Tag Archives: UNESCO

Dates for the diary: advocacy moments over the rest of 2021

A key challenge in advocating for libraries is that you can be working across a huge range of issues. Libraries are cultural, educational, scientific, and civic actors, all at once.

While this means that there are many situations in which libraries have a relevant contribution to make, it can also mean that it is hard to find a focus, or construct a programme of ongoing advocacy activities.

One thing that can help in this is to structure activities around key dates.

Sometimes, there is an important event, with major media interest, taking place. If you are ‘present’ – through social media, articles or op eds, or other tools – you can look particularly relevant for partners, as well as build awareness within the field.

At other times, a day has been declared to be an international observance, meaning that among global – and often national – institutions, there is a special focus on the relevant theme. By engaging, you can underline libraries’ relevance, as well as potentially build new partnerships.

This blog sets ot some key dates and observances between now and the end of 2021. You don’t need to plan something for each one of these of course, and you certainly don’t need to do anything big!

However, as above, even just by posting on social media, you can help show the connection between libraries and the major global issues these dates mark. And if you can do more, all the better!

In each case, there is also a note about IFLA’s own current plans.

8 September – International Literacy Day (link): a particularly relevant day for libraries, this is an opportunity to focus on showing our institutions’ contribution to building literacy (and literacies) at all ages. This year is focused in particular on closing the digital divide. Think about examples you can share that show how libraries help achieve the global commitment to driving universal literacy!

IFLA’s Literacy and Reading Section will be planning publications, and Headquarters will be sharing new research into how libraries feature in collected good practices. Hashtag: #LiteracyDay

15 September – International Day of Democracy (link): a great opportunity to set out how libraries are promoting healthy civic life and participation in decision-making, through everything from enabling parliaments to work effectively to facilitating access to open data, providing information literacy skills, and welcoming debates and discussions in the library. Hashtag: #Democracy

17-29 September – SDG Action Week (link): what is your library or association doing to deliver on the SDGs? Share it via the tools prepared for SDG Action Week by the UN-supported SDG Action Campaign. There are also lots of great tools for social media and beyond, helping you both to underline the need to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, and to show how libraries are making a difference! Hashtag: #Act4SDGs

26 September – 2 October – Banned Books Week (link (ALA) and link (Amnesty International USA)): the mission of libraries to provide access to the widest possible range of materials to their users does not sit well with censorship, be it offline or online. Banned Books Week is an opportunity to highlight the reality of restrictions on expression today and their impact, as well as to resist censorship.

IFLA’s Advisory Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) will be involved, but take a look at the links to see what the American Library association and Amnesty International USA have planned. Hashtag: #BannedBooksWeek

28 September – International Day for the Universal Access to Information (link): only recently created as a UN-recognised day, the International Day for the Universal Access to Information grew out of work to promote rules on access to government information. It has since expanded to cover all information which can help people to develop.

This year, IFLA, through its regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, is supporting this year’s celebrations by organising an official event in Buenos Aires. Follow this – and the other events – and use the day to highlight the importance of libraries’ work to provide access to information! Hashtag: #AccessToInfoDay

October – Urban October (link): starting with World Habitat Day on 4 October, and closing with World Cities Day on 31 October, Urban October is focused on the importance of working at the local and regional levels in order to deliver on development, led by UN HABITAT. There is a strong focus this year on climate change and climate resilience, with COP26 coming up (see below!). You can register events on the Urban October website also if you want to organise something! Hashtag: #UrbanOctober

24 October – World Development Information Day (link): this day is about the importance of sharing information in order to raise awareness of and interest in development challenges around the world. As such, it is a perfect opportunity for libraries to underline their own role in supporting learning and engagement in the wider world! IFLA will make posts on the day – you can also! Hashtag: to be announced

24-31 October – Global Media and Information Literacy Week (link): this is another recent addition to the UN calendar, but has been run by UNESCO already for a number of years with strong library engagement. IFLA will be looking to contribute to global events, and we encourage others to hold their own activities or gatherings in order to promote media and information literacy, and the role of libraries in delivering it. See already our save-the-date post! Hashtag: #GlobalMILWeek

