This set of guidelines, for audiovisual and multimedia materials in libraries of all kinds and other appropriate institutions, is the product of many years of consultation and collaborative effort. As early as 1972, The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Public Library Manifesto had stressed the need for audiovisual media in public libraries, both in adult and in children's services. The following year, a Round Table on Audiovisual Material was created within IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) to cover all "non-book materials", or--according to another definition--all documents requiring equipment for their consultation. In 1982, this Round Table was asked to consider standards for the provision of audiovisual materials and equipment in public libraries, and the first edition of the IFLA Guidelines was born. A second, revised, edition was planned for 1987, but this was never published. In this paper the term audiovisual and multimedia will be used for contents of the collections of all types of library and information services regarding sound, images and multimedia. (Microforms are not included in these guidelines.) All issues relating to sound, still and moving images, and multimedia documents and services (such as children's libraries and language centers), collection development, cataloguing, conservation, and access including Internet will be treated. (Contains 6 footnotes.)