IFLA/FAIFE Office Report

To the IFLA/FAIFE Committee, IFLA Boston 2001

By Susanne Seidelin
Director IFLA/FAIFE Office
July 2001


Introduction

Earlier this year the IFLA/FAIFE Committee received two reports from the office: the IFLA/FAIFE Annual Report 2000 written by Carsten Frederiksen, and the IFLA/FAIFE Office Report February – April 2001 written by Susanne Seidelin.

This office report, for the Committee meeting in Boston, is a follow up on these reports, including a status on the work of the office until end of July 2001. The following issues are raised for the discussion of the Committee: The future communication between the office, Committee and Advisory Board; the future function of the IFLA/FAIFE e-mailing lists and website; and the integration of the PhD project in our activities.

The IFLA/FAIFE Initiative

In general, the IFLA/FAIFE initiative has moved from project status into a more permanent IFLA core activity. As project IFLA/FAIFE has proved it worth. Now is the time for both implementation of new administrative routines and for reflection on development. Key issues, such as strategy, goals, structure of the organisation and line of operation and activities, were on the agenda at a meeting at IFLA Headquarters in June. Alex Byrne, Ross Shimmon and Susanne Seidelin discussed the possible new directions and structure of operations for IFLA/FAIFE 2001-2005. The outcome of the meeting is reflected in the proposals that the Chair will present for discussion at the IFLA/FAIFE Committee meetings in Boston.

To safeguard the future of IFLA/FAIFE all activities should be noticeable and make a difference.

Another prime objective is to embed IFLA/FAIFE in IFLA. The members should "own" IFLA/FAIFE at least as much as, they feel, they own other core activities and the sections. A condition for reaching our goals is frequent and effective communications between the office, IFLA Secretary General and Headquarters, the Chair and, not in the least, the IFLA/FAIFE Committee and Advisory Board. More practical approaches to underline the role as an IFLA core activity are to visualise the close connection by officially referring to FAIFE as IFLA/FAIFE and to integrate the website in the IFLANET.

The Committee has previously stressed the importance of IFLA/FAIFE “going global”. Concerns about the possible too close identification with Scandinavia, especially Denmark, have been expressed. It is my hope that the proposals of the new outline of operations will help safeguarding the global approach of our activities.

Cooperation with Chair and IFLA Headquarters

For the director a close contact to the political as well as the administrative backing is a prime issue. Concentration on building solid working relations and cooperation with the Chair, IFLA Headquarters staff and the Secretary General has therefore been an important task during my first months in the office. Apart from, almost daily e-mail contacts and regular telephone conferences with the Chair, two meetings with Ross Shimmon, and one with Alex Byrne, have been held in the past six months. The consequently close connection between office, Chair and Headquarters, now developed, will guarantee that the office is working within the agreed policy of IFLA/FAIFE and help safeguarding the close relations between IFLA and IFLA/FAIFE. Also, as newcomer working, so far, mostly on my own the warm welcome and support have been invaluable.

Cooperation with the Committee

Frequent contacts and working relations have also been established to some of the members of the Committee and to other resource persons and supporters. Unfortunately, moving the office to new premises had a very regrettable consequence. For quite a long time we were without contact to the IFLA server in Canada. Not until recently, our IFLA e-mail addresses and e-mailing lists have been in operation again. Thus messages sent till, or from, the office from May till around 1 July have not been received. We are very sorry for the inconveniences but hope to see much more activity on the lists now that the contact to the server has been re-established. In order to engage into a dialogue with Committee, I encouraged the members to respond to my first office report with comments or ideas. I would like to thank those who took time to respond.

For the consideration of the Committee, I would suggest the following initiatives to help safeguard the communication: Quarterly office reports to Committee and Advisory Board; an office report to be discussed at the Committee meetings at IFLA conferences; an Advisory Board e-mailing list; and an official annual report to be published on the website and posted to the organisations and individuals we are working with, and to sponsors. However, to set up communication networks are no guarantee of success unless the information needs of the Committee and Advisory Board are identified as well. I would therefore welcome a debate on the information issue: external as well as internal information, including the future function of the two IFLA/FAIFE e-mailing lists.

