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In the 15 years since the UNESCO Memory of the World programme was established much has been achieved. The time is now appropriate to celebrate its many successes, to identify its shortcomings and to propose potential improvements. The Conference will be held in association with a symposium on Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Australian National University on Monday 18 February and will be preceded by a meeting of the Regional Memory of the World Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region (MOWCAP) on 17-18 February.

Organised by the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Committeee, The conference program is being planned around five key topics:

• Memory of the World in the UNESCO framework - examining its status within UNESCO and its relationship to other UNESCO activities, such as Intangible Cultural Heritage, Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, Cultural Diversity, Human Rights and Cultural and Natural Heritage.

 

• Global, regional and national perspectives - looking at the effectiveness of the international, national, and regional programmes, including the respective registers, in fulfilling the aims of the programme.

 

• Preservation and access - taking a fresh look at the socio/technical and socio/cultural aspects of preservation and access and their role in Memory of the World.

 

• Sustaining the programme - exploring ideas, strategies and experiences to assist the growth of the Memory of the World.

 

• Evaluating success - identifying gaps, inconsistencies and inequities in the programme and proposing solutions.

The final day includes a UNESCO Soap Box where all delegates are given a chance to have their say on any topic they believe is relevant to the development and sustainability of the Memory of the World programme.

Monday 18 February 2008

National Museum of Australia

Visions Theatre

5:30pm - 6:45pm

The Australian National University Public Lecture; The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, presented by Dr Wim van Zanten (below, left), Vice President, The International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM)

National Museum of Australia

Great Hall

7:00pm - 8:30pm

CS1: Welcome reception

Sponsored by the National Museum of Australia, delegates to Communities and Memories will join delegates attending the ANU Public Lecture to celebrate their mutual interests in the tangible and intangible heritage of the world.

Tuesday 19 February 2008

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

9:00am

CC1: Opening ceremony

Dr Jan Lyall, Chair, UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee and Conference Chair, Welcome to the conference

Mrs Agnes Shea, Elder of the Ngunnawal/Ngarigo People, Welcome to Nation

Ms Susan Pascoe, Commissioner, Regulatory Reform, State Services Authority of Victoria; Chair, Australian National Commission for UNESCO, Welcome on behalf of the UNESCO National Commisson for Australia

Mr Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO Welcome on behalf of UNESCO

Ms Jan Fullerton, Director General, National Library of Australia, Welcome to the National Library of Australia

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

9:45am

CP1: Opening address

Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Director of the Centre for International Governance and Justice, and Professor of International Law and Human Rights in the Faculty of Law, Australian National University,  

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

10:30am

Morning coffee

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

11:00am

CP2: Understanding the UNESCO umbrella: relationships

Mr Ian Cook, Director, 3CS AsiaPacific; Chair, Promotion Sub-committee, UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee, Chair's introduction

Ms Joie Springer, Programme Specialist, Communication and Information Sector, The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: its aims and architectures.

Dr Wim van Zanten, Joint Vice President of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), Audiovisual documentation and its role in the transmission of knowledge.

Mr Richard Engelhardt, UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture for Asia and the Pacific, Tangible and intangible heritage, cultural tourism and linkages with Memory of the World

Professor Wiliam Logan, UNESCO Chair of Heritage and Urbanism and Alfred Deakin Professor, Cultural diversity and human rights; relevance to Memory of the World.

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

1:00pm

Lunch

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

2:00pm

CW1: Understanding the Memory of the World framework: perspectives of affiliated associations and regional areas

Ms Alissandra Cummins, Director, Barbados Museum and Historical Society; Chair of the International Advisory Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme; President, International Council of Museums (ICOM)Chair's introduction

Mr Li Minghua, Deputy Director of the State Archives Administration of China & Chairman of UNESCO Memory of the World Chinese National Committee, UNESCO Memory of the World Programme in China.

Mr Setareki Tale, President of the Pacific Branch of the International Council of Archives, Memory of the World - the Pacific perspective

Dr Alex Byrne, University Librarian, University of Technology Sydney, IFLA and the UNESCO framework for Memory of the World.

Ms Ellen Ndeshi Namhila (Namibia), University Librarian, University of Namibia, The African perspective: Memory of the World

Mme Nada Moutassem Itani, Directrice, Centre d'Information Dar Alhayat, Ministère de la Culture, Beyrouth, Lebanon The Arab world and the collective memory: an overview.

Mr Ken Hall (UK), Chargé de mission, International Council of Archives; Member, UNESCO Memory of the World International Register Sub-committee, The Memory of the World Programme - The International Council of Archives perspective.

National Library of Australia:

Foyer

5:15pm - 7:00pm

CS2: Reception sponsored by the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) and launch of the ICTM Archive at the National Library of Australia

The ICTM Archive contains all documentation from the founding of ICTM in 22 September, 1947, in London, England, by scholars and musicians (as The International Folk Music Council) to the present day.

With funds supplied by ICTM, the National Library of Australia has catalogued and housed the ICTM Archive. The launch of the Archive allows the records to be available to all, for reference, research and study.

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG!

