We are pleased to announce that UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has appointed IFLA Governing Board member and Chair of Division IV Michael Heaney to the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Memory of the World Programme for a four-year period from 2011 to 2014.

Mike is currently Executive Secretary of the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, United Kingdom. 

UNESCO established the Memory of the World Programme in 1992 to 'guard against collective amnesia calling upon the preservation of the valuable archive holdings and library collections all over the world ensuring their wide dissemination.'

Memory of the World

The IAC is the peak body responsible for advising UNESCO on the planning and implementation of the Programme as a whole.  It comprises 14 members serving in a personal capacity chosen for their authority in the field of the safeguarding of documentary heritage. The Director-General convenes the IAC in ordinary session every two years.

In particular, the IAC maintains an overview of the policy and strategy of the whole Memory of the World Programme. It therefore monitors the global progress of the Programme, considers reports from its sub-committees, from regional committees and the Secretariat, and in turn advises these bodies on their functions and responsibilities. As necessary, it revises and updates the General Guidelines of Memory of the World and it is responsible for approving additions to, or deletions from, the international Memory of the World International Register. It builds the structures of the Programme with the intent of creating a sound framework for the future maturing of Memory of the World into the status of a UNESCO Recommendation and ultimately a UNESCO Convention.

IFLA President Ellen Tise has also just been appointed to the IAC for a four-year period from 2011 to 2014.  IFLA Governing Board member Helena R. Asamoah-Hassan has been a member of the IAC since 2009 and completes her term in 2014.