IFLANET home - International Federation of Library Associations and InstitutionsActivities and ServicesSearchContacts

IFLA Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE)

Annual Report
2004

Summary

During 2004 the evaluation process of FAIFE was completed and now is the time for implementing recommendations and decisions and the integration of FAIFE activities in IFLA Headquarters. In the spring, an application for a grant was submitted to Sida. In February 2005, FAIFE met with Sida representatives and in March the good news came that Sida would support FAIFE with an annual grant over the next five years. By the end of the year FAIFE received grants from The German Library Umbrella and the American Library Association. The new members of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee took over their responsibilities at the end of the IFLA Congress in Buenos Aires after discussing focus points and areas of attention for FAIFE. FAIFE's two programmes during congress proved successful with the largest number of attendees ever and a very positive feedback. Also in Buenos Aires, FAIFE launched the IFLA/FAIFE Theme Report of 2004, and at council we followed up on the Council resolution of 2003 on National Security Legislation. By the end of October, Stuart Hamilton completed his PhD thesis and gave a public defence on the 18th of February 2005.

This year's annual report falls into the following sections: Organisation; Evaluation of FAIFE; Financial viability; Other office activities; Members' reports, and Conclusion.

Organisation

FAIFE is organised with a Chair, Advisory Board and Committee. The IFLA Governing Board appoints the Chair and members for a period of three years with the possibility of re-appointment for a second term. From 1998 FAIFE has had an office in Copenhagen situated at the Royal School of Library and Information Science since 2001. However, FAIFE belongs to the Society Pillar of IFLA and plans on how to support and implement the advocacy and policy work of this pillar by integrating FAIFE in IFLA Headquarters activities are currently in progress.

Advisory Board

The IFLA/FAIFE Advisory Board reports to the Governing Board of IFLA. Its main objectives are to advocate the work of IFLA/FAIFE, assist in fund-raising activities, and act as an executive committee. The Advisory Board works mainly through e-mail correspondence, meets twice during the IFLA congresses, and holds another two meetings in The Hague in March and December. The members of the Advisory Board are: Paul Sturges (Chair) of the United Kingdom, Frode Bakken of Norway, Barbara Schleihagen of Germany, Bob McKee of the United Kingdom and Ellen Tise of South Africa as IFLA Governing Board representative. Susanne Seidelin of the FAIFE Office provides the secretariat. The members are dedicated fellow players and professionals and the working relations and cooperation between board and office are excellent.

Committee

By end of the IFLA Congress in Buenos Aires, August 2004, the new members of IFLA/FAIFE Committee took over their responsibilities. The Committee has now 28 members including the Governing Board representative. The members' list is available at http://www.ifla.org/faife/faife/komite.htm. The Committee is appointed by the Governing Board of IFLA and reports to IFLA Council. The term of office is three years, renewable once - meaning members can serve on the Committee for six years. Members are expected to take part in the business and professional meetings of the Committee during IFLA congresses, to report authoritatively on the state-of-the-affairs in their own country, actively promote freedom of access to information and freedom of expression issues and be willing and able to contribute to the work of the committee in between congresses.

The Committee holds two annual business meetings during IFLA Congresses. The meeting activities have been extended to include a mid-term meeting in March - the first took place in March 2005. At its meeting in Buenos Aires the Committee further decided to hold an extra meeting during congresses to make more room for principle debates on intellectual freedom issues and the direction of FAIFE.

The results of FAIFE depend on close working relations between the Committee, Chair, Advisory Board and Office. Therefore, we are happy to report that we have a dedicated Committee that contributes to the work and wants to get involved. An example of this is the submissions to the annual report on member activities.

Office

The Office is responsible for the daily operation of FAIFE. Besides working with administrative issues, economy, fundraising and strategic development and action plans, the office operates within the three FAIFE key areas of attention: Education, Advocacy and Intervention. The development of the IFLA/FAIFE World Report Series, the FAIFE programme at IFLA congresses, submission of articles, papers and special reports are examples of activities connected to the educational aspects of FAIFE's work.

