Nominations for candidates to serve on the Standing Committees for the period from August 2015 to August 2019

DEADLINE: 11 February 2015

IFLA’s professional programme consists mainly of Sections. Each Section is governed by a democratically elected Standing Committee consisting of professionals with expertise and an interest in the field of the Section. Serving on a Standing Committee provides opportunities for professional development, networking with colleagues from many different countries and helping to advance the profession in specific areas of practice.

See also:

Who can nominate a candidate?

These Members may nominate a candidate for election to the Standing Committee of a Section:

  • The authorised signatory of an Association or Institutional Member may nominate a candidate for each section for which the Member is registered
    NOTE: the authorised signatory is the individual who is listed in IFLA’s records as the organisation’s highest official and whose name appears on the attached nomination form. Please contact us if this is incorrect so we can re-issue the form.
  • Institutional Affiliate (Institutional sub-units, School libraries, One-person library centres) may nominate a candidate for each section for which the Member is registered,
  • Individual Affiliate (Personal/Non-salaried/Student/New Graduate) may nominate a candidate for each section for which the Member is registered,
  • Association Affiliate may nominate a candidate for each section for which the member is registered, and
  • Honorary Fellows may nominate a candidate for each section for which the Member is registered.

The nominating Member must have paid all membership fees in full for 2014 and not be in arrears, with the exception of Honorary Fellows.

Those elected to a Standing Committee serve in a personal capacity. A candidate does not have to be a member of IFLA (or be employed by or be affiliated with a Member of IFLA). The important thing is that the candidate can contribute actively to the work of the Section.

How many candidates may I nominate and for which Standing Committees?

You may nominate ONE candidate for the Standing Committee of EACH Section for which you are registered. For example, if you are registered for three Sections, you may nominate one candidate for each of the three Standing Committees. IFLA Sections for which you are registered are listed on the attached nomination form. You may copy the nomination form for as many Sections as you are eligible, and wish to make nominations for, however, each form may only be signed by the authorised signatory as indicated above.

From time to time, the Chair of a Section may become aware of a potential candidate who does not have a nominator and may ask if you are willing to nominate them. Doing so implies no commitment to support that candidate in any way and you do not have to know the candidate personally. However, you will need to communicate with the candidate in order to complete the nomination forms. Please note that nominating a candidate requires no responsibility by you for that candidate, whether elected or not.

Who may be nominated?

Candidates should:

  • have appropriate knowledge and experience to contribute to the Section’s work
  • be keen to be involved in IFLA
  • have a working knowledge of at least one of the working languages of IFLA (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish). Since the business meetings of IFLA are generally conducted in English, reasonable fluency in this language is necessary to be able to fully participate as a Standing Committee member
  • have a reasonable expectation of support to be able to participate in the work of the Standing Committee at no expense to IFLA. Standing Committees meet on the first day of the annual IFLA World Library and Information Congress and possibly a second meeting will take place during the Congress week. Standing Committee members will be expected to attend 5 Congresses, beginning in 2015 (Cape Town) to and including 2019 (location to be determined). Congresses usually take place in August each year. In between these meetings, most business is conducted electronically. Some Standing Committees hold midyear meetings by agreement of the Committee
  • contribute actively to ideas for projects and conference programme meetings
  • join in the work of the Section, for example, by undertaking projects, organising workshops, preparing translations, preparing  standards, guidelines, etc.
  • recruit new Members to the Section and to IFLA
  • respond to requests from IFLA HQ for advice
  • assist in disseminating information about Section activities
  • encourage participation in the Section by people in different parts of the world, by identifying potential new candidates and corresponding members
  • assist in the allocation of "portfolios" to individuals serving on the committee (for example, editing the newsletter, acting as information coordinator, Section membership recruitment, organising translations, preparing workshops, etc.)
  • act with respect, trust, confidentiality and transparency within the Committee and recognise the need to protect personal and privileged information. When considering Committee matters, Standing Committee members must declare any conflicts of interest and abstain from discussions where they have a conflict or potential conflict of interest.