27 October – World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (link): recognized by UNESCO, this is an opportunity to recognise the uniqueness and the importance of audiovisual heritage, what it brings to societies, and what is needed to safeguard it. IFLA will be marking the day, and we hope that libraries and associations working with it will join the effort to raise awareness to ensure audiovisual heritage gets the attention it deserves. Hashtag: #AudiovisualHeritage

1-12 November – COP26 (link): delayed from last year, this is a key meeting in delivering on the Paris Agreement on climate change, where governments and others will meet to discuss accelerating climate action. IFLA, as a member of the Climate Heritage Network, will be closely involved in underlining the role of culture and cultural institutions in progress. There is likely to be major attention to climate change issues during this time, and so it’s an important opportunity both to show what libraries can contribute, and to join wider calls for action! See our blogs about climate change, and the work of our Section on Environment, Sustainability and Libraries for more. Hashtag: #COP26, #ClimateHeritage

9-24 November – UNESCO General Conference (link): this is the major biennial meeting of UNESCO’s Member States, taking the opportunity to set the budget and the agenda of the organisation, as well as to discuss key current trends. With libraries engaged in many of UNESCO’s priorities, IFLA engages across a wide range of the Organisation’s work. In advance of the event, we will be encouraging members to get in touch with their UNESCO National Commissions in order to share library priorities. Find out more in our news piece about the Year of Creative Economy, and our guide to the 2005 Convention on Cultural Diversity. Hashtag: #UNESCO

6-10 December – Internet Governance Forum 2021 (link): the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is an opportunity for governments, experts and stakeholders to talk about key issues in the way that the internet is run today, and what improvements could be made to support development. This is an area of major interest for libraries, both given our use of the internet to support access to information, and the relevance of our values in this space. You will be able to join (online or in person at this stage) to listen into the perspectives shared and issues raised – including a side-event on libraries! – or even look out for national IGF meetings. Hashtag: #IGF2021

10 December – Human Rights Day (link): while the theme of these year’s Human Rights Day is not yet known, this is always an opportunity to highlight the connection between the activities of libraries and the delivery of human rights for all. This of course includes the right of access to information, but also to education, privacy, culture and science. IFLA will be marking the day, working with our Advisory Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression – think about what you can do! Hashtag: #StandUp4Human Rights

The 10-Minute International Librarian #54: Think of a way in which your work supports creativity

This week, the Conference of the Parties of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions takes place. IFLA will be observing, as well as taking an active role in today’s Civil Society Forum.

But delivering on the goal of the Convention – to encourage and support creativity by all, everywhere – is not just a question for international-level discussions.

Rather, it is something that requires mobilisation and engagement in every community.

Libraries have an important role to play here – arguably one that has often been underestimated.

Because while it can be easy to think of access to information being simply about making use of the works of other people, it is also a vital precondition for people to be able to create themselves.

Added to this are the possibilities libraries offer, through spaces, programming, and support, to encourage people to use their imaginations.

Around the world, we benefit from a stronger understanding of how libraries are key players in supporting creativity and innovation.

So for our 54th 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, think of a way in which your work supports creativity.

Once you have an idea, think about how you can explain it clearly, for example to a library user, an artist, or a decision-maker.

Are there other things you could do to support creativity among the community you serve?

Let us know your ideas in the comments below!

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Key Initiative 1.1: Show the power of libraries in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals.

As we publish more ideas, you will be able to view these using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box below.

Learning, Encountering, and Exploring: Libraries Making Space for Cultural Diversity

On World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (21 May), the UN invites reflection and recognition of the importance of ensuring the ability to create and access diverse cultural expressions.

