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World Library and Information Congress:
69th IFLA General Conference and Council

Access Point Library:
Media - Information - Culture

1 - 9 August 2003, Berlin, Germany
Patron: German Federal President Johannes Rau


INDEX

AGENDA OF THE COUNCIL MEETINGS

PROPOSAL FOR AMENDMENTS TO THE STATUTES

COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS


IN THIS DOCUMENT:

COUNCIL I:

Opening

Welcome

Appointment of Tellers

Establishment of a Quorum

Adoption of the Agenda

Minutes

Formal Announcement of the results of the election of the President-elect and for places on the Governing Board

Proposals for Amendments to the Federation's statutes

Presentation of the Annual Report by the Secreatary General

Presentation of the Annual Accounts

In Memoriam

Adjournment

COUNCIL II:

Opening

Establishment of a quorum

Proposed amendments to the Statutes

Presentation of the report of the Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters

Presentation of the report of the Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression

Motions and Resolutions

Address by the President

Closure


 

Minutes of the Council Meetings

Council I: 3 August 2003, Berlin, Germany

The President of IFLA, Christine Deschamps, presided.

Opening:

The President, Christine Deschamps, opened the Council meeting at 16:45. She welcomed delegates to Berlin and wished them a successful conference.

Welcome:

69th IFLA conference and Council, welcomed delegates to Berlin. He expected an attendance of more than 4,000 participants. There would be 160 exhibitors. The Committee was grateful to the 31 sponsors who shade made the conference possible. There were several special features, including an exhibition at the Berlin State Library, on-line message centres, two internet caffes, sponsored by OCLC and Elsevier. He was especially proud of the media coverage achieved so far, including a whole page spread in one of the Sunday papers. Two hundred volunteers would be helping to ensure that participants made the best of the congress. He completed his welcome by wishing participants happy days in sunny Berlin.

Appointment of Tellers:

The Secretary General explained the procedures required for voting on general resolutions. He proposed the following persons to act as tellers to count the votes: Rashidah Begum (Malaysia), John Day (USA), Wanda Dole (USA), Susan Lazinger (Israel) and Patricia Yocum (USA). He also proposed that John Day act as Head Teller. The meeting approved the appointment of the tellers.

Establishment of a Quorum:

At the beginning of the meeting, 136 Association Members had paid their membership fees for 2003 and were not in arrears. According to the Statutes, representatives of at least 69 Association Members were therefore required for a quorum. The tellers counted 68 such representatives. The Secretary General called for a recount. The tellers counted 66 representatives. A quorum was therefore not established. The President decided to continue with the business on the agenda which did not require a vote.

Adoption of the Agenda:

The agenda was adopted by the meeting.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the previous meeting of Council held on 18th and 23rd August 2002 at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow, United Kingdom, were adopted and signed by the President.

Formal Announcement of the results of the election of the President-elect and for places on the Governing Board:

The Secretary General read out the results of the election of President-elect to serve as President-elect for 2003-2005 and as President for 2005-2007.
The results were as follows:
Winston Tabb (USA) 257
Claudia Lux (Germany) 384
Alex Byrne (Australia) 495

Alex Byrne had been elected.

The results of the elections for places on the Governing Board to serve for 2003-2005 were read out by the Secretary General.
The results were as follows:
Sally McCallum (USA) 311
John Berry (USA) 311
Rejean Savard (Canada) 316
Gary E, Strong (USA) 365
Barbara Ford (USA) 370
Vinyet Panella (Spain) 374
Evgeniy Kuzmin (Russian Federation) 417
Tiiu Valm (Estonia) 436
Shawky Salem (Egypt) 496
Sissel Nilsen (Norway) 602
Ingrid Parent (Canada) 606
Ellen Tise (South Africa) 616
Jianzhong Wu (China) 619
Claudia Lux (Germany) 658
Alex Byrne (Australia) 715
Ana Maria Zimmermann (Argentina) 750.

