the coming year it is expected that there will be more coordination between these two projects (some had already begun this year) and it is hoped, as Newman continues as Project Leader this coming year, that she can engage the Standing Committee of the Section on Library Theory and Research in the GUI Project as well. A more thorough report on the GUI Project is planned for a future issue of Information Outlook this year. In the meantime, you might want to check out the GUI Web Site Page at: http://scran.ac.uk/iconstd and look at the history of this project and the standard icons, now in four of the five languages. Also, encourage your vendors and libraries and information centers to use these icons. For additional information about IFLA and the GUI, Cyrillic, and other reports see the IFLA Web Site at: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/.

As always, time was spent at the IT Standing Committee meetings looking ahead to the upcoming conferences. Plans were discussed for the 1998 conference program in Amsterdam. It was decided that digital libraries would provide a very nice basis to discuss many of the aspects of IT in libraries including technological standards, cross cultural aspects, and multilingual character sets.

Nancy Anderson reported on the Section of Science and Technology Libraries.

Most delegates stayed in hotels in downtown Copehagen (mine was a renovated 300 year-old warehouse overlooking the harbor) and took advantage of shuttlebuses to the Bella Center to attend sessions and committee meetings.

This year fellow SLA member Patricia Yocum was elected Chair of the Standing Committee. Americans now make up a third of the SC. I rejoined the SC after a 2 year stint with the Section on Serial Publications SC. Patricia promptly appointed me to the position of Information Coordinator. We really are being recognized as the information professionals!

Activities sponsored by the Section of Science and Technology Libraries:

The SC met twice during the conference. Items of interest include (1) Nancy Anderson announced that SLA's Science-Technology Division would award a travel stipend of up to $2,000 to a librarian outside the United States and Canada to attend the Special Libraries Association annual conference, (2) at the urging of Rosario Gassol de Horowitz (Biblioteca, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas) the SC will assess the needs of sci-tech librarians in the developing world and develop plans for professional assistance, and (3) the SC will investigate the feasibility of having informal vendor updates (similar to those which some SLA divisions sponsor at annual conferences) with some of those exhibiting at IFLA.

The Section's open session program was sponsored jointly with the Section of Biological and Medical Libraries on "Improving Access to Electronic Scientific and Medical Information." Papers included "Re-engineering the library for improved access to electronic health information: one research library's experience," by Karen L. Graves and Elaine R. Martin (Library of the Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago); "Changing roles of health science librarians in the electronic environment: providing instructional programs, improving access and advancing scientific communication," by Ann C. Weller (Library of the Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago); "The situation of science and technology libraries in Argentine universities: information access possibilities," by Nancy Diana Gomez and Maria Floriana Colombo (Universidad de Buenos Aires); "Electronic resources on campus: a degree of integration," by David J. Price (Radcliffe Science Library, Oxford University); and "Electronic journals and digital libraries: an overview of recent developments in STM publishing," by Arnoud de Kemp (Springer Verlag, Heidelberg)

Please e-mail Anderson at ndanders@ uiuc.edu for more information. The full text of many of the papers listed can be accessed on IFLA's website at: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla.

The Section sponsored a workshop "Access to electronic sci-tech information," moderated by Martin Kesselman (Rutgers University). The workshop was held offsite at the Rockefeller complex of the University of Copenhagen. Mette Stockmarr and David Price arranged for speakers. Susan Day spoke on "SilverPlatter's SilverLinker," Nick Mole on "OVID," Paul Williams on "Blackwells electronic journal navigator," Joke Dijkstra on "EBSCO-host," and Jens Peter Winkler on "Munksgaard electronic journals." These were informal discussions.

Plans were made for future conferences. The SC decided that the theme for the open session in Amsterdam will be "How the electronic journal is affecting sci-tech librarianship." Philippe Raccah will organize this program. Marianne Nordlander will organize the workshop, which will consist of a field trip to Delft. For Thailand, the SC will probably focus on preservation and conservation.

Anderson reported on several other papers and sessions she found of interest:

Richard De Gennaro presented a paper on "JSTOR: building an Internet accessible digital archive of retrospective journals" at a Contributed Papers Session.

The first Guest Lecture was presented by Sir Roger Elliott (Chair of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and Department of Physics, Oxford University, Oxford). He captured the attention of a large audience as he spoke on "The impact of electronic publishing on the scientific information chain." He reported that the ICSU homepage has the report and recommendations of a February 1996 ICSU/UNESCO conference on electronic scientific publishing. The full text of his paper should be published in the October/November issue of IFLA Journal.