7:30pm - 9:00pm

CS?:Private screening to conference delegates of the Israeli film The Band's visit (Bikur Hatizmoret), Winner of the UNESCO Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film (November 2007). The Jury noted that the film captured the very essence of cross-cultural dialogue.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

9:00am

CP3: Making the intangible tangible

Dr Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Chair's Introduction

Dr Anthony Seeger (USA), Professor of Ethnomusicology & Director UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive; Director Emeritus, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Smithsonian Institution, Title tbc

Dr Alex Byrne, University Librarian, University of Technology Sydney, Digitising and handling Indigeneous cultural resources in libraries, archives and museums.

Emeritus Professor Ken Taylor (Australia), Adjunct Professor, Research School of Humanities, Australian National University, Landscape and memory.

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

10:00am

Morning coffee

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

10:30am

CW2: Unravelling the registers

Ms Joie Springer, Programme Specialist, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, Chair's introduction

Ms Roslyn Russell (Australia), Director, Roslyn Russell Museum Services; Rapporteur, Bureau of the International Advisory Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme; Chair, UNESCO Memory of the World International Register Sub-Committee, International registers

Mr Ray Edmondson OAM (Australia), Director, Archive Associates Pty Ltd; Immediate Past President/ex officio Councillor, South East Asia-Pacific AudioVisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA); Chair, UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region (MOWCAP); Deputy Chair, Australian Memory of the World Committee Rgional and national registers

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

12:30pm

Lunch

1:00pm - 4:00pm

CT1 & CT2: Tours to Canberra cultural institutions

Tours are being arranged to several of the leading Canberra cultural institutions to see highlights of their collections.

National Film and Sound Archive

4:00pm - 5:45pm

CS3: Reception sponsored by the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) and screening of The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) and other films

The nine minute fragments that remain of The Story of the Kelly Gang, with its promotional booklet to contextualise the tale, have historical significance as the first Australian narrative film, and thus the foundation of a vigorous Australian film-making industry. The film has creative significance as the germinal filmic representation of the Kelly bushranger legend, a central element in Australian culture. The film has since been made at least 22 times.

Inscribed on the International Memory of the World Register in 2007.

5:45pm - 10:00pm

CS4: Journey by historic train to Bungendore

Bungendore is a wonderful place to visit. Settled in 1837, it is an historic village with many well preserved old buildings. The Bungedore train takes a leisurely run, crossing the Queanbeyan River, climbing through the rugged Molonglo Gorge, crossing the Molonglo River and traversing the Pine Range tunnels before cresting the Great Dividing Range at Brooks Bank and then dropping down to Bungendore. On this journey the restaurant train will feature a full waiter service dinner, and an excellent range of reasonably-priced wine, pre-mixed drinks and beers are available on board.

At Bungendore there will be the opportunity to stretch your legs while the engine changes ends for the return journey. In the village the Bungendore Woodworks Gallery will be open and will serve light refreshments and feature an exhibition of fine furniture by Australian crafts people. See the Flyer.

Thursday 21 February 2008

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

9:00am

CP4: Imagine a world without memories

Ms Margy Burn (Australia), Assistant Director-General, Australian Collections and Reader Services, National Library of Australia; Member, UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee, Chair's introduction.

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

10:30am

Morning coffee

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

11:00am

CW3: Preservation and access: socio-cultural and socio-technical aspects

Mr Adrian Cunningham (Australia), Director, Strategic Relations, National Archives of Australia. Chair's introduction.

Dr Sudha Golpalakrishnan (India), Mission Director, National Mission for Manuscripts, Preservation of Indian manuscripts.

Mr Jonas Palm (Sweden), Director, Director & Head of Department of Preservation, Riksarkivet/National Archives,Digitising as a preservation strategy.

Mr Kevin Bradley (Australia), Curator, Oral History and Folklore, National Library of Australia; President, Australasian Sound Recordings Association; Vice Chair, International Association of Sound and Audio-Visual Archives Technical Committee, Digital preservation: the need for open source software for small institutions.

Ms Cornel Platzer, Director Digital and Audiovisual Preservation, Operations and Preservation Branch, National Archives of Australia

Professor Allan Marett (Australia), Visiting Professor, Adjunct Professor, School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Charles Darwin University; School of Languages, Arts and Media, University of Sydney; Joint Vice
President, International Council for Traditional MusicThe National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance In Australia: using digital resources to support endangered traditions.

Dr Dietrich Schüller, Director, Phonogrammarchiv, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Socio-technical and soicio-cultural challenges of audio and video preservation.

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

1:00pm

Lunch

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

2:00pm

CW4: Sustaining the proramme

Mr Ray Edmondson OAM (Australia), Director, Archive Associates Pty Ltd; Immediate Past President/ex officio Councillor, South East Asia-Pacific AudioVisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA); Chair, UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region (MOWCAP); Deputy Chair, UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee, Chair's introduction.

Ms Alissandra Cummins, Director, Barbados Museum and Historical Society; Chair of the International Advisory Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme; President, International Council of Museums (ICOM) Memory of the World: what are its greatest challenges?

Professor Lothar Jordan (Germany), Director of Research and Collections, Kleist-Museum; President, International Committee for Literary Museums (ICLM); Chair, ICLM-MOW Working Group & Mr Erling Dahl jr (Norway), Director, Edvard Grieg Museum; Past-President, International Committee for Literary Museums; Member, ICLM-MOW Working GroupHow can the International Committee for Literary Museums (ICLM) help promote the Memory of the World Programme?

