IASL 2003 Conference Logo

The 2003 IASL Conference

Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 7-11 July 2001

SPEECH BY
Peter Genco
IASL President

at the Opening Ceremony of the 32nd IASL Conference

Welcome to Durban, South Africa and welcome to the 32nd Annual IASL Conference. We have the great honor of being hosted in such a vibrant, multi-cultural, multi-lingual nation! My intention was to greet you in the 11 official languages of South Africa, but I think I have finally met my linguistic challenge!

I would like to welcome and thank the Deputy National Minister of Education, the Hon. Mr. Mangena; the KwaZulu-Natal Minister of Education and Culture, the Hon. Mr. Narend Singh; the LIASA Deputy President, Naomi Haasbroek; and other ministers.

In the back of your program, you have a listing of all members of the Local Organizing. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank everyone on that committee, and especially Sibongile Nzimande. Your dedication to the mission of IASL is unsurpassed.

For those of you new to IASL, the mission of the International Association of School Librarianship is to provide an international forum for those people interested in promoting effective school library programs as viable instruments in the education process. IASL provides guidance and advice for the development of school library programs and the school library profession. IASL works in cooperation with other professional associations and agencies.

I am sure you will agree that the Local Organizing Committee is “spot on”.

I would like to read a passage written by Brazilian author Paolo Coelho from his work, O Alquimista -- The Alchemist. The main character, the boy, is crossing the dessert in search of himself; or his “personal legend”. He has just learned that he must listen to his own heart.

"Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him," his heart said. "We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them -- the path of their Personal legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.
"So, we, the hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won’t be heard: we don’t want people to suffer because they don’t follow their hearts."
"Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist.
"Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer."

Dr. Sandra Olön was a lecturer at UNISA in Pretoria and the IASL Director for Africa. She was a friend and a colleague. Sandra always followed her heart and one of her personal legends was to have an IASL Conference in South Africa. Unfortunately, Sandra passed away in 2000 and she was not able to realize here dream. Sibongile has done that for her, and I am sure Sandra is still with us in some way.

We have come to Durban and to IASL by following our hearts. We all want to break down barriers, we all search for new ideas, we all long for new learning, and we all want things to be better. The school library has the potential to break down barriers, to provide new ideas, to enhance learning, and to make things better.

Nelson Mandela once stated, "Make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning". Let us expand this thought to include every school and every school library.

Take the opportunity this week to learn about libraries, to learn about IASL, to learn about one another, and to learn about yourself. Let us continue to follow our hearts and break down some barriers together.

Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. pp.136-137.

Last Updated 25 July 2003 (LAC)