This is critical for implementing the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). Libraries have an important role to play in fostering an environment where diverse cultural expressions are encouraged, valued, shared, and protected. Find out more about the 2005 Convention through IFLA’s Get into Guide here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it more important than ever to reflect on the value that access to and engagement with culture has for society. It also is an urgent call to work collaboratively to identify the gaps which must be addressed to ensure this access.

In 2020, IFLA marked this day by helping launch the #culture2030goal Statement on Culture and the Covid-19 Pandemic, a joint effort by IFLA and partners organisations. This statement called for culture to be at the heart of the COVID-19 response and reaffirmed the value of culture in the 2030 Agenda.

To build on this statement, we will take a deeper look at some examples of how libraries contribute to socially sustainable development by enabling culture to be accessed, explored and shared – including in the virtual space. Thank you to IFLA’s Library Services to Multicultural Populations Section, as well as to the wider library field, for sharing your stories!

Culture, Dialogue, and Social Inclusion

Promotion of a diversity of cultural expressions also includes creating space for dialogue among people and cultures, building respect and mutual understanding.

Many libraries offer programmes to inspire this dialogue in a literal way – through language learning programmes. These are often targeted at the most vulnerable members in society, and act as a means to promote social inclusion and cultural exchange. See examples from Norway and Germany for more.

The Bibliothèque Publique d’Information (BPI) Paris, France found that forging connection through language learning could continue despite closures due to the pandemic. A series of online FLE (français langue étrangère / French as a foreign language) workshops arranged by the library in 2020 connected French learners from both within France and beyond, including participants from Brazil, the United States, the Czech Republic, and Colombia [more here].

Like language learning, arts and art education can also be a tool for social inclusion – a vital aspect in towards the development goal “leave no one behind”.

The Invisible Youth Project (Finland) is one such example of an art-based initiative that targeted youth at risk of social exclusion by promoting creative self-expression.

Through this project, public libraries in the cities Jyväskylä, Seinäjoki, and Turku created space for participants to learn about a variety of creative activities such as design, cartoons, creative and therapeutic writing, digital storytelling, rap music, and video producing.

As social exclusion can stem from a variety of social issues, including poverty, disabilities, limited education, and migrant/marginalised backgrounds, addressing this is an aspect of sustainable development.

Libraries reaching out to those at risk of exclusion, while also promoting cultural expression as a means for social inclusion, can therefore be a driver of sustainable social development. 

Cultural Dialogue Through Library Programming

During the pandemic, many libraries were faced with the challenge of connecting with their communities in the virtual space. For more, see our blog: Virtual Engagement / Actual Connection: building community around digital collections.

We can find many examples of virtual programmes that seek to help their audiences learn about different cultures and traditions through storytelling, such as this recent example from Qatar National Library: Eid Around the World: Unique Traditions from Different Countries.

These programmes can also help connect people to arts and cultural expressions – despite physical distance.

Connections through Poetry

In 2019, Bremen Public Library (Germany) established the project, Lyrik grenzenlos (Poetry without Borders). The goal of this programme was to create an open space for people to come together and enjoy poetry from all over the world.

In addition to building appreciation for the art form, this event included an element of cross-cultural exchange, as participants were invited to recite poetry in their mother tongue, and were accompanied by local musicians with international backgrounds. Poetry was shared in Arabic, Turkish, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Igbo, Persian, Russian and a variety of German dialects during the in-person event.

The library did not want to lose this community they had built in the face of the outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, they went digitial, asking participants to create short videos of recitations. You can view the final video online [introduction in German].

As literature like poetry can be a vehicle for cultural exchange, it can also be a means to establish and celebrate a cultural common ground.

Recent hybrid in-person/virtual events at the State Public Library of Guadalajara included a celebration of poetic improvisation as a creative expression shared by Spain and Latin America.

This event explored the tenth, a form of poetry which originated in the Spanish Golden Age and has since become an important poetic-musical phenomenon, uniting Spanish-speakers on both sides of the Atlantic [more here].

Cultural Heritage and Modern Creators

Libraries can help connect unique expressions of intangible cultural heritage to contemporary creators, helping enable the continuation of tradition, while opening the door to modern interpretations.

