IFLA2010 Gothenburg - 11 August
Wednesday 11th August 2010
IFLA opening ceremonies each have their own unique memories. Today’s was no exception. Opening with acoustic guitar by Thomas Andersson. Our congratulations to the IFLA 2010 Swedish National Committee for all their work. Agneta Olsson mentioned the ‘experience’ that has been organising an IFLA Congress, as she welcomed everyone to Gothenburg.
You can read IFLA President Ellen Tise’s opening speech here. Jan Eliasson, former President of the UN General Assembly, gave an inspiring address for the Congress and concluded with a quote of the three passions of Bertrand Russell. All the speakers covered the conference theme very well - “Open access to knowledge - promoting sustainable progress”.
Then, there was just abit of dancing in the aisles and clapping to the music, to get in the groove with the ABBA tribute band. Librarians are well known for their ‘dancing queen’ skills and many were brought out during the opening ceremony today, following on from the IFLA Night Spot and free outdoor music festival here in Gothenburg last night.
I’ve been glad to catch up with lots of Library Association Execs already, including Kelly from CLA, Bob from the UK (always a great blog, Bob) Rhona from SLIC , and from the USA - Janice from SLA & Keith from ALA.
With pouring rain outside, it was a good time for the Exhibition to open and to visit a few vendors today, more over the next couple of days. I think I have now seen most of the 36 Australian library delegates in the crowd who are attending this year’s congress. We look forward to hearing some of their reports on the in future editions of inCite.
There are lots of other blog posts, videos and photos from the day http://2010.ifla.org/blogging-gothenburg You can look through the IFLA Daily Mashup at http://paper.li/tag/ifla2010
with ABBA music still ringing in our ears tonight, all over Gothenburg….
Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director