ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


686 / C&RL News ■ October 1998

C O N F E R E N C E  C I R C U I T

At the crossroads 
of information and culture

The 64th IFLA Conference

by Hannelore B. Rader

T he 64th IFLA Conference was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from August 
1 4 - 21,1998. The theme, “At the Crossroads 
of Information and Culture,” was of particu­
lar interest to the 3,328 international partici­
pants from 120 countries since library pro­
fessionals throughout the world are stand­
ing at the crossroads of information, librar­
ies, networks, and technology and they need 
to decide how to prepare for the next cen­
tury.

IFLA’s Section for University Libraries and 
General Research Libraries, comprised of over 
450 international members, sponsored three 
programs:

One program covered performance mea­
sures and cost analysis based on academic 
libraries in Germany and South Africa.

• A survey on performance measures in 
academic libraries was discussed by John 
Willemse, library director at the University 
of South Africa. The survey was sent to se­
lected academic libraries in various coun­
tries with a 20 percent response.

Preliminary findings indicate that few aca­
demic libraries are working with performance 
measures, and those that do utilize these 
measures are at still the beginning stages of 
such work.

• Cost studies projects in German aca­
demic libraries were described by Roswitha 
Poll, library director at the University of 
Muenster in Germany. The German govern­

ment mandates cost-analysis data for higher 
education including academic libraries. For 
several years data on cost accounting has 
been  collected  and now com ments are 
needed. Poll will be sending a document for 
comments to various members of the sec­
tion this year. At the end of the academic 
year, German universities will combine cost 
data and performance measures to assess 
outcomes.

Speakers from Turkey, Finland, and the 
United States addressed the section’s pro­
gram on “Integrating Information Skills into 
a Changing Curriculum.” Several hundred in­
ternational librarians attended the session, 
which covered the following topics:

• In the “Faculty-librarian collaboration 
in building the curriculum for the millennium: 
The U.S. experience” presentation, I provided 
an overview o f the U.S. situation in terms of 
changes in higher education and curricula 
and related it to academic libraries. I also 
discussed current opportunities for academic 
librarians to become partners in rethinking 
curriculum development and teaching.

• “Information seeking need and infor­
mation seeking in a Turkish university” was 
discussed by Nazan O. Ucak and S. Serap 
Kurbanoglu from Hacettepe University in An­
kara Turkey. Their studies of researchers’ in­
formation-seeking behavior and information 
needs indicate that such needs and behav­
ior vary from discipline to discipline and that

About the author I

Hannelore B. Rader is university librarian at University o f  Louisville and A LA /ACRL representative to IFLA University and 
General Research Libraries Section, e-mail: h.rader@louisvile.edu

mailto:h.rader@louisvile.edu


C&RL News ■ October 1998 / 687

such factors must be considered when de­
signing services and user instruction.

• “Information skills within the framework 
o f problem-oriented studies in Finland” was 
presented by Teodora Oker-Blom from the 
Vetinary Medicine Library at the University of 
Helsinki in Finland. In a recent study in Fin­
land, it was found that a much lower percent­
age of faculty than in the United States had 
been taught information skills. It was also found 
that faculty in general want information skills 
training and courses. The speaker discussed 
new methods in medical education, such as 
problem-based learning and how librarians can 
work with faculty to integrate information skills 
into such teaching.

“How do libraries respond to the change in 
focus from teaching 
and learning?” was an­
other workshop spon­
sored by the section.

• Paulette Bernhard 
from the University of 
Montreal, Canada, dis­
cussed the use of the 
Web for information lit­
eracy instruction. She 
show ed  many e x ­
amples of such instruc- 

T h is  is a v ie w  o f ttion in Canada and the 
A m ste rd a m , w h ic h  

United States and dis­ "Alphabet Soup."
cussed their values and 
problems.

• Peter Clayton, professor of Communica­
tion from the University of Canberra, Australia, 
reported on the first-ever nationwide quantita­
tive survey of academic staff use of the Internet 
and implications for libraries. (The full report 
of this study will be published in 1998 entitled 
“A cadem ics O n lin e” by Auslib Press in 
Adelaide, Australia.) Discussions ensued on 
how to change from teaching to learning in 
the information age by using course teams, 
resource-based and problem-solving learning, 
and concentrating on lifelong learning skills 
for students.

In summary, the University and General Re­
search Libraries Section addressed very impor­
tant and current issues in higher education and 
academic libraries within an international set­
ting. It must be noted that the cultural and 
educational differences in each country pro­
vide special significance to these presentations. 
Some of the papers and program information

h
h

can be located at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/ 
IV/ifla64/64intro.htm.

The opening of the IFIA conference was 
presided over by Catherine Deschamps, the 
new president of IFIA with Ruud Grondel, 
deputy mayor and alderman of Amsterdam 
and Rick van der Ploeg, state secretary of edu­
cation. They were assisted by the Dutch IFLA 
Organizing Committee.

Two special guest lectures added to the ex­
citement of this year’s IFLA Conference. Herman 
Libaers, honorary president of IFLA talked about 
the IFLA Conference 30 years ago, and the Al­
gerian journalist Ahmed Ancer spoke about 
freedom of access to information and freedom 
of expression.

Twenty poster sessions ranging from top­
ics on Swedish dys­
lexia summer camps 
to preservation, and 
from Library and Infor­
m ation s c ie n c e  in 
Thailand to Friends of 
the Alexandria Library.

The U.S. delega­
tion of 252 was the 
largest group from one 
country. Many interna­
tional librarians from 

e  "N e w  C h u rc h "  in the five continents 
as th e  b o o k  e x h ib it 

came to the booth to 
let us know  how 

much they appreciate support and help from 
U.S. libraries and librarians. Thanks to grants 
from the Dutch Ministry of Development Aid, 
40 librarians from 35 countries in Africa, Asia, 
Latin America, and Eastern Europe were able 
to attend the IFLA conference, several of them 
for the first time.

The many museums and cultural events 
make Amsterdam a versatile and stimulating 
place to visit. Particularly noteworthy was the 
new book and manuscript exhibit organized 
by the Royal Library in the Hague to commemo­
rate its 200th anniversary. It was located in a 
church, organized creatively within the alpha­
bet and appropriately called “the Wonderful 
Alphabet.” Another memorable visit was to the 
Anne Frank House, a very emotional and his­
torical occasion for visitors to Amsterdam.

IFLA in Amsterdam was indeed a valuable 
and educational experience. Some of us hope 
that we will be able to provide an equally valu­
able IFLA Conference in 2001 in Boston. ■

http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/


6 88 / C&RL News ■ October 1998