Members of the IFLA community played a prominent and active role in the inaugural Dubai International Library Conference, held on 15-17 November in Dubai, UAE, sharing ideas, experiences and lessons with colleagues from the country, region and world.

Taking place at the impressive Mohammed Bin Rachid Library, the conference aimed to provide a space both sharing new insights and promoting exchange about the past, present and future of libraries.

Many people involved with IFLA had prominent roles, including Governing Board member Loida Garcia Febo, Jeannette Lebron Ramos and Saif Al Jabri, Chairs of the Latin America and Caribbean and Middle East and North Africa Regional Division Committees, and IFLA Secretary General Sharon Memis.

Collectively, they explored a wide range of issues, including AI in schools, the impacts of natural disasters, the application of global standards locally, the role of associations, libraries’ work around the SDGs and more.

One major cross-cutting themes included the potential for libraries to increase their impact through forming partnerships with others, with the organisers taking care to invite moderators and others from outside the library field to come and see for themselves what libraries were doing.

IFLA was particularly grateful to be invited to participate in the meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries Asia-Oceania, engaging with key leaders from across the region.

Our participation gave an excellent opportunity to initiate fresh talks with the broad library community across the country and area, where there is a genuine desire to implement innovative practices and improve services.

We look forward to continuing the conversations started in Dubai, including through the Middle East and North Africa Regional Division Committee.