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IFLA Governing Board Documents

Outcomes of the March 2005 Meeting

At its March meeting, the Governing Board noted with sadness the terrible loss of life and devastation caused by the Indian Ocean Tsunami and approved the concept plan for an IFLA Relief and Development Partnership. The partnership will enable the global library and information community to assist those affected by this disaster to re-establish services and will also provide a mechanism to help strengthen services and to respond to future disasters. It involves the establishment by member associations of national foundations and other mechanisms to gather money and coordinate resources with IFLA's specialist offices (especially ALP, the Preservation and Conservation Programme and the Regional Offices) providing advice and assistance to ensure that aid will be targeted appropriately.

In order to engage fully with the current phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, Ms Tuula Haavisto (former Secretary General of the Finnish Library Association) was appointed to coordinate IFLA's strategy. Activities will culminate in a pre Summit conference at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt on 10-11 November, the week before the Summit meeting in Tunis, and will lay a foundation for future library development.

In regard to the core activities, Mr Gunnar Sahlin, National Librarian of Sweden, was appointed to chair the Advisory Board of the Advancement of Libraries Development Programme following Peter Lor's assumption of the position of Secretary General. The Board also adopted principles for the establishment of advisory boards for IFLA's core activities which will allow each to be tailored to the needs of the activity it guides. In addition, principles were identified for the location of core activities, essentially that they should be located where they will best serve IFLA and the global library and information community. Allocations for 2004 were approved and the Board was pleased to hear that both ALP and FAIFE will receive a major grant to support their projects - an announcement will be made soon.

This highlights a major challenge for IFLA: as we extend our work through new initiatives and projects, we need to invest more in administrative support and infrastructure, especially IFLANET. As a consequence of our success, demands on IFLA are growing particularly in areas related to the society and professional pillars, placing greater emphasis on advocacy and requiring a redeployment of our resources. This is being recognised through the adoption of a program based budget approach framed around IFLA's three pillars. It will be presented at WLIC 2005 in Oslo.
While demands are growing, our income has been static so we are looking intensively at alternative sources of income but also need members to pay their dues promptly and to provide the strongest possible support for the initiatives which IFLA is expected to pursue.

The vitality of IFLA is well demonstrated through the World Library and Information Congress. WLIC 2005 promises to be a very interesting Congress with a varied programme. It is hoped that HM King Harald will attend the opening and a great social and cultural programme is being organised.

Commenting upon his first week of meetings of the Board and its committees, Secretary General Peter Lor commented that the experience had demonstrated both the breadth of the issues confronting IFLA and the commitment of members and staff and that he was excited to be part of the Federation's important work.

Kay Raseroka, IFLA President
Alex Byrne, IFLA President elect
Peter Lor, IFLA Secretary General

Latest Revision: April 04, 2005
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