Director-General of the National library of the Republic Kazakhstan Gulissa Balabekova participated in the work of the 77-th IFLA General conference and Council and also in the Conference of directors of national libraries (August 13-18, 2011, San-Juan, Puerto-Rico).

   The theme of the conference ”Libraries more than libraries: integration, innovation and information for all”. The programme of the conference included the discussion of a wide range of work trends of the libraries in modernworld and the development of library profession such as “Open access and digital resources”, “Politics, strategy and protection”, “Advancement of access and services for users”, “Instruments and techniques”, “Ideas, innovations, expectation of the new” and others.

   There in the Congress took part more than 3500representatives of libraries and library establishments of different types from 120 countries. There at the annual international exhibition of library and information initiatives and projects participated more than 80 exponent-organizations. During the plenary sessions, forums and work of the Sections and Standing Commitees there were presented more than 200 thematic reports and 150 by-stand reports.

   The key report was made by Doctor Fernando Pico – the prominent Purto-Rican historian and humanist. There to the consideration of the issue of libraries in a wide socio-cultural context within the franmework of the intiatives and projects of the UNESCO was dedicated a special UNESCO open forum. The general issues pertaining to the activity of libraries in modernworld were considered within the framework of an open lecture of IFLA President and also in the course of the presentation of the basic IFLA projects (advancement of library projects (ALP), (building strong library associations (BSLA) etc. The participants attention was greatly attracted by the special activities dedicated to the development of national libraries in the modern world, the problems of accessibility of information and freedom of expression in the libraries, the issues of legislative backing of modern libraries and copyright in the elctronic media, the issues of formation of the libraries’ fonds with information in electronic form, including the acquisition of libraries with legal deposit of electronic documents. At the concluding session of the Congress there was introduced the new IFLA President – Ingrid Parent and her speech with the Presidentail programme.

   On August 15, 2011 there took place the annual meeting of the directors of national libraries (CDNL) in which there participated Director-General of the NLRK Gulissa Balabekova. During the day the directors of the leading national libraries of the world discussed the problemsof development of the national libraries.

   There within the framework of the programme of the Congress took place the caucas – The open coordination council of librarians of the CIS countries organized by the Library assembly of Eurasia and the Russian library association. There at the caucus made speeches Director-General of the RNL A.V.Likhomanov, deputy Director-General of the RSL L.N.Tikhonova, Director of the Presidential library A.P.Vershinin, Director-General of the National library of the Republic Kazakhstan G.K.Balabekova. The session was chaired by the President of the LAE R.S.Motulskiy and the President of the RLA V.R.Firsov.

   The next IFLA General Conference will take place in August, 2012 in Helsinki, Finland. There was announced for the first time the place of the conference in 2013 – Singapore.