Dear friends,

We are pleased to present to you the latest issue of the newsletter, featuring some of the latest happenings within and beyond the region!

In the past month, several insightful webinars have been held by the various professional sections of IFLA on topics ranging from Artificial Intelligence to local history and genealogy to national bibliographies. Links to the webinars can be found here: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Digital Preservation, National Bibliographies: Wider Perspectives, Systematic Review Success, FamilySearch’s Ottoman Initiative and Providing New Insights in the Fields of Genealogy and Local History in Asia . We see these webinars as not only valuable resources but as platforms for professional discourse for information professionals.

At the recently concluded IFLA General Assembly, IFLA President, Vicki McDonald made an address on the workplans for the coming year, focusing on the six priorities that had been identified in her first speech as President. A transcript of her speech can be found here.

In September, the IFLA Regional Division Committee for Asia and Oceania will be organising a webinar on Information Integrity: The case of Asia and Oceania, which will be held in the afternoon of 28 September 2024. The hybrid webinar will focus on the libraries’ role in promoting information integrity and literacy on the national and local levels, aligning with the United Nations’ code of conduct, introduced in June 2024. A copy of the UN guiding principles for the code of conduct can be found here.

Lastly, I am eagerly looking forward to the upcoming IFLA Information Futures Summit which is expected to be different from the World Library and Information Summit that we are all familiar with. Hope to see you there!

Michelle Lau, Manager, IFLA Regional Office for Asia and Oceania.