Opening Address of IFLA President Sinikka Sipilä

Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen

Bonjour!

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Lyon and the 80^th IFLA General Conference and Assembly. I would like to thank you all for participating in this great event in Lyon in France.

There is a long IFLA tradition in this country. The French library community has been in many ways a strong support for IFLA.  Our French colleagues were numbered among the founding fathers of our Federation who gathered in Edinburgh in 1927. Christine Deschamps served as IFLA President in 1997-2003, being only the second female President in the 70 years of IFLA’s history.  This congress is the sixth IFLA Congress organised in France. The previous ones have been held in Avignon in 1933, Paris in 1937 and 1957, in Grenoble in 1973 and again in Paris in 1989. The National Library of France (BnF) hosted for many years the IFLA Preservation and Conservation Strategic Programme. Our French colleagues have participated actively in IFLA committees and Congresses and promoted passionately, along with the international French speaking library community, multilingualism within IFLA.

Lyon is a city of innovation as our hosts indicated in their welcoming letter to this Congress. Lyon has developed a smart and knowledge city strategy and is thus an ideal host for a congress on knowledge. Lyon invests in culture, and that a major part of its cultural budget goes to libraries is a leading and inspirational example to other cities. This can be seen in the use of libraries being so high in the national comparison. 

In Lyon, as for many major French libraries, there is a direct link with the French Revolution in 1789, since the majority of them were founded after the church collections and private collections of emigrants were seized and given back to the people by the creation of public libraries with state collections (bibliothèques classées). During my visit to Lyon and Paris in April I was introduced to some treasures of these unique collections.

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen that was launched during the Revolution has influenced, for its part, the content of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its Article 19 concerning freedom of opinion and expression is one of the core values of IFLA and the library sector. Today within IFLA, our Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression Strategic Programme (FAIFE) is an initiative to defend and promote the basic human rights defined in Article 19.

I would like to commend the National Committee on their selection of the Congress theme “Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge”.  I am very pleased and proud that the theme complements and builds on my Presidential theme and implements its core idea: libraries empower citizens and societies. 

Because this is what I believe in and therefore, I have chosen as my Presidential theme "Strong Libraries, Strong Societies".  I firmly believe that libraries exert an impact on society and development by fostering equal opportunities and providing equitable access to lifelong learning and education, research and innovation, culture and recreation for all. In this way, libraries can contribute to building stronger communities and societies.  Strong libraries are the ones that have adequate resources to meet the information needs of their patrons.  It is my belief that strong societies consist of informed citizens who actively take part in the life of their communities and societies.

My theme was discussed widely at my first President’s Meeting in May this year in Helsinki, Finland.  We will continue these discussions at my second President’s Meeting that will take place in Istanbul, Turkey on 3-5 June 2015.

Through the new designs of libraries, and innovative library services, it has become abundantly clear how an easily accessible and open public space can improve the overall welfare, creativity and capacity of the citizens of a city or any other area. A library provides an environment in which new activities and culture can be created. It is an environment which can exploit and utilize existing diverse stimuli, a place where people can meet friends and make new acquaintances, and generate new ideas through a confluence of shared knowledge. A strong library brings positive effects for community development, education, real democracy, government efficiency, economic development, and individual health and well-being. Inspirational library and learning spaces are being established across the spectrum of the library sector.  As a place that invites people from all walks of life to participate in an atmosphere of inspiration and cooperation, libraries truly are a confluence of my Presidential theme and the Congress theme.

IFLA, as the global voice of the library and information sector is focusing its activities in creating opportunities for all members of the community to participate fully in the information and knowledge society.

I find the Congress theme very apt also for the venue where we will launch the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development as one of the highlights tomorrow morning at 09:30. The Declaration is an IFLA collaborative initiative and an advocacy document that will be used to positively influence the United Nations Post-2015 development agenda.  The Declaration states clearly that access to information supports development by empowering people to exercise their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, learn and apply new skills and make decisions and participate in an active and engaged civil society.

I would like to congratulate and thank the National Committee and the entire French library community for organising such a great Congress. We all appreciate how much work it takes to put together a Congress like this. It requires at least two years’ planning and one year’s intensive preparations before everything is in place and ready to welcome you, the participants.

And here we are now! I have the pleasure to warmly welcome you all to the 80^th IFLA Congress in Lyon, the city of confluence for knowledge and innovation.  We all are looking forward to the interesting programme of the conference, to participating in various forums to discuss and learn from topics of mutual concern or new innovations, making new acquaintances and reinforcing old friendships. Lyon is an ideal venue for social interaction.  It is well-known for its gastronomy, so while enjoying Lyon’s hospitality and good food we will also experience many other very important aspects of the lifestyle of our French colleagues, together with interesting tours and library visits in this city, the region or other parts of France. 

It is with much pleasure that I declare the 80^th IFLA General Conference and Assembly open!

Sinikka Sipilä
IFLA President