After the guest lecture the Division of General Research Libraries and Division of Collections and Services held a "no-holds-barred" debate on "Issues in the Ownership and Availability of Electronic Information". A panel of four each took extreme positions for the positive and negative. I am sure the IFLA delegates had never heard anything like this before, but it did get the audience involved in a discussion of these issues.

Finally, I'd like to draw your attention to a paper by Hazel Woodward and

Paula Kingston (Project ACORN, Pilkington Library, Loughborough University) on "At what cost? Access to digitized journal articles." This paper was presented at a workshop sponsored by the Sections on Serial Publications and Acquisition and Collection Development, and the UAP Core Programme on the theme of "The New Economics of Publishing."

Jesus Lau reported on the Section of University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries.

The Open Session of the Section was devoted to the topic Financing and Budgeting in Time of Change, where three presentations were delivered by speakers from Denmark, the USA and Germany. The workshop, which is regularly organized at the end of the conference, was also devoted to this topic. At the workshop, there were speakers from the USA and Australia. They conducted a scenery building exercise with the participants, that made the workshop active and interesting.

The Section organized a discussion group for the first time on performance measurement, a subject that is the present working theme of the Standing Committee.

Conference plans for the 1998 IFLA Conference include discussion of the Role of Libraries in the Changing Environment of Learning, a topic that is relevant to the present transformation of higher education in several countries.

Lau said that besides the topics discussed in the Section's meetings, there were, as usual, other papers delivered at different sessions which were of interest to academic libraries, such as issues of ownership of information and the application of Z39.50 protocols. He also commented that this summer was regarded as the warmest in Copenhagen in several decades, and the unusual Danish summer made the 1997 IFLA Conference an enjoyable experience, since walking on Copenhagen canals and its pedestrian streets was very pleasant.

Zohreh Imam reported on the Section on Serial Publications.

As an elected member to the Standing Committee of the Section on Serial Publications, I attended the section's meetings. I also attended a number of Core Program meetings and conference wide receptions. The Serial Publications program included the following workshop joint with Acquisition and Collection Development and the UAP Core Programme: Impact of electronic publishing on library budgets; The Changing Economic Model of Scholarly Publishing: Uncertainty, Complexity and Multi-media Serials; Intermediaries and electronic Information - What role for the Subscription Agent?

At the September 5th Standing Committee meeting, I was elected to the position of the Secretary of the Section. In this capacity, I attended the Coordinating Board meeting of the Division of Collections and Services and participated in the elections. Marjorie Bloss was reelected as the chair of the CB.

For the next two years, as the Secretary of the Section, I will be working with Hartmut Walravens (director of the International ISBN Agency) who was elected Chair.

Jean Porter reported on the Section of Social Sciences Libraries.

The Standing Committee was very pleased to have in attendance at its meetings a corresponding member of the committee from India and a first time attendee from Kenya. Both of these people were supported through the DANIDA grants. We were very pleased to have in-person representation from these two areas of the world. The chair of our committee, Han-Christoph Hobolm reported on information from the Coordinating Board meeting. Of particular interest was the move to establish a corporate library presence under the auspices of this Section. Because this group was initially referred to as "business libraries", it was associated with the SOC. After discussions a corporate libraries discussion group was established under the wing of the SOC.

We also discussed our Medium Term Programme and finalized it during our second committee meeting. Mr. Hobolm reviewed his activities on behalf of the Section. He specifically mentioned our listserv and the website which can be viewed at http://www/fh-potsdam.de/~IFLA/activity.htm.

A pre-conference to be sponsored jointly by the Section of Social Sciences Libraries and the Section on Government Information and Official Publications was canceled by the librarian at Statistics Denmark due to lack of pre-registration by the end of May. Unfortunately, most of us were not aware of this until early August. This was a disappointment.

Another disappointment was the necessity of canceling the section's workshop which was on the topic of data libraries. We had a very difficult time getting any commitments from speakers, especially from the U.S. This was due mainly to lack of funding for expenses.

During the Conference the Section held an open session and met at the Copenhagen School of Business for a tour and talk by the director in lieu of the workshop.

