IFLA and other International Library Associations, Institutions and Organizations

Abstract

IFLA (the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) is one of approximately twenty international organizations of interest to librarians, according to Foster Mohrhardt.1 The International Guide to Library Archival and Information Science Associations lists 44 international ones,2 and Vagianos claims there are over forty library and information associations in the arena.3 IFLA claims to be recognized all over the world as the representative organization for librarianship.4 Therefore, the new Statutes of IFLA (unanimously approved at Lausanne, Switzerland, August 23, 1976, by the 42nd General Council of IFLA) should have significance in terms of future relations among international library associations and institutions and international organizations and correct any defects that may have existed in that area. What sorts of relationships among these groups are possible or appropriate? What do the new Statutes say concerning international library associations and international organizations? What are the changes from the past, and what is the potential for the future? IFLA has said of itself that it is “not really comprehensive” and that “its relations with other organizations are not as well defined as they should be.“5