The National Library of New Zealand Te Aotearoa included in its recent lecture series an event featuring researcher Michael Vinten, and his project collecting and publishing pre-1950 New Zealand art-song. The goal of this project, and the library’s session, was to help facilitate exposure to this form of traditional music to help modern musicians and music students include New Zealand material into their repertoire.

Another example of this was the National Library of France (BNF) participation in the Europeana Sounds project [more here]. The BNF provided metadata to help increase opportunities for access to and creative re-use of Europeana’s audio and audio-related content.

These examples showcase how libraries can help their communities discover and share diverse cultural expressions. Moreover, they exemplify how this goes beyond enjoyment of culture itself. Cultural programming in libraries can be a platform to build connections, facilitate cultural exchange, and enable the creation of new cultural expressions.

GLAM collaboration and cultural education

For International Museum Day (18 May), IFLA reaffirmed the importance of the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) sector working together to achieve goals relating to sustainable development (see more on our blog).

One example of libraries and galleries collaborating to connect contemporary art to library users, and find new audiences for both institutions, is the project How to Speak Art (Croatia). This was a cooperative initiative between Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević Library, part of Zagreb City Libraries, and Windows (Prozori) Gallery.

This project combined the curatorial expertise of the gallery with the library’s position as public community space to build exposure to and appreciation of contemporary art. It included an educational aspect for school children, which developed artistic literacy, and fostered an understanding of the role that art can have in their life.

Collaboration between cultural actors can present new opportunities for enhancing the social capital of the arts and those institutions which provide access to it.

Community Heritage Grants

Connecting resources to cultural actors and helping build capacity for community-level cultural activities is an important aspect of access to diverse expressions of culture. Libraries can play a key part in ensuring they achieve their goals.

Australia’s Community Heritage Grants are administrated by the National Library of Australia and funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (Office for the Arts); National Library of Australia; the National Archives of Australia; the National Film and Sound Archive and the National Museum of Australia.

These grants are aimed at helping community collections-holding organisations such as libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and Indigenous groups make their materials more publicly accessible.

Past grant recipients have included community galleries, arts and creative communities, such as the Anangu Uwankaraku Punu Aboriginal Corporation’s Maruku Arts Collection, the Papunya Tjupi Arts Indigenous arts gallery, and the Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery – all community-based galleries showcasing unique cultural heritage and contemporary creative expressions.

Through such programmes, libraries, especially National Libraries, who have the ability to collaborate with national and regional governments can have a real impact on the ongoing accessibility of arts and diverse cultural expressions.

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Libraries are key components in a sustainable ecosystem for creators and cultural actors. They are platforms for the arts to be experienced, enablers of multicultural and multilingual exchange and learning, and facilitators of initiatives that connect creators to opportunity.

IFLA will continue our work in advocating for the library field’s role in preserving and providing access to cultural heritage during the Third Civil Society Forum of the 2005 Convention (31 May 2021).

Get involved! As 2021 is the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, we welcome more examples of libraries creating space for diverse cultural expressions! You are invited to share your own.

World Heritage Day: Libraries, Access, and Engagement

The International Council on Museum and Sites (ICOMOS) is a global non-government organisation working for the conservation and protection of cultural places. As libraries are important features of cultural places and contributions to knowledge on cultural heritage, ICOMOS and IFLA are partners on many joint initiatives – see our work on the report, Culture in the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda, for an example.

We are therefore excited to take this opportunity to reflect on the contributions of libraries to heritage discourse on ICOMOS’s annual World Heritage Day (18 April).

The theme of World Heritage Day 2021 is Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures.

Within this theme, “ICOMOS wishes to engage in promoting new discourses, different and nuanced approaches to existing historical narratives, to support inclusive and diverse points of view”.

Libraries are keepers of stories. We are also living spaces where everyone and anyone can meet, diverse points of view can be shared, and these stories can be told.

