Monday, August 22, 2011

Over 2,500 delegates attend IFLA 2011

Jumbo Editorial Team

Over 2,500 delegates from all over the world attended the 77th IFLA General Assembly and Congress held in Puerto Rico, San Juan, from August 14 to 18 with the theme of “Libraries beyond libraries: Integration, Innovation and Information for all.”

The opening ceremony and the inaugural reception took place at the Puerto Rico Convention Centre in San Juan on August 14. The World Library and Information Congress trade exhibition was held at the same venue in conjunction with the Congress.

Simultaneous interpretation services were made available in seven languages viz. English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin) and Arabic. The service was made available for the opening and closing sessions and other selected sessions.

The closing ceremony was highlighted with honours and awards. Paul Sturges of Loughborough was awarded the IFLA medal for his work on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression. Sebastian Wilke and Dierk Eichel for their work on behalf of the New Professionals Special Interest Group won the IFLA Communicator of the Year.

New IFLA President, Ingrid Parent, declared the World Library and Information Congress 2011 closing, hoping to see all participants again at Helsinki in 2012 while Singapore was selected as the venue for 2013.

“It was my great pleasure to have attended IFLA 2011 and take my professional commitment to the Standing Committee of the Latin America and the Caribbean Section, of which I take part as a member until 2013 representing Argentina-quite an honor for me,” Silvia Cecilia Anselmi, Head of the Technical Services Department at the Library of the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, remarked.

“I am proud and enthusiastic about representing my country and showing some of its projects and activities to the international library community. This year, because of the quality and quantity of presentations, IFLA WLIC enabled me to learn about Puerto Rican, Latin American and international experiences,” she added.

No comments:

Post a Comment