IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 2 (Section Meeting)

Day 2 in Oslo. Sat morning, 13 Aug 05, 8.30am. Attended the standing committee (Children & Young People Libraries) meeting #1. Now I can associate faces to the section members' names I've been seeing in the email list.

Up to a third of this year's Standing Committee (SC) members were new, in replacement of the outgoing members. The chairperson explained that SC meetings were basically "business meetings" where the committee's strategies, plans, administrative matters (like budgets), programmes and projects were discussed.

The chairperson hails from Sarajavo. She is very competent, as I'm sure are all those attending.

At this meeting we re-elected the chairperson & secretary. The chairperson then appointed the Tresurer & Information Officer (IO). I was appointed as IO and a main duty is to publish the SC's newsletter.

The IO post was held by my outgoing colleague. She did such a good job that our SC's newsletter has been nominated for an IFLA award. I shall try my best to uphold the high standards set.

Later, I was asked by another colleague what an IO does. I joked that I now control what the rest of IFLA reads about our committee's work. Not strictly true about the control part but I'm beginning to learn that the newsletter is important.

As the chairperson said, "Our section newsletter reflects the work of the committee". She was explaining how she had to gather materials for a paper for the SC's 50th anniversary (this year), and there was a lack of materials documenting the work.

The meeting continued with other items on the agenda, like passing the minutes of last meeting, reviewing the task assignments and a brief mention for a need to brainstorm for next year's IFLA programme for our SC.

Sitting in the room at the first meeting, it really sunk in that I'm in an international panel, and there is lots of work to be done in addition to my regular job. I'm now an IFLA Officer.

Ooh, what have I gotten myself into? :)

Just joking. I've been briefed on what was expected when I signed my name on the dotted line. But one only realises the full exent of job when we're actually involved in it. I'm telling myself not to dwell too much on the anxieties I'm facing right now and just plug away at it in manageable pieces, to the best of my abilities.

The SC members would meet two more times during this Oslo trip. There's another meeting on Friday morning, 8am. That's the official one. Our chairperson has called for another extra session on Monday afternoon. It's work, work, work!


Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005