Libraries therefore have an important role in enabling complex pasts to be better understood, and diverse futures to be shaped.

UNESCO World Heritage

Visiting a World Heritage Site can be an awe-inspiring experience. Sites chosen for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List are deemed to be of outstanding universal value – meaning they offer a truly irreplaceable contribution to the shared heritage of humankind.

Visit the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to learn more about the 1972 World Heritage Convention and the List.

As impressive as a monument or site on the World Heritage list can be, there is often much more significance to be found beyond its façade.

Documentary Heritage and Historical Narratives

For World Heritage Day 2020, we explored how documentary heritage, namely materials on the Memory of the World register, can provide a deeper understanding of a related world heritage site.

An example that is equally relevant for this year’s theme is the World Heritage Site Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison (Barbados), looked at in parallel with the Memory of the World document An African Song or Chant from Barbados.

When one examines this site together with the testament of a life of enslavement, offered through the African work song, it is possible to get a far more complete picture of the human cost of colonialism.

See our blog article: Shared Stories: How documentary heritage enriches monuments and sites for more.

However, on this year’s theme, it is worth also examining how libraries as community spaces can help enable these discoveries and inspire conversations around them.

Inclusive Spaces for Diverse Futures

Cultural heritage is for everyone, but in order to support diverse points of view in cultural heritage discourse, cultural heritage spaces must be understood as being accessible to all.

In setting this year’s theme, ICOMOS acknowledges the role that the cultural heritage sector has in the critical examination of the past. The omission and erasure of points of view through the privileging of some narratives over others is a legacy that memory institutions must strive to reconcile.

For example, in recognition of this responsibility, International Museum Day 2020 was centred on Museums for Diversity and Inclusion. Within this theme, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) acknowledged that “there remains much to do to overcome conscious and subconscious power dynamics that can create disparities within museums, and between museums and their visitors.”

As champions of access for all, libraries too have a role to play in making cultural heritage not only accessible, but something in which anyone and everyone is invited to actively participate.

One way this can start is by engaging new audiences and emphasising inclusive and participatory ways to experience World Heritage sites.

Libraries as Accessible Spaces

As memory institutions, libraries are keepers of heritage through the materials they collect and make available. However, libraries are also living spaces – open to the public with a mission that centres on providing learning opportunities to all.

When present at a World Heritage Site, libraries help integrate the site with the greater social fabric of the community and reach new audiences through the services and programmes they offer.

For example, the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek is part of the “Classical Weimar” UNESCO World Heritage Site (Germany) and receives some 100,000 visitors each year. As a portion of the site’s value lies in its legacy of literary and scholarly achievement, it is appropriate that the library offers a publicly assessable, free-of-charge space for learning, research, and study.  Specifically, the library provides access to over one million pieces of media, including over 170,000 items on open-access shelving at the Study Centre which users are free to peruse or borrow.

Further cooperation with the World Heritage Site’s education and inclusion and diversity programmes invites learners of all ages and backgrounds to use the library while also enjoying the historically significant space.

Dynamic, living libraries can combine historically significant buildings and collections with services that meet the needs of modern users. In doing so, they invite people into spaces with which they may not have otherwise engaged.

Libraries are spaces for people to come together to discuss and learn, and this is a value that can contribute to the democratisation of heritage sites. How libraries can support inclusive and diverse points of view within heritage spaces is a question that certainly must be explored further.

There is more to do!

IFLA has explored how libraries of all kinds are promoters of cultural diversity through their role as multicultural hubs.

The IFLA/UNESCO Multicultural Library Manifesto upholds libraries as gateways to a cultural diverse society. This Manifesto states that “libraries of all types should reflect, support and promote cultural and linguistic diversity at the international, national, and local levels, and thus work for cross-cultural dialogue and active citizenship.”

To this end, cultural heritage sites – World Heritage or otherwise – are encouraged to view libraries in their communities or within their boundaries as learning, cultural, and information centres, and as vectors to further the educational ambitions of the site, communicate its value, and engage new audiences.

