The July 2021 issue of the IFLAPARL Section's newsletter is now available online.

This edition includes the following: 

•  Message from the Chair 
• IFLAPARL Standing Committee Members (Results of the 2021 Election)
•  How to join the Section 
• 87th WORLD LIBRARY AND INFORMATION CONGRESS
• IFLAPARL Planning Virtual Conference September/October 2021
• Call to Participate in the 2021 IFLAPARL pandemic survey
• News from the Documentation and Information Center – Brazil
• Latin America and Caribbean Parliamentary Libraries: experiences, challenges and practical work during the Covid-19 pandemic" Webinar held April 29, 2021
• The Knesset Research & Information Center (RIC) during the Covid-19 Pandemic – Challenges Opportunities and Successes
• ECPRD seminar – ‘Parliamentary research and libraries: A year of hope and transition’
• The World e-Parliament Conference 2021 – report
• National Assembly Library – Republic of Korea
• Uruguayan Parliament Library
• A personal message from Hamburg, Germany
• Canadian Library of Parliament
• New Books & Articles

The Minutes of the June 25, 2021 Open Standing Committee Meeting of the Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section have been posted. 

 

The IFLA Metadata Newsletter is published jointly by the Bibliography Section, the Cataloguing Section and the Subject Analysis and Access Section.

Issue vol. 7. no. 1, June 2021 includes news from around the world, conference reports, standards news, and another instalment of analysis of the National Bibliographic Register, contributed by the Bibliography Section.

The Newsletter also includes dates of the upcoming business meetings of all metadata units and working groups, including the Bibliography Standing Committee, during August 2021, both before and after WLIC.

The IFLA Metadata Newsletter June 2021 issue is now published. You find an article about the new National Bibliography Register, about news from countries around the world, several virtual conferences and also about the Bibliographic Sections' Business meetings. 

 

Now available in open access!

New Libraries in Old Buildings — Creative Reuse*
Edited by: Petra Hauke, Karen Latimer and Robert Niess 
Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Saur, 2021
ISBN 9783110679663
(IFLA Publications; No 180)

This book focuses on difficulties and opportunities in revitalization of old, derelict or abandoned buildings into a library and investigates the transformation of buildings which originally had a different purpose.

The publication shows worldwide best practice examples from different types of libraries in historic environments, both urban and rural, while maintaining a focus on sustainability concerning the architecture and interior design.

"Sustainability and environmental awareness are key issues globally and the library world is committed to playing its part in protecting the planet. Implementing sustainable strategies is now well established in many libraries but the new book published on behalf of IFLA’s Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Section (ENSULIB) together with IFLA’s Library Buildings and Equipment Section (LBES) takes the concept one step further. Sensitively transforming existing historic buildings into exciting, functional and beautiful libraries is both challenging and fulfilling." (Preface)

Download

• [English – PDF – 11MB]
• [EPUB – 182MB]

*The book is available in print format and online with open access, generously sponsored by IFLA!

Please read our latest newletter here! 

Topics include:

Letter from the Co-Chairs

Thank you to Juanita

In Memoriam: Clare Walker

Introducing the new Standing Committee members

My final issue

WLIC 2021 programme: CPDWL panel discussion, Coaching sessions, Library Carpentry

The Guidelines Working Group: Project Update

The IFLA Coaching Initiative report

Webinars’ report

Information Coordinator’s report

Book Review: Leading Professional Development

Regional AFLI Project for Professionals’ excellence in university libraries

The Lebanese Library Association support during the pandemic

Research review: Australia Public Libraries and professional experiences

IFLA CPDWL bingo

Interview: Alice Meadows, Society of Scholarly Publishing

And Now for Something Completely Different

CPDWL Officers and SC Members to August 2021

Earlier this month, the communiqué of the Urban-20 summit – a meeting of mayors of leading cities around the world, in the context of the Italian G20 Presidency – was released.

The fourth such meeting, this year the work is being coordinated by the mayors of Rome and Milan, with the support of international organisations for local and regional governments – C40 and United Cities and Local Government.

