65th IFLA Council and General Conference Bangkok,
Thailand
August 20 August 28, 1999
IFLA/FAIFE Office Activities
Report on the period of July 1998 - July 1999Presented at IFLA/FAIFE Committee Business Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday 23 August 1999
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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
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