Introduction:

WSF-Info via the Public Libraries

The idea of a public library is to make all information available without delay to all people. This idea is democratic, indeed, democracy is not possible without a well-developed, modern public library system. Well-developed means, that the society has invested and continues to invest in its library system. Modern means that the internet is recognized as a new branch on the growing tree of the library.

1. Citizens Need to Know about the World Social Forum via the Libraries

The history of the public libraries is inseparable from the process of democratization. Hitherto, the democratization has been mainly a process within individual nations. Today, humanity is faced with a new challenge: we must create democratic institutions on an international scale. As the World Social Forum (WSF) shows, it has become meaningful to speak about a global civil society and a global public sphere of information and communication. The WSF is one of several recent developments which make the necessity of global democratization visible and known to many people.

Which is the role of the libraries in this process?

By necessity, the role of the library is somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, the library as an institution tends to adapt itself to the political mainstream and, in many cases, to give up its independence from the national states and governments. However, library associations in various countries and, notably, the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations, www.ifla.org) have taken independent positions on, for instance, intellectual freedom, internet governance and the WTO agreements on trade in services and intellectual property.

Likewise, the EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library and Documentation Associations, www.eblida.org) has critizised the WTO agreement on "trade -related intellectual property rights" (TRIPS) for being "especially adverse to the professional values of librarians" .

The library associations and the associations that participate in the WSF have much in common.

Proposal 1: WSF-activists and public librarians should get together and start producing information packages (articles, books, weblinks, ebooks etc.) about the WSF for distribution via the public libraries.

Proposal 2: Arrange a "WSF corner" in the local library for the presentation of the information about the WSF. Add lectures, discussions, exhibitions etc.

2. Librarians to participate in the WSF

Professional LIS (Library and Information Specialists) have much to give the WSF-process as individual citizens, and much to take as well. So have the national Library Associations, the regional umbrella organizations like the EBLIDA and, of course, the IFLA.

At WSF IV in Mumbai (2004), the Network Institute for Global Democratization (NIGD) together with librarians of Mumbai and India, organized a two-day workshop on the role of the libraries in the democratization of information. The keynote speaker at that conference was the chair of IFLA, Ms Kay Raseroka from Botswana. Kay Raseroka pledged all librarians to go and participate in the World Social Forum, and to start documenting the WSF:s conferences, seminars, workshops and events in their libraries.

In January 2006 a polycentric WSF in envisaged to take place in three cities, namely Caracas (Venezuela), Bamako (Mali) and Karachi (Pakistan). The registrations of participants have started (http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/) as this is written in October 2005.

In January 2007 the WSF will take place in Nairobi, Kenya.

Proposal 3 The Network Institute for Global Democratization together with Library Associations and African partners start preparing a main conference and other library-related events at WSF in Nairobi 2007.

3. Documentation of the WSF in the public libraries

The documentation of the WSF is a great challenge, but a necessary task. Journalists, who come to the WSF to cover it for their media, can only report about a fraction of all the processes and discussions there. The WSF needs to be documented by professional librarians, as was proposed by IFLA chair Kay Raseroka at WSF IV in Mumbai. By anchoring itself firmly in the world's libraries the WSF can achieve the necessary continuity, and reach out to the grassroots, the wider public. Let the associations of the WSF and the library associations cooperate to bring about an excellent, extensive and neutral-point-of view information about the WSF via the libraries!

Proposal 4 Invite the IFLA to participate in the work of the International Council of the WSF.

This idea-paper was prepared by Mikael Böök book@kaapeli.fi in October 2005