The fact that these meetings are being held underlines the relevance of the work of governments at all levels in achieving strong recovery and equitable growth in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So many key factors for success are determined by towns, cities and regions, rather than by national authorities, not least, of course the budgets and terms under which public libraries operate.

The communiqué marks a step forwards from previous such texts, organised into three overarching themes – people, planet, and prosperity – with five actions under each.

The communiqué will be submitted to heads of state and government when they meet at the G20 Summit in October. But it also contains plenty of useful references for libraries now, including in their work with local authorities.

Five actions in particular are relevant for libraries, representing areas where our institutions have a strong potential to contribute to success (if effectively integrated into strategies and programming), although it does not take much imagination to see connections elsewhere:

1) Universal and accessible public services to leave no-one behind: the communiqué stresses the need for everyone to be able to benefit from basic services which support education and wellbeing, without discrimination. With a mission to serve all members of the community, libraries are clearly a part of any meaningful action in this area.

2) Investing in cultural life: the communiqué underlines the importance of giving everyone the possibility to engage in cultural life, delivering on a core human right. As often the most ‘local’ of cultural institutions with a strong focus on access, this is very welcome for libraries, alongside the emphasis on ensuring that those cultural professionals affected negatively by the pandemic receive the support necessary to continue creating.

3) Adapting to the future of work through digital skills and lifelong learning: with skills and learning, in particular outside of formal education, often in the hands of local and regional governments, it is welcome to see a focus on how to provide opportunities to everyone to update and adapt their skills to an evolving labour market. Libraries can be both providers of such learning, as well as portals to offers by others, not least when it comes to developing digital literacy.  

4) Strengthening local democracy: under this heading, the communiqué stresses the value of participation, both physically and online, the importance of access to data, and freedom of expression. It focuses in particular on providing access to decision-making spaces for people from under-represented groups. With an increasing focus on being a place for civic debate and engagement in many countries, libraries are well placed to participate in efforts to deliver on this action.

5) Protecting digital rights: in a very rich paragraph, the communiqué calls not only for work to ensure that digital giants are properly regulated, as well as to promote the ethical deployment of smart city technologies, but also to bridge the digital divide (explicitly understood as being about all of connectivity, devices and skills). This last point plays to a key strength of libraries in providing holistic solutions to digital exclusion.

We look forward to both the U20 Summit in September, and the G20 Summit in October, and encourage libraries globally to draw on the points set out in the U20 communiqué in their own advocacy.

See also our story on the initial U20 Italy announcement.

Earlier this month, the communiqué of the Urban-20 summit – a meeting of mayors of leading cities around the world, in the context of the Italian G20 Presidency – was released.

The fourth such meeting, this year the work is being coordinated by the mayors of Rome and Milan, with the support of international organisations for local and regional governments – C40 and United Cities and Local Government.

The fact that these meetings are being held underlines the relevance of the work of governments at all levels in achieving strong recovery and equitable growth in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So many key factors for success are determined by towns, cities and regions, rather than by national authorities, not least, of course the budgets and terms under which public libraries operate.

The communiqué marks a step forwards from previous such texts, organised into three overarching themes – people, planet, and prosperity – with five actions under each.

The communiqué will be submitted to heads of state and government when they meet at the G20 Summit in October. But it also contains plenty of useful references for libraries now, including in their work with local authorities.

Five actions in particular are relevant for libraries, representing areas where our institutions have a strong potential to contribute to success (if effectively integrated into strategies and programming), although it does not take much imagination to see connections elsewhere:

1) Universal and accessible public services to leave no-one behind: the communiqué stresses the need for everyone to be able to benefit from basic services which support education and wellbeing, without discrimination. With a mission to serve all members of the community, libraries are clearly a part of any meaningful action in this area.

