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IFLA President Glòria Pérez-Salmerón has placed realising the potential of libraries to empower their users in a digital society, and so achieve development goals, at the heart of her mandate. In an interview with French magazine Livres Hebdo, she sets out her vision and priorities.
The International Advocacy Programme (IAP) continues as a worldwide campaign to get libraries into National Development Plans! The IAP Update – October 2017 features awareness-raising and advocacy activities to promote the role of libraries in the UN 2030 Agenda, between May 2017 and the end of October 2017.
IFLA and the Section on Library Services to People with Special Needs (LSN) have been asked to participate in an important United Nations project on serving people with disabilities, in the context of delivering the Sustainable Development Goals. Libraries can help IFLA/LSN participate in this project by providing a response to the survey below, and so show the unique value of libraries.
While libraries may have a reputation as a place to come for peace and quiet, they can also be drivers of peace in the wider communities they serve. Around the world, they provide a welcoming space where all members of the community can come together, and offer services that build more equal, more participatory, and so stronger and more peaceful societies. On World Peace Day 2017, IFLA looks to highlight examples of how libraries contribute.
There is no doubt that access to information is essential to achieving development across the board. And it is only when it is free, safe, and open for all, with communities who know how to find, apply and reuse information, that access can help everyone to improve their lives.
IFLA, in partnership with TASCHA, launched today the first Development and Access to Information (DA2I) Report at The New York Public Library, during the United Nations High Level Political Forum.
On Friday 14 July, at the main session of the United Nations High Level Political Forum: "Science-policy interface and emerging issues", IFLA intervened speaking on behalf of the NGO Major Group underlining the need for meaningful access to information in order to succeed in the UN 2030 Agenda.
The DA2I side event “2030 Vision: How Libraries Support the UN’s Work on Sustainable Development” was a unique opportunity to highlight and illustrate the major role of libraries in delivering effective and meaningful access to information driving progress for development at the national and global levels.
Just days before the official launch of the Development and Access to Information (DA2I) Report, participants at the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) had a first glimpse at its findings on Tuesday 11 July.
IFLA, in partnership with TASCHA will launch the Development and Access to Information (DA2I) 2017 Report on 17 July 2017 during the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York.
As an easy to read, highly illustrated document, this report has already proved to be a valuable advocacy tool, helping library managers explain to local, state and territory governments what can be achieved by investing in makerspaces and technology programs.
The International Advocacy Programme (IAP) continues as a worldwide campaign to get libraries into National Development Plans! The IAP Update – May 2017 features activities and plans reported by IAP participants between February 2017 and the end of May 2017.
IFLA President Donna Scheeder delivered a keynote speech on Libraries in Support of Sustainable Development at the May 9th, 2017 opening of the 12th National Library Week, organized by the Bulgarian Library and Information Association (BLIA).
Two more IFLA IAP Regional Workshops were held in February and March 2017, bringing together participants from a further 20 countries to join the International Advocacy Programme (IAP). This capacity building initiative was launched by IFLA in the last quarter of 2016 and has now seen six regional workshops organised, with almost 150 participants in total.
Libraries in general, and public libraries in particular, play an active role in times of armed conflict. Many spaces that at one time were affected by the violence, or threatened by urban guerrilla units, or common criminals, have been transformed by the creation of library-linked reading programs, generating new dynamics of access to culture in communities, especially written culture.
IFLA launches a call for examples, to support the advocacy work done by the library community at national, regional and global levels. Data and examples are key to show policy makers how libraries are already supporting development through their programmes, products and services. Therefore, this survey aims to gather examples that will be used for the advocacy work done by IFLA, its members and the broader library community related to the UN 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.
On 2 February 2017, Finland published its National Development Plan for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals to achieve the UN Agenda 2030. The plan includes libraries. Libraries are acknowledged in the context of the action plan to prevent hate speech and racism and to promote social inclusion: “The role of public libraries as promoters of active citizenship, cultural diversity and democracy shall be strengthened”.