ISSN ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 65 | October 2003
30th Meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Librarie
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| Dr Elisabeth
Niggemann, Director Federal, Die Deutsche Bibliothek introducing the German Minister of State for Cultural Affairs, Christina Weiss to CDNL members |
The 30th meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) was held on Wednesday 6 August 2003 during the 69th IFLA General Conference held in Berlin. The meeting was chaired by Jan Fullerton, Director-General, National Library of Australia who completed her third of four years as Chair of CDNL. Seventy nine directors or their deputies attended the meeting, as well as 12 observers and guest speakers.
As the host national library for the meeting, Die Deutsche Bibliothek had arranged for members to meet in the Reichstag. This proved to be an excellent venue and members enjoyed a tour of the Reichstag and dinner in the rooftop Dachgarten restaurant following the meeting.
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| Participants at the 30th meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, held at the Reichstag, Germany on Wednesday 6 August 2003: (left to right) Abdelaziz Abid, Senior Programme Specialist, Information Society Division, UNESCO; Gerard van Trier, Assistant Secretary CDNL and Hasna Askhita, National Library of Syria (foreground) |
The main topics of discussion for the meeting were the role of national libraries in bridging the digital divide and the current issues faced by libraries in Iraq, and in particular the National Library of Iraq. Dr Peter Lor, National Librarian, National Library of South Africa had prepared a paper on the digital divide and led discussion of the topic. He was assisted by a panel of speakers who spoke about the issues and activities in their respective countries. Panel members were Pamella Benson, Director, National Library of Trinidad and Tobago; Erland Kolding Nielsen, Director, The Royal Library of Denmark; Dato’ Zawiyah Baba, Director-General, National Library of Malaysia and Marietou Diongue Diop, Director, National Library of Senegal. While many national libraries are undertaking projects and specific activities aimed at narrowing the digital divide, it was acknowledged that cooperation with other libraries and cultural institutions was crucial to achieving positive outcomes in this area.
Abdelaziz Abid, Senior Programme Specialist, Information Society Division, UNESCO gave a talk about the current situation of libraries in Iraq and the work of two recent UNESCO missions to Iraq. Members were shown photographs taken by Jean-Marie Arnoult, Inspecteur general des bibliotheques, France during the second UNESCO Mission to Iraq, 26 June–6 July 2003. Ross Shimmon, Secretary General of IFLA also spoke about the work that IFLA has been undertaking to assist libraries in Iraq and to gain support for a worldwide ban on the importation of cultural goods, including library materials, from Iraq. CDNL members agreed to send a resolution to IFLA urging countries to take strong measures to combat illicit trade in cultural heritage, to ratify the Second Protocol of the Hague Convention which provides a legal framework for the protection of cultural heritage and to contribute to the restoration of the physical, professional and technological infrastructure of Iraq’s libraries.
Presentations on other topics included: Experimenting with digitisation at the National Library and Archives of Egypt; Beginning of a new era for the National Diet Library: Opening of the Kansai-Kan and new services; A national information strategy for New Zealand; and The International Children’s Digital Library.
CDNL papers and presentations can be accessed via the CDNL website at <www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/meetings/cdnl>.
—Jasmine Cameron
| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: mbrooks@nla.gov.au