2) Investing in cultural life: the communiqué underlines the importance of giving everyone the possibility to engage in cultural life, delivering on a core human right. As often the most ‘local’ of cultural institutions with a strong focus on access, this is very welcome for libraries, alongside the emphasis on ensuring that those cultural professionals affected negatively by the pandemic receive the support necessary to continue creating.

3) Adapting to the future of work through digital skills and lifelong learning: with skills and learning, in particular outside of formal education, often in the hands of local and regional governments, it is welcome to see a focus on how to provide opportunities to everyone to update and adapt their skills to an evolving labour market. Libraries can be both providers of such learning, as well as portals to offers by others, not least when it comes to developing digital literacy.  

4) Strengthening local democracy: under this heading, the communiqué stresses the value of participation, both physically and online, the importance of access to data, and freedom of expression. It focuses in particular on providing access to decision-making spaces for people from under-represented groups. With an increasing focus on being a place for civic debate and engagement in many countries, libraries are well placed to participate in efforts to deliver on this action.

5) Protecting digital rights: in a very rich paragraph, the communiqué calls not only for work to ensure that digital giants are properly regulated, as well as to promote the ethical deployment of smart city technologies, but also to bridge the digital divide (explicitly understood as being about all of connectivity, devices and skills). This last point plays to a key strength of libraries in providing holistic solutions to digital exclusion.

We look forward to both the U20 Summit in September, and the G20 Summit in October, and encourage libraries globally to draw on the points set out in the U20 communiqué in their own advocacy.

See also our story on the initial U20 Italy announcement.

​Following the Extraordinary General Assembly on 12 February 2021, IFLA will hold its next General Assembly in The Hague, The Netherlands on 25 August 2021.

The Convening Notice for the Assembly was forwarded to Members on 25 June 2021.

Agenda
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 13:30 – 15:30 CEST

1. Opening by the Chair
2. Appointment of Tellers
3. Establishment of a Quorum
4. Adoption of the Agenda
5. Minutes of the previous meeting, held in Melbourne, Australia 12 February 2021
6. In memoriam of those members who have died during the past year
7. Presentation of the Report of the President
8. Presentation of IFLA’s Annual Report by the Secretary General
9. Presentation of the Annual Accounts by the Treasurer
10. Formal announcement of the Results of the Ballot for the Election of President-elect and for places on the Governing Board by the Secretary General
11. Motions and Resolutions
    11.1 Motion to approve the holding of the next General Assembly in July 2022
    (Art 8.2 of the Statutes refers)
12. Address by the President, Christine Mackenzie
13. Presentation of Honours and Awards
14. Vote of thanks to the outgoing Governing Board
15. Introduction of incoming Governing Board
16. Address by incoming President, Barbara Lison
17. Close of the Assembly

Gerald Leitner
Secretary General
The Hague, Netherlands
28 June 2021

The 41st session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR41) will take place from 28th July to 1st June. This meeting has an agenda that encompasses rights for broadcasters, exceptions and limitations for libraries, archives, museums, educational and research institutions, and a range of other items.

The COVID19 pandemic has reduced WIPO’s ability to hold international physical meetings, and so advance concrete negotiations or hold detailed negotiations. However, IFLA keeps looking ahead and is ready to help lay the path towards a better legal framework for libraries in the longer term.

The 41st session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights will start with the discussion on a proposed Treaty giving rights to broadcasters. This will be followed by a discussion focused on the report prepared by the WIPO Secretariat following the Regional Seminars and International Conference in 2019 on limitations and exceptions.

This will provide an opportunity for Member States and observers not only to consider the lessons of work done in 2019, but also to consider the situation of cultural, educational and research institutions in the light of the COVID19 pandemic.

The obligation on libraries to close their physical spaces has shone a light on the inexistence or inadequacy of current copyright laws in many countries, preventing them from carrying out their missions of lending books to support users (students, children and professionals). Yet many of these issues are not new, having already been felt outside the pandemic. Member States have an opportunity to steer WIPO’s work to ensure that these concerns are addressed.