These activities are also connected with the second key area of attention, advocacy, which involves the development of IFLA policies related to freedom of access to information issues, including advocating for the adoption, translation and implementation of these policies by national library associations and other bodies. Examples of other advocacy activities are the promotion and sharing of results of the PhD thesis, and presentation of papers at conferences and workshops relating to intellectual freedom. Both the Chair and Office, members of the Committee as well as the PhD student have represented FAIFE on such occasions during 2004. The third area of attention, intervention, concerns responding to violations of intellectual freedom and libraries. To respond to reported incidents, the Chair, Office and the Secretary General of IFLA work closely together.

Evaluation of FAIFE

Process

Being the first of IFLA's Core Activities to be evaluated, the FAIFE evaluation functioned as a pilot project and as expected breaking new grounds was a challenging task both with regard to the process itself and the expected outcome. However, the process has not only been very positive and eye opening experience in terms of future priorities and directions of FAIFE but also a necessary one. The evaluation process has, so far, consisted of three stages: a self-assessment followed by a peer review, and the Advisory Board's response to the peer review report. However, a fourth stage will follow in 2005 to implement the recommendations of the peer reviewers and decisions of the Governing Board. Before the self-assessment was forwarded in February 2004, it had been discussed and approved by the FAIFE Advisory Board and sent to the FAIFE Committee for comments. Ms Trudy Huskamp Peterson of the International Council of Archives (ICA), senior member of ICA's Commission for Programme Evaluation and Mr Christobal Pasadas member of the GB and PC conducted the peer review report. The report was handed over to the Chair of FAIFE at the congress in Buenos Aires.

Methodology

Concerning the methodology, the peer reviewers state that the evaluation process should have included an opportunity for the IFLA membership to offer views and comments during the process. Also the reviewers have recommended that IFLA should draft a special manual of procedures for evaluations including standard procedures, tables and handouts. They would also recommend strategic considerations to be included in the documents for the review process of all IFLA units. In its response to the peer review report, the Advisory Board states that it has "on more than one occasion suggested that peer reviewers should have the opportunity to meet with the Core Activity Chairs, officers and other key persons during the evaluation process. Such meetings would provide a broader understanding of the unit to be reviewed and allow for detailing specific challenges. In the case of FAIFE it would have proved most useful for all involved. Therefore, we would strongly recommend this to be part of the future methodology for IFLA evaluations".

Evaluation

The peer reviewers "acknowledge the excellent work done by the FAIFE people in charge of the self-assessment exercise and report. If evaluation and assessment exercises are always a challenge, assessment of a programme like FAIFE within an organisation like IFLA is more challenging by itself and by the fact that our colleagues have been breaking new ground with the methodology. We commend our colleagues for their extremely valuable work, and would like to ask readers of this peer review report to keep this comment in mind when we point to several flaws in the self-assessment".

However, the reviewers also criticised FAIFE's self-assessment (SAR). In its response to the peer review report the Advisory Board stated: "Most of the criticisms in the Peer Review Report follow from the recognition that FAIFE was established with too broad a remit and too weak a funding base. Essentially they concern the need to establish clear and costed priorities for the work of FAIFE. The comment that FAIFE has "no business plan at all" seems harsh to us given all the work that went into the Strategic Plan 2004-05.

The other criticisms ("No clear prioritisation of activities under current financial difficulties" - "Too much emphasis on the need for more staff and resources, but lack of a carefully crafted plan of goals and objectives to be achieved with [in] current financial level" - "No specific approaches and proposals identified to achieve more value for money") are all saying the same thing, from different perspectives, and lead to the recommendation made by the Peer Reviewers: "We advise that FAIFE should draft for every planning cycle a clear statement of priority lines to be covered under current level of funding, plus a further ranking of activities to be undertaken if extra financial resources are available during the same planning cycle". The Advisory Board stresses that this is sensible advice and the FAIFE Advisory Board carried out an initial consideration of this at their second meeting in Buenos Aires. This will also be a key matter for discussion at the FAIFE Committee's first mid-year meeting, in March 2005 where hopefully we will know more of the budget level made available for the next five years".