However, in doing this, institutions must reflect the diverse perspectives of the communities they serve. This includes making an active effort to centre, value, record, share, and make space for diverse voices and narratives.

Libraries within heritage sites of all kinds are encouraged to be proactive in developing the relationship they have with their wider communities and enable inclusive conversations on the site’s significance.

Has your library made space for diverse voices to contribute to cultural heritage discourse? We would love to hear about it in the comments.

Fostering creation of Open Educational Resources

From 1 to 5 March 2021, libraries take part in Open Education Week alongside educational stakeholders.

In November 2019, UNESCO adopted a recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER). This recommendation, a result of a consensus among 193 Member States, recognises the importance of supporting the development, sharing and use of openly licenced educational materials to improve access to education for all.

Libraries, as a driving force in educational issues through their missions of access to information and education, have a role to play in fostering the development of OER and thus in advancing this work.

The UNESCO recommendation is divided into five areas of action:

Building the capacity of stakeholders to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER;
Developing supportive policy for OER;
Encouraging inclusive and equitable quality OER;
Nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER; and
Promoting and reinforcing international cooperation in OER.

These 5 areas of action make it possible to identify areas for action by all educational actors, including libraries. They include two levels of action, at the structural level and at the practical level. Libraries can engage in both.

At the structural, or policy level, libraries can work to influence the development of favourable open educational resource policies (many of which will be supportive of wider library missions). Crucially, the Recommendation represents an acknowledgement from countries that education is key and should be open to everyone without regard to their wealth, where they are born, the colour of their skins, their gender, their religion, age or abilities. Knowledge must be open and freely accessible. This is a powerful message.

At the practical level, libraries can also contribute to building a stronger Open Educational Resource chain. This chain involves the creation, access, re-use, adaptation and distribution of OERs, but also the development of institutional policies needed to structure these resources, including national and international platforms.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Identify the different actors that can play a role in the development of open educational resources, including the library team, the educational team, teachers, researchers.
  • Mobilise these actors through different actions: presentation of the objectives of the development of open educational resources, why it is important to tackle these issues of openness and the benefits this can bring to the library, the university and users in general.
  • Create opportunities to raise awareness of these issues or develop resources: webinars, meetings, design workshops,
  • Create opportunities to start creating OERs together: design templates, provide workshops to take the time to focus on the creation of OER but also how to re-use and distribute them.
  • Identify resources or professionals working on the same topic and contact them to exchange practices. Become part of a network or set up a discussion group to exchange good practices or existing structural elements that will enable you to move forward.
  • Identify internal or external platforms that could bring together your institution’s resources in order to facilitate their discovery by users.
  • Draw on the potential of open educational resources to fulfil the primary mission of libraries and knowledge dissemination centres: to build a sustainable means of providing quality open educational resources.
  • Bear in mind the reputational dividends: the constitution of quality open educational resources (materials or courses) by recognised organisations can give considerable visibility to the institution, especially if we consider the impact on the visibility of open access items.
  • Invite external professionals to raise awareness on this issue within your institution: working with an external contact person allows you to combine neutrality but also a national or international perspective.

Discover the document of SPARC Europe on Open Education in European Libraries of High Education.

 

The 10-Minute International Librarian: #29: Think how you can work with local representatives of international organisations

A key focus of our 10-Minute International Librarian series is the idea that you do not need to leave home to be active internationally.

This is true for work with IFLA, but can also be for cooperation with other international organisations, including intergovernmental ones.

This can be a really exciting way to strengthen the work of your national library field through accessing new resources and expertise, as well as increasing the status of libraries.

International organisations can also benefit a lot from working with our institutions.

Alongside the positive reputation of libraries, we can offer great opportunities to display information to the public, as well as reach into communities.

There’s a lot to gain from cooperation!

So for our 29th 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, think about how you can work with local representatives of international organisations.

Use the list prepared in last week’s post as a starting point. Do you have projects or activities around heritage where you could work with local UNESCO commission?