Ms Marsali Mackinnon (Australia), Government, media and cultural relations specialist (Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific Region, Memory of the World: how can it achieve greater media recognition and status.

Old Parliament House

Kings Hall and Members' Dining Room

7:00pm - 10:00pm

CS5: Conference Dinner

CC2; Announcement of the items of world significance to be inscribed on the inaugural UNESCO Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register (MOWCAP) in 2008

Friday 22 February 2008

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

9:00am

CP5: UNESCO Soap Box

Ms Margaret Birtley, CEO Collections Council of Australia Ltd, Chair's introduction.

A number of delegates, who have previously submitted their name to the conference organisers, will be drawn at random and invited to address the conference about their views on Memory of the World: what's working - what's not!

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

10:30am

Morning coffee

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

11:00am

CP6: Conference resolutions

Dr Jan Lyall, Chair, UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee and Conference Chair, Chair's introduction

Each of the four Working Sessions: CW1, CW2, CW3 & CW4, will have developed draft proposals on what needs to stay the same in the Memory of the World Programme, what needs to change and what needs further investigation. In this session the draft proposals will be brought together into a conference proclamation.

National Library of Australia:

Theatre LG1

12:00pm

CC3: Closing ceremony

Dr Jan Lyall, Chair, UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee and Conference Chair, Chair's introduction

National Library of Australia:

Foyer LG1

12:30pm

Lunch

1:30pm - 4:30pm

W1 - W6: Workshops

Delegates can make a choice of which workshop to attend. Or why not take a guided bus tour of Canberra (numbers limited to the first 60 delegates to register for the tour)?

Workshop 1: Disaster preparedness

Workshop 2: Preservation planning

Workshop 3: Preparing a Memory of the World nomination

Workshop 4: Setting up a Memory of the World committee

Workshop 5: Setting up a website

Workshop 6: Significance

• The key elements of a preservation policy/plan
• Carrying out a preservation survey ? understanding your collection and its preservation needs
• Prioritisation of preservation work
• Applying appropriate preservation measures ? levels of preservation treatment
• Ensuring that preservation actions do not alter, destroy or obscure significant elements of the material
• How to ensure access whilst still protecting and preserving the material (including public exhibition, the use of copies, surrogates and online versions)
• Safe exhibition of documentary material
• Elements of a disaster plan (for exhibition and in storage)
• Storage: buildings, rooms, shelving, packaging, handling, security and transport
• Storage: environment (ideal conditions and minimum conditions), monitoring
• The resources required to ensure the preservation of your collection

1:30pm - 4:30pm

CT3: Tour of Canberra

Canberra is a remarkable city. In the true sense of the word it is unique; there is no city like it in the world. Walter Burley Griffin declared in 1912 that "I have planned a city not like any other city in the world. I have planned it not in a way that I expected any governmental authorities would accept. I have planned the ideal city ? a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future." These were prophetic words, for the city over the years has maintained its status of being unique. There are roads, houses, offices, schools, shops, parks ? all the components we associate with urban development ? as in any other city, yet it is unlike every other city.

The reason lies in the way landscape defines and articulates the city plan. The landscape basis which binds form and content remains vividly coherent. The form of the physical landscape ? natural and created ? is a palpable, tangible presence defining the city; but equally so is its content or intangible, symbolic meaning. Places like Zurich and Kyoto are similar in the way landscape open space surrounds and penetrates the city, but not to the comprehensively planned extent nor with the same founding visions.

Underlying the city?s spatial structure is the premise that Canberra is a city in the landscape. Its spatial structure has been progressively and incrementally planned from the beginning to maintain continuity with existing design elements, in particular the hills, ridges and valleys that create the setting for the city.

From the symbolic heart of the city and the nation in the National Triangle with its serene symmetrical beauty, out through the tree lined streets, neighbourhood and district parks and open spaces, to the hills, ridges and valleys?the National Capital Open Space System (NCOSS) that articulates the city plan ? it is the landscape nature of the city that predominates physically. In turn this tangible physical presence has inextricable, intangible meanings and values.

When you look out over the magnificent prospect from Mount Ainslie or from Parliament House across the city to the hills that form its embracing backdrop, or enjoy the tree lined streets, gardens, and parks of the suburbs the landscape itself is more than physical elements. It has a meaning and significance that communicate what Canberra is.

As part of the conference Professor Ken Taylor author of Canberra: City in the Landscape (2006) will lead a site visit through the city to explain its significance and form. The visit will take in the following:

• Overview at Regatta Point Exhibition and then to the magnificent vista from Mount Ainslie where the planning history of the city will be explained linking back to pre-European Aboriginal landscape and how changes over time have occurred.
• Tour through the 1960s suburb Campbell and then 1920s suburb of Reid outlining the establishment of the city?s garden city history.
• Visit New Parliament House, view the great land axis and have afternoon tea.
• Travel to the National Archives of Australia for closing reception.