Further to this, FAIFE had "some general comments to the criticism of the peer reviewers regarding prioritising and detailing of activities and plans under the current financial difficulties. Unlike other Core Activities of IFLA, FAIFE has no host organisation covering staff salaries and basic administrative costs of the office. Therefore, in February 2004 when the Self-Assessment Report was conducted prospects were that by end of 2004 FAIFE would run out of current finances and reserves, with no other funding secured for 2005 than 24,000 EUR - not sufficient even for a half time employee. Consequently in February 2004, there was no budget available for basic activities; FAIFE was in fact facing a possible close down. One could argue that despite this situation prioritised plans regarding basic activities should have been detailed in the SAR. However, at the time we found that the Strategic Plan 2004-2005 identifying the three key areas of attention and the prioritised related actions provided the directions and priorities of the near future. At the time, the most important question to solve was if IFLA would continue FAIFE's activities. If that was to be the case, the next step would be prioritising and detailing basic activities matching whatever the sum IFLA could make available. Though the Governing Board indicated its support of FAIFE activities at its March meeting, it was not until August 2004 that the final decision to ensure an emergency budget for 2005 was taken.

All this said, FAIFE acknowledges the excellent work of the reviewers - their report is clear and helpful in its constructive comments with reference to our general comments, there are therefore eight specific recommendations in the Peer Review Report, which we support and which need to be taken forward either by FAIFE or by IFLA as a whole, as follows:

  • FAIFE should prepare for every planning cycle a clear statement of priority lines to be covered under current level of funding plus a further ranking of activities to be undertaken if extra financial resource is available during the same planning cycle.
  • FAIFE should build strong (er) partnerships with relevant international agencies particularly in relation to FAIFE's role of monitoring and responding to incidents.
  • FAIFE'S financial situation should be considered as part of the work be undertaken to develop a sustainable financial framework for IFLA as a whole.
  • The FAIFE office should be integrated into the work of IFLA HQ without being swallowed by HQ
  • The proposed network of FAIFE centres should be included in the review of IFLA regional offices.
  • IFLA Sections should consider having an SC member dedicated to liaison with FAIFE.
  • The Professional Committee should review the role of research across the activities of IFLA.
  • IFLA should consider a procedure by which active Committee members are able to extend their participation beyond the normal term of office."

Implementation and new directions

At its mid-term meeting in March 2005, the Committee discussed the first draft of a new strategic plan for FAIFE. The plan will take into consideration the recommendation of the peer reviewers and relate to the goals of Sida as well as to the UN Millennium Goals. To this end, the Committee has suggested that IFLA as a whole should relate to the Millennium Goals. According to the contract with Sida, ALP and FAIFE should work more closely together. How to do so will be discussed at a workshop ALP and FAIFE will hold together in October 2005. The results will provide input to a strategy and work plan and further identify projects for the remaining contract period with Sida. At its mid-term meeting, the FAIFE Committee identified areas and projects for the cooperation with ALP. Already though, a further focus on social responsibilities will be included in the IFLA/FAIFE World Report 2005 and in the FAIFE programme for the IFLA Congress in Oslo in 2005.

Financial viability

In 2004 FAIFE received grants from the following donors: The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA); the Dutch Library Umbrella (FOBID) - part of a five year agreement, the German Library Umbrella (BID); the American Library Association (ALA), and the Danish Library Umbrella and IFLA. We would like to warmly thank all donors for their support. IFLA has received a grant from the Information for All Programme for a project entitled IFLA/UNESCO Guidelines on Freedom of Access to Internet through Libraries Project - FAIFE is in charge of this project.