Could you invite the local UN Information Centre or representation to a meeting to talk about the SDGs?

Are there local projects of UN HABITAT or others which could benefit from engaging with libraries?

Have a think about what you could do, and then use this list when setting out your future plans.

Share your ideas in the chat below.

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! 1.2 Build a strong presence in international organizations and meetings as a valued partner.

You can view all of our ideas using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box.

The IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto: Past and Future Action

This month, we are celebrating the 26th Anniversary of the IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto. Since 1994, the Manifesto has been at the heart of public library advocacy – declaring UNESCO’s belief in the public library as a living force for education, culture and information, and its essential role in the promotion of peace and well-being.

Here is a look back at how librarians around the world have used the Manifesto, and a glimpse into what is coming next for this important document.

The Manifesto at Work

Earlier in 2020, IFLA’s Public Library Section launched a global survey to gather feedback from public libraries on the Manifesto, and how they have used it in their advocacy.

With over 600 responses, this was an extremely insightful look into how libraries around the world apply the Manifesto to their work.

39% of respondents said they have actively used the Manifesto to advocate and lobby for their library.

Of those who responded in the negative, the most prevalent reason given was that they have not yet had an opportunity or were not included in relevant conversations with decision-makers.

Survey participants were asked to share examples of the Manifesto being used in their library’s advocacy or operations.

Some excellent examples include:

  • using the Manifesto to power campaigns during National Library Week
  • referring to the Manifesto in strategic materials and in lobbying
  • featuring the Manifesto in negotiations with local city council and elected officials
  • using the Manifesto as a basis to create library activities
  • guiding funding decisions and budget
  • informing the selection of books and services provided by the library

IFLA would like to help public libraries around the world better use the Public Library Manifesto in advocacy. From this survey, we have learned that increased awareness-raising about the Manifesto in the future may help empower more librarians to put it to use in their advocacy.

For more on how the Manifesto has been put into action, refer to the IFLA Research Paper: Inspire, Inform, Indicate: How the UNESCO-IFLA Public Library Manifesto Makes a Difference.

For more ideas on how the Public Library Manifesto can be used in advocacy, please see our Advocacy Pack for Libraries and Library Associations.

The Manifesto in the Future

Another key development towards increasing the impact of the Public Library Manifesto is ensuring that it remains relevant to the work of libraries today.

Therefore, UNESCO, with the help of IFLA’s Public Library Section, is planning to update the Public Library Manifesto in the coming year. The goal of this revision will be to address the ever-evolving role of public libraries in their communities, while also acknowledging the substantial technological advances that have changed how many people access, create, and consume information.

The survey also plays a major role in this work – ensuring that the voice of the global library field is considered in the review process.

Here is a look at some ideas submitted by librarians on how to improve the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto for the future.

How can the Manifesto better reflect the missions of public libraries today?

  • Emphasize the role of libraries in the information society, such as highlighting the importance of Media and Information Literacy skills.
  • Expand the definition of lifelong learning
  • Reinforce the relationship between the library and the community
  • Increase mention of the importance of inclusivity, especially relating to marginalized communities

How can the Manifesto provide better guidance to decision-makers?

  • Highlight the importance of local knowledge
  • Promote participatory decision-making, both with library professionals and with communities
  • Appeal for sufficient human and material resources, which are required for libraries to fulfil their mission.
  • Link culture to the social and economic life of the community
  • Emphasize social impacts, and the fact that they are usually seen most clearly in subsequent generations

Next Steps

These suggestions, and all the others received during the surveying process, will be taken into consideration by the Public Library Section during the drafting of the Manifesto update. This is projected to be completed in 2021.

The significance of the Public Library Manifesto is that it has codified the exceptional value that public libraries have in their communities. By working to keep it relevant, reflecting the mission of public libraries today, we can ensure it remains a powerful tool for advocacy.

Together with UNESCO, IFLA is looking forward to delivering an updated Manifesto that can continue to support public librarians the world over in their essential work.