Library Associations in Cross-Border Actions logo

The commitment of national library associations does not end at their borders. Many library associations work together bilaterally, organize conferences together or carry out international projects, in which the library associations take over the coordination. The exchange and cooperation are manifold and include partners in all geographical directions. What is the added value of joint association work beyond one's own borders? To what extent can it be guaranteed that both associations benefit from the cooperation?

Short presentations of individual examples from all over the world will be used to present the broad range of possibilities for cooperation. Subsequently, various projects such as statistical data collection, cross-border conferences, promotion of inclusion and other possibilities will be jointly worked on.

Programme

Monday, August 26, 2019, 4 pm  – 6 pm Banqueting Hall

Organizing team: Samia Hassan Al-Shiba, Hella Klauser, Karin Linder

Moderation and welcome of the session: Michael Dowling (Chair MLAS) 

 

Geographical connections (Associations working together)

Discussion with questions and answers, moderated by Karin Linder                     

The Pacific
Australia, New Zealand and Singapore have a tree-way memorandum of understanding. Robert Knight , President of the Australian Library and Information Association

The Nordic Countries
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark support each other in different ways. Rauha Maarno, Secretary General  of the Finnish Library Association

The Arabic States
Collaboration between Arabic states Library Associations, Dr. Fauz Abdallah, President of LLA (Lebanon )

The Baltic Countries
Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Librarians Associations started to work together  in the 1920s. The first Baltic Librarians Congress took place in 1930s in Latvia, the 11th congress will take place in Estonia in 2020. Tradition continues.
Katre Riisalu, President of the Estonian Librarians Association

African Countries
The African countries work together in AFLIA – the continental  association of libraries in Africa. A typical topic of cooperation within the AFLIA will be presented by Alim Garga, Vice President AFLIA

Cooperation Among Latin American Librarians Associations 

Alicia Ocaso (Uruguay)

Binational connections – Project Examples

Sweden – Kenya:  Stronger Together and now Next Frontier
Leif Martensson ( Swedish Library Association)  and  Constantine Nyamboga (Kenyan Library Association)

Germany – USA and NL: Partnercountry initiative
Michael Dowling (ALA, USA),  Matthijs van Otegem (FOBID, Netherlands)  and Hella Klauser (German Library Association)

French-African Associations:
Pascal Sanz (CFIBD,France),  and Reyna Josvah Rabiaza, Library Association of Madagascar

Oman – SLA Gulf : Building the LIS profession and professionals in the Arabian Gulf Region by organizing events, conferences, and other professional activities
Walid Al-Badi (Omani  Library Association) and Dr. Saif Al-Jabri  (Special Library Association Arabian Gulf Chapter, Oman (SLA-AGC)

Singapore – Malaysia: How to sustain a long relationship
Lin Li SOH (National Library Board for Singapore Library Association) and N.N. (Persatuan Perpustakaan Malaysia (PPM))

 

Discussions at tables        

MLAS-members and speakers will be hosts at the different tables. 

Round up by Michael Dowling