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Presidential Newsletters

Presidential Newsletter

No. 2 October 2007

Dear IFLA Members,

At the end of August 2007, I gave a talk on my presidential theme, 'Libraries on the Agenda' at the Meeting of the Swiss Library Association in Sierre. The deputy cultural minister was present at that meeting.

September 2007: A meeting organized by the French UNESCO Commission took place in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. to address the implementation of Action Line C.10, "Ethical dimensions of the information society" of the Geneva Action Plan of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS). For more information on this Action Line, see at:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=

Representatives of UNESCO, the European Parliament and experts from non-governmental organisations, universities and other institutions attended the meeting. During a round table on ethical issues regarding access to information, knowledge and culture, I gave a short statement on the important role of libraries in guaranteeing free access to information and privacy. I experienced a growing concern from governments and some other organisations with respect to free access to information. I think that it will become even more important in future for librarians to stand up for the privacy of their users and for free access to information for all citizens.

On September 17, the IFLA/IPA (International Publisher's Association) Steering Group held its 22nd meeting at my library, the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek, Berlin. It was a fruitful meeting, where we discussed once again a number of issues, including our views on orphan works, copyright issues and the world book capital.

During the same week, the Bulgarian Library Association, supported by the Goethe Institute, met to discuss 'Libraries on the Agenda'. At the meeting, I met Mr Georgi Priniski, Chairman of the National Assembly of the Bulgarian Parliament, and had the opportunity to speak again with the Vice-Minister of Culture, Nadezhda Zaharieva, who attended the 1st IFLA Presidential Meeting in Berlin in January 2007. After a lecture on advocacy, I was honoured to be awarded an honorary professor of the State University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (SULSIT) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Next day, I became a "Talking Book" in a Europe Language Day Project in Varna Public Library on the Black Sea (7 'readers' borrowed me) and also took part in the opening of the Goethe Institute exhibition on new library buildings.

With best wishes to all of you

Claudia Lux
President of IFLA 2007 - 2009

October 2007

The Letter of the President "LOP" is distributed by e-mail at least once a month to provide an overview of some of the current activities of the IFLA President, President Elect, the Governing Board and the Headquarters. It contains LINKS for further consultation and will be sent to IFLA-L and all other mailing lists organised by IFLA.