IFLA Annual Report 1996

This report reflects only the major items of IFLA's activities in 1996. Fuller reports on the activities of IFLA's professional groups can be found in the reports of the Core Programmes in this issue of IFLA Journal. Annual reports of the Sections and Round Tables can be found on IFLANET (http://www.ifla.org/), in their Newsletters, or throughout the year in IFLA Journal.

1. Membership

2. Executive Board

• Robert Wedgeworth (USA), President
  
• Marta Terry (Cuba), First Vice-President
  
• Ekaterina Genieva (Russia), Second Vice-President
  
• Warren Horton (Australia), Treasurer
  
• Christine Deschamps (France)
  
• Bfrge Sfrensen (Denmark)
  
• Robert D. Stueart (USA)
  
• Sun Beixin (China)
  
• Sally McCallum (USA) ex officio, Chair of the Professional Board.

The Executive Board met three times during the report period, and following the tradition begun in April 1993, also held a joint meeting with the Professional Board in April 1996. As the policy making body of IFLA, the Executive Board took action on the following:

• Accepted as new Association Members: Afghan Librarians and Publishers Association (Afghanistan); Library Association of Armenia; Association des Bibliothécaires, Archivistes, Documentalistes et museographes du Cameroun (Cameroon); Association Guineenne des Documentalistes, Archivistes et Bibliothécaires (Guinea-Bissau); Japan Art Documentation Society (Japan); Stichting Cultureel Centrum Suriname (Surinam); and the Tanzania Academic and Research Libraries Association (Tanzania).

• Met with representatives of Core Programme hosts and the Core Programme Directors during the Beijing Conference to discuss cooperation with IFLA and the hosting institutions, in particular by developing "Guidelines: A Framework for Cooperation with the Core Programmes", in which the respective viewpoints representing the major responsibilities of the various parties were reflected. Projects planned or undertaken by the Core Programmes and their funding were again a major topic. Of particular concern was how IFLA could be more effective in bringing Core Programme activities to the regions in cooperation with the Regional Offices and the Regional Standing Committees.

• Approved with great satisfaction the negotiations of IFLA's President, Secretary General and Director of the UDT Core Programme with IFLA Patron Sponsor SilverPlatter, Inc., to issue a CD-ROM, "IFLANET Unplugged", containing a duplicate image of the IFLANET Web site as of 15 June. The CD-ROM was available in 3000 copies for all participants at the Beijing Conference.

• Finalized discussions with INIST (Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique) in France to become a mirror site of IFLANET. The site, an exact replica of the Ottawa site, is now operational, greatly facilitating access because of the heavy traffic to the Canadian site.

• Reviewed the state-of-the-art of the budget for 1996 and congratulated the Secretary General for the preliminary results and for controlling expenses so carefully in 1996. This was the 4th year in succession that there had been a positive outcome.

• Increased allocations for 1997, based on the preliminary results for 1996 and the provisional budget for 1997, for the Regional Offices in Dakar, Senegal, and Sao Paulo, and for professional activities.

• Adjusted the votes for the different groups of National Association Members, based on the requirements of the Statutes and Rules of Procedure which specify that the total number of votes allocated to association members should be more than the total number of votes of the institutional members.

• Approved the text of IFLA's Position Paper on Copyright in the Electronic Environment (see IFLA Journal 22(4):314-315(1996), and welcomed the initiative of the Secretary General to disseminate the text in many language versions, both in print and electronically. In view of IFLA's increasing leadership role in copyright matters, IFLA sent a delegation of three persons to the WIPO Conference in December. The strong representation from the library community made a considerable impact on the WIPO deliberations.

