Report on IFLA Annual Meeting

The IFLA held their annual meeting, August 22-27, 2009 in Milan Italy. It was a very successful conference. The IFLA web page (http://www.ifla.org) states: The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.

My primary role has been to represent MLA on the IFLA Science and Technology Libraries Section of IFLA which has been extremely interesting during my five years. I have been Chair of the Section’s Standing Committee for the past two years but did not renew for another four years. Our new chair is Janet Webster from the Oregon State University.

The Science and Technology Libraries Section meets one day prior to the IFLA conference and once again during the meeting. Our primary activity is selecting the speakers for our open session at the annual meeting. This year the theme was “Open access to science and technology research worldwide: strategies and best practices”. We selected four fabulous speakers who were very compelling.
You may view the papers presented at: http://www.ifla.org/annual-conference/ifla75/programme2009-en.php#tuesday and go to #142.

The Agricultural Libraries is sponsored by the Science and Technology Section and their program was “Worldwide trends in open access to agricultural information”. Their program can be view at http://www.ifla.org/annual-conference/ifla75/programme2009-en.php#tuesday, #101.

This year we were asked to co-sponsor the Geography and Map Libraries along with the Division of Special Libraries. Their excellent program was “Cultural heritage preserved: the role of digital maps” and can be viewed at #121.
To our wonderful surprise, LaScale prepared a special program for the IFLA attendees. The opera house was breathtaking and the opera was lovely and will remain a wonderful memory.

The Science & Technology Libraries Section enjoyed a study tour to Museo Nazionale della Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (http://www.museoscienza.org/). Our tour guides showed us may facets of this enormous museum and everyone enjoyed our visit.

Jill Byerly Mayer
Health Sciences Library
UNC Chapel Hill
Email: jbmayer@email.unc.edu