The role and functioning of IFLA

Paper for the International Congress of Professional Associations “Archivists in

Association: Challenges and Opportunities”, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, 18-20
October 2007

Peter Johan LOR

Secretary General 1 Extraordinary Professor
International federation of Library Department of Information Science
Associations and Institutions (IFLA) University of Pretoria
P O Box 95312 Pretoria
2509 CH The Hague South Africa
Netherlands
E-mail: ifla@ifla.org

ABSTRACT

This year IFLA is eighty years old. Many changes have taken place over this
period, and IFLA has grown enormously. The growth reflects the growth of the
library profession in many countries around the world and is one manifestation
of the process of adaptation and development that is needed to remain relevant.
Growth poses its own challenges, but it is in the external environment that the
major challenges and opportunities are to be found. An international
professional association, to remain representative and credible, has to be
hospitable to a growing diversity of interests and specializations, and it has to
respond to the evolution of the international technological, economic and
political environment within which members of our profession have to function.
In this paper the origins and development of IFLA are briefly sketched. Its
current range of activities and the organisation structure that coordinates and
supports these are described. The paper concludes with a discussion of IFLA’s
response to the challenges and opportunities in the library and information
profession and in the international environment within which the profession
functions.

1
The author’s opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of IFLA
Introduction

Throughout the world, like-minded people form associations to share information and
experiences and to promote their field of interest. This is especially true of scientific and
professional groups, where typically the formation of national associations is followed
somewhat later by the founding of an international association. In many cases such
international non-governmental associations go back to the early years of the previous
century, in the case of IFLA, to 1927, approximately fifty years after the formation of
two major national library associations, the American Library Association and the
(British) Library Association.

This year IFLA is eighty years old. Many changes have taken place over this period,
and IFLA has grown enormously. During the 1930s IFLA’s annual conference was a
two-day affair with an attendance rarely exceeding 60 persons (Wieder 1977). In recent
years our five-day congresses have attracted between 3.500 and 5.000 participants. The
growth reflects the growth of the library profession in many countries around the world
and is one manifestation of the process of adaptation and development that is needed to
remain relevant. Growth poses its own challenges, for example that of the transition
from a part-time labour of love to a professionally staffed secretariat.

However, it is in the environment that the major challenges and opportunities are to be
found. Here the evolving role, composition and diversity of the profession come to
mind. An international professional association, to remain representative and credible,
has to be hospitable to a growing diversity of interests and specializations, some of
which may not be recognizable to the pioneers who founded it. Beyond the profession
we need to consider the international technological, economic and political
environment within which members of our profession have to function: for example the
rapid development in information and communication technology (ICT); globalization;
shifting economic and political power; cultural, religious and political movements,
including strife and intolerance; and the growing role of civil society in the international
arena.

In this paper the origins and development of IFLA are briefly sketched. Its current range
of activities and the organisation structure that coordinates and supports these are
described. The paper concludes with a discussion of IFLA’s response to the challenges
and opportunities in the library and information profession and in the international
environment within which the profession functions.

Origins and development

Library associations in at least five countries lay claim to the paternity of IFLA. The
idea of founding a permanent international commission representing national library
associations was mooted the French delegate during the International Library Congress
held in Prague in 1926 (Rudomino 1977). However, some American sources claim that
IFLA was founded in that year at the annual meeting of the American Library
Association (ALA) where representatives of many countries had convened to celebrate
the fiftieth anniversary of ALA (Baldwin 1997:396). IFLA’s own version is that it was
founded in 1927 in Edinburgh, at the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the (British)
Library Association, where a resolution was adopted to establish an International
Library and Bibliographical Committee. Its constitution was adopted two years later, at
a meeting in Rome, when the name International Federation of Library Associations
was adopted. Hence some Italian librarians claim that IFLA was really founded in Italy
in 1929, and the Italian origins of IFLA will no doubt be recalled when the IFLA
Congress is held in Milan in 2009. At least the fact that there are so many such claims
is an indication that IFLA is highly regarded in the library profession.

