Leonard Kniffel's blog

Santa Claus is no doubt pleased with the giant Christmas tree at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland, constructed for the holiday season by the staff entirely from books. The tree stands at approximately five feet wide at the base and about eight feet high, and is made of 1,600 mostly hardcover volumes.

The Bulgarian Library and Information Association has presented its annual Support for Libraries Award to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries Initiative for its contribution to the development of public libraries in Bulgaria and their establishment as vital centers for information, communication, and electronic public services.

Some 80 librarians from every region of Bulgaria gathered September 29–30 in the city of Shumen to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the birth of Stoyan Chilingirov, a prominent Bulgarian author of books about history, ethnography, and folklore and an early library advocate.

What was arguably the most provocative program of the entire IFLA World Library and Information Congress in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was also, ironically, the least formal and structured of the entire conference.

Local organizers of the 77^thWorld Library and Information Congress in Puerto Rico pulled out all the stops Tuesday for a “Cultural Evening,” the high point in a conference peppered with local flavor. A section of the convention center was transformed into an enormous nightclub against a streetscape of old San Juan.

It’s official! Singapore is scheduled to host the 2013 World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. IFLA President Ellen Tise made the eagerly awaited announcement at the closing session of IFLA’s 77th annual conference, held August 13–18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Copyright was created to protect the rights of literary and creative artists, said Trevor C. Clarke of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Librarians have now challenged WIPO to protect libraries’ rights, he said, noting that WIPO has also moved to secure its own position in a rapidly changing information world.

Luis Molina-Casanova, filmmaker and professor in the communications department of Sacred Heart University in San Juan, was the last plenary speaker at the 77th World Library and Information Congress of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions today in Puerto Rico.

“It’s indeed hard to describe my pleasure in standing before you today,” said James Nguo, “to receive the 2011 Access to Learning Award on behalf of the Arid Lands Information Network [ALIN] and the people of East Africa.” Nguo was in San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 16 to accept the $1-million prize, which is bestowed annually by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation