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IN THIS DOCUMENT:

Duties of the IFLA Secretary General (SG)

Position of the IFLA Secretary General (SG)

 

Profile of the Secretary General of IFLA

 


IFLA as an Organisation

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is a federation of 170 national library associations, 951 member-libraries of all types, 161 personal affiliates, and 15 bodies with consulta-tive status in 135 countries. In addition to the Secretariat (9.2 fte) located in The Hague, Netherlands, IFLA has Regional Offices located in Dakar, Sao Paulo and Bangkok. IFLA also supports four Core Programmes, hosted by national libraries, a specific Core Programme for the Development of Librarianship in the Third World, hosted by the Uppsala University Library in Sweden, and a special Office for its Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression. For more information on IFLA check http://www.ifla.org.

Duties of the IFLA Secretary General (SG)

Managerial

  1. Directs and coordinates the various IFLA bureaux (IFLA Headquarters, Regional Offices, Core Programme Offices, Committee Secretariats and the FAIFE Office) and stimulates the development of IFLA's programmes.
  2. Is responsible for the supervision and monitoring of the planning of the annual General IFLA Conferences (2,000 to 3,000 delegates).
  3. Is responsible for the financial management of IFLA and for obtaining funding for IFLA's activities.
  4. Anticipates the decision-making process within the Executive Board, in launching ideas and preparing the background documents on which decisions can be based.
  5. Takes executive action within broad guidelines as set up by the Executive Board.

Representation

The IFLA SG provides the long-term public image of the federation, both nationally and internationally at the highest levels. He represents the federation, both in terms of the membership and the general international (professional) community.

Guardianship

IFLA as an organisation is greater than the sum of its parts, that is of the members who presently constitute the federation. The SG must therefore be the Guardian of its history, its corporate memory and its constitution. It is also the SG who must think for the membership as a whole. The SG must reflect the varied interests and cultures of the full range of the members of the federation and ensure that those interests and cultures are integrated in IFLA's decision-making processes.

1. Qualifications and skills

1.1. Managerial and entrepreneurial

The SG is a senior manager, yet realizes that in an organization with world-wide interests but a limited number of staff (9.2 fte) he/she must be able to deal with the full range of management activities. The SG has overall responsibility for personnel management, financial management, legal executive aspects, and all further aspects of association management. The SG will be expected to further develop a programme of sponsorship and revenue-generating activities.

1.2 Professional

The SG is likely to be a professional librarian or information scientist and/or a recognized personality in the information community in general. He/she accords equal importance to all facets of librarianship and information services. The SG would be a recognized personality in his/her national and international professional context. An appropriate academic qualification is a necessary background.

1.3. Communication and representation

The SG possesses a full command of written and spoken English and is familiar with French, and possibly German, Spanish and/or Russian.

The SG is able and willing to assume the necessary public relations duties as part of the management function, and has an independent and innovative approach which enables him/her to create goodwill for IFLA whenever and wherever possible. He/she therefore needs to be prepared for extensive international travel.

Internal communication - be it with regard to Board members, elected officers, and staff - must be easily maintained in a positive and inspiring manner. He/she should be able to express him/herself fluently as author as well as speaker.

2. Personality, diplomatic and leadership qualities

2.1 The SG is a distinctive personality. He/she is considered as open-minded and impartial in resolving conflicts. In a staff context he/she is able to make the most of a small team, and is a good teamleader, who has feeling for labour relations. The SG is innovative, forward-thinking, and shows a great sensitivity to different cultures.

2.2 The SG is stress-resistant; this enables him/her to cope with the demands of a heavy workload.

2.3 The IFLA SG must have highly developed diplomatic skills. His/her verbal and negotiation skills need to be of the highest order. He/she must be able to ensure good relations with the (national) members of the federation and with related international bodies.

2.4 The IFLA SG must be able to coordinate the inter-relationship of national bodies by winning their respect. He/she must, therefore, have shown clear evidence of that elusive quality "leadership", before being appointed to the prestigious role of IFLA Secretary General.

Position of the IFLA Secretary General (SG)

  1. The post is full-time. The successful candidate should be prepared to live in or near The Hague, the Netherlands. Term and conditions of service are geared to those in the country in which IFLA Headquarters is located: The Netherlands.
  2. The salary level of the position is comparable to that of a University Librarian in the Netherlands.
  3. Pension rights are usually awarded through a Dutch pension fund, but could also be given in another way by contributing to private pension arrangements.
  4. The Netherlands' tax authorities offer substantial benefits for non-nationals.

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