National Archives of Australia:

5:00pm - 7:00pm

CS6: Reception sponsored by the National Archives of Australia

CC4: Announcement of the items of world significance to be inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Register in 2008

Ms Margaret Birtley

Ms Margaret Birtley is the inaugural CEO of the Collections Council of Australia, a body that is mandated to speak with one voice for collections in Australia. The Collections Council has completed major projects relating to conservation and preservation practice and also to digital collections, and is preparing projects relating to regional collections. At different times, Margaret has worked with all four of the major domains (archives, galleries, libraries and museums) in the collections sector. As an academic (first as a medievalist, then in Museum Studies) she worked with collections of manuscripts and rare books, art works, and diverse historical and technological items. She is now on the University of South Australia?s advisory committee for its Arts and Cultural Management program, and is an Honorary Fellow of Deakin University. As a researcher she surveyed archives, galleries, libraries and museums for the Cultural Ministers Council?s Study into the Key Needs of Collecting Institutions in the Heritage Sector. She also organised a major conference for libraries, archives, museums and historical collections, with the theme: New Responsibilities: Documenting Multicultural Australia. Ms Birtley's career includes roles with government advisory bodies, professional associations, and museum boards. In South Australia, she is a member of the National Trust?s Collections Committee. She was the first Manager of Visitor Programs at Scienceworks, part of Museum Victoria in Melbourne, and has an abiding interest in heritage interpretation and public programs.

Mr Jan Bos

Jan Bos studied Dutch literature, linguistics and cultural anthropology at Leiden University and book history and library science at Amsterdam University. He published on several book historical topics. He has been working in different positions at the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation and at the Dutch National Library. At the moment he is project manager of the Short-Title Catalogue Netherlands, i.e. the Dutch national bibliography up to 1800. He is a Director and the Treasurer of the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL). From 2003 to 2007 he has been the Secretary of the IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section and presently he represents IFLA in the Memory of the World Register Subcommittee.

Mr Kevin Bradley

Kevin Bradley is Curator for Oral History and Folklore and Director of Sound Preservation at the National Library of Australia. He is the President of the Australasian Sound Recordings Association (ASRA), Vice Chair of the Technical Committee of the International Association of Sound and Audio Visual Archives (IASA), editor and a contributor for the “TC04 Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects”, published in 2004 by IASA, and has been a member of various standards groups. His expertise also extends to the preservation of general digital objects and besides managing Digital Preservation under Colin Webb at the National Library of Australia for a number of years, he was the Sustainability Advisor on the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) and a member of the OCLC/RLG Preservation Metadata Framework Working Group that developed the OCLC/RLG “Metadata Framework to Support the Preservation of Digital Objects”. He is a member of the Memory of the World Programme, Sub-Committee on Technology, and brought together the recent UNESCO publications from that group, “Risks Associated with the Use of Recordable CDs and DVDs as Reliable Storage Media in Archival Collections - Strategies and Alternatives” and “Towards an Open Source Archival Repository and Preservation System”. He has a Diploma of Electrical Engineering and an Honours Degree in Anthropology and History.

Dr Alex Byrne

Dr Alex Byrne served as the President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions 2005-2007 following terms as President elect 2003-2005 and as the Chair of IFLA’s Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression 1997-2003, during its formative years. Alex previously chaired IFLA’s University Libraries Section and was the President of the Council of Australian University Librarians. He led IFLA’s interventions in the World Summit on the Information Society and the preparation of numerous statements and declarations including the Glasgow Declaration on libraries, information services and intellectual freedom and the Alexandria Manifesto on Libraries, the Information Society in Action. Alex’s broad expertise in information policy has been demonstrated through many government and sectoral appointments to educational, library and information technology committees and boards as well as his authorship of submissions to inquiries and many publications. His publications deal primarily with information architecture and management, and community empowerment and human rights, especially freedom of expression and access to information. Together with Alana Garwood, Heather Moorcroft and Alan Barnes, Alex Byrne undertook the groundbreaking development of the. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives and Information Services which was published in 1995. More recently, Alex has collaborated with others to review and reposition that initiative and to work on a range of specific issues relating to libraries, archives, knowledge management and Indigenous peoples and knowledge. In his day jobs, Alex has been the University Librarian at the University of Technology, Sydney since 2000 following posts in library and university management at other Australian universities.

Dr Subha Chaudhuri

Dr Shubha Chaudhuri has a Phd in Linguistics. She has been on the staff of the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology of the American Institute of Indian Studies since its inception in 1982, and Director since 1985. In the field of audio visual archiving her major interests have been database applications, the needs of research archives and issues of Intellectual Property Rights. She has presented papers at many national and international venues in these areas. Dr Chaudhuri has been on the Executive Board of the IASA, ICTM( International Council of Traditional Music), where she is currently National Representative for India, and a council member of the Society of Ethnomusicology. She has been a consultant for the Ford Foundation in the area of audio visual archiving for projects in India, Indonesia and Sudan. She was the Chief Coordinator for the Archives Resource Community ? a network of audio visual archives in India from 1998-2005, and has been active in holding training workshops for archiving and ethnomusicology. Her fieldwork has been has been in Western Rajasthan in India and current research interests are in the area of Archive and Community Partnerships. She is also consulting with the WIPO Creative Heritage and with UNESCO for the Cultural Mapping Project for India.