• Noted with satisfaction the progress made with IFLANET and approved UDT's Guidelines defining the roles and responsibilities of the UDT staff, IFLA HQ and IFLA Officers; requirements for mirror sites; multilingual publishing; centralized versus decentralized sites, etc. IFLANET has greatly facilitated IFLA's impact in information exchange, and is of particular relevance in involving those who are not able to attend IFLA Conferences on a regular basis. In addition to the papers from the 1994-1996 conferences, it also contains the annual reports of IFLA's professional units, progress reports on projects, information on future conferences, some full-text publications (e.g., World Guide to Library, Archive and Information Science Education) and other IFLA documents. During the report period more than five million messages were sent worldwide through the IFLANET mailing lists.

• Distributed a call for tender to invite institutions interested in hosting a Regional Centre for the PAC Core Programme in Eastern Europe, following the announcement of Die Deutsche Bibliothek to hand over its responsibilities by the Copenhagen Conference 1997, after having successfully fulfilled its duties for the past 11 years.

• Accepted the invitation from the IFLA Association Members in the USA to host the 2001 IFLA Council and General Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

• Approved the logo for the 1998 IFLA General Conference to be held in Amsterdam, 16-21 August.

• Monitored progress of the ad hoc Committee on Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (CAIFE). The Committee is charged with gathering membership opinion, reviewing expert advice and then advising IFLA as to how it should implement its commitment to access to information and freedom of expression. Formal meetings were held during the Beijing Conference 1996 at which conference delegates were offered the opportunity to pose questions to the Committee and discuss its work. CAIFE is expected to complete its work and report to Council in 1997. Council 1997 will decide on IFLA's future action plan in this vital area.

• Continued its guest lecture series. During the 1996 IFLA Conference in Beijing, Marianna Tax Choldin, the C. Walter and Gerda B. Mortenson Distinguished Professor for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an international expert on censorship, delivered a lecture on "Beginning a Conversation on Access to Information and Freedom of Expression"; and Alain Peyrefitte, a member of the French Parliament, a member of the Academie Française, and a noted sinologist, delivered a lecture designed to "bridge the gap" between the close of the IFLA Conference and the opening of the ICA Conference.

• Awarded IFLA Medals during the Beijing Conference to Ben Goedegebuure, Executive Director of FID for his leadership role in revitalizing the work of FID; to Marianne Scott, National Librarian of Canada, in recognition of her distinguished record of leadership and for the vital support she provided for the establishment of the IFLA UDT Core Programme; and to Thomas Tottie, University Librarian at Uppsala University, Sweden, for the support of the IFLA ALP Core Programme.

• Approved the establishment of the Paul Nauta Residential Fellowship. Candidates are recent graduates of the two IFLA member library schools in the Netherlands. The Fellowship in 1996 was awarded to Marieke van Buytene, whose time was divided in assisting the Professional Coordinator in monitoring projects and finances, and pre-session seminar preparations; and assisting other HQ staff in investigating options for differentiated membership fees.

• Authorized a special meeting of the Editorial Committee of IFLA Journal to prepare for the transition of IFLA Journal from four to six issues a year in 1997.

3. Professional Board

The composition of the Professional Board, made up of the Chairs of each of the Divisions (or a designated representative), plus a Chair elected from the outgoing PB members was:

• Sally McCallum (USA), Chair
  
• John Willemse (South Africa), General Research Libraries
  
• Edward Valauskas (USA), Special Libraries
  
• Sissel Nilsen (Norway), Libraries Serving the General Public
  
• Ross Bourne (UK), Bibliographic Control
  
• Marjorie Bloss (USA), Collections and Services
  
• Ralph Manning (Canada), Management and Technology
  
• Steffen Rückl (Germany), Education and Research
  
• A.P. Gakhar (India), Regional Activities.

During the report period the Professional Board:

• Agreed to a yearly meeting with Core Programme Directors following the three very successful "Trends/Agenda Setting" meetings held in 1993, 1994, and 1996. These meetings would be held in The Hague in December of each year and would allow for greater interaction and a much stronger organic link.

