63rd IFLA General Conference - Conference Programme and Proceedings - August 31- September 5, 1997

1996 Annual Report of the ALP Programme

By Birgitta Bergdahl,
Core Programme Director

PAPER

Background

The purpose of ALP is to further the library profession, library institutions and library and information services in developing countries. It thus spans a wide spectrum of IFLA´s activities and plays an important role within the organization as a catalyst for its Third World activities.

Within the special ALP areas the Medium-Term Programme (MTP) goals are to assist library staff, library schools and library associations in education and training programmes, to promote the establishment and development of library and information services to the public with particular attention to the needs of rural and urban marginal area and to encourage a greater involvement and identification of libraries with literacy work.

During this year we have started to plan for the next MTP, and have agreed upon its scope and mission statesments with the ALP Advisory Committee which met in Uppsala for a full week in October 1996. During that week we also discussed more concrete activities for the next MTP, to be performed in cooperation with the Regional Division and other IFLA bodies.

Staff and Finance

The International Focal Point (IFP) for ALP at Uppsala University Library is funded by IFLA and by no less than 25 Nordic library associations and institutions, as well as by Uppsala University. DANIDA pays for one half-time position and continues to support the maintenance of the database of donors and pays from 1996 on for translations and publications. Sida funds were also used for the secretariat. The cost for the IFP was a SEK 1 150 000, which included staff, travel, material and equipment, the database project, as well as all the expenses for the participation at the Book Fair in Gothenburg. To this should be added contributions in kind by Uppsala University Library (office space, mail and communications).

The ALP IFP was staffed by the same three people as in previous years, Birgitta Bergdahl, Core Programme Director, Birgitta Sandell, Programme Officer (half-time) and Gunilla Natvig, Administrative Officer (80%). Gunilla Natvig attended a Spanish language course in Antigua, Guatemala, Aug 26–Sep 6. The University Librarian, Ulf Göransson, devotes considerable time and effort to supporting the programme.

Professional Activities

The professional activities continued to the full extent during the year. The total amount of money which ALP paid for projects and other programme activities was SEK 1 202 707. (Since 1992, when the programme became fully operational, we have been able to spend around SEK 6 550 000 on programme activities.) The funders in 1996 were: Sida, FINNIDA and the Finnish Library Association and three Swedish library associations, as well as the Swedish Institute. In addition, those responsible for projects in the regions contributed their own resources but also raised considerable external funds from other sources.

ALP Meetings and Seminars

JICPA (Joint IFLA/ICA Committee on Preservation in Africa): JICPA met for the first time in Dakar, Senegal, February 13–17. It is a follow-up of the 1993 Pan-African Nairobi Conference on Preservation and Conservation of Library and Archival Materials. The members represent the four ICA chapters in Africa, and the five sub-regions of IFLA´s Regional Section for Africa. The Chairman is the Chief Librarian of Benin University Library in Togo, Mr F.K. Afanou, and the Secretary General is the Director of the National Archives of Kenya, Mr M. Musembi. There are also five members ex officio: the Chair of IFLA´s Regional Standing Committee for Africa; Mr Björn Lindh, representing ICA´s Commission on Archival Development; the IFLA Africa Regional Office Manager; the Core Programme Director of IFLA´s PAC Programme, and, finally, the Core Programme Director of ALP. There was simultaneous interpretation between French and English. The meeting was financed by ALP with money from Sida. Birgitta Bergdahl represented ALP at the meeting. This meeting has been described in IFLA Journal, Vol 22 (1996), No 3, p. 258–259, and in a special report by Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff.
Regional Meeting for Specialists in Library Services in Rural and Urban Marginal Areas: This meeting took place in Piura, Peru, April 26–29. Responsible was an international IFLA planning committee, which included ALP and a local organizing committee consisting of Martha Fernández de López and Anahí Baylón, National Library of Peru and Eduardo Villanueva Mansilla, representing IFLA´s Regional Standing Committee for Latin America & the Caribbean. There were 140 participants, many local participants from Piura and 18 representatives of ten other Latin American countries. The objectives of the seminar was to exchange experiences of public libraries in Latin America, emphasizing those located in urban–marginal, rural and frontier areas. The seminar attracted much attention from the authorities of Piura, but also from mass media. The language was Spanish. The meeting was financed by ALP with money from Sida. Birgitta Bergdahl represented ALP. This meeting was described in the Newsletter of the IFLA Latin American and Caribbean Regional Section, Vol. 28, June 1996, p. 9–10.
Latin American Seminar on Library, Reading and Street-Children.: Organized in Mexico City, June 24–28, by Ms María Trinidad Román, Centro universitario de investigaciones bibliotecológicas at UNAM. 33 participants from 13 Latin American countries took actively part in the seminar. There were many reports in mass media from the seminar. The seminar was partly funded by ALP with money from Sida. A final report was published in October 1996, in Investigación bibliotecológica, vol 20, nr 20, 1996, p. 41–46.
Meeting of ALP Advisory Committee: Uppsala Sweden, October 17–23. The ALP Advisory Committee, which consists of the chairs and secretaries of the three regional sections as well as of IFLA´s regional office managers (it is actually identical with the Coordinating Board of the Regional Division), met at Uppsala University Library to discuss the new MTP, to meet with the ALP Nordic Support Group, to meet with Sida´s evaluator of the ALP Programme, Mr Leo Kenny, and finally to meet with Mr Björn Lindh, Vice chair of ICA´s Development Committee. The greater part of this meeting was funded by the Swedish Institute. The minutes from these meetings are available at the ALP IFP, in English, French and Spanish.

