International Conference on National Bibliographic Services (ICNBS)

This was a major event (117 participants from 71 countries) to commemorate the 1977 UNESCO International Congress on National Bibliographies, the recommendations of which influenced the development of national bibliographies over the last twenty years. ICNBS had for aim to review and update the 1977 recommendations.

The outcome was a set of 23 recommendations regarding:

• Legal Deposit
• Coverage of the National Bibliography
• The Presentation and Timeliness of the National Bibliography
• International Standards Used
• Future Activities

Recently the recommendations of the 1998 ICNBS conference were ratified by UNESCO's General Conference, which underlines their importance and broad appliccability.

Ingrid Parent, member of the Planning Committee for the ICNBS conference, and a member of the IFLA Executive Board, commented: "I am delighted that UNESCO has endorsed the ICNBS recommendations and has recommended that the Member States of UNESCO adopt and implement them. Those recommendations will provide strong support to national bibliographic agencies in their efforts to acquire and disseminate information about their published heritage".

The new recommendations are posted at:
http://archive.ifla.org/VI/3/icnbs/fina.htm

Further information is available from:
Marie-France Plassard