The agreement with SIDA expired at the end of 2003. It was prolonged until the end of 2004 and the remaining part of the 2001-2003 grants was submitted in 2004. A joint application from ALP and FAIFE was submitted to Sida in May 2004 aiming at a five-year agreement. Due to re-organisations within Sida and a change of the Swedish aid policy, the response to our application was delayed until December. In February 2005, FAIFE was invited to a face-to-face meeting to discuss how the work and projects of FAIFE could contribute to the goals of Sida. This meeting resulted in a revised application and project plan. In March, Sida submitted a very positive response stating that over the next five years, FAIFE would receive an annual grant of 2 million SEK - also ALP has been beneficiary of a slightly larger grant. Before we received this positive news an emergency budget for 2005 was prepared and the Governing Board of IFLA decided that IFLA would finance the basic costs not covered by other grants. The financial situation has been an issue of debate both of the Advisory Board and the Governing Board during all of 2004 leading to the grant received from BID and ALA and FAIFE's contribution to IFLA's list of the most important projects for funding with three project proposals. IFLA is working hard to secure funding for the organisation including FAIFE activities but the process will take some time and therefore the agreement with Sida is an enormous step forward.

Other office activities

Theme Report 2004

FAIFE launched its 2004 Theme Report entitled Libraries for Lifelong Literacy at the press conference in Buenos Aires. The report supports the presidential theme of 2003-2005 that highlights the important role of libraries in addressing literacy and lifelong learning issues. With focus on Latin and Central America, Asia and Africa the report discuss the role and specific challenges facing libraries in these regions: education, lifelong learning, implementation of ICTs, indigenous knowledge and oral traditions, and the basic right to access to information. The conclusion chapter debates the barriers facing these regions on their way to be part of an inclusive information and knowledge society. Some of the issues of debate have been addressed by IFLA and FAIFE in statements concerning the Internet, indigenous knowledge and sustainable development, and the FAIFE programme in Buenos Aires also focussed on some of the points being made in the report.

Buenos Aires programme

FAIFE had two professional programmes during the IFLA Congress in Buenos Aires. They both attracted great interest and the biggest number of attendees we have ever had. The first was a joint programme with Library History Section: Experiences of years of dictatorship and the effects on libraries: How can libraries continue to promote intellectual freedom in the aftermath of crisis? Three very different papers addressed the theme. Clara Budnik of Chile brought us back to the days of the Pinochet regime with censorship, banning of books and harassment of librarians and library users, and we learned about the risks many librarians took to provide access to banned books. Human rights archives from the period have been included in the UNESCO Memory of the World project. Dr Oscar Lopez Goldarace spoke of human rights as an orientation frame and a challenge for information and communication in Latin America. He highlighted the absence of - and subsequent need for - public and governmental policies in information and communication. Marcel Bertolesi's paper Becoming activist - Becoming other - Becoming invisible: a libraries' genealogy or history of the repression against reading the need for a Global Social Forum of Alternative Libraries drew lines of continuity along the history of libraries. In this sense, it provided an answer to the structuralize way of thinking. From the concept of "becoming", the speaker drew a consistency plan relative to the current world of libraries and proposed creative lines of thoughts and collective outlets.

The second programme addressed the theme of the IFLA/FAIFE Theme Report 2004. The programme entitled, Libraries for lifelong literacy: "Informacy" as a way of supporting unrestricted access to information in developing countries discussed how libraries can ensure that their staff and users are equipped to deal with the challenges of developing information literacy. By addressing this aspect of the Digital Divide, the role of "Informacy" in Africa and other developing countries was highlighted. The papers identified ways in which libraries can provide the necessary skills to take advantage of new information and communications technologies and encourage active participation in the knowledge society. Relating to his PhD thesis, Stuart Hamilton identified areas in which libraries in developing countries should concentrate on to take advantage of information and communications technologies and encourage active participation in the knowledge society. Paul Sturges gave an overview of the challenges facing developing countries with special focus on Africa. Ellen Namhila addressed the many challenges and prospects of Namibia's transition to an information society: The lack of ICT expertise, in particular in rural areas and the high communication costs are critical challenges. Overcoming these problems is a challenge to the country's ICT policy and program implementation and the efforts of libraries and archives in positioning their services and facilities to provide wider access to information and knowledge.

