We’re less than a week away from the opening session of the IFLA Information Futures Summit. The event has a focus on providing a space for a collective discussion about information and knowledge environment of tomorrow, and how libraries can shape it. Our ambition is for it to be an accelerator of our efforts to prepare for, and be actors in, the future.

The programme is packed with speakers who have unique and insightful perspectives to share, as well as opportunities to exchange experiences and ideas.

Yet in addition to this, we are looking forward to making a number of major releases at the Summit. These will provide a structure not only for our conversations in Brisbane, but also our work in the years to come.

Find out more

IFLA Trend Report: we’ll be sharing the first major update of our Trend Report since 2013. This builds on the excellent legacy of the original, which has helped libraries and library associations around the world think differently in their planning.

We have already released a Literature Review, setting out seven major trends, as well as the results of a survey into the library field’s response to these. These reveal not only useful information about what libraries are currently thinking, but also identify intersections between trends to explore further.

In the report released on 30 September, we will also be sharing scenarios of potential information and knowledge futures that libraries might face, as well as ideas and tools for working with them. Through this, we’ll be looking to provide a powerful tool for ensuring that we make the future part of our planning today.

IFLA Strategy 2024-2029: following a year-long process of data gathering and consultation, we’re happy to be formally releasing the IFLA Strategy for the next five years on 1 October.

With a new and simpler vision for IFLA, more strongly focused on the change we can make happen in the world, the new Strategy is designed to be easier to work with, both inside and outside of IFLA structures. We will be using it as a reference point during the Summit, and in the following weeks and months finding ways to help you best work with it in your own settings.

Brisbane Declaration: an innovation for the Information Futures Summit is the collaborative development of a summary statement, bringing together the reflections and insights. We will be sharing a link to a draft with participants, and inviting comments and proposals throughout the event, before presenting it at the end.

Coming 10 years after the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development, we are looking forward both to the participatory drafting process, and a resulting document that can help Summit attendees and others alike in both their thinking and advocacy.

Look out for news stories about each of these on our website throughout the Summit!