Looking to SCCR’s longer-term agenda, a key part of the missions of libraries is to ensure that heritage is preserved, protected from the effects of time. The Committee has a role in helping to ensure that copyright does not create unnecessary barriers to allowing the making of copies for preservation purposes.

This is a pressing question, as the effect of time is not the only risk. The world has already seen new challenges through climate change. Therefore IFLA remains active to promote the necessity of moving forward on copyright provisions to allow heritage preservation - and access to preserved content - including across borders

Another point of the agenda is formulated under “Other items”. A number of delegations called, during SCCR40, for a study on the benefits of Public Lending Rights. IFLA is supportive of fair remuneration for creators through the most effective means. Possibilities to do this include rights reversion, the development of tools to have better negotiating capacities with publishers, and direct and indirect subsidies.

However, IFLA is opposed to the introduction of Public Lending Right in developing countries, as it risks having an impact on the budget  for libraries, and so on access to reading literacy programs, access to information and knowledge.

IFLA calls for reframing the study to include other means to support authors and have a more detailed and balanced study. 

The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights will be webcast here.

IFLA Statement on Broadcasting [PDF, MS Word]

IFLA Statement on Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright [PDF, MS Word]

IFLA Statement on Public Lending Right [PDF, MS Word]

IFLA’s General Assembly – the primary opportunity for our Members to take decisions about our Federation – will take place on 25 August 2021 in The Hague, Netherlands. The formal Convening Notice, published today, sets out details about the topics for discussions, and opportunities for participation.

2021 has been a year of significant achievement for IFLA as the organisation moves to implement the changes to its Statutes and structure adopted by members at the Extraordinary General Assembly in February.

We realise that many of you will not be able to be physically present at the General Assembly, and the Dutch Government’s 1.5 meter social distancing rules will be in place until August. This means severe limitations on the number of people that can be accommodated and seated in indoor spaces.

Therefore, we are working to maximise possibilities for as many Members as possible to take part virtually. In particular, we will share information on the process for proxy voting by 7 July, allowing you to ask another Member to cast your vote on your behalf. We will also offer possibilities for all to watch the proceedings.

IFLA’s Members and Affiliates will receive today a copy of the Convening Notice. All IFLA Members that have paid their membership fees for 2021 will eligible to vote. Voting and proxy voting arrangements will be sent to members on 7 July 2021.

Agenda
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 13:30 – 15:30 CEST

1. Opening by the Chair
2. Appointment of Tellers
3. Establishment of a Quorum
4. Adoption of the Agenda
5. Minutes of the previous meeting, held in Melbourne, Australia 12 February 2021
6. In memoriam of those members who have died during the past year
7. Presentation of the Report of the President
8. Presentation of IFLA’s Annual Report by the Secretary General
9. Presentation of the Annual Accounts by the Treasurer
10. Formal announcement of the Results of the Ballot for the Election of President-elect and for places on the Governing Board by the Secretary General
11. Motions and Resolutions
    11.1 Motion to approve the holding of the next General Assembly in July 2022
    (Art 8.2 of the Statutes refers)
12. Address by the President, Christine Mackenzie
13. Presentation of Honours and Awards
14. Vote of thanks to the outgoing Governing Board
15. Introduction of incoming Governing Board
16. Address by incoming President, Barbara Lison
17. Close of the Assembly

Gerald Leitner
Secretary General
The Hague, Netherlands
25 June 2021

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Closely aligned to the IFLA Key Initiative 3.4 “Provide targeted learning and professional development”, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has been enhancing professional practice and connecting the library through a bold and ambitious initiative to strengthen the profession, increase workforce diversity and ensure future-ready skills: the Professional Pathways project.

Launched in November 2021, the Professional Pathways initiative has proposed a new direction for recognising professional status in the Australian library and information sector, which focuses on strengthening existing courses, expanding study opportunities, acknowledging existing skills and experience, and placing ongoing professional development at the core of professional status.