IFLA Policy implementation and follow up

The Glasgow Declaration on Libraries, Information Services and Intellectual Freedom is now available in 11 languages and the IFLA Internet Manifesto in 17 languages.

The Internet Manifesto is being followed up by the IFLA/UNESCO Internet Guidelines Project sponsored by The Information for All Programme. Due to the grant received by Sida it has now become possible to address and take into account the special needs and challenges of developing countries by holding workshops in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. At the SCESCAL conference in Kampala July 2004, FAIFE arranged a workshop debating the specific challenges in Africa. Building on these results, we aim at holding similar workshops during the autumn of 2005. Further to this, we will arrange a meeting with regional ICT experts in the beginning of 2006. The outcome of these activities will provide an invaluable input to the guidelines, which we expect to have finalised by April 2006. The development process of the IFLA/UNESCO Internet Guidelines would thus contribute to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process as an example of how the principles of the WSIS draft declaration can be embedded in practise.

The Internet and freedom of access to information

At the end of October 2004, Stuart Hamilton finalised his PhD project entitled, To what extent can libraries provide free equal and unhampered access to Internet accessible information resources on a global scale? Being co-financed by the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen and IFLA/FAIFE, this PhD project is an example of IFLA's close cooperation with the higher education sector. The results will be of great value to the international library community and all those concerned with freedom of access to information and freedom of expression issues. During 2004 interim results were presented and papers presented at conferences in Argentina, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Uganda, and published in IFLA Journal and in a compilation of conference proceedings in Serbia and Montenegro.

Stuart Hamilton's PhD thesis is specifically concerned with restrictions on access to Internet-accessible information via the Internet in libraries. Empirical investigations found that several barriers to online information flow exist with the potential to affect information access in libraries all over the world. In summary:

  • The basic access problems of the digital divide leave library users in many countries suffering from a lack of hardware, adequate Internet connections and skills necessary to get the most out of the Internet
  • The use of filtering software, either on library networks or at a national infrastructure level, is causing a degree of censorship in some parts of the world that leaves Internet users at a disadvantage regarding information access
  • Increases in Internet surveillance and data retention as a result of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks are impacting upon library user privacy and having adverse consequences for the freedom of expression of Internet users
  • The increasingly commodified nature of the Internet is leading to more charging for access to information resources. Library budgets are pressured to absorb these costs but they are being passed on to users in many countries
  • Changes in the online copyright environment are placing more control in the hands of large intellectual property owners. Advances in digital rights management are beginning to limit the uses of online information resources and impact negatively on the common store of knowledge available to library users worldwide

The thesis concludes that as Internet infrastructure and use within a country develops, more obstacles to accessing information become apparent, and the extent to which libraries are able to overcome them is dependent on their ability to influence decision-making processes at a number of levels, from the local community up to levels of international governance.

Reports on members' activities in 2004

The Chair has presented papers, gave lectures or functioned in the capacity of consultant at the following conference, workshops and other events:

  • BOBCATSSS Conference 26-28 Jan., Riga, Latvia. Presentation: Understanding cultures and freedom of access to information.
  • First Workshop of international project on Improving Transparency, Quality and Effectiveness of Public Services to the Poor, 5-7 Feb., Zagreb, Croatia. Facilitating Workshop in role as Academic Consultant.
  • ENSSIB 29 Apr., Lyons, France. Lecture to students: The Cybercrime Treaty and freedom of access to information.
  • Conference on Professional Information on the Internet 31 May - 1 June, Krakow, Poland. Presentation: FAIFE and the ethics of professional information in Cyberspace.
  • Second Workshop of international project on Improving Transparency, Quality and Effectiveness of Public Services to the Poor, 28-30 June, Karachi, Pakistan. Facilitating Workshop in role as Academic Consultant.
  • Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern African Librarians (SCECSAL) Conference, 5-7 July, Kampala, Uganda. Facilitating open session on the UNESCO/IFLA Internet Manifesto and proposed Guidelines.
  • World Library and Information Congress 23-27 Aug. Buenos Aires. Presentation: Demons, disease and the library in Africa.
  • Second Beacon for Freedom of Expression International Conference, 18-19 Sept. Alexandria, Egypt. Presentation: Transparency and freedom of access to information.
  • ICIE Symposium on Information Ethics, 4-6 Oct. Karlsruhe, Germany. Presentation: Corruption, transparency and a role for ICT?
  • Career Development Group of CILIP, 13 Oct. London, England. Presentation: The WLIC and FAIFE.
  • Information as Public Domain: Access through Libraries Conference, 27-28 Oct. St Petersburg, Russia. Presentation: Transparency as a principle for work with information in the public domain.

Advisory Board

Apart from the regular and very active involvement in email discussions, all members of the Advisory Board have attended all Advisory Board and Committee meetings until now. In 2004 members also attended FAIFE sessions at WLIC in Buenos Aires.

Also, Advisory Board member Bob McKee reports the following activities:

  • Promoting the work of FAIFE in my speech on "librarians without borders" to the New Professionals Discussion Group at WLIC Buenos Aires
  • Promoting issues of intellectual freedom in my paper on "the information society" given to the Annual Student Conference of CILIP's Career Development Group in March and repeated at the CDG Autumn Student Conference in November.
  • Promoting freedom of access to information (in advance of the new Freedom of Information Act which came into effect in the UK on 1 January 2005) in my speech to open the new Metropolitan Police repository in May.
  • Charring Kay Raseroka as Guest Speaker at CILIP's annual Members Day when Kay referred to FAIFE-related issues in her speech as IFLA President.

Committee

The majority of the new Committee members attended the FAIFE Committee meetings and FAIFE programmes at WLIC in Buenos Aires. Around 30% of the members attended the mid-term meeting in March 2005. Further members have contributed to email communications between office and members.

Barbara Jones member of the Committee reports further on her FAIFE related activities:

I am giving a paper at the American Library Association's ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) conference in April. Here is how my paper is being advertised: Globalization of information means that each nation's laws affect scholarly communication in all academic libraries. Conversations with IFLA/FAIFE members reveal how the diverse cultures of intellectual freedom affect academic libraries worldwide. Learn about the principles of intellectual freedom in a global context and hear examples of how other countries approach such principles and implement policies. Hear how a complex international legal environment regarding the Internet affects you in your daily professional life.

To this end, Barbara Jones asked her colleagues in the FAIFE Committee to answer the following questions:

  • As a librarian, how does your participation in FAIFE translate to your own country? For example, do you report back to an official, to a library association?
  • As a professional librarian, what does your participation mean to you in terms of professional growth? What have you learned?
  • Does your country's library association have written policies regarding freedom of expression? Or, do you base your library's policies on Article 19? Or your national constitution? Other laws?
  • Do they apply to academic libraries?
  • What do you consider the most crucial issues for your country's academic libraries in terms of access to information and freedom of expression?
  • What do you think are the biggest international freedom of expression issues for academic libraries?
  • What is the current status of Internet access in your country's academic libraries?
  • What Internet service provider covers academic libraries, or are there several? Who administers and monitors Internet content provided to academic libraries? If some content is filtered out, what are the criteria?
  • What freedom of expression/access to information issues are people in your country--in general--concerned about? Privacy? Blasphemy? Sexually explicit images? Other?
  • What freedom of expression/access to information issues are faculty and students in academic institutions concerned about?
  • Anything else you would like to share with me would be appreciated.

