Dear Colleagues and Friends,

During the last couple of months, the work of Asia and Oceania Section mainly focused on the advocacy of UN SDGs, IFLA elections for 2021 as well as WLIC 2021.

On 26 February, we had our online mid-term meeting attended by 18 committee members. Alongside, the RSCAO Asia-Pacific webinar on ‘Libraries and the SDGs’ hosted by the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) was a great success with guest speakers from the USA, Singapore, India, Fiji and New Zealand and over 270 registrants from a wide range of countries across the region. The webinar showcased grass-roots SDG stories from libraries regardless of their locality, size and resource availability and provided practical examples on how libraries can contribute to the attainment of the UN SDGs. The brief report is available at https://www.ifla.org/node/93733?og=67. The webinar recording is also viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op-tgwDJgkI

IFLA Elections 2021 began in early March. As a result of the IFLA restructuring, the Asia and Oceania Section has been upgraded to one of the six Regional Divisions. The new Asia & Oceania Regional Division Committee will replace RSCAO and consist of 20 members from the Asia-Oceania region. As IFLA Members or Affiliates, you are encouraged to nominate suitable candidates to serve as the Regional Council Chair or as members of the Asia & Oceania Regional Division. Details on the elections are available at https://www.ifla.org/elections-2021

For the first time, the IFLA WLIC will be held online during 17-19 August 2021.The virtual conference will be the most inclusive and accessible event in IFLA’s history, bringing to participants new experience and formats. RSCAO Program Sub-committee is engaged in planning the Asia and Oceania session. Registration will open in May. Stay tuned! https://www.ifla.org/wlic2021

Last but not least, we would like to thank our members and friends for the kind support and hope that people with different expertise will join the new Regional Division and bring the libraries in Asia and Oceania to a new level.

Best regards,

Tina

RSCAO Chair