Recognising all professions in libraries

The Australian library and information sector benefits from the diverse skills and experience of professionals in the workforce, but the current professional recognition framework focuses only on LIS qualifications. Professional Pathways is a new model that recognises existing skills and experience from diverse professional backgrounds and provides a pathway for people to gain professional status. This aligns strongly with IFLA’s Strategic Direction 4, increasing, diversifying, and engaging our membership. By recognising the wide range of professional abilities across the LIS workforce, we actively build a more inclusive profession.

Embedding LIS professional principles

IFLA’s Strategic Direction 2 focuses on inspiring and enhancing the profession, through developing standards, guidelines and other materials that foster best professional practice.

ALIA’s Professional Pathways creates a formal education framework that embeds professional principles, not just for trained librarians, but for library employees at all levels, including entry-level library officers, trainees and non-librarian professionals working in the library sector. In particular, feedback from the sector has highlighted the importance and centrality of ethical practice for all library and information workers.

Centring professional development

Since 2020, the ALIA Professional Development Scheme has been a core element of professional membership, which recognises participants’ achievement through Certified Professional status.

Professional Pathways will further centre the role of professional development, not simply as an ‘add-on’, but an essential part of LIS professional status, alongside formal education and work experience. This contributes to the IFLA Strategic Direction 3, to connect and empower the field through targeted learning and professional development.

Like the IFLA Strategy 2019-2024, ALIA’s Professional Pathways is a call to action. It follows a similar vision to build a strong and united library field – one that recognises the strengths of its entire professional workforce, united through professional principles and ethics and committed to ongoing professional development.

 

Read more about the IFLA Strategy 2019-2024

How is your library or library association engaging with the IFLA Strategy? Let us know! Post on your social media, using the hashtag #IFLAStrategy and #WeAreIFLA or send an email to Despina Gerasimidou, IFLA’s Strategic Development Officer at despina.gerasimidou@ifla.org.

 

      

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Dr. Koumbou Boly Barry, has submitted a report to the Human Rights Council, underlining how the right to education is a cultural right.

In parallel, it is essential to consider the cultural dimension in order to  deliver on the right to inclusive and quality education, as called for by Sustainable Development Goal #4. Access to diverse cultural resources in education systems is critical for the cultural relevance of such systems, and impacts on the ability of learners to make the most of knowledge. As the report underlines, libraries can be crucial to achieving this.

IFLA Response

This report, which can be read online here, was informed by a questionnaire circulated to member states, agencies, and civil society stakeholders in early 2020. IFLA submitted a response highlighting good practices and lessons learned through library efforts to ensure access to culture in educational contexts.

The inclusion of libraries in the resulting report and recommendations by the Special Rapporteur is a testament to the importance of library collections and services in ensuring universal human rights. This includes providing access to cultural resources, allowing users to participate in cultural life, enabling participatory processes, and ensuring access to relevant cultural knowledge for all.

Recommendations

The report mentions that school and public libraries, for example, may work in tandem with education providers to help facilitate creation of materials that reflect the cultures of the community, including marginalised and/or underrepresented cultures. Libraires have special knowledge of and connection to their communities and can help identify and act on these needs.

To this end, the Special Rapporteur recommends that member states encourage cooperation between libraries, educational institutions, and other relevant actors in order to ensure access to educational materials drawn from diverse cultural experiences.

Most notably, the Special Rapporteur recommends that non-formal and informal education actors (such as libraries) be considered full participants in educational life.

IFLA upholds the role of libraries as critical actors in ensuring lifelong learning for all people and commends the Special Rapporteur for advancing this recognition through this recommendation.

We also stress that access to information includes access to culturally relevant materials, both traditional and digital, as well as material in diverse languages. We encourage education actors and all relevant stakeholders to partner closely with libraries to ensure access to these resources, within the context of plans to ensure inclusive and quality education for all.  

Read more about IFLA’s position on the role of libraries as cultural rights defenders here. 

Empowering research by connecting libraries and facilitating access to knowledge; the international HERMES project responds with research, training, and brand new software.

