Governing Board Elections 2011-2013
Statement of Candidacy
For the position of Governing Board Member 2011-2013
Upali Amarasiri (Sri Lanka)
President, Sri Lanka Library Association (SLLA)
President, Regional Federation of South Asian Library Associations (REFSALA)
Director, National Institute of library and Information sciences, University of Colombo
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Tel. +94 077 3590554
Email: director@nilis.cmb.ac.lk
While appreciating the high quality work carried out by the IFLA during the past eight decades, I pledge my whole hearted support to improve and expand IFLA’s achievements and its core values.
I will support developments of the present project of strengthening library associations. As a part of the strengthening process, I believe we should endeavour to build links with local archive and museum communities, which will be crucial in National Digital Library initiatives.
I will pay special attention to the area of disaster management in library fields. Technologically today we are better equipped to face disasters. But as I learned from my own experience, IFLA can play a more meaningful role in helping its colleagues in disaster situations.
Information literacy is an area of increasing professional concern as technology is revolutionizing the learning / teaching experiences. Much experience has been gained in this area to build on this.
IFLA’s ambitious and highly-commendable advances to bring libraries and the profession to a greater awareness and involvement with access to information and freedom of expression activities has in many societies in the developing world been hindered by obstacles. Further improvement and strengthening will be a priority in my agenda.
IFLA can be very proud of its quality members scattered world over who posses expert knowledge in different areas. Though IFLA provides opportunities for the members to share their expertise, a broader mechanism is needed to fulfill the expectations and requirements. I will try to improve the system to harness the skills of the IFLA members for the benefit of the wider world.
Coming from a humble background of being the Head of the National Library and National Library Services in a small developing country for two decades and Head of the regional library forum in developing part of the world, I have experienced the pains, frustration, challenges and opportunities faced by librarians. It will, I hope, give me the necessary inner strength and the vision to work at the highest professional levels for the betterment of the Library and Information field.
Thank You,