Until the Second World War IFLA was mainly a European organisation with a strong
North American presence (Mohrhardt, 1977). Although membership expanded, largely
to other developed countries, it was not until the 1970s that special efforts were made to
expand the membership to developing countries. In 1976 a Division of Regional
Activities was established, intended to promote and coordinate professional work in
particular developing regions. To this end three regional sections were established, for
Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean (Parker, 1977).

The history of IFLA since 1971 is one of continuing and accelerating development and
growth. As IFLA grew, its statutes were repeatedly amended to accommodate an ever
expanding range of activities and to keep effective decision making and democratic
governance in balance. The 1970s and 1980s saw an increasing professionalisation of
the Federation, exemplified by the launching of a series of medium term programmes,
the creation of regional offices in three developing regions, the publication of the IFLA
journal (1974+), the holding, in addition to the ever-growing annual General Council
meetings, of numerous professional meetings, and the appearance of a range of
publications to promote best practice in the profession.

Of particular significance to the international leadership role of IFLA was the

development of a number of core programmes: Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC),
Universal Availability of Publications (UAP), Preservation and Conservation (PAC),
the Advancement of Librarianship in the Third World Programme (ALP), and Universal
Dataflow and Telecommunications (UDT), where IFLA’s web site, IFLANET, was
established in 1993. The core programmes, most of which were hosted and supported
by national libraries, provided professional leadership and coordination of international
work in strategic areas of the profession. During the 1990s the core programmes were
reconceptualised and renamed core activities. New core activities emerged: Copyright
and Other legal Matters (CLM) and Free Access to Information and Freedom of
Expression (FAIFE) (Campbell, 2002), while some of the older ones (UAP, UBC and
UDT) were phased out.

For many years IFLA was run by devoted volunteers working part-time. IFLA’s first,
long-serving Secretary General, Dr Tietse Pieter Sevensma, was the Chief Librarian of
the League of Nations Library in Geneva. In 1962 the first full-time Secretary, Anthony
Thompson, was appointed and the following year IFLA’s headquarters moved to
Thompson’s home in Sevenoaks, England (Breycha-Vauthier, 1977). In 1971
permanent headquarters were established in The Hague, the Netherlands and IFLA was
incorporated in accordance with Dutch law. Today IFLA is still based in The Hague and
is housed in premises provided free of charge by the Royal Library, the national library
of the Netherlands.
Membership

Initially formed as a federation of library associations, IFLA in 1976 opened its

membership to institutions. The admission of institutional members led to a change of
IFLA’s name to International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
However, the acronym IFLA was retained. A category of “personal affiliates” was also
created to accommodate individuals. Further member categories were added later. The
origin of IFLA as a federation of member associations is still reflected in its current
Statutes (constitution): only association members are counted to determine a quorum at
our Council (general assembly) meetings, where association members (which have
multiple votes depending on their budgets) are able to outvote the more numerous
institutional members. In other respects, however, there are few differences between the
association and institutional members. (The personal affiliates referred to earlier do not
have the right to vote.)

While a substantial proportion of archives form an integral part of a ministry or

government department, this is only true of a minority of IFLA’s members. Library
associations are non-governmental organisations and most institutional members are
governed by municipalities, universities and other non-governmental or semi-
governmental bodies. Hence IFLA is a pure NGO and does not have an
intergovernmental character.

In August 2007 IFLA had approximately 1600 members in 145 countries, in the
following categories:

Category Number Percentage

National associations 131 8,1
International & other associations 19 1,2
Institutions 1115 69,0
Personal & student affiliates 314 19,4
Corporate partners 21 1,3
Bodies with consultative status 15 0,9
TOTAL 1615 100,0

It has been estimated that there are about 690.000 librarians worldwide (OCLC 2003).
Of these, IFLA estimates that at least 500.000 are represented by IFLA in that they are
members of IFLA’s association members (the largest of which, the American Library
Association) has over 60.000 members) or are employed by IFLA’s institutional
members.
Governance

IFLA’s governance structure is set out in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1: IFLA’S GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

Members in good standing Council

constitute Council (general assembly)

