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YLG News
Two Librarians Loose in Berlin
Annie Everall is the CILIP representative on the ‘Libraries for Children and Young People Section’ and I am Karen Usher the CILIP representative on the ‘School Libraries and Resource Centres Section’. Well I can hear you all thinking nine days in Berlin cannot be bad – and it wasn’t. We had a great time – both working and playing. We both arrived on Friday 1st - me having had an easy time of it and Annie getting all the trauma – a power cut that lasted the whole evening and night as she tried to wash and pack. Knowing we were in for a busy week I had booked a very nice hotel with air-conditioning – which turned out to be important as it was unexpectedly hot (even the British Ambassador complained about the heat!!) Annie’s first Committee Meeting was at 08.30 hrs on the Saturday morning and I went along as an observer (allowed at IFLA) before going onto my own Committee meeting at 11.20 hrs. Glenys Willars from Leicestershire was Secretary of the Schools Section and this was her last IFLA after eight years of service. Ask her about it sometime – she did a wonderful job and made lots of friends. That’s the thing about IFLA – you work hard but make friends fast too. The Committees plan Conference content – often two in advance so there was much talk about Buenos Aires and Oslo. The Guidelines, which both these Committees have worked on and published, are discussed – alterations, the next language they will be translated into and the use they have been put to. Both Sections were aggrieved that visits to children’s and school libraries had not been arranged and this was passed up the IFLA hierarchy as it looked as if there would be the same problem in Buenos Aires. Their Children’s specialists arranged a visit to Spandau Children’s Library and we heard about their work and that of other children’s specialists in Berlin. You won’t be surprised to hear that many of their problems are the same as ours. Similarly partnerships and reader development are areas that they are working on. The exchange of ideas is one of the big plus factors of IFLA.
The
joint session between FAIFE and the Children and Young Peoples Section ‘Children’s
Libraries Ensuring Access to Information and Creating a Culture of
Understanding in a World of Violence and Conflicts’ [149] had
seven speakers. There were many official receptions (hence listening to the Ambassador complain about the heat), lots of food and drink, masses of talk and we squeezed in some sightseeing. A coach trip around Berlin, a visit to the Jewish Museum, Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate and a bit of shopping were managed. Then there were the Opening and Closing Ceremonies – with S R Ranganathan’s grandson and hundreds of balloons. It’s quite a sight nearly 4,000 librarians all in one place! Do ask us about it sometime. Berlin was wonderful – a city in a state of change but full of life and amazing characters. At the end of it all two librarians flew home – having had the IFLA Experience - exhausted but exhilarated.
Annie Everall OBE |
The official title was ‘World Library and Information
Congress: 69th IFLA General Conference and Council. Access Point Library:
Media – Information – Culture’, 1-9 August 2003.
A hefty title for the forthcoming days of meetings, lectures, renewing
acquaintances and visiting a new city – were
we up to it?
As
well as two Committee meetings each Section has a slot in the Programme.
The Schools Section had three
speakers Anne Clyde (the new Section Chair)
– ‘School libraries and social responsibility for special
groups and issues – the case for homosexuality’, Blanche
Woolls ‘Internet:
Friend or Foe’ [108] and Glenys Willars on the Children’s
Plus Survey Results (she gallantly filled in for an absent speaker).
The Children’s Section had managed two sessions plus a joint
one with FAIFE (Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression).
The
first Children’s Session had two speakers – Lioba Betten
on the completion of the ‘Books for All’ Project, and Anne
Carlson Weeks on the ‘International Digital Children’s
Library’ [75].
The second session featured Susanne Kruger on ‘The PISA Shock’,
Bente Buchhave (Denmark) ‘On the occasion of children’s
culture’ and
three speakers from the magnificent Bibliotheca Alexandria [93].
Karen Usher