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IN THIS DOCUMENT:

Opening Session

"IFLANET Unplugged"

First-Day Cover

Unprecedented Press Coverage

Copyright in the Electronic Environment

Tours and Festivities

 

Highlights from IFLA '96 - Beijing, China - An Overwhelming Experience!

 


PRESS RELEASE: for immediate release
October 1996

Long before the IFLA Conference delegates began to arrive in Beijing at the end of August, the 62nd IFLA Conference had already begun to break records. As early as May 1996, a record number of 880 foreign pre-registrations had been recorded and an estimated 800 Chinese librarians were expected. The final attendance figures exceeded expectations: the 62nd IFLA Conference was one of the largest in the history of IFLA, with a total of 2384 delegates from 91 countries, and surpassed all others in its unique combination of spectacular events involving vast numbers of people and spontaneous, poignant gestures by a handful of very special individuals. As Robert Wedgeworth put it: "If one had to sum up the IFLA Conference in Beijing in one word, it would be 'Overwhelming'".

Opening Session

The official opening on Monday, 26 August was a formidable occasion. Assembled on the podium were: Premier Li Peng of the State Council; Luo Gan, Chair of the Chinese Organizing Committee (COC), Lui Xhongde, Executive Chair; Li Yuanchao and Xu Wenbo, Deputy Executive Chairs; He Luli, Vice-Mayor of Beijing; Du Ke, Secretary General of the COC; Sun Beixing, Member of IFLA's Executive Board, Robert Wedgeworth, IFLA President; Leo Voogt, IFLA Secretary General; representatives from other international organizations: UNESCO, Phillipe Qu'au; FID, Ben Goedegebuure; ICA, Jean-Pierre Wallot; and IPA, Arnoud de Kemp. The opening ceremony was chaired by Liu Deyou, Vice President of the COC.

In keeping with the main theme of the Conference - "The Challenge of Change: Libraries and Economic Development", Premier Li Peng underlined the important role that the library has always played in society as the treasure house of knowledge and assured all those present of the Chinese government's commitment to librarianship "…Our commitment to knowledge underlines the historical responsibility of the library and our staff of Chinese librarians. The government, as well as society as a whole, will continue its support of librarianship so that it meets the needs of China's social and economical development." A few days after the IFLA Opening Session, an article running the headline "Every Town in China to get Library before 2010" was published in an English language Chinese daily. The article gave extensive coverage of the IFLA Conference.

Professor Fei Xiaotong gave a moving and personal keynote address. He outlined the important mission that libraries will have in the new world order "…With the twenty-first century on the near horizon, the world will aim to survive and develop through pluralism and integration. The key will be to minimize the problems of estrangement and contradiction caused by economic, political, social and cultural imbalances and differences, through greater cultural information dissemination and exchange…Librarians across the world should set themselves the lofty task of striving to create a global society in which people enjoy peaceful coexistence". IFLA is firmly committed towards helping librarians realize this goal!

Robert Wedgeworth, President of IFLA, thanked the China Society of Library Science and the government of China for their invitation to host the IFLA Conference. This is the first time that IFLA has held its international conference in China, even though China was one of the founding members of IFLA in 1927.

Marianne Scott, National Librarian of Canada, and Universal Dataflow and Telecommunications (UDT) Core Programme host, Thomas Tottie, Advancement of Librarianship in the Third World (ALP) Core Programme host (represented by Birgitta Bergdahl) and Ben Goedegebuure of the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID), were awarded honorary scrolls by IFLA in recognition of their outstanding services to the international library community.

"IFLANET Unplugged"

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of one of IFLA's Patron Sponsors, SilverPlatter and the National Library of Canada, the "IFLANET Unplugged" CD-ROM, an image of IFLA's WWW site "frozen" on 18 June, was distributed free of charge to all IFLA Conference delegates. Maureen Maher, representing SilverPlatter President, Mr B'la Hatvany, presented the first CD-ROM to Mr Wedgeworth at the Opening Session.

First-Day Cover

To commemorate the IFLA Conference, a special first day cover was issued on 25 August 1996 by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. Mr Gong Caidai, Vice Director of the Telecommunications Department of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, announced the issuing of the commemorative cover at a special ceremony on 25 August at the BICC, and Mr Liu Deyou, Vice Chair of the COC, and Mr Du Ke, Secretary General of the COC, presided over the unveiling ceremony.

