The Bibliography Section serves as a global platform for the exchange of information and best practices related to national bibliographies and the work of national bibliographic agencies (NBAs). We support the development and maintenance of high-quality national bibliographies, advancing universal bibliographic control and safeguarding cultural heritage. We promote the importance of national bibliographic data to all sectors, advocating for strong legal deposit laws to ensure comprehensive national bibliographies.

The Section plays a leading role in promoting Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC) and adapting its principles to evolving technological landscapes. We are committed to fostering international collaboration, promoting standards and best practices, and addressing the impact of emerging technologies on bibliographic services. While our primary focus is on national bibliographies, we also promote the importance of the discipline of bibliography to a wide range of professionals, including librarians, publishers, and end-users.

Core Focus Areas

  • Promote the development and maintenance of high-quality national bibliographies and authoritative bibliographic and authority data, to advance universal bibliographic control and support the overall advancement of bibliographic services.
  • Develop guidelines and resources to guide countries in establishing and maintaining comprehensive and up-to-date national bibliographies.
  • Facilitate international collaboration and the exchange of best practices among national bibliographic agencies, promoting cultural diversity and multilingualism in national bibliographies.
  • Address the impact of technological advancements and emerging technologies on bibliographic services to enhance discoverability, accessibility, and reuse of national bibliographic and authority data.
  • Encourage the global exchange and reuse of bibliographic data in the framework of universal bibliographic control.
  • Promote the adoption and implementation of international bibliographic standards to facilitate global interoperability and accessibility of bibliographic data.
  • Highlight the crucial role of legal deposit and national bibliographies as fundamental tools for safeguarding and promoting national cultural heritage and information access.

The Section maintains the following IFLA guidelines, resources and documents:

The Bibliography Section collaborates closely with other relevant IFLA Sections, such as National Libraries, Cataloguing, Subject Analysis and Access, Information Technology and the Advisory Committee on Standards, to ensure a cohesive approach to supporting national bibliographies and their agencies.

About National Bibliographies and National Bibliographic Agencies

National bibliographies (NBs) are enduring records of a nation’s intellectual and cultural output, reflected in its published works. By gathering and preserving bibliographic information, they ensure ongoing access to this vital heritage. As cornerstones of the information ecosystem, they connect publishers, libraries, institutions concerned with copyright and legal deposit, and other government services, playing a crucial role in supporting research, education, and cultural heritage preservation. National bibliographies are a crucial link in the chain of information dissemination between publishers, libraries, researchers, and end-users.

National bibliographic agencies (NBAs), or national bibliographic services (NBSs) within national libraries, are by their nature unique in their territory. They are responsible for the creation and maintenance of national bibliographies. The mission of these agencies is closely related to the mandate of the national libraries or interconnected with it. National bibliographic services are closely intertwined with other essential library and national services, such as legal deposit, ISBN/ISSN assignment, cataloguing-in-publication, and national authority files. Their work has strong bonds with the publishing industry and the national legislative bodies.

This unit is part of the Professional Division H.