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INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS |
IFLA is a worldwide,
independent organization created to provide librarians around the world with a forum for
exchanging ideas, promoting international cooperation, research and development in all
fields of library activity. IFLA's objectives are:
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is a federation of 154 associations, 935 institutional members and affiliates, 180 personal affiliates, and 15 bodies with consultative status in 135 countries. IFLA has consultative status A with Unesco, associate status with the International Council of Scientific Unions, and observer status with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). IFLA has offered consultative status to 14 non- governmental organizations working in related fields, including its closest counterparts in the documentation (FID) and archival (ICA) worlds.
IFLA offers a professional home for library associations, libraries and librarians whatever their type of expertise. They can all find their particular group within the pyramidal structure of IFLA's professional activities. Thus IFLA is one of the means through which librarians worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests and FIND SOLUTIONS FOR GLOBAL PROBLEMS.
IFLA is perhaps one of the more privileged international organizations because the material with which librarians work is, by definition, international. Current issues, such as Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC, Universal Availability of Publications, Preservation and Conservation, and Universal Dataflow and Telecommunications are so complex and so interwoven that the search for global solutions is absolutely necessary. Therefore, IFLA needs to have a worldwide impact. This aim has, to a large extent, already been realised and can be substantiated with facts: By the end of 1991, IFLA had members in 135 countries: an expansion which the few progressive librarians from 15 countries who founded IFLA in 1927 would have expected. Of these countries, 85 belong to the Third World.
When breaking down the actual membership of 1284 members, the picture is somewhat different, because libraries are more developed and more numerous in the industrialized regions of the world. The result is that many libraries and library schools from Europe and North America in particular are members of IFLA.
However, IFLA has members in practically all countries where libraries exist, although the Third World has fewer members per country than the industrialized part of the world.
There are two main categories of voting members (all members have voting rights in all meetings and on all matters), those of Association Member and Institutional Member. Additionally, there are two important categories of non- voting members, those of Personal Affiliate and Institutional Affiliate.
The venues and themes of past and future IFLA Conferences are as follows:
Founded in Edinburgh on 30 September 1927, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) was established as a small association of mainly national library associations and academic libraries. The Federation was one of the first international non-profit, non-governmental organizations aiming to further the cause of librarianship. Its primary function was to provide librarians throughout the world with a general forum for international contacts and exchange of ideas and experiences, principally in the field of bibliography.
Originally, IFLA had a largely European and transatlantic focus as international relations in the world of librarianship tended to be the concern of the Western countries. However, during the years following Second World War, IFLA progressively broadened its membership base geographically. Today, IFLA is represented in almost 140 countries all over the world. Since 1971, IFLA is registered in the Netherlands and has its Headquarters in The Hague.
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is a federation of 154 associations, 935 institutional members and affiliates, 180 personal affiliates, and 15 bodies with consultative status in 135 countries. IFLA has consultative status A with Unesco, associate status with the International Council of Scientific Unions, and observer status with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). IFLA has offered consultative status to 14 non-governmental organizations working in related fields, including its closest counterparts in the documentation (FID) and archival (ICA) worlds.
Together with its geographical extension, IFLA also broadened its objectives and adjusted them to make them universally applicable. Today, IFLA’s purpose is to promote international understanding, cooperation, discussion, research and development in all fields of library activity, including bibliography, information services and the education of personnel, and provide a body through which librarianship can be represented in matters of international interest.
According to its Statutes:
"[..] the Federation shall undertake such tasks and enterprises as may be determined appropriate and desirable: to undertake, support and coordinate research and studies, to collect, collate, publish and otherwise disseminate information relating to library, bibliography, information and training activity, to organize general and specialized meetings and conferences, to collaborate with international organizations in the fields of information, documentation and archives, and to set up offices to carry out specific tasks and shall undertake such other activities as will promote fulfillment of theoretical and practical objectives in every field of library activity".
IFLA is democratically structured.
The Council (= general members' meeting) is IFLA's highest organ.
Members nominate candidates for IFLA's Executive Board and elections are held during Council meetings. Members also have the right to register for Sections and, if registered, nominate and elect the Standing Committees (= core groups of experts) for those groups.
Through the Standing Committees the major professional steering bodies are formed. IFLA's main steering bodies as defined by the Statutes are the EXECUTIVE BOARD and PROFESSIONAL BOARD; the first has full powers of administration and management, the second deals with coordinating and planning professional activities.
The Executive Board consists of an elected President and seven elected members, with the Chairperson of the Professional Board serving as an ex officio member.
The Professional Board is composed of the Chairperson from each of the eight Divisions, plus a Chairperson elected from the outgoing Professional Board by the incoming PB members.
IFLA works through two kinds of unit: the professional groups of 32 Sections and 12 Round Tables grouped in 8 Divisions for type of library or library activity; and the 4 core programmes, whose activities intersect the interests and concerns of all libraries and their users, plus a 5th core programme for ALP.
The policy matters of IFLA are conducted by the Executive Board. The professional programme as overseen by the Professional Board includes that of all professional groups and for the core programmes of Advancement of Librarianship in the Third World (ALP), Universal Availability of Publications (UAP), Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC (UBCIM), Preservation and Conservation (PAC), and Universal Dataflow and Telecommunications (UDT).
The work of Headquarters in The Hague is complemented by Regional Offices located in Sao Paulo, Bangkok, and Dakar and by Core Programme Offices located in Frankfurt (for UBCIM), Boston Spa (for UAP), Ottawa (for UDT), and Paris, France (for PAC) with Regional Offices for PAC in Washington DC, Leipzig, Caracas, Tokyo and Canberra.
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IFLA Headquarters electronic mail:
ifla.hq@ifla.nl
Mailing Address: IFLA Headquarters P.O.B. 95312 2509 CH The Hague, The Hague, Netherlands
Telephone: 31-70-314-0884 |
Please direct comments regarding this WWW site to: ifla@nlc-bnc.ca |
| Latest Revision: November 1, 1996 |
Selected and designed by NGUYEN MINH HIEP
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