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Government Libraries Section

Conferences 2001-2007


Durban 2007

Open Session: Government libraries: approaches to multi-lingual collections and services

Seoul 2006

Open Session: Customer needs: The engines of change for Government Libraries and Information Centers

Oslo 2005

Open Session: Destination unknown? Piloting innovation in Government Libraries.

International Preconference:
Successful Preconference in Stockholm with 36 participants!
From August 20th to August 22nd 2005 the Section held its Preconference to the World Library and Information Congress in the Government Offices in Stockholm by the title: How government libraries and information services support the strategy of their home organisation in practice.

The programme, list of participants and papers and the discussion can be seen at: http://iflagovlibstockholm2005.blogspot.com/


Buneos Aires 2004

Report on the section's programme

Sunday, August 22, 2004
Meeting of the Standing Committee I (See: Minutes)

Open Session
The role of information literacy in a democracy: how government libraries can help.

Saturday, August 28, 2004
Meeting of the Standing Committee II (See: Minutes)


Berlin 2003

Report on the section's programme

Friday, August 1
Meeting of the Standing Committee I (See: Minutes)

Monday August 4th
Special visits for section members and participants of the workshop:
9:00 Guided tour in the Chancellery of Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and library visit (Head of Library: Mrs Dross) (Photo: visit chancellery)

11:00 Guided tour in the office of Federal President Rau und in Bellevue Castle and park (Photo: Bellevue castle)

Wednesday August 6th

Open Session

Changing Governments, Changing Libraries

  1. Democracy through access to legal information for newly democratising nations: the Kenyan perspective
    JOHN N. GATHEGI (Florida State University, USA)
  2. L'impacte du changement politique sur le développement des bibliothèques et des services d'archives en République du Mali depuis 1991 (The impact of political change on the development of libraries and archives in the Republic of Mali since 1991)
    LAMINE CAMARA (National Directorate of Archives of Mali, Mali)
  3. Regime change and the destruction of the Institute for Sexual Science Library, Berlin 1933
    REBECCA KNUTH (University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii)
  4. Changing government, changing libraries, changing librarians: Bulgarian public libraries as access points to government information
    SNEJANA TANEVA (American Center, Sofia, Bulgaria) and MARGARITA ANGELOVA (National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria)

Thursday, August 7th

Title: German government libraries since unification - experiences and perspectives.
Venues: Federal Ministry of the Interior, Alt Moabit 101 D, 10559 Berlin
Federal Foreign Office, Werderscher Markt 1, 10117 Berlin

9:00 - 9:30 Federal Ministry of the Interior

9:30 Opening of the session
Welcome address: Ministerialrat Rybak, Head of Department
Maria Hentges, Head of Library
Lena Olsson, Stockholm, Chair of the IFLA Section of Government Libraries

10:00 - 12:00 Paper and Discussion
German government libraries since Unification - models of library organisation since the Bonn-Berlin-resolution of 1991. The example of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Speakers: Gunda Oppermann, Martina Leibold (Library of the Federal Ministry of the Interior)

11:15 Library tour

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch break
(Transfer to the Foreign Office, security check at the entrance, lunch in the restaurant of the Foreign Office)
Venue: Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Werderscher Markt 1, 10017 Berlin, Library and Conference Room

13:30 Tour through the Foreign Office(starting at the restaurant)

14:00 Opening: Head of Department (TBA)
Speaker: Bärbel Bendach, Library of the Federal Foreign Office

14:15 - 15:15 Paper and Discussion
Federal government libraries in Berlin - new models in a new environment.
Speaker: Bärbel Bendach, Library of the Federal Foreign Office

15:15 Library tour

15:45 - 16:00 Coffee break

16:00 Paper and Discussion
Fife new German Laender, new ministries, new libraries - experiences from Thuringia and others
Speaker: Maria Göckeritz, Ministry of Science, Research and Art, Thuringia

16:30 -
Concluding statement
Speakers: Lena Olsson, Christine Wellems

Friday, August 8th

Standing Committee II (See: Minutes)


Glasgow 2002

National Information policies and the role of Government Libraries

Sunday, 18. August
Minutes of the Standing Committee meetings August 17th and August 23rd, 2002


London 2002

The section has organised a seminar/workshop in London in cooperation with the British Government Libraries Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals CILIP. Title of the seminar is: "Informing Government: Government Library and Information Services in the Information Age." Date: 14 - 15 August 2002

Venues for library visits and presentations were 13 different departments in London including

  • Department of Trade and Industry
  • Department of Culture, Media and Sport
  • Cabinet Office Centre for Management and Policy Studies
  • Home Office
  • Department of Health
  • Foreign and Commonwealth Office
  • Department for Work and Pensions
  • Department for International Development
  • Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  • Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
  • Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
  • Department for Education and Skills

The opening session and the closing session took place in the Department of Trade and Industry's Conference Centre.

Speakers from Great Britain, Finland, Germany and the United States presented papers on
  • IT and electronic delivery
  • Cataloguing - an essential skill reborn
  • Outside the box -broadening horizons
  • Strategic management - shifting up a gear.

The seminar started with a welcome from Lena Olsson, Chair of the IFLA Section on Government Libraries, and Linda Wishart, Chair of the UK Committee of Departmental Librarians. In each department the head of library and information services presented the services and the library - additionally one paper was presented by a speaker.

The summary was presented by David Smith

Seminar website:
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/groups/glg/ifla/index.htm

All papers are published on the website of the conference at http://www.la-hq.org.uk/groups/glg/ifla/papers.htm

Responsible: Suzanne Burge, London
E-mail: Suzanne.Burge@ombudsman.gsi.gov.uk


Boston 2001

Off-site workshop in cooperation with the Middlesex Law Library on: "Strategies for recognition - how to promote government libraries and services." August 23, 2001

Workshop 'Strategies for Recognition: How to Promote Government Library Services': Report by Rob Klaverstijn

Strategies for recognition - how to promote government libraries and services
paper by MARNIE WARNER (Law Library Coordinator, Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries, USA)