The theme of the open session was "Economics and Business Libraries in Transition." Four papers were presented. The first dealt with development of digital libraries in the UK. Through various electronic initiatives three major data centers have been established, as well as a Digitization Center to convert older materials to electronic form. The result of the various initiatives has been to set up a national infrastructure for the first time. There is still a need for standards for cataloguing and for more cooperation. The second paper dealt with the merger of two small economics collections in the Czech Republic. The problems in completing the merger were outlined. The third presentation outlined the development of a new service for researchers by the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration Library. The Library had developed online bibliographic products, but as resources provided by the Finnish government dwindled, new products needed to be created. The last report was from the Stockholm School of Economics Library. This paper evaluated journal usage by faculty. The younger/newer faculty used more journals and a wider selection. Older faculty had less time, so used only core journals. Research focus determined how important the faculty thought the library was. Economics was more research oriented and needed historical information. Business and finance faculty were doing more teaching and not so journal oriented, although they were more familiar with electronic journals.

Possible future studies include the identification of core journals and a survey of student use of journals.

The meeting at the Copenhagen School of Economics Library replaced the canceled SOC workshop. There was a group of about 30 librarians who visited the two locations managed by the Director. After the luncheon, the Director, Michael Cotta-Schonberg, talked on the topic of "Library Strategy in a New Environment--an Issue of Innovation and Quality." He involved the librarians present by asking how they would handle certain personnel situations. After lunch we had a wonderful tour of the Language Library on the newer part of the Economics School campus. The library is housed in a building constructed by one of Denmark's well known architects. The structure which includes classrooms and offices channeled light in interesting ways, was very simple in its design and offered many comfortable areas for student study and conversation.

At our second SC meeting, we discussed more about the Amsterdam conference. The theme for the open session will focus on educational libraries, "Libraries in Support of Education." The workshop will deal with some aspect of multilingual materials. We were very fortunate to have in attendance at this meeting two women who are on the organizing committee for the IFLA conference in Bangkok. We had several good suggestions on program possibilities for that meeting. There was also discussion regarding support for cooperative projects that have been created but not implemented in the Southeast Asia region.

One of the highlights for the Social Sciences Standing Committee was the invitation of our local committee member, Leif Lorring, to visit his home in a small town 30-40 miles outside Copenhagen. We had a delightful running commentary by our host (there was a microphone in the van) as we traveled through the Danish countryside. Mr. Lorring calls himself a human geographer and told us much about the history and the culture of the Danish people.

Hans-Christoph Hobohm (Fachhochschule Potsdam) was elected Chairman/Treasuer; Jean-Philippe Accart (Centre d'Informalion et de Documentation, France) was elected Secretary of the Section.

Barbara Perry reported on the Section on Statistics.

The Standing Committee of the Section on Statistics sponsored two general programs in Copenhagen and conducted two business meetings.

The third annual browsing session on aggregated statistics dealt with university library data. IFLA delegates from countries including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. explained what is available at the national level and brought sample copies of publications. Increased interest in statistical data gathering internationally was exemplified by an explanation of library statistics activities in Slovenia by Melita Ambrozic, new Standing Committee member. The 1998 browsing session will focus on school and childrens' library statistics.

The open programme featured three papers which took quite different approaches to the analysis of electronic information services in a library setting. All three, however, pointed to ongoing efforts in the library community to develop adequate indicators for the dimensions, usage, and performance value of electronic services.

The first paper "Can conventional statistics describe electronic media and services?" by Aase Lindahl (Odense Univesity Library) described the approach taken at the Odense (Denmark) University Library to match to the degree possible traditional statistical categories of service with similar electronic services. The basis of her work has been the international standard for information and documentation, ISO 2789:1991. Ms. Lindahl chairs the ISO committee preparing to revise the international standard for library statistics; what was learned through this study will become part of the new international effort. The second speaker, Ed O'Neill (OCLC Office of Research), spoke on "The characteristics of WEB accessible information and its implications for library statistics." He explained a current OCLC project attempting to analyze the size of the Internet in terms of the types and sources of publicly available information. The current study sets a benchmark for further study of the character and content of the Internet. The third paper at the session was "Management of electronic services in libraries: statistics for the digital age," by Peter Young (Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science at the time the paper was written and now at the Library of Congress).

A welcome addition to Standing Committee meetings was Rose Kin Wai Thi from UNESCO. As a result of discussions between the Committee Chair, John Sumsion (Library and Information Statistics Unit, Loughborough University) and then Committee Secretary, Michel Netzer (Bibliothèque Saint-Simon, Paris) and UNESCO representatives, closer cooperation between UNESCO and IFLA in the realm of library statistics will be undertaken. UNESCO's participation in Committee meetings and continued involvement with Committee activities is one indication of this.

