To serve August 2023-August 2025

Voting begins 13 March 2023. Eligible voters have until 12:00 CEST on 12 April to cast their votes.

The role

IFLA has eight (8) Professional Divisions made up of six (6) to eight (8) Professional Units. Each Professional Division is led by a Chair.

Chairs of the Professional Division Committees lead their Divisions in developing activities, action plans and projects, and approve including funding requests) in line with IFLA’s mission, values and strategy (liaising with the Professional Council, IFLA HQ and Units).

They provide recommendations on the formation and cessation of Professional Units in the Division and advise the Professional Council Chair on representation of Units’ interests at the Governing Board. They make recommendations on funding requests from their Division and encourage collaboration within and across Divisions.

Chairs of the eight Professional Division Committees are members of the Professional Council. The members of the Professional Council have a key role in supporting work on guidelines and toolkits for the profession, reviewing and approving the action plans of the Professional Units, organising the professional content for the IFLA Congress, overseeing the IFLA publishing programme and regularly monitoring and reviewing the Professional Units.

The position

Positions available: eight (8), one (1) on each Professional Division

Term of office: two (2) years.

Nominations

Nominations required: three (3)

Who can nominate: All members of the Professional Section Standing Committees

Eligible nominees: Officers of the Professional Section Standing Committees

Expectations of Candidates

Skills and attributes: A candidate for this position should be able to demonstrate:

  • Expertise and experience in/across the library field.
  • Desire and ability to lead, engage, inspire, provide guidance and support, and represent the interests of a diverse range of volunteer colleagues.
  • Experience with strategic planning, programme implementation, project management and review processes.
  • Strong collaboration skills, and the ability to plan, lead and engage volunteers in deep and meaningful work on behalf of the organisation.
  • Strong leadership, communication, representation and networking abilities.
  • Motivation and ability to devote time and energy to the role outside of their local time zone’s typical work hours – this can be 5-10 hours per month.
  • Time allowance to prepare and attend meetings of the Professional Council and Professional Division Committee, and financial resources to attend the IFLA annual Congress.
  • An ability to act with respect, trust, confidentiality and transparency and recognise the need to protect personal and privileged information. They must declare any conflicts of interest and abstain from discussions where they have a conflict or potential conflict of interest.

Candidate statement: A statement of up to 300 words is requested with the nominee consent form.

Elections

Elections in writing will take place.

Who can vote: Officers of Sections in the Division.

How do I find a nominator?

Lists of members of Professional Section Standing Committees can be found on their webpages. See the Professional Units on our Committee Finder for more information.

How do I submit my nominee form?

Potential nominees will have received an email from UK Engage with a link to nominee forms. If you missed the email, please contact elections@ifla.org. The IFLA Elections Team will provide you with the link.

A nomination only becomes valid when there is a match between the number of required nominations and a completed nominee form.

More information

Learn more about the remit of the Professional Council in Rule 19.1.1 of the IFLA Rules of Procedure.