Monthly Archives: April 2017

Update from the IFLA Global Vision workshop in Athens, Greece

In early April the kick off workshop for the IFLA Global Vision took place in Athens, Greece.

The Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL) section was represented by Catharina Isberg (in her role as cochair) and Vivian Lewis (in her role as secretary). Other representation from CPDWL included Loida Garcia-Febo (in her role as Governing Board member) and Jane Dysart (in her role as one of the regional workshop facilitators).

The global vision will be discussed during this year in many different arenas. This kick off workshop was the starting point and during the coming months the discussion will continue in regional workshops (with the different library associations participating) and also within the IFLA units.
During the workshop the new vision web site was launched. https://globalvision.ifla.org/. At the web site you can follow the process and get additional information. During the meeting the hashtag #iflaGlobalVision was used. Please have a look in social media to follow this. It gives a good view of the days.

Within the CPDWL, the standing committee will now continue this work. In May we will have a virtual meeting were input from the members will be collected. All the input will be summarized into a report which will be sent to IFLA HQ during the summer.

This year will provide many opportunities to reflect and discuss the vision. The work has just started and the result of the 2017 work will be published in a report in January 2018. The vision for the global library field will be important for us all in our various work and roles. We expect that this work will strengthen us both locally and globally.

Further discussion regarding changes in IFLA are also ongoing. The Governing Board is looking into different possibilities and activities, and there will be an inclusive process with members. The process will include a membership survey launched at the WLIC in Poland 2017.
The work of the vision and the development of IFLA will make us move together into the future.

(Based on a summary by Catharina Isberg and Vivian Lewis)