Unprecedented Press Coverage

There were frequent television interviews with members of the Chinese Organizing Committee and IFLA's President, Robert Wedgeworth and Secretary General, Leo Voogt, as well as a stream of newspaper articles in English and Chinese. The People's Daily, in particular, featured a special editorial entitled "Embrace a New Epoch in Library Science" to celebrate the IFLA Conference. Prior to the conference our hosts sponsored a contest, the Chaoyang Cup Library and IFLA Quiz, the purpose of which was to promote library and information science and to attract more people to attend the conference, and from the number of participants from China, this effort was visibly a success.

Copyright in the Electronic Environment

IFLA's 3-day Pre-Session Seminar on Copyright in Tianjin attracted 56 participants. A lively and sometimes impassioned debate, chaired by Sandy Norman, IFLA Copyright Adviser, took place. IFLA's Position Paper on Copyright in the Electronic Environment was approved by the Executive and Professional Boards on 23 August and distributed to delegates through IFLA Express, IFLA's daily conference newsletter. (Free copies available from IFLA Headquarters).

IFLA's Round Table for the Management of Library Associations also passed the following resolution:

IFLA, with its long-standing interest in ready access to information, is urged to take a stronger role on copyright issues, representing the worldwide interest of libraries and library users, to assure full and equitable access to information in an increasingly electronic environment.

The CAIFE (Committee for Access to Information and Freedom of Expression) Committee Open Forum was held for the first time in Beijing, China and was chaired by Tony Evans (UK). Its aim was to gather membership opinion and enable all IFLA members to express their points of view. Key points made included: libraries are more important than the incidents themselves; CAIFE is concerned with the impact on libraries to carry out their responsibilities; ways must be devised to handle issues, not the issues themselves.

Tours and Festivities

Gala Performance

On Tuesday, 27 August, a Gala Performance arranged by the Ministry of Culture was given for all the IFLA Conference delegates. The journey to the theatre will be as memorable to most conference delegates as the Gala Performance itself, and is testimony to the incredible skills of the COC and the municipality of Beijing. The prospect of transporting more than 2600 individuals through a capital city, in the middle of rush hour, and ensuring that they all arrive within one hour at a specified designation would daunt even the most experienced conference organizers. In order to execute this mammoth task, the route to the theatre was completely cleared immediately before the convoy set off, a convoy of 80 buses headed by two limousines and a police escort (complete with siren) hurtled its way through the streets of Beijing. During the performance, Chinese actors and actresses staged a variety of Chinese cultural art forms, including Peking Opera, acrobatics, and traditional Chinese music.

Banquet at the Great Hall of the People

Again, the convoy of 80 coaches, headed by a police escort, transported approximately 2800 conference participants to a sumptuous banquet at the Great Hall of the People, the headquarters of the National People's Congress of China. Mr Luo Gan and Robert Wedgeworth toasted the success of the IFLA Conference.

Special Prize awarded

Mr Dong Ming who works at the Sanwieshuwu Book Shop in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, embarked on an eight-day bicycle ride to Beijing at his own expense in order to attend the IFLA Conference. Throughout his journey, he promoted IFLA by inviting librarians to sign a banner. During the Closing Session, Leo Voogt formally presented him with a cash award to purchase books for his library as a mark of appreciation from IFLA.

Guest Lecture

Following the closing session, Alain Peyrefitte, currently a member of the French Parliament and author of many books (Quand la Chine s'eveillera and L'Empire immobile), delivered the Guest Lecture, which was designed to "bridge" the close of the IFLA Conference with the opening of the ICA Conference on 2 September in Beijing.

Denmark '97 and Amsterdam '98

Representatives from the Organizing Committees for Amsterdam '98 and Copenhagen '97 invited the international library community to attend their respective conferences. During the Copenhagen invitation, Danish flags were suddenly produced and passed out among the crowd who began waving them enthusiastically. To quote Mr Wedgeworth,

the baton for the next IFLA Conference has now been transferred from the Chinese Organizing Committee to the Danish Organizing Committee. A fitting end to a truly successful conference.

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