World Library and Information Congress (WLIC):  89th IFLA General Conference and Assembly “Uniting Knowledge, Building the Future” August 18-22, 2025, Astana, Kazakhstan

Business meeting:
Session ID: 042
Type: Business Meetings
Room: Meeting Room 2/Hilton
Sunday, August 17, 01:15 PM – 03:15 PM
SC Meeting Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Section

Open Session:
Session ID: 104
Type: Congress Programme
Room: Grand Ball Room/Hilton
Organizers: Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Section
Tuesday, August 19, 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM
Building a Sustainable Future for Resource Sharing in a Changing World
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Coordinator: Tuba Akbayturk
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Description
Due to the changing nature of business practices, Resource Sharing experts are deeply involved in discussing the challenges of the international shipping of physical materials and the payment methods for service charges. The technology opens new doors for library professionals to overcome these challenges. The transition of the IFLA voucher system, incorporation of controlled digital lending, and initiatives such as RSCVD are only a few of these new approaches under development. This session will allow the parties who ponder these solutions to present via short presentations. It will also allow the audience to participate actively in the discussion in the second half of the session using the fishbowl technique.

Presentations:

1. Building a Sustainable Future for Resource Sharing in a Changing World: Findings on international resource sharing payment methods from global surveys  

Paper in English
One of the major barriers for international resource sharing services is financial transactions. Libraries across the globe are using different methods to pay and charge their international resource sharing borrowing and lending fees. This session shares survey results from the American Library Association Reference & User Service Association Sharing and Transforming Access to Resource Section International Interlibrary Loan Committee and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ISO/TC 46/SC 4/ Ad Hoc Group 1 for Interlibrary Loan Financial Transactions. The session further discusses findings from the global surveys and makes recommendations for future development.

2. Challenges and Solutions in Cross-Border Resource Sharing

The results of a survey on the difficulties of cross-border interlibrary exchanges of physical items (customs, payment and shipping methods) and possible solutions adopted and proposed by libraries will be presented. Furthermore, the
opportunities to overcome the limits of physical items exchange via RSCVD digital lending potential will be discussed

3. IFLA Vouchers: Present and Future

The IFLA vouchers make it easier for organizations and members to pay for international interlibrary (ILL) requests across borders by using a voucher instead of needing to do a formal money transfer. IFLA vouchers enable all libraries to provide interlibrary requests for the benefit of their users. IFLA has facilitated the sale and redemption of interlibrary loan vouchers for over twenty years. The IFLA Vouchers Working Group, established in 2025, actively investigates the current situation with vouchers globally and works on developing recommendations for the IFLA Governing Board. This presentation will highlight key findings and discuss the future plans.

IFLAWLIC2025 – Program