Member of the Committee, Vehbi Miftari reports on his activities:

  • During "The Library Week", in April 2004, the biggest activity in Kosovo in libraries field, I've presented what FAIFE Committee is, the aim, activities ect. in contest of Kosovo. It was very interesting for all the librarian community.
  • The Power Point Presentation of the intellectual freedom and the freedom of expression in the biggest public libraries in Kosovo.
  • "Finding out the local resources" in defending intellectual freedom in Kosovo. This project has been stopped because the Library Association of Kosovo has been involved in an electoral process and they were not ready to help me in organizing the activities.
  • "Ethnic conflicts and the freedom of expression", a Lecture I had written to take in Alexandria (Egypt) during the Conference "Beacon for Freedom of Expression". The lecture was prepared, but I could not travel, because the administrative difficulties.
  • The preparation of annual report has to come.
  • Publication of the book: "Libraries in Kosovo and access to information", 2004, National Library of Kosovo (Maybe, It could be interesting to be translated in English or in one other European language)
  • Publication of the article: "Internet, a global access to information?" in magazine "Biblioletra", Pristina, November 2004.
  • Publication of the article: "Libraries in Kosovo: an access to global information", "Bibliotheca", Tirana, Albania, December 2004. .

Member of the Committee Ann Curry provide the following information about her activities:

  • From September to December, 2004 taught a 13-week LIS master's level course on intellectual freedom to 30 students at the University of British Columbia, The syllabus for this course is available at: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/COURSES/syllabi/04-05-wt1/l569j.htm
  • Conducted research that resulted in updates to my website titled "Censorship in British Columbia: A History" Can be accessed at
  • http://www.bcpl.gov.bc.ca/bcla/ifc/censorshipbc/intro.html
  • In February 2004, gave a seminar to British Columbia teachers on the history and current issues regarding censorship of school textbooks at both the publisher and school board level.
  • In March 2004, presented a paper at the International Sexual and Gender Diversity Conference in Vancouver. Paper reported on research investigating possible discrimination against gay/lesbian teens in libraries and was titled "If I Ask, Will They Answer? Evaluating Public Library Reference Service to Gay/Lesbian Youth" Full research paper will be published in Reference & User Services Quarterly, Spring 2006 issue.
  • In April 2004, presented a paper at the Library Association of Alberta Annual Conference in Jasper, Alberta. Paper reported the results of a national survey that investigated collection management of alternative medicine materials, focusing on librarian tendencies to censor such materials.
  • In June 2004, presented a paper at the Canadian Library Association Annual Conference in Victoria, BC. Paper was titled "Education for Intellectual Freedom: The Current Scene in North America."

Committee member Marica Sapro-Ficovic of Croatian has submitted the following report on 4th Croatian FAIFE Round Table (10 Dec. 2005, National and University Librray, Zagreb)

The Croatian Library Association FAIFE in cooperation with other institutions organises traditionally on 10 December (World Day of Human rights), a Round Table dedicated to

Free access to information and freedom of expression. This year's Round Table was held at the National and University Library in Zagreb, under the title Free access to information and academic community. The discussion on this topic is recognized to be of utmost importance not only for everyday information needs of the Croatian academic community, but in larger sense, as needed and valuable support to the actual efforts of Croatia as a candidate to the EU membership.

The organizers of the 4th Round Table, besides the FAIFE from Croatia, were the Department of Information Science and the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, and Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. The participants (about 60) were mostly, but not exclusively, from the Croatian university and research libraries. Welcome speeches were given by the organizers (4) and we were especially honoured and pleased to hear the warm and supporting message sent to the Round Table by IFLA/FAIFE Chair Mr. Paul Sturges.