Planning for the 1998 Amsterdam conference program included agreement on the aforementioned browsing session focus, discussion of a workshop on electronic materials/statistics, and consideration of open session speakers. The possible workshop presentations include an update of Canadian activities, report on a U.K. university initiative (the Bath BIDS/ISI use report), briefing on a European Union project (Eclipse 2000/MIEL project), an analysis of U.K. spending on CD-ROMs vis a vis direct online purchase, and an ongoing German university library cost analysis study. The open session will continue the focus on electronic usage and statistics. Among tentative speakers/subjects are Maurice Line discussing the usefulness, value, and limitations of statistics, John Sumsion considering special library statistics in the U.K., and a report on progress with the ISO standard.

Nancy Anderson reported on the open session of the Section of University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries.

There were three interesting papers given at the session. Svend Larsen (State and University Library, Aarhus) spoke on "Financing and budgeting in a time of change." Roswitha Poll (University Library, Munich) gave a very interesting paper on "Cost analysis in academic libraries" as did Hannelore B. Rader (University of Louisville Libraries) on "Creative financing of academic libraries in the next century."

David Bender and Fred Casey reported on the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations.

The Open Session of the Round Table was chaired by Tuula Haavisto (Finnish Library Association). The program was titled "How Do We Wake Awareness about Ourselves: Advocacy and Policy Development in Library Associations." As the title indicates, the main purpose of the program was the sharing of public relations activities carried on by a variety of library associations. In addition to the speakers, ample time was allotted for questions and answers which resulted in a number of interesting suggestions for the Round Table to take under investigation.

1. Jennifer Joseph (Trinidad & Tobago) stated that the Library Association was the best kept secret in a country with no secrets. One of its major issues is regarding the building of a new structure for the National Library. This issue gave the National Association a cause to rally around and to proceed to educate both professionals and users. A change in government caused them to develop a new strategy for there was even greater resistance to the building of the library, but after a very active campaign, approval for the building was given but with the caveat that it had to pay for itself. Therefore, 4 of 5 floors are designated for commercial space. The building is now a government building housing the National Library as opposed to a National Library Building.

2. Annsofie Oscarsson (Swedish Library Association) sent a questionnaire to determine the accuracy of reference libraries. The results were not good. It did generate a productive debate to improve the quality of the information provided. A second study was conducted which found that reference material was outdated and librarians tended to act solo and not seek help. The project that grew out of this study was to improve the quality of library services and this is occurring. Education programs are changing to incorporate both research and public librarians which have been separated in the past and lead to the prevention of a cooperative behavior.

3. Roger Parent (American Association of Law Libraries) discussed the toolkit that was developed which was to help the membership be better advocates of their profession and the job they do for their employers. An effective message campaign involves stating the message at least 7 times and in multiple media. Two outside consultants were hired to take a white paper that had been developed and adapt it for law firm administrators and not librarians. Parent shared what was learned and illustrated several of the problems encountered in the development of the toolkit. The project needed to be broadened beyond the original scope: stakeholders need to be involved; engage in an ongoing media project-using the press; plans are underway to prepare several additional kits.

4. Barbara Schleihagen (European Bureau of Library Information & Document Associations, a lobby organization for European Associations to European Organizations) spoke. The Bureau has lobbied for copyright issues at WIPO; ensured the inclusion of a library plan in the draft action plan at the European Community for Eastern Europe; and has a database of key European decision makers.

5. Kay Raseroka (University of Botswana Library) discussed how we raise awareness about ourselves as library associations

6. Anne Valmas (Estonian Academic Library) was unable to deliver her presentation but distributed information on the Estonian Librarians Association for which she serves as President.

As the Chair of Round Table for the Management of Library Associations David Bender had the opportunity on Tuesday, September 2, to meet with CEOs and Presidents of other library associations to exchange thoughts and concerns in the information profession. Discussion centered around the challenges that are being faced in this technological changing society and what our organizations will envision leading towards the twenty-first century. Several insights were offered regarding services and programs being offered by the various associations which lead into conversation about membership recruitment, annual meeting activities, and staffing competencies. Information was also shared on SLA's latest publication Competencies for Special Librarians of the 21st Century.