The IFLA/FAIFE website

The website is the public image of IFLA/FAIFE and our main communication line worldwide. It has therefore been a huge problem that we, due to technical difficulties, were unable to update the site for three months. In early August we expect to solve the problems by help of expert assistance. Though the site will be integrated in the IFLANET in a foreseeable future and maintained from IFLA Headquarters a discussion of its function and content is needed. Apart from the issues of design and readability, also goals, operation plans and their results should be part of the information provided.

The IFLA/FAIFE Office

Staff situation

Since the last Committee meeting in Jerusalem the staff situation has undertaken significant changes. By end of September 2000 the former director Mr Jan Ristarp retired and his replacement was not in operation until February this year. Carsten Frederiksen was therefore the only employee for four months. In April and May Carsten Frederiksen was on a six weeks leave working for the UN in Kosovo on drafting a proposal for a new library law. Shortly after, he went on holiday leave.

Except for a short period with secretarial support, the office has, since 17 April, in practice been entirely dependent on the work of one employee and the Chair. This is a very regrettable situation. However, from October, when our economic obligations towards Carsten Frederiksen will come to a closure, the situation will improve. The PhD candidate will take up his/her position and the budget will allow for further support as well.

Conclusively, the office has been understaffed from October 2000 and will likely remain so till October 2001. Although we have tried to minimize the consequences as best we could, the situation has obviously been dissatisfying in terms of the activities and work we had expected to accomplish this year.

Economy and other administrative issues

IFLA/FAIFE prime sponsors for the period 2001-2003 are SIDA and Danida. Though recognizing that the global aspect should also be present in the funding of IFLA/FAIFE, we are very grateful for this support which has guaranteed our existence for the next three years. Efforts should, however, be made to investigate the future funding potential outside Scandinavia. In this respect sponsors are more likely to support single projects than the administrative costs of the office.

The budget is closely connected with the staff situation, resources available, and the identification and planning of activities. Therefore a revised budget developed in accordance with the areas of achievements and activities 2001, and a provisional budget for 2002-2003, will be provided when the necessary information are available on background of the decisions of the Committee in Boston. However, draft budgets for both periods were provided in Jerusalem and will be available in a slightly revised edition at the Committee meeting.

From 2001 the IFLA/FAIFE fiscal year will follow the calendar year. Balanced accounts for 1 July – 31 December 2000 was therefore submitted in April. Along with those of other Core Activities the accounts will be integrated in the IFLA annual accounts from the fiscal year 2000 and approved by IFLA auditors.

To provide the necessary transparency of the administration of the office, a bookkeeping contract on the administration of vouchers and accounts was signed in April with the Danish Library Association. Meetings with the bookkeeper are frequently held. Also from this year all other office contracts and agreements will be available in English.

New premises

Last year the agreement with the City of Copenhagen expired. We are most grateful to our host for letting us stay on for another six months and for their contribution to the work of IFLA/FAIFE. Especially Mr Borge Sorensen’s untiring support should be mentioned.

From the very start of the process, the Danish Library Umbrella has been very helpful looking into the various possibilities. Already before I took over, the result of this search concluded that the Royal School of Library and Information Science was the most likely solution. In Autumn 2000 the Umbrella, represented by Ms Winnie Vitzansky, director of the Danish Library Association and member of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee took contact to the Vice-chancellor Mr. Leif Lorring. The possibilities of a PhD co-project between the school and IFLA/FAIFE were part of the discussions from the beginning. From February this year, I took over the negotiations which came to a successful end in April. In May the contract was signed. The IFLA/FAIFE Office moved to the new premises 2. May 2001 and was warmly welcomed. An interview with me was published later in May at the school’s website. The cooperation has, so far, been concentrating on IT and secretarial support, the issues around the publication of the World Report and the announcement and appointing procedures of the PhD co-project. We are looking very much forward to working in the professional environment the school represents both locally and internationally.

