In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has gone through the crisis and witnessed many developments, which made remote work and distance learning a reality that pushed many universities, educational institutions, libraries to develop their capabilities to support the e-learning and distance education processes.

Based on the belief of the Arab Federation for Libraries and Information (AFLI) regarding this subject, AFLI held its first virtual forum entitled “The role of libraries in supporting e-learning and distance education” from 23-23 Jul. 2020

The forum focused on the following themes:

1. Mechanisms and components of enhancing the role of libraries in e-learning and distance education
2. Library services and innovative practices supporting e-learning and distance education
3. Integration of library systems, e-learning management systems, and distance education platforms.
4. Libraries, virtual learning groups, and cooperative learning platforms.
5. Experiences and case studies for distance education in libraries and information field.
6. Libraries’ policies and strategies to support national strategies for e-learning and distance education.
7. Measuring the impact and the return on investment of library services in supporting e-learning and distance education

IFLA President Christine Mackenzie during her speech

After welcoming the Library professionals and academic from different Library Sector by Prof. Hassan Alsereihy, President of the Arab Federation for Libraries & Information, IFLA President Christine Mackenzie gave the opening speech entitled “IFLA: Adjusting to a New Normal”, where she spoke about IFLA strategy & IFLA Governance review, she also focused on IFLA program and initiatives especially during the pandemic.

During his speech, Michael Dowling, Director of International Relations at the American Library Association provided a presentation entitled ” ALA: Responding to Help Libraries in a Time of Crises and Opportunity” where he gave an overview of how the American Library Association has and is responding to help in this time of crisis, but also a time of opportunity.

It’s worth mentioning that more than 32 speakers presented their research during the virtual forum, from different Arab countries like Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Egypt.

This summary below shows the success of AFLI virtual forum