Volunteering with IFLA provides you with opportunities to network with both experienced and new professionals, across our field and around the world. This network can support you with the work you currently do, expand your perspective, allow to you go further in an area of specialized personal interest or extend your professional aspirations to new sectors. 

These volunteer networks open doors to collaborations alongside professionals from across the globe, where you can learn about similarities and differences in regional priorities or discover different ways of working and providing services to patrons. You can volunteer informally as an individual or formally as a Committee member. 

Informal volunteering as an individual

Check out the Projects page of the IFLA Professional Unit, Regional Division or Advisory Committee with which you are interested in volunteering to discover projects planned for the current term. Contact the Chair or Secretary from the relevant committee to see how you might get involved, and how your skills and expertise might contribute to the committee’s work.

You may also want to sign up to one of our mailing lists in order to stay informed about upcoming opportunities.  

Formal volunteering through Committee membership 

To fulfill their potential, our committees rely on the election of dedicated, insightful and expert volunteers, ready to contribute their time, energy and expertise. In turn, active engagement in an IFLA committee can be an excellent professional and personal experience, providing you with new knowledge, networks and friendships that you cannot access otherwise.

Collectively, IFLA’s committees – our Sections, Special Interest Groups, Advisory Committees, Review Groups and beyond – represent expertise in the library field. Individually, they each provide a unique platform for learning, exchanging, and developing work that advances every aspect of the global library field.

To become an official Committee member, you will need to participate in the biennial election process. The last IFLA Elections took place in May 2025. Read more about the full outcomes on our IFLA Elections website.