NOTE: a version of this message was sent by the IFLA President on 31 July 2024 directly to all IFLA Members and affiliates, including directors and presidents of library associations. It was also sent to all IFLA volunteers.

I’m happy to be writing to you again to share an update on my work as President, as well as on the work of the Governing Board (GB) and IFLA as a whole.

The message is coming right at the end of the month, but I was keen to make sure I could talk about the outcome of our GB meeting, held on Monday 29 July. The meeting covered a number of key issues which I know really matter to our members and volunteers.

It has been a very full month. In addition to the GB and work around the Information Futures Summit (more on this later), I was very glad to attend ALA’s annual conference in San Diego, alongside Leslie Weir, IFLA President-elect. I also participated remotely in conferences in China, Argentina and Singapore.

These opportunities matter. They provide me as President  an opportunity to meet with IFLA members and volunteers, to share more about what we are doing for the field, and to make sure I’m up to speed on the issues you are facing. I know that other GB members also value the chance to engage and support IFLA’s work, for example in the context of our engagement in the UN High-Level Political Forum this month attended by two of our GB members, Loida Garcia-Febo and Alejandro Santa.

Looking back to the Governing Board meeting on 29 July 2024, before which, for the first time, we shared advance details of our agenda, the topic that raised most interest was IFLA’s 2025 Congress, and in particular whether and where it will take place.

I’m very glad to say that following a site visit including GB member Kirsten Boelt and members of our Headquarters team, the GB has decided that we will be holding the 2025 World Library and Information Congress in Astana, Kazakhstan.

We will be sharing more about plans for this shortly, including key dates, but I believe that going to Astana will be a great way to bring engagement in international librarianship to a new part of the world for IFLA. It will also offer international participants insights into a fascinating culture and a library field with really ambitious plans for the future. See our press release for more.

We also made important progress on the IFLA Strategy 2024-2029. I thank everyone who responded to our six surveys or participated in our consultation sessions. Your contributions have helped us  move much closer to the goal of a Strategy that makes a clearer connection between the work of IFLA, the work of the library field as a whole, and the world we want to see. It is also  easier to adapt and adopt by others, and as you requested, speaks more directly to the contributions libraries make to development and the communities we serve.

Crucially  it gives us a much stronger focus on sustainable futures for our communities, and a roadmap for how we  ensure that as a Federation, we are able to support our members and the wider field to grow and deliver on their potential.

Over the coming weeks, the Governing Board will work with the IFLA HQ team to finalise the Strategy. It will be formally launched at the Information Futures Summit in Brisbane. We will also share it with members and volunteers in advance, together with supporting materials.  We recognise the need for our units in particular, to have the time to read and consider the new Strategy ahead of updating action plans in October.

The GB meeting also looked ahead to the IFLA Information Futures Summit, which will take place in Brisbane, Australia – my home town! – from 30 September to 3 October. This event is a  priority for me, and I am very grateful to the colleagues in our Australian advisory committee and at IFLA HQ for the intensive work that is going into making the summit a truly exciting and innovative experience.

Even though I am working on  preparation for the summit every day, it is still really exciting for me to step back and look at the extraordinary range of speakers who will be coming, as well as the innovative formats we have planned. I hope you will feel the same when you see the  overviews we have recently shared of our keynotes and other speakers. We’re also sharing additional details on associated events nd library tours in the city, region and beyond.

In the coming weeks we’ll be sharing a series of short blogs about the different to be explored at the Summit, and the rich range of perspectives that will be shared. You can of course already find a lot of information on the website, with more being added every day.

Outside of these highlights, and looking across the other priorities for IFLA set out in my first speech as IFLA President, in August 2023 in Rotterdam, I’m happy to share the following:

Maximise IFLA’s financial sustainability: I’m happy to say that after the agreement of the budget with Stichting IFLA Global Libraries (SIGL), it has been possible to move quickly to implement plans. You will likely have seen requests for proposals for research on partnership opportunities. The results of these will accelerate efforts globally to boost the sustainability of the global library field and its ability to deliver positive change, while SIGL support also made possible our engagement at the UN High-Level Political Forum earlier this month. I acknowledge the significant contributions of Deborah Jacobs (an IFLA Honorary Fellow) and Inga Lundén, who have stepped down from the SIGL board.

We also took a large part of the time at our GB meeting on Monday to review our financial situation after the 2nd quarter of 2024. We’ve made significant progress in reducing the projected deficit, although will still be affected by the consequences of not holding a World Library and Information Congress this year.

Agree the IFLA Strategy 2024-2029: as highlighted above, we are almost ready, with finalisation due in the coming weeks. We are already working on translations, communication and dissemination, to make it as useful as possible for our volunteers, members and the wider library field. .

Deliver the IFLA Trend Report 2024: this will be the centrepiece of the IFLA Information Futures Summit in Brisbane, and you will already get a preview of some of the Trends in the upcoming series of blogs about the Summit themes . Look out for more about the literature review as well!

An effective and well-functioning Governing Board: this is an ongoing area of focus,. We have already expanded the content of the GB pages on the website, and shared a forward look at our agenda. At our next meeting, we will be talking about how to open up relevant discussions to observers. You will also see more being shared about what other Governing Board members are doing in their leadership roles within the Federation.

Closer engagement with members: as mentioned earlier, I’ve been very happy to participate in conferences and other events organised by members over the last month. I see these as central to building closer engagement, and am looking forward to even more opportunities in the future. More broadly, we are looking at how to improve the targeting of our multilingual mailing. I encourage you to sign up for one of our Townhall sessions in September for more information on work that is being progressed, in particular around our Strategy, work on sustainability, and plans for the Information Futures Summit.

Review our Congress model: the process for the 2025 WLIC has already allowed us to test out a revised set of principles for selecting Congress hosts. Meanwhile, our President-elect, Leslie Weir, is making great progress with the wider review of our model. The results of a first survey have been published, and a second survey has just closed. Look out for invitations to a townhall on this, and a note from Leslie in next month’s message.

Please also look at the latest update my Dashboard for a quick overview!

In the next month I will arrive at the half-way point of my presidency. As I underlined in my address at this year’s General Assembly, we have achieved so much, but there is still more to do, and we will certainly continue to work hard to deliver on the priorities I and the GB set for my term.

Kind regards,

Vicki McDonald

IFLA President 2023-2025

 

Dashboard of progress against the priorities set out in the IFLA President's first address