Opening ceremony
Once a year librarians from all over the world gather for a week to discuss matters of current importance in their professional field, the organisation of knowledge. This year it’s the turn of Gothenburg in Sweden to host the World Library and Information Congress (the IFLA conference). 3,300 people from every continent meet to hear over 350 papers and share information and experience. Half way through the week the directors of all the national libraries gather for a day, like a mini United Nations – and yes, there are flags on the table in front of each seat.
Banners
The opening ceremony of the Congress gives the hosting country the opportunity to display some of its characteristics to the world. The Swedes offer two contracting aspects of their genius: first the leading diplomat and former President of the UN General Assembly Jan Eliasson, who spoke of the importance of knowledge and the word to the process of mediation and seeking peace – then a band playing the greatest hits of the seventies group Abba!
Copyright and electronic legal deposit proved popular themes this year. I attend a session on IFLA’s efforts to secure exceptions and restrictions to copyright legislation across the world, in the face of the power of the publishers, to benefit libraries and their users. In the CDNL conference we discuss, on the other hand, practical steps to work within existing copyright law, with the cooperation of publishers, for the benefit of our readers. Each national library has a different story to tell about its experience of implementing electronic legal deposit (to ensure that we can collect digital publications without having to gain the publisher’s permission).
CDNL
Our experience in this country has been painfully slow. Several decisions were taken to help libraries complete the process.
We hear, also in CDNL, from China, Chile and Haiti about how libraries in those countries have reacted to recent natural disasters: their ingenuity and perseverance are impressive.
Andrew Green, Librarian