• Approved the themes for the 1998 IFLA General Conference to be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands: "On Crossroads of Information and Culture"; and for the 1999 IFLA Council and General Conference to be held in Bangkok, Thailand: "On the Threshold of a New Century: Libraries as Gateways to an Enlightened World".

• Continued the development of JICPA (Joint Committee on Preservation in Africa), a joint effort of IFLA and ICA, a follow-up to one of the resolutions passed during the Pan African Conference on Preservation and Conservation, held in Nairobi in 1993. The Secretariat has been established at the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service. One of its immediate functions will be to catalyze awareness raising in African countries and to coordinate the identification of training needs. JICPA will be actively supported by ICA, and by IFLA's ALP and PAC Core Programme Offices, and by IFLA's Regional Office in Senegal.

• Extended and strengthened IFLA's network of language experts by a call issued through association journals in the relevant language areas to which more than 100 responses were received. The PB also prepared a discussion document for languages and language services to the IFLA community, to be finalized in 1997.

• Developed the professional programme for the Beijing Conference. Reviewed 78 full-text papers to select papers for presentation at the contributed papers session for the Beijing Conference, and prepared a short-list of 15 papers from which seven were selected; after the conference reviewed comments evaluating the Beijing Conference and made recommendations for improving the professional programme at future conferences.

• Prioritized and allocated project funds to IFLA's professional units; reviewed projects undertaken by the professional units for the past three years, and if progress had not been made, agreed to abandon them and request the return of monies advanced.

• Completed the evaluation of the work and performance of Sections and Round Tables to assess their levels of activity and overlap. IFLA's professional groups had begun with a self-evaluation considering such items as attendance at programme meetings; availability of translations, timeliness of reports and dissemination of project results and how they contributed to the Medium-Term Programme. After an in-depth analysis of the self-evaluations, the PB agreed to discontinue some professional groups and merge others.

• Finalized plans for the Medium-Term Programme 1998-2001. IFLA's strategic direction over the next four years will focus on the electronic environment as it affects IFLA's objective to promote librarianship, particularly through the provision of equal access to information, literacy programmes and preservation of the world's documentary heritage. The PB also held an Open Forum during the Beijing Conference to discuss the preparation of the MTP with IFLA officers and other interested persons.

• Approved the appointments of Information Coordinators for all Sections and Divisions. The Information Coordinators will collect the documents of the Sections and Round Tables for appropriate distribution through IFLA's communication channels (IFLANET and IFLA Journal), ensuring that information on IFLA activities reaches the membership on a regular basis.

• Continued the development of the Working Group on Literacy. The PB accepted the offer of the Library of Haifa University in Israel to host the Secretariat for the Working Group on Literacy. It also appointed members to the Group, representing the Sections on Children's Libraries, Reading, Africa, Asia and Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Round Tables on Continuing Professional Education and User Education.

• Approved the work plans of the Core Programmes at a meeting held during the Beijing Conference with the Core Programme Directors and Officers.

• Reviewed progress made on UNESCO contracts and made proposals for contracts for the next biennium.

• Noted the progress made on the resolution to UNESCO on promoting permanent paper. The draft resolution prepared by a task force spearheaded by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO was accepted at the meeting of the PGI Intergovernmental Council and will be submitted to the UNESCO General Conference in 1997.

• Continued to develop mechanisms for cooperation with other international bodies working in related fields.

• Approved name changes for the Section of Parliamentary Libraries to the Section on Library and Research Services for Parliament; and the Section on Conservation to the Section on Preservation and Conservation to reflect their broader scope of activities and interest groups.

• Approved the request of the Round Table on Management to become the Section on Management and Marketing. This additional focus reflects the increased attention of libraries to their cost-effectiveness coupled with the marketing of their services.

• Approved the plenary speaker for Copenhagen 1997, Ms Lone Dybkjoer, Member of the Danish Parliament (1973-77; 1979- ), the European Parliament (1994- ); and Minister of the Environment (1988-1990).

