On 10 December delegates from FAIFE participated in the celebration of the Croatian Library Association’s Committee for Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression. Founded 25 years ago, the committee has every year organised a roundtable on a poignant topic related to free access to information. This year, Croatian librarians as well as international guests met at Zagreb City Library for the event “A quarter of a century of the Commission for Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression”.

panelists - from annemari whatsapp
Credits: Croatian Library Association.

FAIFE chair Jonathan Hernández Pérez presented FAIFE’s mission and work over almost 30 years, and advisory committee member Karolina Andersdotter gave a presentation on recent research on freedom of expression and privacy in European public libraries. Silvija Perić, from the Virovitica Public Library, gave an overview of the committee’s 25 years in action, and Ana Barbarić and Ivana Hebrang Grgić, from the University of Zagreb, spoke about the importance of the of the committee for higher education of librarians and the development of the librarianship profession in Croatia.

The presentations were followed by a panel on “Free access to information today and around the world”, chaired by Jonathan Hernández Pérez, and Annemari Štimac from Zagreb City Library. In addition to the abovementioned presenters, the panelists also included Joseph Hafner, IFLA North America Regional Division, Edita Bačić, founder of the committee and long-time participant in several IFLA units, Jasenka Pleško, president of the Croatian Library Association, and Damjana Vovk, president of the Slovenian Library Association.

all participants - from hkd facebook
All participants. Credits: Croatian Library Association.