Joining nations 1947-1990

SEVE

ADAPTING TO CHANGE, 197 5- 1982

AS predicted by Professor Rykalin, there was a severe fall in atten– dance at the 1975 Assembly held in Tel-Aviv. This was undoubtedly partly caused by the absence of the delegations from the entire bloc of socialist countries, the sole exception being Vice-President Skriniar of Czechoslovakia; but it is probable that participants from other countries were deterred by the combined factors of distance, regional instability and economic downturn following the oil crisis. However that may be, attendance was limited to some 360, by comparison with over 900 in Oi.isseldorf and Budapest. Absenteeism naturally had its effect upon the work of the Commissions, one indication being that the total number of resolutions adopted by them fell from l l 2 in 1974 to 66 in 1975· With regard to the II\V's work on documentation, it was reported that the special Committee set up to see what action could be taken to compensate for the discontinuance of the Bibliographical Bulletin had been disbanded, the responsibility for overseeing the interna– tional exchange of abstracts which it had inaugurated having been referred back to Commission VII. In 197 l the Australian delegation had originally proposed that the l 976 Assembl should be held in Australia. This invitation was con– firmed in 1973, before the oil crisis and the emergence of problems in connection with the 1975 Assembly. It seems in retrospect, and no one could be held to blame, that the juxtaposition of Assemblies in Tel-Aviv and Sydney in successive years constituted a set-back for the IIW. This was all the more disappointing since both Assemblies were well-organised, enabled new contacts to be established and demonstrated the IIW's claim to play a part worldwide. The trouble was that, for different reasons, neither Assembly was well-attended and two poor attendances in succession inevitably had perturbing effects on the work of the Commissions. It might have been expected that the small attendances would also have had serious financial consequences. In fact this was not so, for a

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