IFLA´s General Conference in Beijing

Workshops

Birgitta Bergdahl participated in the Division of regional activities workshop on MTP planning, and Birgitta Sandell participated in the Aid agency development workshop.

Poster Sessions

ALP participated at the Poster Session also this year, with information about its activities in the three regions.

Joint Meeting ICA-IFLA

Birgitta Bergdahl participated in this meeting.

IFLA Regional Standing Committee Meetings

The ALP IFP cooperates closely with IFLA's Regional Offices and Standing Committees in the planning, development and execution of projects and activities.

The annual meetings of the Regional Standing Committees in their own regions are most important for the development of ALP. During recent years these meetings have been organized in conjunction with workshops or seminars so that part of the travel and other costs has been shared. As from 1995 IFLA is financing a substantial part of the meetings.

Birgitta Bergdahl participated in the African meeting in Dakar, Senegal, in February. ALP IFP was represented by Birgitta Sandell at the meeting of the Section for Asia and Oceania in New Delhi, India in March. In April Birgitta Bergdahl participated in the Latin American and Caribbean Committee meeting in Lima, Peru.

Birgitta Bergdahl and Birgitta Sandell took part in the Regional Standing Committee meetings in Beijing. In Beijing we also had a chance to meet with IFLA´s Professional Board and Executive Board and with representatives of several other IFLA bodies to plan for future cooperation.

Scholarships and attachments

Scholarships in Information Technology to the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand: Two scholarships were awarded for the three-months training course in modern information technology in 1996 at the AIT, namely to Chen Rui, China and Ms Neera Sahni, India.
Scholarships in information technology to INSDOC, New Delhi , India: Two scholarships were awarded to Md Salahuddin, Bangladesh and U Myo Aung, Myanmar.; The scholarships´ programme this year was funded entirely by Sida.
In Service Training, Attachments, for Middle or Senior Staff: Five persons were selected for attachments in 1996 at institutions in the region: S Kumar Rout, India; I. Prasad Adhikakri, Nepal; Ardana Putra, Indonesia; Ms Daw Swe Swe Than, Myanmar; and Ms Pimol Meksawat, Thailand. The host institutions were: Mahidol University Library and Chiang Mai University Library, Thailand; Monash University Library, Australia; National Library of Thailand and University of Western Sydney, Australia . This project is funded by three Swedish Library Associations with additional money from Forum Syd (Sida), and by the Finnish Library Association with additional money from FINNIDA.; The candidates for both programmes were selected by the Advisory and Appraisal Committee of the RSC for Asia and Oceania and the decisions were approved by the ALP Core Programme Director. The Newsletter for Asia and Oceania publishes the reports from the awardees annually, and also presents the host organizations. The Asian Institute of Technology sends ALP an annual report, as will INSDOC do.; NORAD promised in 1966 to fund a similar attachment programme in Africa 1997–2001. Only the finances (on a higher level) will be handled by ALP.; NCLIS decided in 1966 to fund for one year, 1997, an attachment programme for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Other ongoing projects