• Revised the PB Guidelines for Officers. The series of 10 pamphlets covering different aspects of the administrative work of officers will be consolidated into one looseleaf notebook for ease of updating and distribution.

4. IFLA Headquarters Staff

IFLA Headquarters staff during the report period were Leo Voogt, Secretary General; Winston Roberts, Professional Coordinator; Carol Henry, Executive Officer; Jos de Block, Secretary to the Professional Coordinator; Hanny Duijvestijn, Administrative Assistant; Sophie Felföldi, Office Manager; Theresa Stanton, Publications Assistant; Dini Verschoor, Financial Assistant; Daphne Vlot, Membership Officer; and Marieke van Buytene, the first IFLA Paul Nauta Residential Fellow under a one-year contract.

5. 62nd IFLA General Conference, Beijing, China, 25-31 August 1996

The theme, "The Challenge of Change: Libraries and Economic Development" attracted an attendance of 2384 delegates from 91 countries. Two hundred and sixty-seven papers (not including translations) were delivered in 68 open sessions and 17 workshops. IFLA Officers, responsible for obtaining translations into IFLA languages, arranged for 43 translations into French, 27 into German, 26 into Spanish, 21 into Russian, and 13 into English. The Beijing organizers are preparing translations of all papers into Chinese. Professor Fei Xiaotong, a leading sociologist and anthropologist in China, delivered the plenary address, "Libraries Oriented to the New Pluralistic and Integrated World Order", in which he presented his views on the relationship between libraries and economic development based on his personal experience and his experience in academic research. In his Presidential Address, "A View toward Library Users", Robert Wedgeworth reminded the audience that "perhaps the most important change facing libraries and librarians is that of changing the expectations of actual and potential users. To those who have lost confidence in libraries without adequate collections or library workers without adequate training, there is little or no expectation that libraries will meet the challenge of change."

A Pre-Conference Seminar on the theme, "Copyright" was held in Tianjin, China, 21-24 August 1996, attracting 56 delegates from Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin America and Western Europe. The seminar was seen as both a training event and an opportunity for awareness raising. It was also an occasion to share information on how to react to the developments of international copyright legislation. Participants at the seminar made a recommendation that more education and guidance on copyright issues was needed. This will be pursued by IFLA.

6. Future Conferences

During the Beijing Conference, Mr Wedgeworth and Mr Voogt met with delegations from Copenhagen, 1997; Amsterdam, 1998; Bangkok, 1999, and Jerusalem, 2000. The President and Secretary General travelled to Copenhagen in January, 1996, Mr Wedgeworth combining his visit with his presentation of the address at the Kirkegaard lectures, held annually at the Royal School of Librarianship in Copenhagen. Although no decisions were taken, they also met during the Beijing Conference with delegations from library associations in countries which were interested in hosting future conferences. Invitations to host IFLA Conferences have been accepted for Boston 2001, and Glasgow/Edinburgh 2002.

7. Projects

Reports of the 60+ projects undertaken by the Sections and Round Tables and funded by the Professional Board can be found in their Newsletters and are posted on IFLANET or reported in IFLA Journal throughout the year. Other funded activities include seminars and meetings, and UNESCO projects and are recorded elsewhere in this report or in those of the Core Programmes.

• NCLIS (National Commission for Library and Information Science). The US Government, through NCLIS, offered support for a symposium on copyright issues for library and information services, to be held before the Beijing IFLA Conference; for an expert seminar to be held in Southern Africa on networking of public libraries in developing countries (1996); and for the development of professional staff in Latin America via a placement programme in various institutions.

8. Publications

In addition to the newsletters issued by the majority of IFLA's Core Programmes, Divisions, Sections and Round Tables and the promotional brochures of the professional groups, many in two or more languages, the following periodicals and monographs were published by IFLA (for ALP, PAC, UAP, UBCIM, and UDT, see their annual reports elsewhere in this issue of IFLA Journal).