Members vote for 10 GB

members & President-elect
Governing Board
Membership

Various Professional
committees &
working groups Committee

8 Divisions (Coordinating Boards)

45 Sections (Standing Committees) & 7 Discussion Groups

IFLA’s highest governance body is its Council, which is the general assembly of all its
members who are in good standing. The membership elects IFLA’s Governing Board
(GB), its primary decision-making and policy-setting body. The Governing Board
consists of members elected directly and indirectly by the membership. The President-
elect and ten other members of the Governing Board are elected directly by postal
ballot. The relatively recent introduction of the postal ballot has had the beneficial effect
of promoting participation by colleagues in the developing world, for whom it is
expensive to travel to congresses to vote in person. The President-elect serves in that
capacity for two years before taking over as President, also for a two-year term. The
immediate past president is not a member of the Governing Board. Governing Board
members serve a two-year term and may serve for no more than two consecutive terms.
The indirectly elected members of the Governing Board are elected by their divisions,
which are groupings of IFLA’s 45 sections. All IFLA members hold membership in
one or more sections of their choice. Sections concern themselves with specific themes
or fields of activity, about which more later. Each section is run by an elected standing
committee. In addition to the sections there are seven less formal units called
discussion groups. The sections are grouped into eight divisions, each of which has a
coordinating board made up of elected representatives of the sections. Each
coordinating board elects a representative on the Governing Board. These
representatives (with some additional members) form the Professional Committee,
which is in effect the indirectly elected subset of the Governing Board.
The GB consists of 24 persons. Members of the current GB come from 16 countries on
five continents: Africa (2), Asia (2), Europe (12), North America (6) and Latin America
(1). The democratic process can be relied upon to deliver a GB composed of
professional leaders from various kinds of libraries, many of them library directors or
other senior professionals, along with a few professors of library and information, and
one or two association executives. Normally, these are people who will have been
actively involved in IFLA, especially in the governance of its professional units, for
some years. Although about half of GB members are replaced every two years, the mix
of skills and expertise in the GB has remained essentially the same for some time and
represents an extremely diverse and competent resource with a high degree of
continuity.

The GB has an Executive Committee of six members which deals with urgent matters
as well as staff issues. All GB members participate in policy-setting and decision-
making in the GB as a whole and each one serves on at least one of the GB’s
committees and working groups.

Organisation

IFLA’s organisation structure is set out in Figure 2.

FIGURE 2: IFLA’S ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

IFLA’s worldwide structure

Governing
Board

Host Institutions Advisory Boards Host institutions

Secretary
General

Coordinator of
Professional
Activities

Editor
IFLA HQ IFLA
Journal

Regional Offices Core Activities

Language Centres

IFLA’s Headquarters in The Hague employ 11 staff members (9 full-time equivalent,

FTE). In addition IFLA has offices located in ten other countries: core activities located
in Uppsala (ALP), Paris (PAC), Lisbon (UNIMARC) and Frankfurt (ICABS), regional
offices in Rio de Janeiro, Singapore and Pretoria, and language centres in Dakar,
Alexandria and Moscow. These units are accommodated by IFLA member institutions,
mostly national and university libraries. Most of the staff of these external units
(approximately 9 FTE) are employed part-time and are on the establishments of the
organisations that host the units. These highly appreciated partnerships, depicted by the
dotted lines in Figure 1, enable IFLA to extend its reach significantly. Figure 2 also
depicts the role of the advisory boards, appointed by the Governing Board, in the
management of the core activities (see below).

Activities

The staff at IFLA’s Headquarters and its various offices is primarily there to support,
coordinate and facilitate the activities of the membership, which are channelled through
IFLA’s sections and core activities.

IFLA’s sections concern themselves with types of libraries (e.g. Academic and
Research Libraries), processes and services (e.g. Document Delivery and Resource
Sharing), materials (e.g. Geography and Maps Libraries), clients (e.g. Libraries for the
Blind), management themes (e.g. Knowledge Management), education and research
themes (e.g. Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning) and
regions (e.g. Africa). Sections conduct professional projects such as the compilation of
guidelines, standards and other publications, organise training sessions and workshops,
and arrange programmes at the annual congress. The work of the discussion groups
referred to earlier is less ambitious, but they usually arrange a session at the annual
congress.