He reported that the first ten candidates in order of the number of votes cast had been elected and would therefore serve on the Governing Board from 2003 to 2005. However, one of the candidates in the first ten, Alex Byrne, had been elected as President-elect and would serve on the Governing Board in that capacity. The eleventh candidate in order of the number of votes cast, Vinyet Panella, would therefore serve as a member of the Governing Board from 2003 to 2005.

Council confirmed the results of the election.

The Secretary General also announced the results of the elections which had just taken place for members of the Pan ella Governing Board, representing the Divisions and who would serve from 2003 to 2005 and form the Professional Committee.
They were:
Ia McIlwaine (UK), Chair
Cristobal Pasadas (Spain), Division 1
Jakob Andersen (Denmark), Division 2
Torny Kjekstad (Norway), Division 3
Barbara Tillett (USA), Division 4
Edward Swanson (USA), Division 5
Nancy Gwinn (USA), Division 6
Marian Koren (Netherlands), Division 7
Jacinta Were (Kenya), Division 8.

All those present were called on to the stage to be presented to Council.

Proposals for Amendments to the Federation’s statutes:

Because the meeting was not quorate, this item was deferred until 8th August.

Presentation of the Annual Report by the Secretary General:

The Secretary General presented his report. Because it would be his last report, as he would be retiring before the next congress, he reported on the period since he took office in 1999. He recalled that on his appointment he had been given a remit which included; the strengthening of the finances of IFLA, implementation of the recommendations of the Working Party on the Revision of the Statutes to improve the democratic processes and to encourage a more open organisation, and to develop the advocacy role of IFLA. He believed that significant progress had been made in all three areas. The financial reserves had been built up to a point where more resources could now be devoted to professional programmes. The revision of the Statutes had been implemented smoothly and in good time. The result was a more open and democratic organisation. The advocacy role was developing strongly, especially in the context of the UN World Summit on the Information Society, and in partnership with other NGOs in the International Committee of the Blue Shield. The achievements so far were the result of partnerships within IFLA and withe other organisations. He paid tribute to the work of the staff at headquarters, in the core activities and in the regional offices, and the close working relationship with the Governing Board. Without the support of the host institutions and the corporate partners much less progress would have been made. There was still much to do, however, as the demands are almost infinite while the resources are finite. He felt able to report that IFLA was in good shape. The Secretary General’s report was adopted.

Presentation of the Annual Accounts:

The Treasurer, Derek Law reported that the financial state of the Federation was sound. Membership remained buoyant and had not been affected by the small increase in dues. The other major source of income was the conference. This was the third successive year when the number attending would be around the 4,500 level. It seemed clear that all of the changes effected in recent years had made the conference much larger and therefore more lucrative. This was the last year in which it would be necessary to transfer income to the reserves to meet the target of the equivalent of one year’s central costs. Having achieved that significant goal, any additional income could be spent to further the purposes of the Federation through increased staffing in support of activities and the provision of additional funding to earmarked funds and core activities. In line with the resolution passed at Council in 2002, the Executive Committee had approved an increase in dues of 2%, well below the Netherlands inflation rate of 3.5%. Finally, the Treasurer thanked all those who had offered advice and support during his six years in office. The incoming Treasurer would have to deal with issues of spending money not squirreling it away and this was a fortunate position for the Federation to be in. The Treasurer’s report was adopted.

In Memoriam:

The President read out the names of those members who had died since the last conference; Alice Bulogosi, Seymour Lubetsky, John Sumsion, Preben Kirkegaard, Peter Durey, Ian Mowat, Ramesh Jayaram, and Elena Nebogatikova. Members stood in silence in their memory.

Adjournment:

The President adjourned the meeting at 18:10 until Friday 8th August 2003, following the closing session of the congress. She urged those present to encourage more Association Members to attend that meeting in order to achieve a quorum.


Council II: 8 August 2003, Berlin, Germany

Opening:

The President, Christine Deschamps, declared the second session of the Council meeting open at 16:30 on Friday 8th August, 2003. She invited incoming President, Kay Raseroka, to preside over the meeting

Establishment of a quorum:

Because a quorum had not been achieved at the first session of Council, the Secretary.