8.1 Periodical Publications

The last volume of IFLA Annual, IFLA Annual 1995 was issued in July 1996 and contained the annual reports of the Sections and Round Tables. It gave an overview of the 1995 IFLA General Conference, plus abstracts of papers presented during the open programme meetings of the professional groups. Speeches delivered during the opening and closing ceremonies and the Presidential and Plenary Addresses were also included. IFLA Annual will be replaced by the Biennial Council Reports, the first of which, IFLA Biennial Council Report 1995-1997, will be published in June 1997. This will be a synthesis of information that previously appeared in IFLA Annual. IFLA's activities would be grouped under the major headings of:

• Access to information
• The electronic environment
• Preservation and conservation
• Services and standards
• Professional development

The report would feature a timeline documenting IFLA achievements over the preceding two years, and would include annexes on publications, finances, conferences, and membership development.

IFLA Directory 1996-1997 was published in March 1996. It lists all IFLA Members; members of the Executive Board and Professional Board; IFLA Headquarters staff; names and addresses of officers; details of IFLA's Core Programmes and regional offices; IFLA sponsors; a chronological list of all IFLA Conferences (1927-1999); and information on how to join IFLA and membership application forms.

8.2 Monographs in the series, IFLA Publications

The Multilingual Glossary for Art Librarians, 2nd revised and enlarged edition, edited by the Section of Art Libraries in English with indexes in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish, No. 75.

Measuring Quality: International Guidelines for Performance Measurement in Academic Libraries, compiled and edited for the Section of University Libraries and other General Research Libraries by Roswitha Poll and Peter te Boekhorst in collaboration with Ramon Abad Hiraldo, Aase Lindahl, Rolf Schuursma, Gwenda Thomas and John Willemse, No. 76.

Basic Serials Management Handbook, revised edition, by Judith Silvassy under the auspices of the Section on Serial Publications, No. 77.

8.3 The series, IFLA Professional Reports

Guidelines for Newspaper Preservation Microfilming, compiled and edited by the Round Table on Newspapers and the Section on Serial Publications, No. 49.

8.4 Other titles

Reading - A Comparative View: France, Germany, Russia and Israel, edited by Irene Sever for the Round Table on Research in Reading (now the Section on Reading), published with the IFLA logo by Haifa University Library Publications

World Directory of International Parliamentary Libraries Including Multinational Parliamentary Libraries, compiled and edited by Ernst Kohl under the auspices of the Section of Parliamentary Libraries (now the Section on Library Services and Research for Parliaments) and published by the Deutscher Bundestag with the IFLA logo

8.5 Publications Committee

The members of the Publications Committee were Christine Deschamps, Executive Board representative, and Steffen Rückl, Professional Board representative. Leo Voogt is an ex officio member. Other members will be coopted when necessary. The Committee meetings are scheduled to coincide with Board meetings held at Headquarters.

9. Grants and Prizes

The juries appointed by the Executive Board selected the recipients of the Hans-Peter Geh Grant for Conference Participation, the Gustav Hofmann Study Grant, and the Dr Shawky Salem Training Grant. The Hans-Peter Geh Grant for Conference Participation, sponsored by Mr Geh, was awarded to Elena Borisovna Artem'eva, head of the Department on Research and Methodic Work of the State Public Library of Scientific Literature with the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ms Artem'eva attended the IFLA Conference in Beijing and held a poster session. The Gustav Hofmann Study Grant, sponsored by K.G. Saur Verlag, was awarded to Ms Kejing Liu, teacher at the Department of Information Management of the Central China Normal University in Wuhan. Ms Liu visited the UK, France and the Netherlands to study interdisciplinary research in the area of freedom of information and intellectual property. Marieke van Buytene coordinated the programme of study in the Netherlands. The Dr Shawky Salem Training Grant, established by Shawky Salem, is also under the auspices of FID. The Grant was awarded to Mohammed Saleh Alyss, Information Officer at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Mr Alyss, involved in a project to improve the flow, exchange and sharing of information among members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, will focus his training on search tools and techniques for the Internet. Since applications for the Guust van Wesemael Literacy Prize, which is awarded biennially, were not of the necessary quality, the jury agreed to re-examine the terms of reference and not to award the Prize in 1995. During the report period a new approach to the Prize was developed and it will be awarded during the 1997 Copenhagen Conference.

