Dear Madam/Sir, We are pleased to share with you the outcomes of the thematic debate on the "Preservation of Information" held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris on 3 April 2007, within the framework of the 12th meeting of the Bureau of UNESCO’s Information for All Programme. The debate helped to clarify the role that Governments can play in developing policies and in setting priorities for the preservation of information, particularly in the context of the digital age. Governments need to take a pro-active stance, especially in view of the rapid growth in digital information and the lack of effective solutions for preserving this information. The specific outcomes of the debate have been summarized in the enclosed document entitled "Key messages for Governments and industry" [ http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24447&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html ]. For IFAP, these messages are particularly important in the context of UNESCO’s celebration of World Information Society Day 2007 dedicated to the principle of "Universal access to information and knowledge". Indeed, preservation is not an aim in itself, but an indispensable pre-requisite for enabling the world’s citizens to access information and use it. The proceedings of the thematic debate as well as the electronic version of the "Key messages for Governments and industry" are also available from the IFAP website at: www.unesco.org/webworld/ifap. Thank you for your attention. Bryan Corbett University Archivist, University of Alberta, Book and Records Depository (BARD) 100, 8170-50th Street Edmonton, Alberta CANADA T6B 1E6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_bib/ http://www.unesco.org/newdelhi/ http://www.anupkumardas.blogspot.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Download prohibited? No problem! To chat from any browser without download, Click Here: http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.