For the position of Governing Board Member 2015-2017

Ágnes Hajdu BarátI have been an active member of IFLA over the past 12 years, serving as a Member on the Standing Committee for the Knowledge Management Section. I contributed to Open Sessions of KM as a member or a chair of the Programme Committee in the last few years. I participated in the revision work of the School Library Guidelines and coordinated the selection processes, wrote and edited the Hungarian part of the World through Picture Books also.  Related to my roles, I seek to build strong contacts across the Sections.

The centuries-old cultural role of libraries and librarians is equally necessary in the 21st century, providing intellectual growth, fresh ideas and widening opportunities, both for work and learning. Libraries maintain and serve the cultural needs of local communities including ethnic minorities. Multifaceted library networks like IFLA guarantee access to assets, the accomplishment of cultural identity, tolerance and multiculturalism.

As Vice President of the Association of Hungarian Librarians, responsible for foreign affairs, I will pay particular focus to the growth of the Building Strong Library Associations Programme and I would like to support an outreach programme for advocacy and development of the profession.

I share IFLA's conviction that empowering libraries is to enable their user communities to have equitable access to information. Reflecting the many innovative ideas and work of IFLA people, I would consider the IFLA repository as one of the important parts of my contribution.

Furthermore, as a member of academic staff, I would like to encourage LIS students to know and engage more with the voluntary work of IFLA. 

It would be a great honour and privilege to be elected to serve on the IFLA Governing Board for the next the two years, 2015-2017. I will contribute my energy, knowledge, experience of KM and passion for our profession to the work of the Governing Board.

Ágnes Hajdu Barát
Vice President of the Association of Hungarian Librarians
Head of the Library Science Department at the Eötvös Loránd University
Budapest, Hungary