10. Relations with other Organizations

10.1 UNESCO

402.702.6.

IFLA will prepare a document providing a broad survey of current standards for establishing and evaluating library and information services in rural communities. The aim of the project is to produce a reference tool for rural library and information professionals. The work will cover quantitative and qualitative standards, technical standards and guidelines, as well as performance measures of all sorts of rural library and information services.

402.703.6.

In close cooperation with UNESCO and ICA, IFLA will organize a five-day regional seminar on the Preservation of Photographic Collections in Latin America held in national libraries, archives and museums. The seminar will bring together leading photography curators in the region to exchange information about the existing collections, their state of preservation and access conditions; to survey the various existing cataloguing rules and standards and consider the adoption of a common standard; to assess the significant of photographic collections of regional and international interest contributing to the world documentary heritage; and to determine priorities and develop a common strategy for a vast preservation and access programme.

402.704.6.

IFLA prepared a poster both in Chinese and English based on the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, which was distributed during the 62nd IFLA General Conference in Beijing, 25-31 August 1996.

402.705.6.

IFLA will follow up up on the recommendations of the UNESCO Round Table on Audiovisual Records to further existing studies relating to the deposit of audiovisual materials and access to them. IFLA will prepare an up-to-date and worldwide survey of legal deposit for audiovisual materials to ascertain which countries have legislation; study the range of management issues affecting all kinds of deposit agreement (in all types of audiovisual archives in both developing and developed countries) which affect the preservation of audiovisual materials and access to collections; provide recommendations to encourage countries which have no legal deposit, or where laws are inadequate, to enact appropriate legislation; and to organize a two-day consultation meeting with member organizations of the Round Table on Audiovisual Records (FIAF, FIAT, IASA, ICA and IFLA).

10.2 FID, ICA, IPA, BIEF, and CDNL

During the Beijing Conference representatives of FID, ICA, IPA, BIEF and CDNL met with the Executive Board and UNESCO representatives. IFLA continued to cooperate closely with FID on an implementation plan for the Tokyo Resolution: Strategic Alliance of International Information Organizations to Serve Better the World Community. Consultations with FID and ICA are held on a regular basis and plans are in place for additional joint projects in 1997 and 1998.

ICA held its annual conference immediately following IFLA's in Beijing, the first time the two organizations have met at the same time in the same place. To commemorate this occasion a special meeting was held under the theme, "Two Professions, One Future: A Strategy for Cooperation between Archivists and Librarians for the 21st Century", attended by 80 delegates, 30 representing the archival community, 30 representing the library community, and 20 representing the Chinese hosts. One of the results of that meeting was the "Beijing Agenda", which lists the areas in which the Boards of both ICA and IFLA are interested in pursuing direct mechanisms for cooperation in the immediate future. ICOM, ICOMOS, ICA and IFLA jointly established the International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS) to facilitate international resonse to threats and emergency situations of natural or human origin, particularly armed conflicts, affecting cultural heritage.