In spite of the pandemic, or rather thanks to it, the HERMES Strengthening digital resource sharing during COVID and beyond project was born. The project, funded by the Erasmus Plus Programme, will be delivered by an international partnership made up of the Bologna Research Area Library at Italian National Research Council CNR (Italy), three universities in the Mediterranean area - Balamand University (Lebanon), University of Cantabria (Spain), MEF University (Turkey) - and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

Why thanks to the pandemic? In 2020, the COVID-19 forced academic libraries to move their work almost exclusively online. This both created a new challenge for the scholarly community - the sudden unavailability of physical collections - and gave new urgency to the need to address existing ones - the lack of digitization of library holdings, inadequate catalogs, lack of information about e-books and availability of electronic resources, legal problems in delivering digital documents to users, and a general lack of expertise in searching and retrieving digital documents.

In response to the emergency, in a very short time a group of librarians under the auspices of IFLA created "Resource Sharing during COVID-19" (RSCVD https://rscvd.org/): the first experiment in free digital sharing of bibliographic resources worldwide.

RSCVD has been based on the voluntary contributions of a hundred librarians around the world, who worked with the tools available at the time to share documents from their libraries with the global academic community.

After a very successful first reaction to the COVID emergency, the time was ripe to put in place an action capable of creating long-lasting impacts. This is what : a group of library experts have done in conceiving of the HERMES project, which will provide an opportunity to facilitate the work of librarians around the world by addressing the challenges COVID has created or intensified.

The project has just begun and will last 18 months, during which the group will work with the dual objective of refining the document sharing tools that libraries already use in Italy and around the world, making them more stable and efficient, and facilitating their use.

In complement to this, it will educate professionals on issues around wider access to knowledge. In this training , in addition to learning about the technicalities of operation of the software for librarians, crucial topics such as how to find quality scientific documentation, how to orient users with respect to open science, what ethical and legal implications are to be considered when using and sharing scientific documentation.

HERMES will produce open source software, strictly open educational materials and free training courses for librarians, university students and researchers in order to provide high quality, fast and free access to knowledge through the development of specific skills on the topic of digital resource sharing.

If you are interested, you can keep an eye on developments of this ambitious project on the project website https://www.hermes-eplus.eu/ and related social media.

Empowering research by connecting libraries and facilitating access to knowledge; the international HERMES project responds with research, training, and brand new software.

In spite of the pandemic, or rather thanks to it, the HERMES Strengthening digital resource sharing during COVID and beyond project was born. The project, funded by the Erasmus Plus Programme, will be delivered by an international partnership made up of the Bologna Research Area Library at Italian National Research Council CNR (Italy), three universities in the Mediterranean area - Balamand University (Lebanon), University of Cantabria (Spain), MEF University (Turkey) - and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

Why thanks to the pandemic? In 2020, the COVID-19 forced academic libraries to move their work almost exclusively online. This both created a new challenge for the scholarly community - the sudden unavailability of physical collections - and gave new urgency to the need to address existing ones - the lack of digitization of library holdings, inadequate catalogs, lack of information about e-books and availability of electronic resources, legal problems in delivering digital documents to users, and a general lack of expertise in searching and retrieving digital documents.

In response to the emergency, in a very short time a group of librarians under the auspices of IFLA created "Resource Sharing during COVID-19" (RSCVD https://rscvd.org/): the first experiment in free digital sharing of bibliographic resources worldwide.

RSCVD has been based on the voluntary contributions of a hundred librarians around the world, who worked with the tools available at the time to share documents from their libraries with the global academic community.

After a very successful first reaction to the COVID emergency, the time was ripe to put in place an action capable of creating long-lasting impacts. This is what : a group of library experts have done in conceiving of the HERMES project, which will provide an opportunity to facilitate the work of librarians around the world by addressing the challenges COVID has created or intensified.

The project has just begun and will last 18 months, during which the group will work with the dual objective of refining the document sharing tools that libraries already use in Italy and around the world, making them more stable and efficient, and facilitating their use.

