The IFLA/FAIFE Committee held two business meetings in Jerusalem, on Sunday the 13^th and on Friday the 18^th of August. 14 committee members were present at the first meeting and 11 at the second, including the new members Clara Budnik, Chile, and Winnie Vitzansky, Denmark. 10-12 other IFLA delegates attended the meetings as observers. Alex Byrne chaired the meetings of which the major issues were: the Office report, the Action Plan for 2001 and the Budget for 2001-2003, the Draft World Report, the Future Structure of IFLA's Core Activities, Policy Discussions, Cuba, and IFLA/FAIFE Activities at the Conference.

The Chair welcomed members and observers and noted that it was unfortunate that a number of members had been unable to attend.

Office report

The Director introduced the Office report and both he and Carsten Frederiksen were complimented on it. It was agreed that the agenda and papers need to be distributed earlier to allow for those with long travel times or other commitments.

Carsten introduced the Joint Kosova Library Mission of Unesco, CoE and IFLA/FAIFE. The IFLA/FAIFE Report on Libraries in Kosova is now in print and was distributed at the meeting. While Carsten is trying to ensure that the recommendations will be adopted and pursued, he noted that the issue was no longer primarily a matter for IFLA/FAIFE. In the beginning of October a meeting including representatives of Unesco, CoE, UNMIK (UN Mission in Kosovo), the Open Society Institute and IFLA/FAIFE will be held in IFLA HQ aiming to co-ordinate further steps to rehabilitate Kosovar libraries. The Committee complimented the initiative and the report.

The Chair provided a brief verbal report on the situation in East Timor and will pursue the matter with East Timorese authorities.

The Director noted the importance of the link with IFEX to facilitate cooperation with others working on issues of intellectual freedom. The Office will continue to develop that and other relevant relationships.

Action plan and budget

Presenting the Action Plan for 2001 and Budget for 2001-2003 the Director advised that Office had signed a contract with SIDA providing funding and that the schedule of payments was under negotiation. DANIDA had promised support, but its contribution would not be confirmed until the end of this year. The Office was complimented on this achievement, but some concern was expressed at the budget's exclusive dependence on Scandinavian sources. It was agreed that it in the longer term it would be advisable to broaden the base. In consequence of a proposal from an observer from Denmark it was moved and agreed to request the Executive Board to officially ask library associations to provide foundation funding to support the basic operations of the Office.

Marta Terry noted that the library associations of some countries such as Cuba could not provide funds but could give assistance in kind, eg translations. This was acknowledged and welcomed by the Committee.

World report

The Committee noted that the World Report had not been published in a printed version. As this was in part due to delays in submitting revised and additional reports to the Office, it was agreed that the Office would send reminders including the preferred format for reports to all members and other potential contributors as soon as possible.

All members would submit revised reports and, wherever possible, pursue reports on countries not included in the preliminary version for submission to the Office by 15 November 2000 at the latest. Late reports will be included on the website but it will not be possible to include them in the first edition of the World Report. The Report will be edited and launched at the beginning of 2001.

Efforts should be made to create an international event with the launch of the Report. Stories should be provided to sympathetic journalists and it was suggested that there should be national launches, exhibits at book fairs etc. The Office has established a list of sympathetic journalists, but several members said that they knew interested journalists. It was agreed that members would advise the Office of the names and contact details for addition to the list.

Future structure of IFLA Core Activities

The Chair described the proposed Future structure IFLA Core Activities (i.e. the five Core Programmes, IFLA/FAIFE, CLM and any identified in the future). He noted that IFLA/FAIFE conforms to the proposed model in that it has both an office and a committee except for the recommended establishment of an "executive group" from the committee. Members indicated that they were comfortable with the recommendations noting that the accountabilities would need to be clarified and better communication implemented.

Independent Libraries in Cuba

On behalf of the Cuban Library Association, Marta Terry commented on the IFLA/FAIFE action in regard to the ‘independent libraries’ and on the position of libraries in Cuba generally and conveyed information on the effects of US sanctions against Cuba. The Chair undertook to pursue the matter of the sanctions.

Policy discussion

As a start of the Policy discussion it was agreed that the major priority for the IFLA/FAIFE Committee in the concluding year of its initial four year term was to "Go Global!". All Committee members and the Office will need to work towards that goal.

The Chair summarised issues and concerns, which had been brought to his attention concerning the relationship between Committee and Office:

• The Office was established to support the IFLA/FAIFE Committee as resolved at the Copenhagen Conference in 1997.
• There needs to be more regular communication between the Office and the Committee and consultation on initiatives before they are implemented to take advantage of the expertise of Committee members.
• A closer relationship, with clearer accountabilities, needs to be developed between the Office, Committee and IFLA HQ.
• A mid term meeting and symposium would be highly desirable to deepen the work of the Committee and Office.
• The launch of the World Report should be a major event.
• Committee members should organise activities and publish papers in their countries and regions and currently report them to the Office for inclusion on the website and in the annual report.
• Committee members should take a more active role in preparing conference programs.

It was agreed to establish a Conference Program Subcommittee to prepare the Conference program in collaboration with the Office. For the Boston Conference, the Conference Program Subcommittee will consist of Marianna Tax Choldin (convenor), Marta Terry, Ann Symons, and Alex Byrne.

The Chair suggested the following activities for a IFLA/FAIFE Programme for the Boston Conference 2001:

• "Banned in Boston" exhibition in one of the libraries to be visited
• "X-rated" workshop to challenge our personal limits using confronting slides/video, brief presentations on the 4 areas of sex, pornography and obscenity/explicit violence/ideology, religion and politics/’dangerous’ facts (e.g. bomb making, drugs)
• "Taking a stand" workshop: introduced by librarians from different parts of the world (e.g. Provence, Birmingham University UK, USA, Africa) who have had to respond to IFLA/FAIFE issues to stimulate discussion on ways of addressing them.