The work of the core activities is in many respects similar to that of the sections, but
with a greater degree of continuity and concentration. Since they work in areas of
special strategic importance to the profession each of them has an advisory board or
committee appointed by the Governing Board. They are funded by subventions from
IFLA, subventions and contributions in kind from the host institutions, donations from
IFLA members and grants from foundations and international agencies. This makes it
possible for most of them to have a permanent office with a full-time or part-time
director and staff. IFLA’s policy on core activities is that “one size does not fit all”.
Hence they differ considerably in the work they do and the way they are organised.
Here are some examples:

• Preservation and Conservation (PAC), based at the Bibliothèque nationale de

France, works in a decentralised way: a Focal Point implements the global
strategy and ten Regional Centres in different parts of the world (Washington,
Caracas, Santiago, Port of Spain, Rio de Janeiro, Porto-Novo, Cape Town,
Moscow, Tokyo and Canberra) manage activities in their respective regions.
Together the International Centre and the Regional Centres form a network,
whose main working rules are defined in an "agreement" signed annually
between IFLA and each centre. Each centre is independent and acts according to
the priorities identified in its geographical area. It must comply with the
objectives of PAC Core Activity and maintain cooperation with other centres
through various activities (publications, seminars, conferences, etc.) (IFLA
2007b).
 • The mission of the Action for Development through libraries Programme (ALP)
is to further the library profession, library institutions and library and
information services in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Oceania and
Latin America and the Caribbean. ALP achieves its mission through a carefully
planned programme of different activities in close cooperation between the
International Focal Point of ALP and IFLA's regional offices, IFLA's regional
division and its three regional sections, as well as with other partners such as aid
agencies. This cooperation includes actions such as fund-raising, scholarships
and attachment programmes, conferences, seminars and workshops, pilot
projects and publications (IFLA 2007a). One of the strengths of ALP is its
ability to harness local knowledge and skills, enabling librarians in developing
countries to help themselves and colleagues in their region.
• The Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters (CLM) is the only IFLA
core activity which currently does not have a permanent office or staff, but relies
entirely on volunteer efforts for its extensive and very successful work of
international advocacy on intellectual property and related matters. This involves
current awareness, policy analysis, awareness raising in the profession and
representation and interventions at international meetings of bodies such as the
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and UNESCO (IFLA 2006a).
An important element of its success is partnerships with other bodies such as the
European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations
(EBLIDA) and Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL).

Although I am often at pains to stress that IFLA is far more than a conference, no
description of IFLA would be complete without mention of its annual conference,
which in 2003 was renamed the IFLA World Library and Information Congress. The
Congress takes place annually, each time in a different part of the world, and attracts
between 3.500 and 5.000 participants. The five-day programme includes opening,
closing and plenary sessions and a Council meeting as well as parallel or break-way
sessions during which each of IFLA’s divisions, sections, discussion groups and core
activities is allocated at least one slot for a professional programme. During our recent
congress in Durban (in August 2007) there were 90 professional programme sessions
(as distinct from plenary sessions) and 393 papers and 80 posters were presented in
seven languages. The Congress proper is preceded and followed by several days of
meetings of the Governing Board and other governance organs. These annual meetings
are important, because they enable us to keep up the momentum of our varied and far-
flung activities.

Mention should also be made of IFLA’s publications. Our refereed journal, IFLA
journal, published quarterly by Sage, needs little introduction as an important source of
information on international librarianship. A more specialised quarterly is International
cataloguing and bibliographic control. The sections and core activities publish a host of
newsletters, some of which contain substantial contributions. K.G. Saur publishes the
monographic series known as IFLA publications, commonly known as the IFLA
greenbacks. Currently six of these are published every year. IFLA also publishes a
series of Professional reports, often practical guidelines such as the Guidelines for
library services to prisoners (Lehmann & Locke 2005), issues in many languages.

Advocacy, an important area of IFLA’s work, is discussed later.