The guest-speakers were the recognised professors of the Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy (V. Africa, V. Spajic-Vrkas) and others who talked about human rights and academic community. The second part of the Round Table included issues related to university libraries on their ways to the Knowledge Society and more specific library issues such as: designing library human rights collections, international relationships, information retrieval, education and access to the medical information, etc. The third part, led by Professor Z. Puhovski (Zagreb) was dedicated to the ethical restrictions of academic freedom and was followed by discussion of the participants. The post-discussions approved the great interest of the public and success of the Round Table

Here are the conclusions of the Round Table:

  1. Universities and academic libraries contribute to a great extent in creating conditions for lifelong learning and free exchange of information that are indispensable for the development of the Knowledge Society.
  2. University library is a part of the university, thus university librarians are members of the academic community. The goals of Bologna Declaration and other European documents on higher education pertain to libraries and librarians as well.
  3. A work in the scholarly and academic community should promote the principles of professional ethics, free access to information, freedom of expression, public representation, publishing and exchanging of scientific achievements, the rights on authorship and privacy protection.
  4. The members of the academic community should provide access to their work to the public. The quality control of those works should be equally public.
  5. High school librarians are responsible for a free access to sources of information and collections to all members of academic community.
  6. High school libraries support learning by developing the use of diverse sources of information and by facilitating a retrieval, selection and evaluation of relevant information.
  7. It is necessary to introduce education on human rights and democratic society into university curricula, so that the members of the academic community can fully experience their freedoms and rights. The responsibilities of librarians to ensure free access to information and to protect the users' privacy should be included in those programs.
  8. The studies of librarianship in Croatia should be made comparable to the same European studies and a better mobilization of students and teachers should be provided.
  9. The state must invest into development of the basic information and academic institutions and enhance the development of infrastructure for dissemination of information, thus providing the foundations for excellent work of libraries at universities, institutions and high schools.

The 5th Round Table will be held again on the 10 December 2005, and announced is the topic On Free access to information and lifelong learning.

Marian Koren reports on FAIFE issues in the Netherlands

New legislation is upcoming in the Netherlands concerning extension of powers to request and use data for the sake of national security. The Act passed already the Second Chamber. A series of articles started a debate in the library magazine about Patriot Act -like developments and the role of librarians. References were made to IFLA and FAIFE statements. The library umbrella, FOBID, sent a warning letter to the First Chamber, which has requested an in depth research.  A major conference on access to information: libraries, privacy and government, has been prepared for 18 March 2005 with speakers from IFLA, ALA, FAIFE and Dutch experts.

FOBID continues to support FAIFE activities. The library associations have also made contacts with national government and the National UNESCO committee concerning the preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. Discussions on a viable monitoring system for implementation of the Action plan are taking place.

Conclusion

To be able to report on the very positive outcome of our application to Sida and the discussion about the future FAIFE has had - and will continue to have - through 2005, the annual report for 2004 appears later than usual. Debating future goals and strategy as well as the Society Pillar of IFLA, the Committee has concluded that FAIFE's main objective will still be on libraries and freedom of access to information and freedom of expression but further to this more focus will be devoted to libraries and social responsibilities. This conclusion is in line with the recommendation of the peer reviewers and with the goals of Sida. Issues such as the provision of information about HIV/AIDS, women's special needs in this regard, empowerment of people through access to information in specific areas and in general, and the effects of corruption to the free flow of information will be an integrated part of FAIFE's activities and projects. The Internet Guidelines Project with its specific focus on the challenges facing the developing world is an example of how to work with these issues. Also, the World Report Series will follow up on the role and specific activities of libraries on social responsibility issues.

At its mid-term meeting in March 2005, the Committee debated how to strengthen the Society Pillar of IFLA and the various aspects and consequences of integrating FAIFE with IFLA Headquarters. Also the Governing Board debated the issue and approved the following motion " That the Secretary General negotiate with the Royal Library, the Director of FAIFE and with CLM to enable both continuity and integration as soon as possible". These negotiations are currently in progress and will result in a proposal to the Governing Board. Regarding the physically integration of FAIFE, the Royal Library will be able to accommodate an enlarged IFLA Headquarters by September 2006 at the earliest.