How to contact the IFLA/FAIFE office

The PhD project

The Royal Danish School of Library and Information Science is well known for its international involvement. On that basis the shared interests of running a PhD co-project in regard to libraries and free access to information on the Internet in a global perspective were identified. The cooperation with the school is considered to generally benefit and further the focus of the work of IFLA/FAIFE internationally. Also, we expect an improvement of the quality of research and reports, both generally, and especially in regard to free access to electronic information. The PhD project was announced on the IFLANET, in the Danish press and also sent to library schools abroad to attract as many candidates as possible. We have been in contact with more than 25 potential applicants out of which 12 have applied for the job. The appointing procedure is as followed: at present an evaluation committee is making the first selection of the candidates on grounds of the formal academic requirements. The final selection will be made of the Vice-chancellor after consultations with the chair of the evaluation committee and IFLA/FAIFE by end of August. The candidate will start 1 October.

The candidate chosen will be working in close connection with the office. Reports on the progress of the project will be delivered on a regular basis. The candidate will be asked to present papers at IFLA/FAIFE meetings, give lectures at library schools and contribute to our e-mailing lists and on the website. Obviously, the PhD candidate could also contribute with valuable knowledge in regard to the next edition of the World Report. We hope that the proposed new structure of IFLA/FAIFE will further integrate the PhD project in the regional work of IFLA/FAIFE. This way we embed the project in the ongoing activities.

Actions

As earlier mentioned the lack of resources has influenced the activity level. Various administrative issues, the finalization of the World Report and the Cuba report have been our prime objectives in the first half of 2001.

The IFLA/FAIFE World Report

In relation to the World Report the cooperation with the school has been very encouraging. Compared to an earlier quote, we have been able to cut the production costs significantly by working with a layout designer and a printing house recommended by the school.

Contributions from 46 countries have been submitted representing around 1/3 of the countries, library associations and individuals contacted. From 1999 the office has been in contact with the potential submitters several times – in some cases with positive in others without results.
The President of IFLA will officially launch the report in Boston. A “soft” launch took place at the IFEX conference in June where the Chair was representing IFLA/FAIFE.

The work has occupied many office resources and is likely to continue to do so in the future. The World Report being a high priority issue, a strategy and plan of operation for future updates and new editions will therefore have to be developed. An editing team with participants from each continent may be the instrument needed to safeguard both more contributions worldwide and the editing work in the future.

In connection with a recent visit to Cuba we persuaded Cuban colleagues to contribute to the report. Unfortunately, the manuscript arrived too late for revision. An editorial note was therefore added referring to additional IFLA/FAIFE reports on our website. This example is given to illustrate the need for tightening the editorial process in the future. For the next edition a production plan will be published on the website and copied to all submitters. Also whenever possible, we should try to get contributions from more than one source in a country.

Cuba

In connection with the ACURIL conference in Havana Ross Shimmon and Susanne Seidelin visited Cuba 23-30 May on a mission to investigate the situation regarding free access to information in Cuban libraries, and to follow up on the status of the independent libraries. The visit presented excellent opportunities to engage in a constructive and open dialogue with Cuban government representatives and colleagues representing both the official and the alternative library community. Colleagues from the American Library Association (ALA) were also visiting. In view of shared interests, the two delegations established a very productive cooperation that, no doubt, has benefited both parties. Also in Cuba was Mr Stuart Hamilton, Brighton Public Library, UK who is investigating the independent libraries for his MA at the Department of Archive and Information Studies at London University. Mr Hamilton joined our team and will be one of the speakers at the IFLA/FAIFE Cuban Panel meeting in Boston.

The IFLA/FAIFE report from Cuba will be discussed in Boston and later published on www.ifla.org/faife/ and on the IFLANET. The ALA report will shortly be available on www.ala.org

Kosovo

A follow-up visit to Kosovo took place in March. An IFLA and IFLA/FAIFE delegation, composing of Ross Shimmon, Sjoerd Koopman, Frode Bakken and Carsten Frederiksen, attended the Kosovo Library Consortium Meeting and met with colleagues. In addition, the delegation was looking into a matter of allegations on book destruction in Mitrovice. IFLA/FAIFE reports including recommendations on how to investigate the book destruction issue were written by Carsten Frederiksen and Frode Bakken and published on www.ifla.org/faife/.