Mr Ian Cook

Ian Cook has worked in cultural resources management and collections conservation for many years. During the nineties he was involved in developing national policies and strategies for collections management and conservation. He recently moved to Sydney after nineteen years as Director of Artlab Australia - the centralised conservation and preservation service based in Adelaide, South Australia. Ian was the inaugural Chair of AusHeritage Ltd (1995-1998), Australia's industry network for promoting cultural heritage services globally. He continues as a Company Director, to strengthen ties between Australian’s heritage organisations and the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information. Ian established 3CS AsiaPacific in 2004 to create a business enterprise focusing on sustainability and the creation of micro-economies using cultural resources. Ian Cook and his colleague Professor Ken Taylor (ANU) are currently drafting a cultural mapping handbook for the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information and AusHeritage. To this end they visited all ASEAN countries in 2006/2007 to examine the latest approaches to cultural mapping across Southeast Asia. Ian is currently the Chair of the Promotion Sub-Committee for the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Program and a member of the Third UNESCO Memory of the World Conference Planning Committee.

Ms Alissandra Cummins

Alissandra Cummins is Director of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. A recognized authority on Caribbean heritage, museum development and art, she was elected a Fellow of the Museums Association (U.K), a first for the Caribbean. She is a lecturer in Heritage Studies with the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill and is the author of several articles on Caribbean heritage, art and museums as well as co-author of “Art In Barbados”. She currently serves as Chairperson of both the National Art Gallery Committee, and the Barbados National Commission for UNESCO. She is also a Board member of the National Cultural Foundation and was recently appointed to Barbados’ Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property. Ms. Cummins has been closely involved in various initiatives in the fields of regional museum development. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Museums Association of the Caribbean (MAC), becoming its Founding President in 1989, and has also successfully served as President of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology (IACA). Between 1998-2004 Alissandra Cummins served as Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of ICOM (International Council of Museums), following which she was elected as ICOM’s President in 2004, in which role she now currently serves. Alissandra Cummins has represented Barbados on the Executive Board of UNESCO(1998-2001); She has also served as Chairperson of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Country of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP) from 2003-2005, and more recently ( 2007) was appointed as President of the International Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme. She has also served as Chairperson of the Commission on General Questions and Programme Support, during 31st Session of the General Conference, UNESCO. Ms Cummins successfully shepherded Barbados’ election to the World Heritage Committee in October 2007 and is set to serve as Rapporteur to this prestigious committee during 2008. From 1999 Ms. Cummins was appointed Barbados’ first Special Envoy for Cultural Heritage by the Government. In 2005 Alissandra Cummins was awarded Barbados’ Gold Crown of Merit in recognition of her services to heritage and museum development. In 2006, she was recognized by UNESCO as one of “sixty eminent women who, in different parts of the world, in different positions and in different moments across the history of the Organization have made, and in many ways are still making, significant contributions to the ideals and action of the Organization, be it in education, culture, science or communication”.

Mr Arian Cunningham

Mr Adrian Cunningham holds the position of Director, Strategic Relations at the National Archives of Australia (NAA). In this capacity he has oversight of the NAA's collaborations with government, industry, professional and international partners - most particularly on matters associated with digital recordkeeping and other modern recordkeeping initiatives. Between 1998 and 2005 Adrian managed development of the NAA's current recordkeeping and metadata standards and was responsible for appraisal policy. Adrian was Secretary of the International Council on Archives Committee on Descriptive Standards, 2002-2004, and is Treasurer of the Pacific Regional Branch of the ICA, Convenor of the Australian Society of Archivists Descriptive Standards Committee, Chair of the AGLS Metadata Working Group and a member of Standards Australia's Committee IT/21, Records Management. Before joining the staff of the National Archives of Australia in 1998 he worked for many years as a private records archivist at the National Library of Australia, the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau and the State Library of New South Wales. Adrian was President of the Australian Society of Archivists from 1998 to 2000 and was inducted as a Fellow of that Society in 2007.

Mr Erling Dahl

Mr Erling Dahl jr is Director of program and artistic planning (since 2005) of the Bergen Int. Festival. His former positions include Professor at the Institute of Music, University of Stavanger, (Pedagogical theory and praxis) 1981 - 1991, Director (VD) at Edvard Grieg Museum, Troldhaugen. Bergen 1991 ? 2004, and Director (VD) of Bergen Int. Festival. 2004 and 2005. His education includes Cand. Phil. of Pedagogic and Master of Music. In his other activities Mr Dahl is a author, a board member of several Norweigan national culture institutions, a Government advisor, a conductor (choir), a musician (cellist), and President of ICLM ? The International Committee of Literature - and Composer Museums within ICOM (2001-2007). Mr Dahl received the Edvard Grieg Prize 2007 for his lifelong work for Edvard Grieg?s art.

Mr Ray Edmondson OAM

Ray Edmondson is Director of Archive Associates (www.archival.com.au). Starting in the Film Section of the National Library of Australia in 1968, he ultimately becoming the Section’s Director. Closely involved in creating the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) in 1984, he was Deputy Director until 2001, then Curator Emeritus. He serves on its present Advisory Committee. In 1987 he received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), and in 2003 the Silver Light Award of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), both for career achievement. Ray writes, speaks and teaches internationally. His latest monograph is Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles (UNESCO, 2004). He is secretary of advocacy group Archive Forum, and working on his doctorate at Charles Sturt University. Since 1966, Ray has served in various capacities in the Memory of the World Program, including authoring its current General Guidelines. He is presently Deputy Chair of the Australian MOW Committee, Chair of MOWCAP, and a member of the IAC Register Subcommittee.

