Stay up to date with our latest developments, initiatives, and new resources!
Every year, UNESCO invites the international community to celebrate World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April. This day recognises books as a “link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures” and calls for celebrations of the power and joy of books.
The April edition of the IFLA Newsletter is now out!
The IFLA Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section – IFLAPARL – is seeking presentation proposals for its Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2023 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
At a global level, the Open Access (OA) movement is currently in state of transition as it seeks to maximize the openness of data, research outputs and information financed with public funds; for this, various actors are required to develop and implement collaborative strategies. IFLA's recently released "10 years of the IFLA open access statement: a call to action" identifies new essential areas for that action; one of them is to lead by example through collaboration with various actors in the world of Open Access.
The IFLA MLAS Advocacy Impact Evaluation Project is a two-year project started in November 2021. The final project result, the Review of Advocacy Impact Evaluation Practices in the Library Field, is scheduled to be published in August 2023. The aim of the project is to strengthen the advocacy impact evaluation practice in the library field by providing a set of guidance and recommendations about how to measure and evaluate the library advocacy impact.
IFLA’s Science and Technology Libraries (SCITECH) Section has hosted a number of programs over the years that explored and addressed open access. Programs ranging from Open Practices (2022), Library as Driver for Open Access (2018), Open Data (2016), and Open Access Across Scientific Disciplines (2009), among others. In this article we provide some background on Open Access (OA) and how it is in line with our section’s 2023 World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) programme.
Open Access (OA) is both old and new. The oldest online scholarly journal published continually via open access dates to 1990; the first book on the desirability and feasibility of open access dates to 1995; the Budapest OA initiative dates to 2002. The goal of universal open access of scientific and scholarly information has been elusive, but the time seems to have come for a dramatic upswing in the percentage of such content that is available on open terms.
This year, IFLA's Acquisition and Collection Development (ACD) Section continues its work to support acquisitions and collection development processes for libraries across the globe. Following last year’s focus on incorporating open access content into library collections, we shift our attention to Open Educational Resources (OER) collection development practices.
IFLA was represented at the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum, held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 12-14 April, joining with stakeholders from across Africa to underline how libraries can deliver equity in the online world. We are grateful to Damilare Oyedele for the below report.
A little less than a year ago, IFLA’s Governing Board issued an updated statement on Open Access: ‘10 years of the IFLA Open Access statement: a call to action’. This update was timely. Much has changed since the previous IFLA position on the topic, which was already more than 10 years old.
The IFLA Serials and Other Continuing Resources Section (SCORE) invites paper proposals to be presented at their session on 23 August 2023 at the World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
We are very happy to open the 2023 edition of the IFLA Regional Advocacy Priorities Survey, following on from the 1st edition in 2021. This asks associations, institutions and individuals around the world to share their priorities and needs when it comes to library advocacy. Deadline: 25 May 2023.
For our next newsletter, the IFLA Library Services to Multicultural Populations Section is calling for stories and articles about how libraries support the preservation of minority languages, as our theme for the issue.
The IFLA Subject Analysis and Access (SAA) Section is seeking proposals for papers to be presented at their Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2023 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Theme: "Identifiers for identities: Rectifying the (mis)representation of demographic groups". The Deadline for proposal submissions (300-500 words) is 1 May 2023.
Building Strong Library and Information Science Education (BSLISE), a working group of IFLA, has launched the Library and Information Science Education Programs Map and invites contributions.
The IFLA Government Libraries Section (GOVLIB) is seeking proposals for case studies on Research Data Management (RDM) in government, to be presented at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2023 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
The Middle East and North Africa leg of the United Nations' round of regional sustainable development fora, in preparation for the High Level Political Forum in July, took place last month in Beirut, Lebanon. We are grateful to Dr Imad Bachir, IFLA's representative, for this report.
The IFLA Bibliography Section is seeking proposals for papers to be presented at its Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2023 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
The IFLA Information Literacy Section (ILS) announces its call for speaker proposals for presentations at their Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) in Rotterdam, Netherlands, August 21-25, 2023.
With five reports from national implementations of UNESCO's Internet Universality Indicators now published, it's a good time to see what library roles in supporting internet inclusion are recognised. This article explores these, and calls for closer engagement in libraries in future implementation efforts.