During the visit Carsten Frederiksen was asked by the UN to contribute to the developing of the libraries by drafting a new library law. This work now completed will put a preliminary stop the engagement of IFLA/FAIFE in Kosovo as the help required in the future is more within the objectives of IFLA.

Zimbabwe

IFLA/FAIFE has been invited by the Norwegian Library Association (NLA) to participate in Harare Book Fair “INBADA 2001 Changing Lives: Promoting a Reading Culture in Africa" 3-5 August. Mr Frode Bakken, NLA has kindly accepted to represent both NLA and IFLA/FAIFE as speaker. Both the Chair and office have provided input to his paper.

The British Council Library and Information Service in Harare was closed to the public on 8 May 2001 on grounds “to allow a full review of the security of the premises” until further notice. The incident was confirmed by IFLA/FAIFE contacts in the country. On 18 May the Chair sent a letter to President Robert Mugabe expressing our concern “over this regrettable step the library has been obliged to take” as “the security of the premises no longer allow staff to safely carry out their daily duties in a satisfactory manner, nor can it guarantee free and unhampered passage for the clients". A respond from the High Commissioner advised that the government was taking steps to ensure the safety of the Service. Recent reports confirm that the library is still closed and that “higher authorities are still assessing the situation”.

South Africa

In April press reports indicated that the Education Department of Gauteng Province in South Africa was considering the removal of a number of major works of literature from the curriculum, such as the works of Nadime Gordimer, Shakespeare, Njabulo Ndebele and Orwell. Contacts were taken to colleagues in the country who at first could confirm the reports. Due to the media attention the Department published a statement to advise that they had “embarked on a process of selecting books for all official languages at Grade 12 level because the current texts have been used for at least five years” the “new titles should be introduced so as to bring about new ideas, fresh debates, innovation and creativity in the teaching of literature”. On this background IFLA/FAIFE decided to await the outcome of this work before taking action. We have recently asked our contacts for an update of the situation and it seems that the selection process has, as of yet, not been completed. However, the office will receive updated news within the next couple of weeks.

France

Reports have indicated that the situation in regard to free access to information, in libraries providing services in Front Nationale dominated municipalities, is very difficult. The local authorities are controlling the stock selection. Librarians must submit book lists for approval and sometimes only ten percent of the titles pass the selection criteria. Thus librarians are denied their right to select books and libraries their right of neutrality. The office has been in contact with EBLIDA who is working on a protest note to the international library community. EBLIDA plans to launch a campaign and will contact IFLA/FAIFE in September to cooperate on the issue. In France the Association des Bibliothécaires Francais (ABF) adopted the EBLIDA note at their conference in June and is currently organising a petition campaign. The Association of Public Libraries in the Netherlands (NBLC) has commissioned a journalist to do some research on the matter writing an article for the August issue of “Bibliotekblad”.

IFLA 2003 pre-activity

The secretary general of IFLA 2003 Ms Barbara Schleihagen has invited the office to speak at a seminar 18 January 2002 on censorship and free access to information. The seminar is part of the IFLA 2003 promoting activities in Berlin. The office is also involved in the development of the programme and planning activities.

IFEX

IFLA/FAIFE became a member of IFEX (International Freedom of Expression Exchange) in May 2000 when the former director participated in the annual meeting. This year the Chair attended the meeting in Bangkok in early June. IFEX is interested in a closer contact with IFLA/FAIFE. Apart from participating in their conferences, our support of IFEX campaigns and alerts involving the aspect of free access to information could become the key activities of IFLA/FAIFE in regard to the freedom of expression issue. The Chair will submit a report from the Bangkok conference.

Other Activities

Studying the education of librarians internationally Dr. Raphael Cohen-Almagor of the University of Haifa visited the Office in February to gather information on Codes of ethics and censorship.

In March Dr. Marian Koren, the Association of Public Libraries in the Netherlands visited mainly discussing over all IFLA/FAIFE issues and in May another meeting took place also attended by Winnie Vitzansky.

The office participated in the Danish Library Association’s annual meeting in March. We also attend the Danish Library Umbrella meetings where IFLA/FAIFE issues are on the agenda on a regular basis.