Dr Sudha Gopalakrishnan

President, “SAHA: Stirring Action on Heritage and the Arts”, an institution for research, documentation, preservation and dissemination of India’s heritage and the arts. Till recently (2003 - 2007) Mission Director, India’s National Mission for Manuscripts, a nation-wide effort to survey, document, conserve and promote access to Indian manuscripts. The Mission consolidated information on one million manuscripts on www.namami.org, built a team of young professionals and revived manuscript resource centres. Won for India four recognitions from UNESCO—manuscripts of Rig Veda (as the “Memory of the World”), Kutiyattam, Vedic Chanting and Ramlila (as “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”). Member, Expert Team of UNESCO, Paris for Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Represented India in inter-governmental Expert consultations of UNESCO both in individual and official capacity. Ph.D. in the area of Comparative Drama.

Mr Ken Hall

Retired as County Archivist and Heritage Services manager for Essex County Council UK in 2003. Former Secretary and Chairman of UK Society of Archivist. Formerly President of ICA/SPA and Member of ICA Executive Board. Currently Chairman of the Trustees of the Bethlem Art and History Collections Trust, Chargé de mission for ICA and member of the Memory of the World Registration Sub-Committee.

Dr Jackie Huggins

Jackie Huggins AM (BA Qld, BA Hons, DipEd Flinders, Doctor of the University honoris causa Qld) is of the Bidjara (Central Queensland) and Birri-Gubba Juru (North Queensland) peoples. Jackie holds many leadership positions in organisations across the country. She is currently Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia; a Director of the Telstra Foundation; Director of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, Australian National University; Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences, University of Queensland; Member of the Indigenous Advisory Board of the Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research, Central Queensland University; former Chair of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council (2001); former Commissioner for Queensland for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families (1997); former member of the ATSIC Review Panel (2003). She authored Auntie Rita (with Rita Huggins 1994) and Sistergirl (1999). In 2000 she received the Premier's Millenium Award for Excellence in Indigenous Affairs; in 2001 she was awarded an Australia Medal (AM) for her work with Indigenous people, particularly reconciliation, literacy, women's issues and social justice; and in 2007 Jackie was named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year.

Mme Nada Itani

Currently holding the position of Director of Daralhayat information center at Darlahayat publishing house. cientific Director for the National library of Lebanon rehabilitation project (2003-2006). Vice president of reading and public libraries’ committee at the ministry of culture-Lebanon. Member of the RSC (since 2006) and vice chairperson of IAC (2007) of the Unesco memory of the world programme. My years of study and research at University College of London –School of library and information studies , was oriented towards the Arab world bibliographic control , databases and information networks . Travelled extensively throughout the Arab countries for field work trips and research.

Professor Lothar Jordan

Professor Lothar Jordan is Director for Research and Collections of the Kleist Museum, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. He is Professor of German and Comparative Literature, at the moment giving lectures at the University of Frankfurt (Oder). His Ph. D. dissertation was on textual criticism and scholarly editing (1982, published in an extended version 1991). His scholarly work includes a book on the reception of modern foreign language poetry in Germany 1920-1970 (1994/96). He published numerous editions and catalogues. Lothar Jordan was Member of the Board of the Association of Independent Cultural Institutions, Germany (2004-2007). He worked for the International Committee for Literary Museums (ICLM ) in ICOM as Secretary (since 2004) and was elected its President in August 2007. In December 2007 he was elected Member of the Board of ICOM Germany.

Dr Adrienne Kaeppler

Dr. Adrienne L. Kaeppler has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Hawai`I, was a research anthropologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu for several years. She is now Curator of Oceanic Ethnology in the Anthropology Department of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. She has done extended field research in Tonga and Hawai`I, as well as shorter periods of fieldwork in several other areas of the Pacific. Her work focuses on the interrelationship of social structure and the arts, especially dance, music, poetry and the visual arts. She has published widely on subjects that are now called “intangible cultural heritage” including Poetry in Motion: Studies in Tongan Dance; and Hula Pahu: Hawaiian Drum Dances. Her forthcoming book, The Pacific Arts of Polynesia and Micronesia, will be published in February by Oxford University Press. She is President of the International Council for Traditional Music.

Dr Abdul Waheed Khan

Dr Abdul Waheed Khan who has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication is currently Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Prior to joining UNESCO, Dr Khan served as Vice-Chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in New Delhi (1998 – 2000). From 1986 to 1992 Dr Khan served as the Founding Director and Professor of the Communications Division of the IGNOU before joining the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, firstly as Senior Programme Officer (1992 1995) then as Acting Head of the Communications and Information Technologies Division (1995 1996). During his career Dr Khan has provided consultancy services to a number of international agencies such as the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNFPA and FAO. He is the recipient of several awards and distinctions such as the "Distinguished Service Award" from Commonwealth of Learning, "India 2000 Millennium Award for Education and World Peace" and “Super Brain of India Gold Award 2000”. In January 2005, he became an honorary Doctor of Science, awarded by the Jamia Hamdard University in New Delhi and in 2006 he was awarded the 2006 Dayawati Modi Award for Art, Culture and Education.

