Address to the Closing Session of the 48th FID Congress and General Conference, Graz, 25 October 1996

PRESS RELEASE: for immediate release
November, 1996

by Leo Voogt
Secretary General of IFLA

Madam President-elect of the International Federation for Information and Documentation, Mr. Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am delighted to be present here today in Graz and to bring you warm greetings from Robert Wedgeworth, President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and from all IFLA Officers and Members.

Though IFLA and the other NGO's and IGO's usually bring greetings at the Opening Session, I have to admit enjoying the opportunity to talk to you today during this Closing Session and to look back upon this meeting rather than make assumptions at the opening. Especially, since this meeting concludes the 100th-anniversary celebration of FID and sets the stage for FID's development in the years to come.

First of all, this gives me an excellent opportunity to convey my congratulations to the Austrian Organizers of this meeting (OGDI and Joanneum Research) and to FID in general and the FID Secretariat in particular for a well planned meeting. It was a delight for me to attend many of the high-quality sessions in these wonderful surroundings and I have found the professional contacts most stimulating.

Secondly, I can now look back upon the important results of the democratic processes within FID. May I be among the first to bring congratulations on behalf of IFLA to the new FID President, Martha Stone, and wish her a very successful term in office.

Presiding over FID in the early years of its second centenary can be considered both an honour and a challenge. A challenge that is similar for many international associations worldwide, including IFLA. As we look at regional economic developments, technological growth, demographical, social and cultural changes, there is no doubt that all these changes represent both opportunities and threats, especially for membership organizations with a global mission like ours. Opportunities and threats that can not be overlooked if we are serious about our respective commitments to our membership worldwide. Electronic communication, in particular, has changed people's perspectives on international associations, and we have to adjust our products and services to accommodate these new expectations.

As a result, I am sure the existing cooperation between our two associations will continue and will become stronger, both within the framework of the Global Information Alliance and independently.

In those two areas, the road has already successfully been paved by Ritva Launo, and on behalf of IFLA I thank her very warmly for her efforts in the past years to bring the major international players in the information and library field closer together. I hope, indeed, for her continued involvement in some of the crucial issues.

Ladies and gentlemen, this successful FID Conference has re-affirmed that the lines between information professions and disciplines are becoming increasingly less distinct. The MIP is no longer a special phenomenon, the modern information professional CAN and NEEDS to be found everywhere now: in corporate business units, in information resources departments, in documentation and information centres, and in libraries. And I hasten to add that this is not confined to certain geographical or political areas: it is true for developed countries, for newly-industrialized countries and also for the least developed countries.

I mention the word library deliberately, of course, and I do not want to miss this opportunity for a wonderful and very illustrative story. This came up in one of the sessions earlier this week, where a representative of the Soros Foundation reported about the foundation of University Internet Centers in the Russian Federation. He had attended the opening of the first of these new centers in the University of Yaroslav'l, and had found to his amazement that the library had been thrown out to accommodate the new computer center. It had taken some strong encouragement to convince the university administration that computers and libraries are inclusive, rather than exclusive.

That same inclusive approach needs to be taken in many of the global professional issues that we face. Information professionals - regardless of their title - have a stake in all types of developments that influence access to and availability of information.

Recent developments concerning intellectual property rights form a clear example of a global issue that touches upon all of our work. The diplomatic conference that is scheduled by the World Intellectual Property Organisation for early December in Geneva is of crucial importance to the information profession. Here a new treaty will be discussed, as a 'protocol' to the Berne Convention, that introduces relatively severe limitations on copyrights in the new electronic environment. IFLA believes that these proposed changes will hamper the provision of information services to our users and has therefore put together a team of three copyright experts (two copyright lawyers from Australia and the US, and IFLA's own Copyright Advisor from the UK Library Association) to formally represent IFLA at this meeting. Benefiting from IFLA's formal observer status with WIPO, national delegations will be lobbied about the consequences of these new proposals. IFLA has already agreed with the US-based Digital Future Coalition to draft a joint statement and would welcome similar involvement from FID in order that the information profession can speak with one, strong voice in Geneva.

Following on this, I also want to briefly mention the recently established framework for a strengthened cooperation between IFLA and the International Council on Archives, especially focused on the electronic environment and the additional convergence this brings to both professions. A draft of an agreement was discussed during IFLA's and ICA's meetings recently in Beijing.

It was also in Beijing that IFLA honoured FID's centenary by presenting a special dedication to Ben Goedegebuure, FID's Executive Director. The text of this dedication reads as follow:

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, in recognition of his leadership role in revitalizing the International Federation for Documentation and Information as an association to suit the needs of the modern information professional presents a special commendation to Ben G. Goedegebuure.

As executive director of FID, he has ensured a stronger identity for FID in the corporate information area, and has broadened and strengthened its scope of professional activities. To mark FID's 100-year anniversary celebrations, his prominent role in launching the Tokyo Resolution, a strategic alliance of international non-governmental organizations in information to better serve the world community, has played a significant role in developing closer and harmonious working relationships between the 35 signatories of the Resolution.

For his diplomatic and enthusiastic role in uniting the many components of the global information infrastructure, the officers and members of IFLA express their profound gratitude and appreciation to Ben Goedegebuure on the occasion of the 62nd IFLA General Conference.

Signed: Beijing, China, August 26, 1996

Since the scroll itself was not ready in Beijing , I have particular pleasure in presenting it today to Ben Goedegebuure. [presentation of scroll]

Ladies and gentlemen, this brings me to the conclusion of this address. I have very much enjoyed my stay in here in Graz at this conference. I wish the Organizers success with the follow-up to this Conference and - reminding you of the words of the FID President earlier -

I wish all of you safe professional travels on the bumpy roads before us.

Thank you very much.