The message below accompanies the July 2023 edition of the IFLA Newsletter.

IFLA Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 7

Welcome to the July edition of the IFLA newsletter! 

This editorial comes to you from the team of librarians representing the field at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum in New York. This is the biggest event in the annual Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calendar, with thousands of people from governments, UN agencies, civil society and beyond meeting, in person and online, to assess progress towards the SDGs.

It is clear – there is a strong sense of concern about whether the world can achieve the SDGs in the seven years remaining. But there is also hope that if we both intensify efforts, and do things in a more evidence-based, coherent and purposeful way, it is still possible to succeed. 

In the conversations we are having and the points we are raising, we are underlining how libraries are part of this new way of doing things, drawing on the great examples that some countries already provide. It has been particularly powerful to see the UN and others start to underline the importance of a healthy information ecosystem – something libraries of course have long argued is crucial for so much else.

We hope that, through our work here, we can both create a deeper understanding of why reliable, accurate information and access to it makes a difference for development globally, but also create new connections with our own governments and others’. Through this, we hope to see stronger recognition and support for the role of libraries globally. 

In addition to more information on IFLA’s work around the SDGs, you can also find lots about the upcoming World Library and Information Congress in Rotterdam, which is only now a month away.

Read on, also, for additional policy and advocacy news – in particular the call for candidates for the Memory of the World Register – as well as stories from our professional and regional units. You can also catch up on the latest opportunities open to you, and meet IFLA’s latest members.

Happy reading!