10.3 Representation at Meetings of other Organizations

January 29-31
Budapest, Hungary. BOBBSCATTS 1996, Leo Voogt

February 1-9
Geneva, Switzerland. WIPO. 6th Session of Committee of Experts on the Possible Protocol to the Berne Convention, Sandy Norman

February 13-14
Dakar, Senegal. First meeting of joint ICA/IFLA Committee for Preservation in Africa, Birgitta Bergdahl

February 19-23
Paris, France. ICSU/UNESCO Electronic Publishing Conference, Robert Wedgeworth and Leo Voogt

March 1-4
Prague. Technical Committee of UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, Jonas Palm, Denmark and Astrid Brandt, France

March 10-11
Vienna, Austria. International RT on AV Archives, Winston Roberts and Isabelle Giannattasio, Chair of the IFLA Round Table on Audiovisual and Multimedia

March 11-14
Madrid, Spain. International symposium organized by UNESCO in cooperation with Telefonica de Espana, Ed Valauskas

March 28-30
Leipzig, Germany. European Commission on Preservation and Access Conference, Leo Voogt and Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff

April 11-13
Budapest, Hungary. International Conference on Library Automation in Central and Eastern Europe, Ekaterina Genieva

April 22-26
Barcelona, Spain. 25th Congress of the International Publishers Association, Leo Voogt

April 22-29
Erice, Sicily. International conference on the conservation and restoration of archive and library materials, Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff

April 25-27
New York. New York Public Library Summit of World Library Leaders, Robert Wedgeworth and Bfrge Sfrensen

September 4-8
Oslo, Norway. ISO/TC/46, Christine Deschamps and Sally McCallum

May 15-17
Vancouver, Canada. 128th Meeting of the Association of Research Libraries, Leo Voogt

May 18-25
Sint Maarten. ACURIL Meeting, Marta Terry

May 20-24
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tenth Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians, Amelia McKenzie, Secretary of Regional Section: Asia and Oceania

May 28-31
Erlangen, Germany. National Library Conference. Robert Wedgeworth and Leo Voogt

June 1-9
Foros, Crimea, Ukraine. Third International Conference. "Crimea '96", Graham Cornish, UAP Core Programme Director and Gary Cleveland, UDT Core Programme Officer

June 3-5
Oslo, Norway. International Conference on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme, Robert Wedgeworth

June 10-11
Paris, France. 23rd meeting of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council for PGI, Christine Deschamps

June 19-22
Vologda, Russia. International Conference on Reading and Libraries in Times of Cultural Change, Daphne Vlot

June 19-22
Ankara, Turkey. Meeting organized by the National Library of Turkey for CDNL members and other national librarians, Leo Voogt

July 8
Luxembourg. Workshop on Public Libraries in the Information Society to review study conducted under the auspices of the European Commission, Bfrge Sfrensen

July 8-11
Johannesburg, South Africa. ULIS (Unification of Library and Information Stakeholders) Conference, Christina Stenberg, Secretary, RTMLA

July 15-16
Helsinki, Finland. FID meeting on follow-up to Tokyo Resolution: Global Information Alliance, Eeva-Maija Tammekann, former EB member

July 28-Aug. 2
Ocho Rios, Jamaica. 25th Anniversary Conference of IASL, Paulette Bernhard, Chair of the Section of School Libraries

Aug. 27-1 Sept.
Beijing, China. ICA Pre-Conference Seminar on Preservation of Archives; IFLA represented by PAC Directors and Ralph Manning and Beatrix Kastaly, Chair and Secretary of the Section on Conservation

September 2-7
Beijing, China. XIII International Congress on Archives, Robert Wedgeworth

September 16
Amsterdam. ELP (European Librarians and Publishers) Meeting, Winston Roberts

September 18-21
Coimbra, Portugal. 5th European Conference of Medical and Health Libraries, Christine Deschamps

Sept. 24-27
Lisbon, Portugal. Bicentenary of National Library of Portugal with meeting of Conference of European National Librarians, Leo Voogt

September 30
Frankfurt, Germany. International Book Committee, Winston Roberts

October 6-12
Melbourne, Australia. 1996 ALIA Centennial Conference, Robert Wedgeworth

October 7-11
Ottawa, Canada. International Conference on the Future of Communication Formats, Winston Roberts

