Stay up to date with our latest developments, initiatives, and new resources!
We are pleased to present the MLAS Report, issued in May 2025, highlighting our Section’s accomplishments over the past year. From 2024 to 2025, MLAS advanced its mission by strengthening library associations globally through events, webinars, cross-IFLA collaborations, and regional support aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Take a look and share with your colleagues.
The IFLA Management of Library Associations is closely aligned with the broader goal of empowering communities in terms of MLAS’ core mission to strengthen libraries and their role within society. Read more about its activities on this essay by MLAS Chair, Loida Garcia-Febo, originally published in the IFLA Newsletter April 2025 — Vol. 5, No. 4.
IFLA has pleasure in announcing the Governing Board 2025-2027 election results
The results are timely as they provide clarity on some modern paradoxes such as teenagers and young people being digital natives with high exposure to technology, but often lacking awareness of its ethical implications, environmental impact and of the invisible systems that sustain it. For adults and other age groups there was also a significant mismatch between exposure to content and understanding. Beyond the above reflections and the impact achieved, this report is also a means to center the experience of librarians and educators and to highlight the multi-purpose capabilities of libraries, in particular when it comes to digital literacy.
El 1° de mayo es el Día Internacional del Trabajo y, en este boletín, buscamos celebrar, honrar y escuchar las historias de los bibliotecarios del mundo. Sus esfuerzos para servir a sus comunidades son imparables y merecen condiciones de trabajo que sean apreciadas, equitativas, seguras y pagadas justamente. Nunca olvidemos que, donde sea que haya bibliotecas y bibliotecarios, la vida es un poco mejor y, cuando es necesario enfrentarse a la injusticia, las bibliotecas son uno de los bastiones más importantes que hay.
Libraries, as cornerstones of information and community, hold a vital role in fostering inclusivity. The IFLA LGBTQ+ Users Special Interest Group (SIG) stands at the forefront of this mission, actively working to empower LGBTQ+ communities worldwide through the library and information science field.
The IFLA New Professionals Special Interest Group (NPSIG) is dedicated to empowering early-career librarians and information professionals by creating opportunities for learning, networking, and global collaboration. Among its key initiatives is IFLACamp—an innovative and informal satellite event that brings together new professionals from around the world to share experiences, spark dialogue, and explore emerging trends in the field of librarianship. Since its inception, IFLACamp has become a vibrant platform for creativity, professional growth, and intercultural exchange within the global library community.
The UBC Working Group is pleased to announce that the revised draft of the IFLA Professional Statement on Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC) has been finalized for public consultation.
In this month's edition of the IFLA newsletter, we focus on the true superpower of our profession, communities. 💚
With their ability to regulate the way in which information is accessed, used, shared and created, copyright laws potentially have a major role in deciding not just how new AI models are trained, but also how they can be used. Bearing in mind libraries’ wider ambitions for – and reservations about – AI, a new IFLA Statement, prepared by the Advisory Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters and approved by the Governing Board, sets out recommendations for governments and libraries alike.
Libraries play a key role not just in safeguarding music and related materials for future generations, but also in activating it today, supporting creativity and access for all. A joint IFLA-IAML webinar highlighted the richness of this contribution.
The Metropolitan Libraries Section of IFLA (MetLib) offers continuing education to help metropolitan libraries around the globe serve their communities. MetLib has annual conferences on various themes important in urban areas such as sustainability, inclusivity, democracy, fostering resilience, and others featured in SDG Goals. Read more about how globally Metropolitan libraries are serving as a powerful and necessary resource in their communities.
The update was led by IFLA’s School Libraries Section, in order to reflect the changing landscape of education, including technological advances, the evolution of the teaching role of school librarians, and the role of education in sustainable development.
Collaborative community initiatives can strengthen and foster sustainable development by boosting the creative economy to make inroads into digital spaces, turning the digital divide into a digital dividend. Read about an innovative initiative gaining traction in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province.
The National Library of Greece hosted the symposium, “Metadata Standards Matter: Building a Sustainable Future for Information” and mid-year meetings of the Advisory Committee on Standards, the IFLA metadata sections, the Review Groups, and the Accessibility Metadata Network. Read more about this gathering of metadata specialists from across the globe, who met to discuss and share experiences, practices, problems and solutions related to metadata standards.