IAALD: Forty Years of Progress

The International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) began as the dream of a German agricultural professor, Walther Gleisberg and an Austrian agricultural professor, Sigmund von Frauendorfer. In September 1955 a foundation meeting was held in Ghent, Belgium. Sixty delegates from thirteen countries attended the meeting and IAALD was born. A constitution was formulated by Walther Gleisberg and was approved unanimously with some slight modifications. F.E. Mohrhard (USA) was elected president, S. von Frauendorfer (Austria) was elected vice president; Th.P. Loosjes (The Netherlands) was elected treasurer; and H. Jenssen was elected secretary. In January 1956 the first issue of the Quarterly Bulletin of IAALD was published with D.H. Boalch as editor and 1000 copies were distributed worldwide. Over the past 40 years many people have served the organization and much has been accomplished. Nine World Congresses have been held with various themes, the Quarterly Bulletin is now in its 40th volume, two editions of a world directory have been published and a third is in press, A Primer for Agricultural Libraries was issued in two editions, and Current Agricultural Serials is a standard in many agricultural libraries. Today IAALD is still active and now focuses on training and the dissemination of agricultural information. IAALD continues to strive to meet the needs of its members as it moves toward the 21st century