Conference of Directors of National Libraries

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About CDNL

CDNL is an independent association of chief executives of national libraries, established to facilitate discussion and promote understanding and cooperation on matters of common interest worldwide. CDNL meets annually, usually on the Wednesday of the week of the IFLA conference. The annual meeting is hosted by the National Library of the country which hosts the IFLA conference. The Chief Executive or Director of the national library of every country is a member of CDNL as of right. Members may be represented at the meeting by their deputies.
The Statutes and Rules of Procedure (revised August 2008)

CDNL Vision for the Global Digital Library

The world’s national libraries share a common mission of collecting, recording, organising, storing, preserving in perpetuity, and providing access to their nation’s cultural patrimony and intellectual output in documentary form.

CDNL's long-term vision is the development of a global distributed digital library - comprehensive, open, seamlessly-connected, and universally accessible on the internet - giving ready access to library materials in the collections of all the national libraries of the world in the interests of scholarly research, education and lifelong learning, innovation and economic development, and the promotion of international understanding.

A statement of the 'CDNL Vision for the Global Digital Library' was prepared in 2008 - a copy of the statement is available here CDNL Vision for the Global Digital Library .

CDNL Annual Meeting in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden, August 2010

The next meeting of CDNL will be held on Thursday 12 August at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Members of CDNL and other authorised country representatives are eligible to attend the meeting. Information about the meeting and working papers will be circulated on the CDNL discussion list and posted on this website.

  • Notice of the Annual Meeting
  • Pre-registration for the Annual Meeting - Response form
  • Instructions for country reports for 2009-2010
  • Practical information on the Annual Meeting
  • Draft Agenda
Working papers and presentations for the meeting will be made available here, as they come to hand:
Agenda item Agenda


To members of CDNL (Penny Carnaby)

Contact

The CDNL Executive

  • Chair: Ms Penny Carnaby, Chief Executive and National Librarian, National Library of New Zealand


  • Vice Chair: Mr John Tsebe, National Librarian and CEO, National Library of South Africa


  • Vice Chair: Dame Lynne Brindley, CEO, The British Library


  • The CDNL secretariat is located at the National Library of New Zealand ;
    National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa
    Cnr Molesworth and Aitken Streets
    PO Box 1467
    Wellington 6140

  • Secretary:
    Winston Roberts
    Fax : +64 4 474 3007
    Email : secretariat@cdnl.info

CDNL-L Discussion List

The CDNL List is used to distribute information and communicate with members of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries. The list is hosted by IFLANET. CDNL list is limited to members only and moderated by the CDNL Secretariat.

Members are encouraged to post matters of interest to the CDNL list at :cdnl-l@infoserv.inist.fr

Persons eligible may apply to join the list via the ‘subscribe’ function at http://infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/cdnl-l.

History of CDNL


Image : 2008 meeting of CDNL was held in Québec, Canada during IFLA's 2008 World Library and Information Congress.


CDNL was set up in 1974 to discuss policies and carry out activities that could be performed most effectively by national libraries, on the understanding that its work would be coordinated with the IFLA section of National Libraries. It grew from a rather loose organization in the late 1970's to a much more structured body in the 1990's. Under the presidency of Marianne Scott, the National Librarian of Canada, CDNL established its present statutes and rules of procedure, which gave the organization a much clearer and stronger foundation for its activities. The statutes were revised again in 2008, to allow countries to nominate additional non-voting representatives from organisations having a status equivalent to national libraries.

Previous chairs and meeting venues:

Mr Guy Sylvestre, National Librarian, National Library of Canada (1974-78) Washington, 1974; Oslo, 1975; Lausanne, 1976; Brussels, 1977

Sir Harry Hookway, The Chief Executive, British Library (1978-84)
Strbské Pleso, 1978; Copenhagen, 1979; Manila, 1980; Leipzig, 1981; Montreal, 1982; Munich. 1983; Nairobi, 1984

Mr William Welsh, Deputy Librarian of Congress, Library of Congress(1984-88)
Washington, 1985; Tokyo,1986; London, 1987; Canberra, 1988

Ms Marianne Scott, National Library of Canada (1988-92)
Paris, 1989; Stockholm, 1990; Moscow, 1991; New Delhi, 1992

Mr Bendik Rugaas, National Library of Norway (1992-1996)
Barcelona 1993; Havana, 1994; Istanbul 1995; Beijing, 1996

Mr Peter Lor, National Library of South Africa (1996-2000)
Copenhagen, 1997; Amsterdam, 1998; Bangkok, 1999, Jerusalem, 2000

Ms Jan Fullerton, National Library of Australia (2000-2004)
Boston, 2001; Edinburgh, 2002; Berlin, 2003; Buenos Aires, 2004

Dr Celia Zaher, National Library of Brazil (2005-2006)
Oslo, 2005

Mr Erland Kolding Nielsen, Royal Library of Denmark
Acting Chair, Seoul, 2006

Ms Penny Carnaby, National Library of New Zealand (2006- )
Durban, 2007; Québec City, 2008

References

Scott, M., Conference of Directors of National Libraries: forum for discussion and action, Alexandria; 7 (1) 1995, p.37-46

Rugaas, B., Past, present and future relations between the IFLA Section of National Libraries and the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, IFLA Journal; 20 (2) 1994, p.141-44

Useful links

IFLA Section of National Libraries

The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, maintains a listing of national library websites and national library catalogues. This list is not compiled or maintained by CDNL and any enquiries about it should be addressed to the University of Queensland.

CDNL-AO The Conference of Directors of National Libraries in Asia and Oceania is CDNLAO. The website of CDNLAO is hosted by the National Diet Library, Tokyo, and can be accessed from the following URL: http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/cdnlao/index.html . Papers of CDNLAO (country reports, presentations, minutes, etc.) are carried on that website. The CDNLAO Newsletter is also integrated with the site; the URL is: http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/cdnlao/newsletter/index.html

ABINIA (Asociación de Estados Iberoamericanos para el Desarrollo de las Bibliotecas Nacionales de Iberoamérica)

SCANUL-ECS Standing Conference of African National and University Librarians in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.

CENL The Conference of European National Librarians.