Dear friends,

Welcome to the latest edition of the IFLA Asia and Oceania Regional Newsletter. In this issue, we are pleased to share messages from Mr Edy Irwan bin Zulkafli, the newly appointed Director-General of the National Library of Malaysia, and Ms Jinwoo Lee, President of the Korea Library Association. We wish them all the best for their new appointments and look forward to their strong leadership in shaping the future of libraries and information professionals in our region.

The Regional Office would also like to extend our congratulations to the newly elected committee members for the Regional Divisional Council and to Ms Te Paea Paringatai from New Zealand as the IFLA President-Elect for 2025 to 2027. It is a deep honour to have members from the Asia and Oceania region to be elected to leadership roles in IFLA. Do look out for her vision for IFLA and a special message to our region.

Other highlights include the significant achievement of ASEAN’s founding documents being inscribed into UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, as well as recent advances in environmental knowledge management in Tuvalu.

IFLA has recently released two important documents: a statement on copyright and artificial intelligence that provides guidance for libraries implementing AI while respecting copyright considerations, and the IFLA Code of Conduct for Volunteers, which establishes a framework for ethical behaviour and accountability across the Federation. We hope these documents give readers some sense of IFLA’s direction and commitment to libraries and the library profession.

Registration for the 89th World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) is now open. This year, WLIC will be taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan from 18 to 22 August 2025. The first WLIC to be held in Central Asia will have programmes exploring AI in libraries, climate change empowerment, information integrity, and libraries’ role in democratic and national development. The National Committee of Kazakhstan has also specially curated pre-and post-Congress tours showcasing the region’s cultural heritage for delegates. Read more in the featured article and see you all in Astana!

As always, we would like to extend our appreciation to all contributors and look forward to bringing you more updates about the conference and other regional developments in our upcoming issues.

Contributed by Michelle Lau, Manager, IFLA Regional Office for Asia and Oceania.