ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries N ovem ber 1 9 9 7 / 7 0 9 Conference Circuit The 6 3 rd IFLA conference By H an n elo re B. R ader A report from Copenhagen M ore than 2,900 participants from 141 countries met in the beautiful Bela Con­ ference Center in Copenhagen, Denmark dur­ ing the 63rd Conference o f the International Federation o f Library A ssociations (IFLA). Among the attendees were 141 delegates from 86 developing countries sponsored through Danida grants (the Danish government’s donor agency). It was the first time that these librar­ ians were able to attend IFLA. One hundred seventy conference papers and more than 80 sessions and discussions centered on the theme “Libraries and Information for Human Devel­ opment.” The U.S. delegation numbered 250 and was well represented in the various meet­ ings and discussions. Many of the sessions were simultaneously translated into IFLA’s five offi­ cial languages: English, French, German, Rus­ sian, and Spanish. For the first time an Internet bar featuring 20 workstations and printer facili­ ties was available throughout the conference. For several years now, IFLA homepage (http:/ /www/nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/) has featured important information about IFLA and the conferences, including full-text papers before and after the conference. N e w officers, n e w committees During this conference Robert Wedgeworth fin­ ished his six-year term as president of IFLA, and delegates recognized him for his many in­ ternational contributions. Christine Deschamps, director, Library o f the University Paris V, France, was elected as the new president of IFLA. Nancy John from the University o f Illi­ nois, Chicago, was elected to the IFLA Execu­ tive Board. Ed Valauskas was reelected to the professional board. Several important resolutions were passed by the IFLA Council. Two new committees were established, one on Freedom o f Access to Information and Freedom of Expression, and the other on Copyright and Intellectual Free­ dom. Other resolutions passed also addressed censorship and freedom o f information issues in several countries. U n iversity an d G e n e ra l Research Lib raries Section The IFLA University and General Research Li­ braries Section (460 m embers), on which I serve as one o f four U.S. representatives, has continued to work on its major topics: • P e rfo rm a n ce M easu rem en t. Much in­ terest continues to b e focused on this topic, and the Discussion Group sponsored a well- attended session. • C ost A nalysis o f L ib rary O p eration s. Roswitha Poll from the University of Muen- ster, Germany, is chairing a task force work­ ing on identifying international guidelines to develop cost data within academic libraries. The section sponsored a session and a workshop on “Financing and Budgeting in a Time o f Change,” both o f which were very successful and generated much interest. An­ other session sponsored by the section ad­ dressed issues o f ownership and availability o f electronic information. • M an agem en t o f A cad em ic L ib raries. The section continues to sponsor discussions and workshops to address management issues on an international basis. For the next four years the section set the following scope and goals: • Promote development and good manage­ ment o f university and research libraries: • Performance indicators • Cost guidelines (IFLA con t. o n p a g e 712) H a n n e l o r e B . R a d e r is u n iv e r s ity l i b r a r i a n a t t h e U n iversity o f L o u is v ille ; e - m a i l : b o m e r @ u lk v m .lo u is v ille .e d u mailto:bomer@ulkvm.louisville.edu 710 / C&RI. News 712/C&RL News the patron that it can be difficult and frustrating and that it takes practice to develop compe­ tence. In classes we make it a point to tell stu­ dents that they aren’t expected to be experts on the basis of one 50-minute session. We li­ brarians a r e experts and we are here to help. Library instruction is designed to introduce concepts and skills. If they aren’t practiced, they aren’t mastered. Nobody expects a freshman engineering student to build a bridge after his or her first class. Neither do we expect students to become exp^n researchers without effort. Fee-based research service performed by experts is quite common and effective in cor­ porate environments, law firms, and other spe­ cial libraries. In the academic world, under­ graduates are supposed to learn the basic skills of information literacy. Without those skills, they will be unable to evaluate the quality and va­ lidity o f the information they encounter. This premise is applied in many other areas of edu­ cation as well. Nearly everybody uses a calcu­ lator to perform basic mathematical operations; but students are still taught to do addition and subtraction by hand. You won’t understand the results if you don’t understand the underlying concepts. That is why librarians are supposed to teach students how to access and analyze information. ■ (IFLA cont. fr o m p a g e 709) • Library’s integration into core function of university. • Support IFLA’s focus on the electronic en­ vironment: • Copyright laws • Electronic formats. Else w h e re at IFLA IFLA’s Roundtable on User Education spon­ sored another successful program during its fourth IFLA conference, this one entitled “Li­ brary Gateways and User Education.” Sp ecial k ey n o te sp eak ers such as Ms. Sibanyoni, South African Woman o f the Year for 1997, combined with special cultural events in libraries and Copenhagen’s cultural institu­ tions, made this meeting most enjoyable and educational. Sight-seeing within the city and quick boat trips to Sweden provided additional benefits for all conference participants. O f course the Danish drink and food, including the famous smorgasbord, were most delicious. P a r tic u la r ly s trik in g w as th e fa c t th at Copenhagen is such a safe yet very open city. It really does feel like living in a “butter hole,” as several natives referred to their city and country. ■