In addition to this event, Bender also chaired the Executive Committee Session and provided introductory remarks at an all day workshop titled "Advancing the Librarian's Role in the New Information Economy."

Nancy Anderson reported on the Round Table on User Education.

An interesting open session was sponsored by the Round Table on User Education on the theme "Library Gateways and User Education." Myoung Chung Wilson (Rutgers University) presented "To dissect a frog or design an elephant: teaching digital information literacy through the library gateway." Two Scandinavian projects were reported on: Toini Alhainen (Jyväskylä

University Library) on the "Finnish virtual library project: a way to evaluated Internet resources" and Nancy Fjallbrant et al. on "Into INFO (EDUCATE): WWW-based programs for information, training and access." The program ended with two papers from North America. Jesus Lau (Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez) discussed "Patron empowerment to using library gateways in LID countries: the case of Mexico" and Patricia Yocum (University of Michigan) talked about "Reaching out: using Web pages at the University of Michigan."

Martin Kesselman (Rutgers University) was elected Chair/Treasurer; Jesus Lau (Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez) was elected Secretary.

Ed Valauskas reported on the Division of Special Libraries

The Coordinating Board of the Division met twice during the conference. The Board discussed several crucial issues, including the revision of its Medium Term Programme (a new version will be available shortly at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/VII/d2/). The Board examined the possibility of several Divisional open sessions for Amsterdam in 1998, including a session discussing the barriers between different organizations that address the needs of special libraries such as FID, ICA, and SLA. Another Divisional open session will examine the question What's Special about Special Libraries? Each of the six sections of the Division has plans for abundant programs and projects for the next two years, including a number of specialized and electronic directories of libraries.

The Coordinating Board reelected Valauskas as Chair of the Board, and Jean-Phillipe Accart (Anact, Lyon, France) as Secretary for two-year terms. Valauskas will represent the Division on the IFLA Professional Board.

Fred Casey and Ed Valauskas both reported on a meeting to create a Discussion Group for Corporate Libraries.

Over the past several years, IFLA's Professional Board has been looking at the organizational structure of the Association. One of its recommendations was

the creation of Discussion Groups. These groups would have 10 or more members and would be a sub-part of a Section. This particular Group was deemed to fit best into the subject interests of the Section of Social Sciences Libraries. Discussion Groups can have programs, through the section where their funding originates. The only officer is a facilitator. They are, in concept, very much like SLA's caucuses.

A meeting would be scheduled during each IFLA Congress. The Group can decide on other projects and can use IFLAnet to communicate with one another. The facilitator would also maintain a list of the Group members, as well as addresses--both electronic and postal.

Why this discussion group? Currently within IFLA there is no generic home for corporate librarians. Several of the subject Sections provide programs and opportunities for corporate librarians. Therefore, it appears that a forum is needed which would enhance and enrich discussions of mutual interest. There is also the hope that this would attract more corporate librarians to IFLA. This group could also interest others to be more involved in IFLA activities. The overall purpose of the Discussion Group would be to promote activities of corporate libraries and information activities relating to the corporate environment within IFLA and share ideas with one another. It was also noted that corporate librarians more often affiliated with FID.

Fourteen librarians and other interested parties met to discuss the development of a discussion group on corporate libraries. Of that number only two were corporate librarians. The meeting was organized by Hans-Christoph Hobohm, Chair of the Section of Social Sciences Libraries and Edward Valauskas, Chair of the Section of Government Libraries.

Members of the group agreed to the need for a discussion group dedicated to corporate and for-profit libraries. It was also decided that the name of the group might better its potential membership; the name of the group was altered to Corporate and For-Profit Libraries Discussion Group. Several participants discussed programs and events for the Amsterdam Conference in 1998, including a study of the practices of corporate and for-profit libraries in Europe and especially in the Netherlands. A workshop proposal will be determined by mid-October with the cooperation of the Section of Social Science Libraries. Several topics will be suggested for further consideration.

A listserv will be set up for the Discussion Group and information about the Group's plans will be available shortly on IFLANET. Cynthia Hill (Sun Microsystems, and a member of the SLA Board of Directors) was elected as the facilitator of the Discussion Group for the next two years.

Librarians interested in participating in the activities of the Discussion Group should contact Cynthia Hill (cynthia.hill@corp.sun.com).

Monica Ertel and Ed Valauskas both reported on the Internet Discussion Group.

