South Africa was the obvious choice for bringing IFLA back to Africa. IFLA’s first African president, Kay Raseroka from the University of Botswana, was born in Durban. Its President-elect, Ellen Tise, Senior Director: Library and Information Services University of Stellenbosch, is South African, as is its Secretary General, Prof Peter Lor, from the University of Pretoria.

   Introducing South Africa

For me, this is a conference where location took precedence over content. Scenery, safaris and sandy beaches make South Africa a tourist destination, somewhat tarnished by the spectre of HIV and crime.

South Africa promised an exotic locale, an opportunity to meet librarians from throughout Africa who normally do not attend international conferences, a programme specifically targeted for the regional audience with emphasis on indigenous knowledge, a city on the beach where the weather in winter is better then most cities’ weather in summer – what more could the travelling librarian want?

Did the conference hold up to the promise? For the regional librarians, the answer is definitely yes. The opportunity to go to an international conference, hear new and not so new ideas, recognize shared issues and re-evaluate personal practices is priceless. For first timers from any continent, these benefits apply.

This “Conference was more special to me in terms of my first participation of IFLA abroad…” said Mihyang Park, Korean representative on the Standing Committee for Asia & Oceania.

For those of us conference-worn attendees however, the narrow focus of programme and the limitations of Durban as a conference city, made getting the most out of the conference more challenging. However, this conference was not for us.

   Conference Overview

About a third of the delegates came from Africa with 900 from South Africa. The Asia-Pacific representation was relatively low with Korea, China, Australia and Malaysia having the most delegates and only two non-National Library Board (NLB) representatives from Singapore and a total of four from Thailand.

   Asia & Oceania in Africa

Not only were the numbers of attendees from the region low, but the local presence in programmes was also low.

The caucus for Division VIII, Africa and Asia & Oceania and Latin America & Caribbean, as has been my previous experiences, attracted few people beyond officers of the division and sections; however, the impact of the division is growing within IFLA’s operations.

Last year, IFLA added Chinese as an official language and it is now adding Arabic as well. This year’s Gates award (see below) went to a library within the region; IFLA announced setting up four new offices, three of which are in Africa: a new Africa regional office at University of South Africa; an Arabic language centre at Bibliotheca Alexandrina and a new French Language Centre for Africa in Dakar. The fourth office is a Russian Language Centre at the Russian State Library.

The section meeting, later in the week, focused on reports from the Regional Standing Committee for IFLA Asia & Oceania office by Tan Keat Fong of NLB and from Birgitta Sandell, representing ALP (Action for Development through Libraries Programme). A third of ALP projects, including attachments and grants go to individuals from the countries in the region. ALP funding may run out at the end of 2009 and projects through 2008 have already been selected. Regional librarians keen on obtaining a grant for professional development in 2009 should check the site now.

The section’s programme in Durban, “Coping with Disaster” did not draw a large crowd. “From Me to You to Us: How Libraries in the Region Contribute to Global Understanding” is the tentative title for next year’s regional session

One talk in the series on LIS Education in Developing Countries, “Quality Assurance in LIS Education in the GCC countries,” had three Pakistani library professors, working in Singapore, Kuwait and Pakistan as panellists. The talk was well attended and was followed by a lively discussion on LIS issues worldwide where issues raised by a Canadian employer of librarians were similar to those expressed by a Nigerian. After the session, I found myself having the same conversation about challenges in LIS education with moderator Ismail Abdullahi, now of North Carolina Central, that I had had with him four years ago when we were both in Atlanta Georgia.

   Before the Conference – Satellite Sessions

Many sections present satellite sessions before the conference. I heard the most positive feedback about “Pathways to Leadership in the Library & Information World” presented by Continuing Professional Development. Speakers from Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia participated in the programme.

The session I attended, hosted by the Knowledge Management Section and organized by Theo Bothma, “Best Practical /Lessons Learned”, turned out to be one of the most interesting and practical KM sessions I had ever attended and the section’s conference session on “Using Knowledge Management to Facilitate Information Transfers in our Multicultural World” drew a standing room only crowd of over 500.

South Africa offered the best opening session ever. The cultural presentation was professional, energetic and relevant to both the country and the conference. Keynote speaker Justice Albie Sachs who played an active role in the anti-apartheid movement, provided the formal highlight to the conference. Because of his activities in the early freedom movement, he was jailed in South Africa, went into exile and was the victim of a bomb before returning to help with the new constitution.

Justice Sachs received a standing ovation from the audience. Given the moral and intellectual wasteland that surrounds the leaders of many of our countries, it was reassuring to know that there are still people in government who have the personal depth, commitment and courage to make the world a better place

Attendee Rashidah Begum bt. Fazal Mohamed from Malaysia noted that the “selection of Justice Albie Sachs as the keynote speaker was an excellent choice. He has such a perceptive mind and made a very accurate assessment of the challenges facing us. He brought out the humanity which I think is so important to our profession...”

It is not necessary to attend an IFLA conference for the papers since the majority of the current conference year’s papers are on the IFLA website and there are also papers available back to the 1995 conference.

Once again, the poster sessions drew large crowds. Third place, out of almost 100 posters went to our own Rashidah Begum bt. Fazal Mohamed, the Chairman of the Working Committee on Every Baby a Book Program The book will be promoted by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development – Malaysia.

My personal highlight to the conference came in conversations with the African librarians, learning more about South African librarianship and once again reaffirming the similarities of issues across all continents. ( Interviews & more in our next issue.)

   Gates Foundation “Every life has equal value”

According to IFLA’s new president Claudia Lux, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award “is very important for IFLA. Projects have improved lives of hundreds or thousands of people.”

To learn more about the award, which is actually a reward for what has been done, I spoke with a member of the Evaluation Committee. The winner is selected for providing access to free information services using technology that has impact on the community, especially to those who are underserved or in remote areas. Evaluation is based first on meeting general criteria and then on ten performance indicators plus an anonymous site visit.

The Access to Learning Award is separate from the awards given by the Global Libraries programme, which is now interested in health and environment in South Asia

The Northern Territory Library of Australia received this year’s award for providing free computer and internet access and training to impoverished indigenous communities. Over half of the communities now have computers, internet, and library staff. The consistency of data provided for evaluating the project and the creation of “Our Story”, a stand alone database (because of instability of internet) on indigenous heritage captured through oral history, separated this project from the other worthy contenders.

   Where is IFLA going?

When I attended my first IFLA in Buenos Aires, and wrote it up for ACCESS (September 2004), IFLA’s direction puzzled me. While walking along the beach one morning in Durban, I also asked myself what is IFLA’s direction? Who is its target audience?

I asked the same question of two seasoned conference goers. We all concluded that IFLA’s core membership has been and still is its national libraries and associations. Its conferences are less focused and more dependent on location. Therefore, if you are not a representative from a core organization or a member of one of IFLA’s growing number of standing committees, there may be only a few programmes per conference that will be relevant to you. However, you do not go to IFLA for the programmes. It is still the only venue to network with so many librarians from all over the world

And where is IFLA going next? Quebec in 2008. Parlez vous francais? And the next meeting in our region is 2010 in Brisbane, Australia.

Ruth A. Pagell, is the University Librarian, Li Ka Shing Library, Singapore Management University