Libraries and Open Data

7 March marks the 10th Open Data Day, an annual international event to promote open data and explore the ways it can be used to address societal challenges. Data is a building block for informaiton and knowledge, and libraries’ expertise in helping people find and access the information they need – as well as their efforts to promote citizen engagement and digital inclusion – makes them a natural partner for open data initiatives.

Read more

2019 Internet Affordability Report: the Case for Public Access

Who is able to go online today – and how many can afford to access the internet? In October 2019, the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) released a new installment of the annual Internet Affordability Report, which emphasised that healthy broadband markets together with public access solutions – free or low-cost internet connections available in places such as libraries and telecenters – can expand connectivity and promote digital inclusion. As such, it is a great potential resource for library advocacy around public access.

Read more

Media and Information Literacy for All: Libraries and the 2019 Global MIL Week

October 24th marks the beginning of the annual Global Media and Information Literacy week. In the increasingly complex information ecosystems of today, people need a particular set of skills and competencies to navigate, evaluate and make meaningful use of information all around them. Different libraries around the world work to help the more vulnerable groups strengthen and develop their MIL competencies, and become engaged and savvy participants in the Information Society.

Read more

Intellectual Freedom in Turkey

Over the last few months, FAIFE marked the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom with a series of blogs outlining the debates on intellectual freedom in different countries. Today, Ahmet A. Sabancı – a freelance writer, journalist and social critic who focuses on issues surrounding freedom of expression, journalism and the internet – shares an essay about the threats to freedom of information that exist in Turkey.

Read more

Intellectual Freedom in Croatia

In 2019, FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the Statement on Intellectual Freedom. Over the last few months, we have covered a series of contributions from FAIFE committee members highlighting various perspectives on intellectual freedom in different countries. Today, Davorka Psenica – a Library Advisor at the Department of Croatian National Bibliography of the National and University Library in Zagreb – is presenting a perspective from Croatia.

Read more

Right to Information Recognised in New European Court Rulings

Two much anticipated rulings have come from the Court of Justice of the European Union. Both are ‘preliminary rulings’, effectively requests to the Court to offer clarification on what EU law – in this case the ‘right to be forgotten’ doctrine created by the Court in 2014 and placed in legislation in the General Data […]

Read more

Facial Recognition, Libraries, and Intellectual Freedom

FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom. As part of this, Jonathan Hernandez-Perez, a FAIFE member from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has shared the below blog on the subject of facial recognition technology, and what it means for libraries and their values.    Facial recognition is […]

Read more

Intellectual freedom in Syria

FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom. To understand where the debate on intellectual freedom stands today, we are talking with the members and expert advisors of the FAIFE Committee. Today, we’re getting the perspective from Inaam Charaf, originally from Syria, and who is now Assistant Regional Director at […]

Read more

IFLA Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom, 20 Years On – the UK Perspective

FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom. To understand where the debate on intellectual freedom stands today, we are talking with the members and expert advisors of the FAIFE Committee. Today, we’re getting the perspective from the United Kingdom from Louise Cooke, Professor of Information and Knowledge Management at […]

Read more

Intellectual Freedom in Japan

FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom. As part of this, we had a chat with Yasuyo Inoue, expert advisor to the FAIFE Committee and Professor of Library Science at Dokkyo University, to find out more about intellectual freedom in Japan from her personal perspective. 1) What do you […]

Read more