The outgoing IFLA Governing Board met for the last time on 16 August 2025 in Astana, Kazakhstan, just ahead of 89th World Library and Information Congress. 

As the last meeting chaired by IFLA President 2023-2025, Vicki McDonald, the meeting was an opportunity to look back on all that has been achieved over the last two years, as well as take decisions and advance activities that will continue into the next mandate.

In particular, the Board’s discussions covered the following:

  • A final update on the President’s Dashboard for 2023-2025. Goals around the creation of our new Strategy, Trend Report and a review of our Congress model had been met. Financial sustainability, an effective Governing Board, and strong engagement with members are of course ongoing tasks, but major progress has been made.
  • The agreement of the Terms of Reference of a new Advisory Committee on Ethics, which will provide advice on ethical matters across and within the Federation, support the implementation of the Code of Conduct for IFLA Volunteers, as well as the Code of Ethics for members of the Governing Board. Look out for a news story calling for candidates for the Advisory Committee.
  • The agreement of two new statements – on contract override and on network usage costs (as an addendum to our existing statement on net neutrality). We will publish these shortly on our website. The Board also agreed to appoint Karys McEwen as an Expert Advisor to the Advisory Committee on Standards. 
  • The Board discussed the results of the Membership Survey, which offer a great baseline for measuring progress against our Strategy, as well as noting preparations for a new Customer Relations Management (CRM) system. It also considered the results of a staff survey which, similarly, offer a baseline for tracking changes over time.
  • An updated version of our Risk Register was discussed, highlighting lower risks following the agreement of the Project and Funding Endowment agreement with Stichting IFLA Global Libraries (SIGL).
  • The decision on WLIC 2027 was deferred to the incoming Governing Board to make a decision. In the meanwhile, discussions were advancing well with the hosts of WLIC 2026 – Busan, Korea. 
  • With all of IFLA’s committees coming to the end of their terms, there was an opportunity to review reporting from all those that report to the Governing Board, or are represented there – the Professional and Regional Councils, the Advisory Committees, and the Management of Library Associations Section. These reports followed a template that emphasised not just a celebration of work completed, but also a strategic outlook on issues and priorities going forward. Many of these reports will form the basis of news stories on our website – do look out for these to get an overview of the different parts of IFLA’s work!

We are grateful to all outgoing Governing Board members – Alejandro Santa, Nthabiseng Kotsokoane, Kirsten Boelt, Dilara Begum, and of course President 2023-2025 Vicki McDonald. 

Our best wishes are extended to the incoming Governing Board, Leslie Weir, Te Paea Paringatai, Stuart Hamilton, Ertugrul Cimen, Athena Salaba, Anya Feltreuter, Julia Konopka-Zoinierczuk, Jan Richards, Lisa Hinchliffe, Silvia Stasselova, Loida Garcia-Febo