Steering Committee Elections Are Upon Us
The IIPC Steering Committee (SC) elections are almost upon us. Last year the SC decided, as part of the new Consortium Agreement to move the SC election from late in the year, to the General Assembly. The term no longer being from January 1st, but rather starting on June 1st. Term length remains three years, but obviously the term of current SC members is extended by five months to cover the transition.

Of the 15 SC seats, two are allocated to institutions hosting IIPC officers. Currently, the British Library with the communication and program officer and Bibliothèque nationale de France with the treasurer. About a third of the remaining 13 seats are voted on each year. This year five seats are up for a vote. Including that of my organization, The National and University Library of Iceland. The other four are The Library of Congress, Internet Archive, The German National Library and the Swiss National Library.
As far as I know all five seek reelection to the SC. I haven't heard of additional SC candidate institutions, but they have until March 30 to declare their interest.
I thought I'd use this opportunity to reflect on my two terms serving on the SC.
Iceland on the Steering Committee
The National and University Library of Iceland is a founding member of the IIPC and has had a continuous presence on the SC from the start. From 2003 to 2009, we were represented by Þorsteinn Hallgrímsson, then Deputy National Librarian. He also served as chair of the SC in 2008.

Given that Þorsteinn was planning to retire in 2010, it was decided that I would replace him should we retain our seat on the SC. As it turned out, there were only five candidates for the five seats as two incumbents decided to withdraw from the SC. We won our seat by default.
To confess, at the time I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into. The SC meetings are always closed and while Þorsteinn would occasionally confer with me about something discussed at an SC meeting, for the most part the operation of the SC was a bit of a black box. Unfortunately, I think this is how it appears to all too many members. Especially those from institutions not serving on the SC. Some efforts have been made to made to make it more transparent, but I believe more is needed. I suppose this post is a small contribution to that end.
I arrive in Singapore
My first SC meeting was during the Singapore GA. I remember thinking, before going into the meeting, 'just shut up and listen'. I still try very hard to listen carefully. However, as my fellow SC members will surely attest to, I have long since given up on 'shutting up'.
![]() |
Singapore, National Library |
Looking back now, it all seems very typical. Budget, events and sponsored projects have always occupied a notable fraction of the SC's time. Often to the point that we were unable to adequately discuss more transformative issues.
Especially during my first term, I frequently found the time for of the SC meetings to be far too short to tackle anything substantive. I remember sitting in the SC meeting at the 2013 GA in Ljubljana discussing changes to the working groups. Kris Carpenter and I were both quite unhappy with the status quo and were pushing for changes. But with only a half day for the SC meeting, the matter couldn't be adequately covered. In fact, today we are still struggling with the topic to some extent. At the time it was very frustrating.
Fortunately, this has been changing for the better in the last couple of years. We now typically have a two day, dedicated SC meeting in the fall. This has proven far more productive, in my opinion, and enabled us to make far more substantial changes to the consortium agreement this time around. We also try to squeeze in a whole day during the GA, although this has proven more difficult. The use of online meetings has also grown and become more productive.
An Executive Committee
Finding more time for SC meetings is important, as the SC faces a number of important issues at the moment. Some quite foundational, like what exactly is the IIPC. Are we a forum for discussion and knowledge sharing only? Are we an advocacy group? Should we build tools? Develop standards and APIs? Build collections?
Of course this shouldn't all be decided by the SC alone. But, the SC needs to be in a leadership role here. Perhaps that is one of the thing that needs to change more. Historically, SC members have fulfilled their role mostly be attending SC meetings. Often, with little activity in between.
![]() |
The SC poses for a photo after a meeting in Paris, fall 2015 |
The four new roles are, Vice-Chair, which has been around unofficially for a while and then there are three topic oriented roles, Tools Development, Membership Engagement and Partnerships & Outreach.
This is a big change. Whereas before a SC member could expect to be called on to serve as chair for one year once every 5 terms (15 years), now an SC member should expect to serve in one of these roles for at least one year, each term.
Our current chair, Paul Wagner, was the one to come up with this and I must applaud him for it. This is the largest change to the SC's function since I joined it. Perhaps since the very beginning.
This also addresses (in part, at least) some of the issues we've had with the IIPC officers. All too often they've been saddled with strategic responsibilities. The officers are there to keep day-to-day matters running. But, in the past we've asked them to essentially take up leadership roles in areas of outreach and member services (among other). With poor result, perhaps partly due to churn in the PCO role, but I suspect largely because they are not properly empowered nor do they have enough time to devote to this.
It may prove that the SC members also do not have enough time for this. But, if that is the case, I think we either need new SC members or we can just close down the consortium.
It makes more sense that the SC (as a whole and as individuals) assume the responsibility for providing leadership. The SC isn't, in this way, like the board of a company. It isn't an oversight body with some broad policy influence. The SC is an executive board.
It is time we act like one.
New faces and old
Looking at the list of attendees from that first SC meeting in Singapore, I see that only three people remain on the SC. Myself, Birgit Henriksen (Denmark) and Sven Arne Solbakk (Norway). The latter two have been on the SC since day one!
Apparently, us Nordic folk are exceptionally stable :)
Several institutions have withdrawn from the SC in that time but much of the turnover comes from personnel changes at the member institutions. The fact that we get board turnover both from members leaving and from individual representatives leaving/being promoted means that we have a fairly "young" SC. It is sometimes strange being an "old hand" after only six years. Stranger still as I remain one of the youngest representatives on the SC.
![]() |
My and Gildas discussing something of profound importance at the 2012 GA reception in Washington |
had many important people leave the SC (Gildas Illien, Martha Anderson, Kris Carpenter, Helen Hockx-Yu to name just a few) largely reshaping the SC.
It must be said, some of the new representatives have brought energizing ideas and changes with them. Notably, Paul Wagner, who joined the SC on behalf of Library and Archives Canada in 2014. I've found his approach to the issues we are tackling to often be refreshing. He has certainly left his mark on the SC and, I expect, the IIPC in general.
Still, we must also take care not to lose the IIPC's institutional memory. Even if only to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
The Future
So, why do I want to serve another term on the SC? It is a fair question, and one I hope all candidates ask themselves honestly.
I suppose there is some perceived prestige or status that comes with it (for the representative and institution). That might have tickled me slightly when I sought my first term, six years ago. But that is a poor reason.
Today, I seek to remain on the SC because I believe that the IIPC matters. Both broadly, in the world, and also directly to the mission of my library.
![]() |
Iceland, National Library |
I think that should be clear from the work I have done over the last six years. I've never been content to just attend SC meetings. Instead, I have led a working group, managed a task force, helped organize a technical training workshop, helped update the WARC standard, worked on our open source projects (Heritrix and OpenWayback), provided leadership on those projects when needed and, now, my library is hosting this year's GA.
I do this, not because I'm generous, but because I've come to understand the value of our cooperative efforts. The Icelandic Web Archive would barely exist without the support, knowledge and tools we have garnered via international cooperation, notably within the IIPC.
I suppose we could have gained some of it without giving back. But if everyone does that, we all lose out. I have no doubt we've gotten back more than we have given. That is the beauty of the IIPC, it isn't a zero-sum game. We can all get more out of it than we put in. Also, some of the most rewarding things can only be had by fully engaging with the community.
We wish (my institution and me) to continue to contribute. Because we know we it is eminently worthwhile.