Conferences, visits and contacts

Participated in:

• IFLA General Conference, Amsterdam, Aug.
• Council of Europe Symposium on "Promoting freedom of expression in the cultural field", Oslo, Sept.
• International Conference on "Freedom of Expression, Censorship and Libraries", Riga, Oct.
• Library Association Council Meeting, London; Oct.
• Council of Europe Conference on "Libraries and Democracy"; Strasbourg, Nov.
• World Conference on Music and Censorship, Copenhagen, Nov.
• Press Conference on IFLA/FAIFE, Stockholm, December 1
• Meeting with Presidents and Directors of the Nordic Library Associations, Oslo, January 15-16
• Nordic IFLA Meeting, Stockholm, February 4
• IFEX, Annual Meeting, Cape Town, 20-21 April
• Council of Europe Conference, Munich, 29-30 April
• EBLIDA Council, London, 8 May
• UNESCO-NGO Seminar, Paris, 20 May
• Council of Europe Conference, Helsinki, 10-11 June

Visited:

• IFLA HQ
• Danish Center for Human Rights, Copenhagen
• Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression, Oslo
• Music and Censorship Project, Copenhagen
• Article19, London
• Index on Censorship, London
• ALA, Office of Intellectual freedom, Chicago
• ALA, American Libraries, Chicago
• Mortenson Center for International Library Programs, Illinois State University
• SIDA, Stockholm, February 5
• Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression, Oslo, January 15
• Visit in IFLA/FAIFE Office by Paul Sturges, concerning Council of Europe Recommendations on Public Access to and Freedom of Expression in Network Information, 8-9 April
• Article 19 and Index on Censorship, London, 7 May
• Andries Kekana in Pretoria, South Africa, 23-24 April
• SIDA (Swedish Internationala Development Agency), Stockholm, 15 June
• ALP, Uppsala, 16 June
• Alexandria Project and Norwegian Library Ass., Oslo, 24 June
• NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) , Oslo, 25 June
• Basil Fernando in Copenhagen 19 and 20 July and 4 August

Other contacts:

• UNESCO
• PEN International
• Open Society Institute
• Soros Foundation
• Gates Library Foundation
• International IDEA
• Colleagues, who can provide reports on countries not represented on the Committee or on different sub-issues.
• IFEX (International Freedom of Expression Exchange) concerning application for membership
• GILC (Global Internet Liberty Coalition) Investigating membership
• UNESCO Board member concerning NGO-Liaison Committee
• Council of Europe - Draft recommendations on public access points to networked information and freedom of expression
• Sponsor for IFLA/FAIFE leaflet
• Human Rights Organisations and IFLA members concerning reports on countries not represented on the Committee or on different IF sub-issues.
• A great number of e-mail contacts with IFLA members, outside the Committee, and other library representatives and intellectual freedom activists for draft world report.

Committee

• Prepared for country reports / contributions for draft world report on libraries and intellectual freedom.
• Proposed enlarging of committee by 5 seats with a priority for the Arab world and South America.

IFLA EB

• Proposed enlarging of IFLA/FAIFE Committee by 5 seats with a priority for the Arab/ Muslim countries and South America.
• Prepared draft general statement on "Libraries and Intellectual Freedom" for consideration and adoption by EB and by Council in Bangkok.
• Prepared paper on the status of Jerusalem for EB considerations on the IFLA General Conference 2000.

Publicising

• IFLA/FAIFE web-site launched, www.ifla.org/faife/, which will hold various relevant documents, e.g. from the Riga conference.
• Sent an open letter to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Chair of the IFLA / FAIFE Committee concerning the killings of opposition figures, writers and human rights advocates in Iran, December 1998.
• Expanded IFLA/FAIFE web-site (www.ifla.org/faife/) with e.g. Codes of Ethics and Statements on Intellectual Freedom from various national Library Associations.
• Edited IFLA/FAIFE leaflet to be printed in April 99.
• Written articles and given interviews on IFLA/FAIFE in Scandinavian newspapers, library journals and broadcasting.
• Printing (10 000 copies) and distribution of IFLA/FAIFE leaflet.
• Agreement with Index on Censorship on a special distribution of IFLA/FAIFE leaflet through that magazine, 11 000 copies (to be printed in August).
• Publicising of IFLA Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom; on the IFLA/FAIFE website in 9 languages.
• Search facility on the website.
• Statistics on visits to the website from May and onwards.
• Articles on IFLA/FAIFE in various library journals and other publications.

Plans for the nearest future:

• Together with the chair preparing IFLA/FAIFE at Bangkok: workshop, guest lecture, open forum, 2 business committee meetings.
• Preparing general statement on "Libraries and free access to information and freedom of expression" for discussion and adoption by EB and by Council in Bangkok.
• Editing and publishing country reports as part of the process producing the annual IFLA/FAIFE state of the art report on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries world wide.
• Start planning a model-workshop on "Intellectual Freedom, libraries and librarians".

Other matters:

• Contacts with The Danish Library Association and other bodies within the Scandinavian library community.
• Reception for the Danish sponsors.