Professor William (Bill) Logan

Bill Logan is Alfred Deakin Professor and holds the UNESCO Chair in Heritage and Urbanism at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, where he also directs the Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific (CHCAP). He was President of Australia ICOMOS 1999-2002. He led CHCAP teams in thematic and methodological studies for the Department of Environment and Heritage on 'Creating an Australian Democracy' and 'Australians at War'. He works closely with UNESCO and ICOMOS, most recently contributing to UNESCO's 'World Heritage: Challenges for the Millennium' (2007), writing State of Conservation reports for presentation to the World Heritage Committee and participating in a reactive monitoring mission to Hue, Vietnam, in October 2006, and Luang Prabang, Laos, in November 2007. He has many publications, including several focusing on the linkage between cultural diversity, heritage and human rights.

Ms Marsali Mackinnon

Marsali Mackinnon is an experienced public affairs specialist, journalist and former Australian diplomat based in Brisbane, Queensland. Her career began with 13 years in fulltime journalism, including as The Australian’s foreign affairs and defence correspondent, and as a freelance South Pacific correspondent for the BBC World Service. She has worked for over 20 years as a regional public and cultural affairs specialist with DFAT, AusAID and the Australian Federal Police in Fiji, Solomon Islands, PNG and New Zealand. She is the author of a ground-breaking social/oral history media project, The Fiji Oral History Part I: Part-Europeans and Europeans, which is held in the archives of key regional institutions including the National Library of Australia, the Australian National University’s Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, the University of California (San Diego), Harvard University, and the University of the South Pacific. Marsali is a member of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO’s Communications Network.

Professor Allan Marett

Professor Allan Marett is a leading scholar in the fields of Australian Aboriginal music and Japanese music, and the author of the prize-winning book, Song, Dreamings and Ghosts: the wangga of North Australia. Professor Marett is closely involved in the digital preservation of endangered music, working with local community members to establish and maintain sound archives in two Aboriginal communities, Belyuen and Wadeye. His current research is focused primarily on the development of the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia, which aims to record, document and archive Aboriginal traditions of song and dance, and to make them available in local community-based digital archives and as part of the national heritage. Since 2002 he has convened the annual Symposium on Indigenous Song and Dance, which focuses on issues relating to the recording and preservation of Indigenous music. Professor Marett is a founding member of the cross-university consortium that in 2003 established the ARC-funded PARADISEC (Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures) digitisation and archiving facility at Sydney University. He is currently joint Vice-President of the International Council for Traditional Music and is a past President of the Musicological Society of Australia. Professor Marett's other major impact has been as a scholar in the field of Sino-Japanese music history. For several decades Professor Marett was a member of the Cambridge-based Tang Music project which has published the series, Music from the Tang Court (now in its seventh volume). This work has revolutionised the study of both Japanese and Chinese musical history, and overturned the notion that Japanese court music, gagaku, represents an unchanged legacy from Tang-period (618-907) China. There is now growing acceptance in both China and Japan that gagaku represents a tradition that was by and large reinvented in the nineteenth century.

Mr Li Minghua

Mr. Li Minghua, is the Deputy Director-General of the State Archives Administration and the Central Archives of China. He is also the Chairman of the Chinese National Committee of the Memory of the world Program. Mr. Li worked as the Deputy Director General of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Archives from 1996 to 2001, and served as the Director of the Preservation Department of the Central Archives of China from 2001-2005. Mr. Li’s currently responsibility is to supervise and give guidance to the archives work in China, and the salvation and preservation of archives of national significance in particular. He chaired several editorial committees on the compilation of historical documents, and has published extensively on various subjects of archives profession.

John Mohi

John is a member of Te Whanau-a-Apanui tribe from the Eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. He held several positions as a teacher, adviser and manager of children with special educational needs for over 25 years before joining the team of Directors at the National Library of New Zealand in 1996. As Kaitatai, he is responsible for leading the National Library’s responsiveness to Maori plan. He was also the previous Chairperson of the Culture Subcommission for UNESCO New Zealand, and in 1988 – 89 was a Rotary International Scholar.

Ms Ellen Ndeshi Namhila

Ellen is a mother, wife and a professional woman in her country Namibia. She is the author of The Price of Freedom, her autobiography which was published in 1997, and Kahumba Kandola Man and Myth: the Biography of a Barefoot Soldier published in 2005. Apartheid and colonialism had forced Ellen into a refugee for nearly 20 years. She now lives in her country Namibia where she had worked as a researcher, a librarian and archivist and hold various portfolios, amongst others, Ellen is the Chairperson of the National Heritage Council of Namibia and a Secretary of Namibia Library and Information Council. Some of her initiatives include an archival project which is collecting historical memories of the war and the struggle for Namibian independence. She is passionate self trained field researcher on oral history sources. Currently, Ellen is employed as the University Librarian at the University of Namibia; she is the Vice Chairperson of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee on Memory of the World 2007-.

