The following was written by Alison Hall in 2016 for the IAML Archive.
My IAML memories start in 1975, when I attended my first conference in Montreal. The association then was so different to what it is now. The Board was a very distant group, almost on a different plane, and it seemed to me that they were not in touch with the ordinary members. Looking at that Montreal programme there were a fair number of interesting-looking sessions for sub-commissions and committees that were for members only, and I remember Helmut Kallmann asking me if I was enjoying myself, to which I replied 'Helmut, is there anything here I can actually go to?' Only members of council could attend council meetings. Elections for board members were held at the congress itself, so only those attending were able to vote. However, in spite of this rather gloomy sounding start, I did have a good time, and met many people who have subsequently become good friends. I became hooked on the IAML habit, and went to as many conferences as I could afford to, as initially I got little if any funding for this. Gradually I became more involved in IAML activities, both at the national level in Canada, where I was living at the time, and the international level.
Although it may not seem so today, IAML has undergone huge changes since 1975. It is now a much more democratic association, and much more transparent. The members of the Board are no longer a distant body, but just members like the rest of us, sessions for members only are very rare, and franchise is universal by mail and now electronically. Any critic to the contrary should stop a moment, and look back forty years or more, and see that although it has been a bit on the slow side, a huge amount of change has taken place.
One of the exciting things about IAML is that one gets to visit the most wonderful places. As well as locations that one wants to visit, going to places one would not otherwise have gone to was always a pleasant surprise. Becoming Secretary-General was a great honour, and a great challenge. It provided a wonderful opportunity to get to know many more members, and to find out how IAML works in the different countries. With the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the political situation changed, and 'new' countries came on the scene. The advent of email made communications so much easier, and it was fascinating to see each country getting connected, and to see in what order, and also which type of libraries - university libraries first, public libraries and government libraries last!
I became involved with a number of Commissions, Branches and Working Groups, and the one I really enjoyed the most was Hofmeister XIX. I only joined it partly because the first Chair was the late Neil Ratliff, who was a good friend, but I stayed with it until the not so bitter end, and it was such a wonderful feeling when the project group finally got off the ground, and the dream became reality.
The hospitality of host countries was always so welcome. Organising a IAML conference is a huge amount of work, and very tiring, yet our hosts always seemed to cope, and made everyone welcome. One also gets the opportunity to discover the customs of other countries, which can differ from one's own. perhaps this is one reason for the depth and richness of IAML, that it benefits from a wide variety of cultures and languages. Music is a universal language, which we all speak, which is certainly one reason why IAML works so well.