General asked Association Members to indicate their presence. The tellers counted 76 such members present. A quorum was therefore declared. Council endorsed the business transacted during the meeting held on 3rd August 2003.

Proposed amendments to the Statutes:

The Treasurer, Derek Law, on behalf of the Governing Board, proposed the following amendment to the Statutes:

Proposal A:
Proposed amendment to Article 22.2 of the Statutes:
"Delete: 'together with 3' and substitute 'the President-elect and 2'."

He said that the effect of this amendment would be to make the President-elect an ex-officio member of the Professional Committee, at the same time reducing the number of members of the Committee elected by the Governing Board from three to two. He reported that, in accordance with the Statutes, the proposed amendment had been the subject of a postal ballot of all voting members. 714 votes had been cast in favour of the proposed amendment, 3 had been cast against the proposal, with 1 abstention. The proposal had therefore been carried. 30% of members had voted and 34% of the possible votes had been cast. The proposal, in accordance with the Statutes, now required a two-thirds majority of those voting members present to be adopted. The proposal was duly seconded. The number of voting members present was 238. 219 voted for the proposal. No votes were recorded against the proposal and there were no recorded abstentions. The proposal was therefore carried nem con.

The Treasurer, on behalf of the Governing Board, proposed the following new Article:

Proposal B:
"15.8.3: If a quorum is not present at a meeting of Council, the announced business may be transacted and implemented. Any decisions made may be confirmed at the next meeting of Council. If a quorum is not present at that meeting, agenda items requiring confirmation or decision shall be referred to a postal ballot."

He said that this new Article was required because the Statutes made no provision for procedures to be adopted in the event that a quorum was not present at a meeting of Council. He reported that in accordance with the Statutes the proposed amendment had been the subject of a postal ballot of all members. 706 votes had been cast in favour of the proposed amendment, 9 had been cast against the proposal, with 3 abstentions. The proposal had therefore been carried. 30% of members had voted and 34% of the possible votes had been cast. The proposal, in accordance with the Statutes, now required a two-thirds majority of those voting members present to be adopted.

Barry Cropper, CILIP, UK, said that he believed that the proposed new Article would be unconstitutional. He therefore proposed an amendment which had been submitted in accordance with the announced procedures for resolutions, as Resolution 1. The proposal was to delete "and implemented" in Proposal B and insert after "transacted" the following: "subject to gaining a two-thirds majority of those present. Such business may be implemented only if subsequently endorsed by a quorate meeting of the Governing Board."

The Treasurer said that he had consulted members of the Executive Committee and was prepared to accept the amendment.

The proposed amendment was duly seconded.

230 votes were cast in favour of the amendment, 7 against, with 1 abstention.

The amended proposal; "15.8.3 If a quorum is not present at a meeting of Council, the announced business may be transacted subject to gaining a two-thirds majority of those present. Such business may be implemented only if subsequently endorsed by a quorate meeting of the Governing Board. Any decisions made may be confirmed at the next meeting of Council. If a quorum is not present at that meeting, agenda items requiring confirmation or decision shall be referred to a postal ballot." was therefore put to the meeting, proposed by the Treasurer and duly seconded from the floor. 237 votes were cast for the proposal, there were no votes against, with one abstention. The proposal as amended was therefore carried.

Presentation of the report of the Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters

The outgoing chair of the Committee, Marianne Scott, presented her final report.

The President thanked her and congratulated her on the award of Honorary Fellowship of IFLA, announced at the closing session of the congress.

Presentation of the report of the Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression:

The outgoing chair of the Committee, Alex Byrne, presented his final report. The President thanked him and congratulated him on his election as President-elect for the 2003-2005 term.

Motions and Resolutions:

Address by the President:

The President gave a brief address on her Presidential theme and her hopes for her Presidency.

Closure:

There being no other business, the President declared the meeting closed at 18:20.

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