Barbara Schleihagen
Executive Director of the German Library Association
Barbara Schleihagen is currently Executive Director of the German Library Association based in Berlin, Germany. Before that she was International Relations Officer at the German Library Association, initiating and co-ordinating the international activities of German librarians, libraries and library associations. Before she joined the German Library Association, she served as Secretary General of the IFLA 2003 Berlin conference co-ordinating in close collaboration with the National Organising Committee the preparations for this big event.
Previously she was working for four years as the Director of EBLIDA, the European Bureau for Library, Information and Documentation Associations based in The Hague, Netherlands, lobbying for libraries at the European institutions and co-ordinating several European projects.
Before that she was working for the Deutsche Bibliotheksinstitut (German Library Institute) in Berlin. In this capacity she was responsible for the organisation of an extensive book aid programme for libraries in Central and Eastern Europe financed by the Germany government. She was also involved in the work of the National Focal Point for the Libraries programme set up by the European Commission. Before she joined the Deutsches Bibliotheksinstitut, she has worked in various positions for the British Council in Germany, during the last three years in the position as literature officer.
She is a trained librarian and holds a Master (MSc Econ) in Management of Libraries and Information Services of the University Wales.
She is a personal member of IFLA since 2001, and was member of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee between 2002 -2007 and was appointed as member of the FAIFE Advisory Board from 2003-2007. In 2007, she was elected member of the IFLA Governing Board and member of IFLA Standing Committee for the management of Library Associations.