IFLA to build libraries’ capacity to positively influence digital information policy through new International Advocacy grant

New grant will help build capacity within the profession to advocate for positive policy change to support public access to digital information in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Libraries Initiative.

LYON, – 19 August 2014

World Library and Information Congress in Lyon – The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) today announced a new grant for international advocacy activities in support of access to digital information. The investment will develop libraries’ ability to react to emerging issues in the digital environment, increase awareness within the public library community of the link between this emerging environment and their work, and create capacity to undertake advocacy activities in support of policy change.

Public access to ICTs, copyright and licensing or eBooks and eLending are just some of the issues being tackled by policymakers at national, regional and international levels, often without satisfactory results for libraries and their users. As a result, libraries can often find themselves having to work in policy environments that are not sensitive to their issues and services to the public in the digital information environment are degraded.

Over the next four years until 2018, IFLA will support national and regional capacity building activities to raise the library community’s awareness of the link between library activities and access to digital information. The grant will address the challenges facing the library profession that result from a shift from a print information environment to a digital one, and help build capacity across the profession to engage in advocacy activities in support of better policy frameworks for libraries and their users.

The International Advocacy Programme will build upon the success of the 2013 IFLA Trend Report and the flagship Building Strong Library Associations (BSLA) programme which is already working at the regional level in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, the investment will also enable IFLA to develop its own advocacy capacity to better implement activities during the life of the project, and sustain effectiveness in the years following the grant’s conclusion.

IFLA President Sinikka Sipilä said, “When the digital information environment is changing so quickly, the library profession must be prepared. The new International Advocacy Programme gives IFLA the opportunity to help libraries worldwide understand the issues and react proactively to them. We want libraries to get the best possibly policy frameworks for their activities.”

For more information: Julia Brungs Julia.Brungs@ifla.org.