Oct. 21-25
Graz, Austria. 48th FID Conference and Congress, Leo Voogt

November 27-29
Cologne, Germany. ISO TC46/SC 3, Steffen Rückl

November 28-29
Esbo, Finland. NORDINFO Symposium, Robert Wedgeworth

December 2-3
Paris, France. 11th session of the Intergovernmental Council of PGI. Leo Voogt and Christine Deschamps

December 2-5
Trieste, Italy. "European Art Libraries: Museum Catalogues" organized by Italian Library Association, and others. Art Section SC member, Gert-Jan Koot represented IFLA

December 2-20
Geneva, Switzerland. WIPO Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights Questions. IFLA representatives: Sandy Norman, Jamie Wodetzki, and Adam Eisgrau

December 9-13
Maseru, Lesotho. SCECSAL Conference, Derek Law, former member of the Professional Board

December 17
Paris, France. Opening of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Winston Roberts

December 20
Shanghai, China. Opening ceremony of new library building of Shanghai Library, Leo Voogt

11. Acknowledgments

The support of many of the funding bodies - UNESCO, the US Government through NCLIS, the French Government through the Ministry of Culture, DSE (Deutsche Stiftung für Internationale Entwicklung), the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sciences, the H.W. Wilson Foundation, SIDA (Swedish International Development Authority), BIEF (Banque internationale d'information sur les Etats francophones), - has been noted throughout this report. Not to be forgotten is the support given by the National Libraries (of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and Wales) for the development of the Core Programmes. IFLA's appreciation to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands), the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Die Deutsche Bibliothek, the National Library of Canada and Uppsala University, Sweden for hosting IFLA Headquarters and the Core Programmes is gratefully recorded. A vote of thanks is also extended to the support of the Deutsche Bücherei (Leipzig), the Biblioteca Nacional (Caracas), the Library of Congress (USA), the National Diet Library (Tokyo), and the National Library of Australia (Canberra) for hosting the Regional Centres for the Core Programme for PAC. IFLA's thanks is also recorded to the Bibliothèque de l'Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal; the Thai Library Association, Bangkok; and FEBAB, Sao Paulo, Brazil for hosting the Regional Offices for Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

IFLA's Patron Sponsors: Lange & Springer Scientific Booksellers (Germany), K.G. Saur Verlag (Germany); 3M (USA); Plextor (Japan); Swets & Zeitlinger BV (Netherlands); GEAC Computers Benelex BV (Netherlands); SilverPlatter Information Ltd. (UK); B.G. Blackwell Ltd. (UK), Apple Computer, Inc. (USA); SilverPlatter, Inc. (USA); H.W. Wilson Foundation (USA); Inmagic Inc. (USA); OCLC (USA) must also be acknowledged for the funds or support in kind provided, which were used for automation, publications, and professional activities. Thanks are also accorded to IFLA's Sustaining and Basic Sponsors.

During the report period the Dutch National Association of Public Libraries, the Dutch Library for Visually Handicapped Students and Professionals, the Library of the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Stichting Vrienden Blinden in Rotterdam, the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, the All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, the Renaissance Foundation in Geneva, the Renaissance Foundation in Kiev, and the Basel Mission in Switzerland sponsored members in the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Surinam, Cuba, Israel, Romania, Ukraine, and Zaire. The Margreet Wijnstroom Fund for Regional Library Development was used for the dues for members from Bolivia and Malawi. Six Honorary Members or other individuals sponsored the personal affiliation of persons from Cuba, China, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Surinam and Vietnam.

Also to be recorded is the support given to the Beijing Conference Organizers by many commercial firms (including Apple Computers, K.G. Saur Verlag, OCLC, Swets Subscription Agency), and local institutions for the IFLA 1996 General Conference and the surrounding satellite events.

Finally, IFLA's gratitude is extended to all IFLA officers and their parent institutions without whose voluntary services much of IFLA's activities could not have been realized.