The third Internet Discussion Group meeting was held during the Copenhagen conference. As was the case in Beijing, attendance at this session was high as was the energy and enthusiasm in sharing information. At least 170 people representing 40 countries attended this meeting. The purpose of the group is to provide a forum for sharing information about what people are doing with the Internet in their libraries and information centers. The Group divided into several focal groups, addressing a number of issues related to the Internet. These focal groups examined a) Use of the Internet as a Reference Tool; b) Design of World Wide Web Sites; c) Cultural Impacts of the Internet; d) Copyright and the Internet; e) Libraries as Information Service Providers; f) Librarians' Role in Digital Data. Reports of the discussions in each of the groups was provided by the facilitators at the end of the meeting of the Discussion Group. Several participants told Ertel afterwards that this meeting has become the highlight of the conference for them. She said this proves to her that the main value of these wonderful IFLA conferences is the chance for librarians from around the world to share information among themselves.

The Group renewed its charter by collecting signatures of many of those who attended the meeting, and renewed its affiliation with the IFLA Section on Information Technology and the UDT Core Programme. Several projects were treated by the Discussion Group, including a collection of case studies of the use of the Internet in libraries around the world, and workshops for the 1999 Bangkok conference. Information on the case studies project is available at the Discussion Group's Web site at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/VII/dg/idg/ Minutes of the Group's previous meetings in Istanbul and Beijing are also available on IFLA's Web site, and minutes of this year's meeting will be placed there. This year's meeting was organized by Edward Valauskas (USA), Nancy John (USA), and Monica Ertel (a member of SLA's Board of Directors).

Librarians interested in participating in the activities of the discussion group should contact one of the organizers: Ed Valauskas (ejv@uic.edu), Monica Ertel (ertel@apple.com), or Nancy John (nrj@uic.edu).

Judy Field commented on several aspects of the conference:

I think my first reaction to IFLA was the number of people I knew from previous activities including the number of African Librarians that I had met at the Zimbabwe Book Fair. From what I had heard in the past IFLA seems to be opening up to a new group of leaders.

The festivities for Bob Wedgeworth at the closing session were marvelous and inspiring.

I was very impressed by the paper given by Esther Sibanyoni, Senior Library Assistant, Resources for Development, State Library in Pretoria and the 1997 South African Woman of the Year. In her talk she said she had only achieved her success in bringing library services to the townships because of the support of the (newly merged) South African Library Association! This shows that Associations can make a difference to people and to our members!

Monica Ertel reported on the Committee on Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (CAIFE).

CAIFE presented its final proposal to the IFLA Executive Board in Copenhagen. This international committee has spent the past three years discussing the issue of how IFLA might respond to the important issue of freedom of expression and access to information. After a great deal of intense discussion and many draft proposals, the committee held an open forum in Copenhagen to get member input. It was a full two hours of interesting and enlightening discussion and comments. The final proposal was presented to the IFLA Executive Board on the last Friday of the conference and approved.

Future IFLA conferences

The next conference will be held in Amsterdam, 16-21 August 1998. The theme for the conference is "On Crossroads of Information and Culture." Subthemes include: The library as a refuge; On crossroads of information rights and duties; New roads for the profession: media skills and mind skills; On crossroads of accleration and deceleration; Directions for the accessible library; The library at the crossroads of the broadest highway and the smallest footpath; Libraries signposting simple ways in a complex society. For general information on the IFLA conference e-mail: ifla@congrex.nl

The following conference will be in Bangkok, 20-28 August 1999, with the theme "Libraries as Gateways to an Enlightened World." For general information on the IFLA conference e-mail: exspafa@external.ait.ac.th.

Jerusalem will be the venue for the 2000 conference and Boston for 2001.

Everyone brings back from IFLA memories, ideas and suggestions, and renewed energies. One of the meetings I shall remember is that of a Working Group where eight people from seven countries met to discuss a WG document. Most of the discussion was in English, but at times it was necessary to switch to French or to German to clarify some of the points. The variety of backgrounds of the librarians, their points of view, and their diverse concerns provided this opportunity to work together to reach consensus. This type of meeting and reaching consensus on issues of mutual interest happens again and again in the IFLA setting.

I encourage you all to attend future IFLA conferences, if you can. I think you would find IFLA an interesting and enjoyable experience, with opportunities to meet people from many countries, to learn about librarianship in many settings, and to contribute to international librarianship.