The Committee supported these suggestions and agreed to send further ideas to the Conference Program Subcommittee.

The Chair noted that the Section of University Libraries and other General Research Libraries has agreed in principle to hold a session at the Glasgow Conference 2002 on the role of academic libraries in promoting diversity and democracy in conjunction with IFLA/FAIFE and Division VIII (with their agreement). Marianna Tax Choldin suggested a session on young adults and intellectual freedom. The Committee supported these suggestions and agreed to send further ideas to the Conference Program Subcommittee.

Following an extensive discussion, it was agreed that it would be desirable to hold a mid term meeting to enable the Committee and Office to work through complex issues which cannot be easily addressed during the two hour business meetings at the annual conference. It was noted that the first should focus on the content and nature of the IFLA/FAIFE reports and publicising our work outside the library world. It was also agreed that a regional symposium would take advantage of bringing together the Committee and Office and that it would be desirable to hold it in a Spanish speaking country (in view of the locations of recent and near future IFLA Conferences). The possibility of a joint venture with IFEX was raised. Noting that the IFLA Latin America and Caribbean Regional Section will be meeting in Buenos Aires in conjunction with the book fair and conference 16-17 April 2001, the Committee agreed that a meeting and symposium later that week would be the first option but that Madrid would be an alternative. The location and dates will be identified as soon as possible.

As an alternative or supplement to a mid-term meeting it was suggested that the Office might pay targeted visits to meet with Committee members in various regions.

It was also noted that the Crimea Conference had become a most important event for countries of Eastern Europe and surrounding regions so it would be highly desirable for IFLA/FAIFE to be represented the next time, 7-16 June 2001.

The Chair proposed that the Committee should recommend to the Executive Board the establishment of a formal network of "IFLA Supporters of Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression". Alex suggested that the network should consist of Association or Institution members of IFLA, which applied to the EB or delegate of the EB to be recognised as an "IFLA Supporter of Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression". The members should undertake a commitment to the Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom, to be active in a specified nation or region, and to be self-supporting. The EB could approve, with or without qualifications, such applications for, say, three years, renewable by application. Supporters would be able to use an IFLA/FAIFE logo to identify their recognition. The activity of Supporters would include acting as a rapporteur for the identified country or region, promoting intellectual freedom and libraries and translating documents to or from relevant languages. Action on incidents could be taken with approval from the IFLA/FAIFE Chair, the Office and the EB Liaison in accordance with established practice.

The Committee supported the proposal in principle noting that the expectations of Supporters would need be very clear and also noting that a Committee member could be polled for quick response prior to any actions in case he or she should have relevant specialised knowledge or contacts. The possibility of including individual members was raised but deferred until the network of Association and Institution members had been established. It was noted that this network would complement the network of several hundred human rights organisations and activists in libraries and elsewhere that the Office has developed.

A more detailed proposal for feedback will be circulated before submission to the EB for consideration at its December 2000 meeting.

Concerns were expressed of the position of members of the Committee who have faced difficulties during the past year. It is essential that IFLA/FAIFE supports any colleague who experiences difficulties due to his or her work for intellectual freedom.

IFLA/FAIFE activities at the Conference

In regard to the IFLA/FAIFE activities at the Conference, it was agreed that it had been very prominent and very well received, attracting many favourable comments. A number of concerns were expressed:

• some sessions were too long
• some speakers were inadequately instructed – the IFLA guidelines should be obtained and provided to speakers
• more interaction was desired (as in the discussions during the ethics session)
• translations should be prepared for all papers and placed on the website before the Conference if at all possible (payment of honoraria to translators was suggested) – but it was agreed that preparation and translation of summaries might be more feasible in the tight timeframes
• volunteer translators should be arranged for questions when simultaneous translation was not available and
• speakers must speak more slowly.

There was considerable discussion about the intellectual freedom issues arising from the Jerusalem Conference. They included:

• travel restrictions for delegates from a number of countries including denial of visas (e.g. Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal [IFLA Express translator], Mexico), delayed visas (e.g. DANIDA grantee from Cuba) and intrusive questioning and searches of delegates
• boycott of the Conference by Palestinians and harassment of Palestinian librarians just before the Conference
• possible manipulation of a library visit to a Palestinian library in Gaza
• the need to restore the relationship with Arab and Islamic librarians.

It was suggested that issues of this kind should be given more weight in the selection of future conference locations and the management of conference planning. The Chair and EB Liaison were asked to pursue these issues with the EB. It was noted that a statement from the EB would be in IFLA Express and a full report will be included in the IFLA Journal.

Other business

An observer, representing the Social Responsibilities discussion group, informed the Committee of the recommendations concerning the growing gap between the information rich and the information poor adopted by this group. The recommendations were distributed at the meeting.

The Chair reported on a meeting he had attended the previous day at which it was agreed that IFLA would take advantage of the Okinawa Statement issued by the recent G8 summit to promote the role of libraries in addressing the Digital Divide and the equity of information access, skills, etc worldwide.

The Chair noted that Jan Ristarp will retire as the first Director of the IFLA/FAIFE Office on 1 October 2000. Carsten Frederiksen will be acting Director until a new Director has been appointed. The appointment process for the new Director will involve the EB and IFLA HQ and will be pursued when the funding situation has been clarified. The EB Liaison advised that there would be a meeting with the Secretary General on 14 September 2000 to discuss the matter.

In closing the meeting, the Chair acknowledged Jan's tremendous contribution to the work of IFLA/FAIFE in establishing and developing the Office and expressed the gratitude of the Committee and all of IFLA. The Committee joined in expressing their appreciation to Jan.