Governing Board Elections
2007-2009
Statement of Candidacy
For the postition of Governing Board Member
2007-2009
Zhang Xiaolin
China
My first direct involvement with IFLA started in 1996 when I attended its conference in Beijing when I acted as a Special Personal Assistant to the President and General secretary of IFLA to liaison with Chinese Organizing Committee. A number of IFLA conferences later, I was elected in 2005 to be the member of Governing Board (2005-2007) and the member of Asia and Oceania Section Standing Committee (2005-2009). Though I am probably still learning to contribute better to IFLA community, the experience I gained will benefit me as well as IFLA.
When decided to run for the Governing Board of IFLA for the second term, I am taking this as an opportunity (1) to push for greater and more active involvement of Chinese libraries in IFLA, as showcased by Chinese language becoming one of IFLA working languages in 2006, and (2) to act more proactively in advancing key issues affecting sustainable development of an information society, as witnessed by my library's hosting of 2007 International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPRES 2007,
http://ipres.las.ac.cn) and International Seminar on Hot Issues in Copyright and Protecting Rights for Access to Knowledge.
In recent years I worked as a practitioner with a strong research background. Starting from a library science educator, then the director of Chinese Science Digital Library, and now the executive director of the largest research library system in China, National Science Library which services more than 100 institutes across mainland China, I learned to utilize modern ICT and innovation-driven management skills to push for new models of information services while upholding libraries' role and value in user environment. I am proud of my working in developing a large distributed digital information system and in constructing knowledge-oriented services embedded into user processes. I am also enjoying taking chief responsibility in Chinese digital library standards development, and in organizing international exchanges and cooperatives with colleagues in Germany, USA, Korea, Japan, among others.
In the time when co-operation and collaboration are needed more than ever before, I fully understand the importance of promoting professional communications among various nations and languages. I will make endeavors to build an open and inviting forum, on which our colleagues all over the world can fully and freely express their ideas and opinions. It is my strong wish and will be my greatest honor to serve IFLA as the member of Governing Board of IFLA 2007-2009.