Africa: Pilot project on ´Twin Circuit´ Libraries in Pikine Guédiawaye. An administrative project group in the community of Pikine Guédiawaye, Dakar, Senegal is responsible for this project. Ms Antoinette Corréa, Bibliothèque-Lecture-Développement (B.L.D.), reports regularly on the project. ALP has prioritized furnishings, books and computer equipment for the model library. When the building is completed, ALP will sponsor a regional training seminar (the seminar is scheduled for February, 1997). Funds transferred by ALP from FINNIDA in 1996 .; ALP participated in co-operation with the IFLA Africa Regional Section and IFLA´s Regional Office for Africa at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, August 1–9, in Harare. Stan Made, Secretary of the IFLA Regional Standing Committee for Africa was responsible for the stand and the exhibition. The little stand was paid with money from Sida.; The fifth Microcomputer workshop was prepared by the ALP IFP in cooperation with IFLA´s Regional Section for Africa and its former chair person Gboyega Banjo and the local organizers of the seminar at the Centre for Adult and Continuing Education, University of the Western Cape, South Africa; African Journal of Academic Librarianship. ALP funded, with money from Sida, two annual issues of this journal.
Asia and Oceania: Establishing a database on the Vietnamese Union Catalogue of Foreign Scientific and Technical Periodicals. This project was completed in 1996 and was funded by ALP with money from SIDA. A final report has been received from the institution responsible for the project, the Central Library for Science and Technology: "Establishing a Database on Vietnamese Union Catalogue of Foreign Scientific and Technical Periodicals", 38 pp + 7 annexes.; The National Bibliography of the Lao PDR (1975-1990). This project is ongoing, and will be completed in 1997. Funded by ALP by money from Sida.
Latin America and the Caribbean: Attention to Indigenous Communities in Venezuela through Public Library Services. María Elena Zapata, chair IFLA LAC and Elizabeth Monascal, Dir. de Redes estatales de bibliotecas públicas, were responsible for this project. Final report received in 1996. This project has been financed by ALP with money from Sida.; INFOBILA . The Latin American Database in the Library and Information Area. ALP is supporting the database with money from Sida. Birgitta Bergdahl visited Cuib, at UNAM, to look more closely at the work of the database, in May.; Survey of national information resources and services in the member states of the OECS and review of plans for development. Ongoing project, financed by ALP with money from Sida.; APLA (Antillean Public Library Association) Advanced Course for Library Personnel on Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Completed project, financed by ALP with money from Sida. Awaiting final report..
Intraregional project: Standards for the evaluation of information provision to rural communities in developing countries. For this project a contract was signed with UNESCO PGI in 1996. The person responsible for the project is Diana Rosenberg, International African Institute, London, Great Britain.

Publications and Other Dissemination Activities

ALP Project Report Series (ISSN 1023-8212)

Two issues were published in 1996:

Guide to institutions supporting librarianship in developing countries

8. La diffusion de l'information dans les communautés rurales en Afrique. Actes du séminaire tenu à Gaborone, Botswana, 20-25 juin, 1994. Edité par Eugéne William Ndiaye en coll. avec Antoinette Fall Corréa. B.L.D. Bibliothèque-Lecture-Développement, Dakar, 1996.

Publications by the ALP IFP staff

I New Delhi med IFLAs sektion för Asien & Oceanien (In New Delhi with IFLA´s Section for Asia and Oceania), Biblioteksbladet, 1996, 6 - 7, p 198. (Birgitta Sandell)

Nyheter från ALP (News from ALP), DF-Revy, 19,6 1996, p. 132 - 133. (Birgitta Bergdahl)

Svenska bibliotekarier stödjer kollegor i Asien (Swedish Librarians Support Colleagues in Asia), Bibliotekariesamfundet meddelar, 1996, 2, p. 13 - 16. (Gunilla Natvig)

Representation at Other Meetings

During the year, ALP was represented and information was presented about the programme at the following conferences, which were organized by other bodies:

IFLA Trends Meeting , The Hague, Netherlands April 13-14. (Birgitta Bergdahl)

Visits to Bibliothèque Nationale de France, IFLA´s PAC Office, UNESCO PGI and ACCT, Paris, France, April 16-19. (Birgitta Sandell)

Annual meeting Mexican Library Association, Oaxaca, Mexico, April 29-May 1. (Birgitta Bergdahl)

1st International Memory of the World Conference, Oslo, Norway, June 3-5. (Birgitta Bergdahl)

UNESCO´s Public Library Manifesto in Practice, Ljusdal, Sweden. (Birgitta Bergdahl)

The Swedish Book Fair, Gothenburg, Sweden, 24-27 October. Exhibition and participation in the seminar "Libraries, knowledge and Democracy". (Gunilla Natvig, Birgitta Sandell, Birgitta Bergdahl, Kay Raseroka, Elizabet de Carvalho and Miriam Martinez)

IFLA´s Working Group on Literacy, Pre-Session 97 Committee Meeting, PB Meeting, The Hague, Netherlands, December, 7-9 (Birgitta Bergdahl).

Visitors ot the International Focal Point

Visitors to the ALP IFP in 1995 were:

The Multi-Cultural Group of the Swedish Library Association, February 9.
Børge Sørensen, Member IFLA Executive Board, in February and October.
Irene Maeri, Information Officer, Pastoral Information Network Programme, Kenya
Students from the Library & Information Science Education, Uppsala University, September and November.
IFLA´s Secretary General, Leo Voogt, November 8.
Leo Kenny, SIDA´s evaluator, several visits during the fall.