Our changing environment

The environment in which IFLA operates includes the environment in which libraries
operate. This means that the issues facing IFLA’s main constituencies (libraries, library
associations, and library/information workers) must be taken into account. Factors
affecting IFLA’s main constituencies may not impact on IFLA immediately, but they
will inevitably have an effect. Some examples:

• Climate change: more extreme weather conditions can be expected, with more
frequent natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes and floods) affecting libraries.
• Technology: the impact of ICTs, especially the potential threat of
disintermediation and closures or downgrading of libraries because
organisations believe they can do without them. Librarians have to deal with a
generation that has grown up with expectations of instant gratification through
the Internet. The management of digital resources is becoming a major
preoccupation of librarians world-wide. This is an area which today is perhaps
as significant to the profession as universal bibliographic control or universal
availability of publications were twenty years ago.
• Economics: the commodification of information leads to new imbalances
between copyright holders (not necessarily authors) and users and to pressure to
extend the scope of copyright. Globalisation allows powerful multinationals to
take control. Free trade agreements lock developing countries into unfavourable
intellectual property regimes. This makes it more difficult for librarians to serve
their clients and reduces the space available for linguistic and cultural diversity
and freedom of expression.
• International political relations: radicalisation, economic disparities, instability,
and polarisation affect libraries in ways ranging from destruction in armed
conflict to censorship. They pose a challenge to librarians to demonstrate that
freedom of information and access to books and reading favour understanding
and tolerance and hence promote peace. The growing role of civil society in
international relations presents IFLA with an opportunity and a challenge.
• National politics: governmental policies in respect of culture and cultural
industries, book promotion, education, information, the information or
knowledge society, research and innovation, trade relations and privatisation all
affect libraries.
• Socio-economic and demographic factors: the greying of populations in western
countries contrasts with declining life expectancies in countries affected by HIV-
AIDS and armed conflict. A growing climate of materialism may affect the
voluntarism on which library associations depend, and a generation gap, or
simply a different way of doing things, may affect the willingness of younger
librarians to get involved in professional associations. There is widespread
discussion on how to get younger professionals involved.
• The evolving library and information profession: there is increasing
specialisation and the profession is becoming more diverse. In some countries
there is a tendency to phase out educational programmes for conventional
librarianship in favour of information science or more glamorous fields such as
knowledge management and competitive intelligence. While children’s
librarians present story hours and some cataloguers painstakingly catalogue rare
 books, other librarians manage digital libraries or free-lance as information
brokers. How much do they still have in common?

IFLA has a strong international reputation based on its world-wide reach and diversity.
Those strengths are mirrored by weaknesses which derive from the challenges of
operating globally and in multiple languages with insufficient financial and other
resources, over-dependency on membership income and limited infrastructure. IFLA’s
membership is geographically scattered, is poorly represented in some 40 smaller
countries, and is not growing. How is IFLA responding to these challenges?

Responses

IFLA’s responses to its changing environment are of two kinds. First, IFLA has to
respond to the factors affecting its constituencies, by helping libraries, library users and
librarians to cope with the changes and ensure that libraries have a future at the centre of
the emerging knowledge societies. Second, IFLA also has to adapt its own organisation
and behaviour.

IFLA’s core values emphasise the principles of freedom of information as embodied in

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, universal and equitable access
to information, and the role of high quality library and information services to help
guarantee that access (IFLA 2005). IFLA consequently has long been involved in
promoting the development of librarianship and library services worldwide, through
international library cooperation, the development and dissemination of best
professional practice, and stimulating and assisting library development in developing
countries while promoting professional solidarity between North and South.

More recently IFLA’s active involvement in the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) has contributed to a growing awareness of the importance of advocacy
as a key responsibility of IFLA. Development of IFLA’s advocacy capacity is a crucial
response to the changes affecting our members. Free and fair access to information for
all cannot be taken for granted, even in the most affluent and democratic societies.
Neither can the future of libraries be taken for granted. In the context of the emerging
knowledge societies it is necessary to promote the role of libraries as providers of access
to networked digital resources. Libraries, especially public libraries, serve the general
public by providing such access free of charge or at low cost. In this way they can reach
out to disadvantaged and marginalised groups in society. Thus libraries are important
agencies of social inclusion.

