The SLLA Golden Jubilee International Conference was held from 6th to 8th October in Colombo in a grandiose manner. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Hon. D M Jayaratne was the Chief Guest of the opening Ceremony with IFLA President, Dr (Ms) Ellen Tise and Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs, Hon. John Seneviratne. A large number of distinguished invitees were present at the ceremony including Presidents of Library Associations of India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan. Bangladesh LA was represented by a Council member. At the ceremony, Golden Jubilee special awards were presented to all living founder members, past presidents and long-standing members of SLLA. In addition, GJ special awards were presented to the outstanding services rendered by a foreign librarian (Prof. Russell Bowden) and two LIS institutions (NLDSB and Dept. of LIS, Kelaniya University).
The two day conference with 12 sessions was well attended by a large number of participants. Each session comprised with three presentations and follow up discussion.