Dr Susanne Ornager

Ph.D. Data Linguistic, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Degrees in Computer Science and in Theory of Science, University of Copenhagen. MLSc, Royal School of Library & Information Science, Denmark and BA Archaeology, University of Copenhagen. Speaker at several international conferences on e-governance, information policy, WSIS, image retrieval, users’ needs assessments, marketing, Memory of the World etc. Joined UNESCO in end 1999 and is now Adviser for Communication and Information in Asia. I was Professor and Head of Depart¬ment of Knowledge Organization at the university the Royal Scholl of Librarianship for 10 years before that Chief Librarian and Lecturer at the same university. Main areas of research: Knowledge management; Information policy; E-governance; Awareness-raising; Image storage and retrieval; Subject analysis and indexing; Thesaurus construction and use; marketing and user interfaces. Journal articles and reports about: Digitizing pictures; Image databases; Library automation; Network develop¬ments; Health and media; and Thesaurus construction.

Mr Jonas Palm

Since 2002 Mr Jonas Palm has been Director and Head of Division of Preservation at the National Archives in Stockholm, Sweden. His present areas of responsibility are paper, photographic materials and modern media. Previously he was Head of Conservation at Uppsala University Library, Uppsala, Sweden, from 1983 – 1994; and Head of Preservation at the Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1994 – 2002. His qualifications include a Masters degree in graphic conservation from Shool of Conservation in Denmark. Mr Palm was a Member of IADA (Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Archiev - Bibliothek - und Graphik restauratoren) board from 1987 ? 1999. Since 1995 he has been a Member of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program Sub-committee on Technology, and its chair since 2007. Jonas Palm is a Consultant for both Swedish and Danish Government Aid agencies SIDA and DANIDA respectively on preservation programs in archives and librariesin developing countries.

Ms Roslyn Russell

Roslyn Russell is a historian and museum specialist based in Canberra. She has been involved with the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme for over a decade, firstly as a co-author of the first version of the General Guidelines to Safeguard Documentary Heritage (1995); then as a founding member of the UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee in 2000. Roslyn has chaired the Assessment Sub-Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World Australian Committee since its inception; and in 2005 was appointed to the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. She was elected as Rapporteur at the 7th IAC meeting in Lijiang, China, in 2005, and later that year was appointed Chair of the IAC’s Register Sub-Committee. She also conducts workshops around Australia and internationally on assessing the significance of documentary heritage for nomination to Memory of the World Registers.

Dr Dietrich Schueller

Dietrich Schüller is director of the Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which is the UNESCO Jikji Prize Winner of 2007. A specialist in audiovisual preservation and restoration, he has worked as a consultant to a number of audiovisual archives world-wide, most recently in Beijing, Bloomington/ USA, Tirana, and St. Petersburg. He was Chair of IASA TC for many years. He is now Vice-President of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme, member of the Sub-Committee on Technology for the Memory of the World-Programme of UNESCO, of the European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA) and of the Audio Engineering Society. He is author of numerous publications on audiovisual preservation, lecturer at several Austrian Universities and visiting professor at the Teachers University of Fuzhou, China. He is also engaged in national and international training seminars on audiovisual archiving, more recently in Europe for Project TAPE, in Mexico, the Caribbean, China, the Philippines, Singapore, and Central Asia.

Dr Anthony Seeger

Anthony Seeger is an anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, archivist, and musician. He is currently Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and Director of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive. He has worked at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro (1975-1982), Indiana University (1982-1988), and at the Smithsonian Institution (1988-2000), where he curated the Folkways Collection and established Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. He has served as President (1997-1999) and Secretary General (2001-2005) of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM). He is the author and editor of five books, among them Os Índios e Nos (1981), Why Suyá Sing (2004), and (edited with L. M. Spear) Early Field Recordings (1987) and (edited with Shubha Chaudhuri) Archives for the Future: Global Perspectives on Audiovisual Archives in the 21st Century. His more than 60 articles and book chapters deal extensively with issues of audiovisual archiving, intellectual property, and Amazon Indian music and culture. He is also the executive producer of over 250 compact discs.

Ms Maggie Shapley

Maggie Shapley is the University Archivist with responsibility for the University Archives, the Noel Butlin Archives Centre and the Pacific Research Archives at the Australian National University. She previously worked at the National Archives of Australia and at the World Bank Archives in Washington. Maggie is an active member of the Australian Society of Archivists as a past National Treasurer, Convenor of the Canberra branch, and editor of the Society's journal Archives and Manuscripts from 2000 to 2004. She is currently a member of the Assessment Committee of the Australian Memory of the World Register and of the Management Committee of the Australian Women's Archives Project.

Ms Joie Springer

Ms Joie Springer is Chief, a.i., of the Section for Universal Access and Preservation, Information Society Division, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO. Her other UNESCO roles include being Programme Officer for UNESCO Memory of the World Programme to raise awareness of the urgency to preserve analogue and digital documentary heritage, and Programme Officer for UNESCO's Records Management and Archives Programme (RAMP) supporting national development through strategies for archival training, standard-setting instruments and protection of the archival heritage. Ms Springer is also Liaison Officer for the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) and other bodies involved in audiovisual documents preservation, and Web manager of the UNESCO Libraries Portal, a reference tool and online resource for the information profession.