To be effective, advocacy for libraries ultimately has to be conducted at local and

national level. But the campaign also has to be waged in the international theatre, in
forums such as WIPO, WTO and WSIS. In recent years, IFLA’s membership has
increasingly articulated an expectation that IFLA should play a leading role in
international advocacy for free and fair access to information through libraries. IFLA
has recognised this in its strategic plan (IFLA 2006b) which states that:

IFLA, working with libraries and information services, will assist people
throughout the world to create and participate in an equitable
information/knowledge society and to exercise their rights of freedom of access
to information and freedom of expression in their daily lives.
 6. IFLA will develop and conduct an effective advocacy programme, in
cooperation with National Library Associations in support of libraries,
librarians, and library users worldwide….
7. IFLA will materially affect international policies and practices in key areas
relating to libraries and information services.

Currently IFLA is consolidating its advocacy efforts by setting up a small,

professionally staffed advocacy unit at its headquarters in The Hague. The unit will
focus on three themes that have already been referred to:

• Freedom: Freedom of access to information and freedom of expression

• Equity: Fair and sustainable legal and economic relationships between the
creators, intermediaries and users of information
• Inclusion: the role of the library in the Information Society and the role of the
library as an agency of social inclusion

The new unit will support the world-wide profession by research and monitoring,
horizon scanning, policy development, networking, representation, education and
awareness-raising. The creation of a position of Senior Policy Adviser was announced
at the Durban Congress in August and this position has recently been advertised.
Funding is being sought for a second position, and we also plan to employ graduate
interns from appropriate disciplines.

I have emphasised advocacy because these developments constitute a major shift in

IFLA’s priorities. However, there are many other ways in which IFLA is responding to
changes in its environment:

• IFLA has instituted a formal process of strategic planning that includes

extensive consultation with the membership
• A consultative review of the structure of IFLA’s professional units has been
conducted. The aim is to ensure that IFLA remains hospitable to the full
spectrum of professional interests while avoiding an excessive proliferation of
sections and professional groups that would add to administrative overheads and
result in an unmanageable congress programme.
• Our Statutes (last revised in 2000) are again being revised to implement the
recommendations of this review and ensure that IFLA can respond more rapidly
to changes in it environment. A life-cycle approach is proposed to
accommodate emerging topics and phase out those in which interest has
dwindled.
• Greater flexibility is also being sought in respect of membership categories,
particularly those of our corporate partners.
• A Young Professionals Discussion Group has been set up, and at our annual
congress a well-attended First-timer Session is held to introduce IFLA and the
Congress to those attending the congress for the first time.
• Enhancing communication is a priority. IFLA is planning the redevelopment of
its website, known as IFLANET, using a modern, open-source content
management system. The website must become a multilingual platform for two-
way communication and collaborative work.
• IFLA is attempting to extend its worldwide reach by:
 o the establishment of regional offices and language centres in developing
and emerging regions
o the recognition of Chinese and Arabic as official IFLA languages
(alongside the existing languages: English, French, German, Russian and
Spanish)
o the translation of key IFLA documents such as the IFLA/UNESCO
school library manifesto (IFLA 1999) into non-Western languages such
as Amharic, Arabic, Khmer, Vietnamese and Xhosa.
• IFLA is seeking to develop and diversify its financial resource base by
improving its membership management systems and by enhancing its capacity
to attract grant funding and manage grant-funded projects.

Conclusion

IFLA’s Strategic Plan 2006-2009 summarises IFLA’s position and programme as

follows:

To enable access to information by all peoples, the International Federation of

Library Associations and Institutions is committed to the fundamental human
rights to know, learn and communicate without restriction. It opposes
censorship and supports balance and fairness in intellectual property regulation.
IFLA is also vitally concerned to promote multilingual content, cultural
diversity and the special needs of Indigenous peoples, minorities and those with
disabilities.

IFLA, working with its members, the profession and other partners, will
advance the position of libraries and information services and their capacity to
contribute to the development of individuals and communities through access to
information and culture (IFLA 2006b).

This is a positive statement, and one I can support. International professional NGOs
face many challenges in this new century, but they meet a real need and will have many
opportunities. They will thrive, provided that their leaders can understand, assess and
respond to the changes taking place in their environments.

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