You may nominate yourself, a member of your staff or a person in another organisation or another country who is known to have the required qualifications and interest in serving.

Who may not be nominated?

The following persons may NOT be nominated for the period 2015-2019:

  • persons who are currently serving on a Standing Committee for the period 2013-2017
  • persons who are currently serving their second  consecutive (and final) term on a Standing Committee for the period 2011-2015.

Individuals completing their second term on a committee who are interested in serving a term on a different Standing Committee should make their desire known to a member eligible to make a nomination. No one may at the same time be a member of more than one Standing Committee. The only exception is that a person may be a member of the Standing Committee of a regional section (Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean) in addition to one other Standing Committee. To see those currently serving on the Standing Committees of the various Sections please look at the IFLA Website, Activities and Groups.

How do I nominate?

Attached to your letter you will find a nomination form which bears the name of you or your organisation. If you want to nominate candidates for the Standing Committee of more than one Section, you will need to make one or more photocopies of this nomination form. Do NOT use a nomination form supplied to any other IFLA Member and do not make copies of your nomination form for use by other Members. This leads to much confusion.

Obtain the consent of your nominee, using the attached Consent Form, together with confirmation that the nominee meets the language and attendance requirements, and a brief statement of the nominee’s career and present position.

Complete the nomination form. For Association, Institutional Members, Institutional and Association Affiliates: make sure that it is signed by the authorised signatory. One nominator is sufficient. It does not have to be seconded.

Send it to IFLA Headquarters by email, fax or post (but it must be signed).

What is the deadline?

The completed nominations must reach IFLA Headquarters ON or BEFORE 11 February 2015. No late nominations can be accepted. To avoid disappointment please do not wait until the last moment but start the process as early as possible.

What happens after the nominations have been received?

If the (scanned) nomination form is sent to IFLA HQ to the email address mentioned on the form (elections@ifla.org), you will receive automatically a confirmation of receipt of the form(s).  If the nomination form is sent by fax or post, a confirmation of receipt will be sent only if requested.

Each Section may have up to 20 persons serving on its Standing Committee. If the number of candidates for any Section exceeds the number of vacancies, a postal ballot will be held after the close of nominations. The postal ballot will be sent out in March 2015. If the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies, then there will not be an election and eligible nominees are automatically appointed to the Section Standing Committee. These nominees will receive a letter confirming their appointment and election.

Once the election is complete, a list of the new Standing Committee members of the Sections will be sent to all Section Chairs so that they can communicate with their new members.

I would like to nominate a candidate, but I am / my organisation is not a member of that Section

You may have a colleague in your organisation or know a colleague who could make a great contribution to a Section, but you or your organisation is not a member of that Section. There are two possible solutions:

1.  Register yourself or your organisation for the Section

You may choose to replace one of your current section registrations, or you may add the section to your existing total. There is no charge to replace one section with another. For registration in an additional section, there is a charge of  EUR 56 (2015: EUR 57) for each extra section. This amount must be paid (and received by IFLA HQ) before the nomination deadline in order for the nomination to be valid.

2.  Identify another Member who is registered for the Section.

You can contact the Chair or Secretary of the Section concerned and suggest that they look for a Member to nominate the person you have in mind. Sections, particularly smaller ones, are often anxious to identify potential candidates and will be grateful for your suggestions.

Please be aware that IFLA, according to the Dutch Law on Personal Data Protection, is not allowed to publish member contact details without the prior consent of the member concerned.

And last but not least …

The Standing Committees form the backbone of IFLA’s professional work. IFLA needs its Standing Committees to be widely representative geographically and in terms of language, age, gender, institutional background, etc. Please take some time to convince suitable candidates of the benefits in accepting a nomination. The work is rewarding; it presents possibilities for sharing knowledge and expertise with like-minded professionals in different parts of the world – and it helps IFLA achieve worthwhile developments on behalf of our profession.


Jennefer Nicholson
Secretary General