In complement to this, it will educate professionals on issues around wider access to knowledge. In this training , in addition to learning about the technicalities of operation of the software for librarians, crucial topics such as how to find quality scientific documentation, how to orient users with respect to open science, what ethical and legal implications are to be considered when using and sharing scientific documentation.

HERMES will produce open source software, strictly open educational materials and free training courses for librarians, university students and researchers in order to provide high quality, fast and free access to knowledge through the development of specific skills on the topic of digital resource sharing.

If you are interested, you can keep an eye on developments of this ambitious project on the project website https://www.hermes-eplus.eu/ and related social media.

The recording (55 minutes, with optional English subtitles) and slides are now available:
https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/93945
There are also links to all the featured resources, and a selection of questions and answers.

At the request of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights convened a workshop with the goal of taking steps towards developing tools for the “dissemination of an approach to the protection, restoration and preservation of cultural heritage that promotes universal respect for cultural rights by all”.

This workshop was held virtually on 14-15 June, and featured a collaboration between Ms. Karima Bennoune, the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights and a spectrum of other stakeholders and civil society representatives.

Participants were encouraged to provide input on any issues which should be covered by such tools. IFLA attended to bolster recognition of libraries as defenders of cultural rights – including through their role in preserving and providing access to cultural heritage.

Cultural Rights

In 2009, the first Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights established a definition for Cultural Rights as being those rights that protect:

• human creativity in all its diversity and the conditions for it to be exercised, developed and made accessible
• the free choice, expression and development of identities
• the rights to participate in the cultural life of their choice
• the right to interact and exchange culture
• the rights to enjoy and have access to the arts, to knowledge, including scientific knowledge, and to cultural heritage
• the rights to participate in the interpretation, elaboration and development of cultural heritage [source]

Protecting the conditions required for the enjoyment of cultural rights plays a vital role in upholding universal human rights at large. Cultural rights have a critical role in forming identity, peacebuilding, combatting extremism, and creating resilient societies.

Taking a Rights-Based Approach

The agenda of the workshop explored how to mainstream a rights-based approach to the protection, restoration and preservation of cultural heritage. In a rights-based approach to cultural heritage, culture is an active experience for people – one that is about using, accessing, creating, and interpreting it to better their lives.  

Mainstreaming a rights-based approach to cultural heritage can be done through highlighting how cultural heritage is a fundamental resource for the fulfillment of other rights, including that to education, expression, religion, and economic possibility. It should be promoted as a tool to prevent conflict and build peace.

A rights-based approach fits libraries particularly well. As champions of access to information and freedom of expression, libraries have long acted as conduits between people and knowledge, connecting their users to information they can benefit and learn from, use, transmit, and preserve for the future.

To note - the Special Rapporteur has identified a key issue to be explored by the future mandate-holder to be the importance of public space as a forum for the enjoyment of cultural rights. Libraries can certainly play a central role in this facet of cultural rights enjoyment.

Libraries as Cultural Rights Defenders

Cultural Rights Defenders are defined by the Special Rapporteur as “human rights defenders who pursue the elimination of violations of cultural rights and promote respect for and protection and fulfilment of these rights” [source].

Supporting these individuals and groups who uphold cultural rights around the world is vital for the enjoyment of cultural rights for all.

Supporting cultural rights defenders in times of crisis is even more challenging. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflict, and natural disasters were all identified as exacerbating the need for governments to support cultural rights defenders.

IFLA submitted the following written statement to highlight the role of libraries as cultural rights defenders, and call for the consideration of featuring a cross-sectoral approach in the tools that are developed as an outcome of this workshop:

IFLA’s Statement

Libraries have a vital role in ensuring the right to participate in cultural life for their communities – preserving and providing access to cultural heritage, enabling access to diverse expressions of culture, and championing the right of access to education, information, and expression.  

Threats to cultural rights are complex and require a cross-sectoral approach, where memory institutions like libraries and other cultural actors work together, but also in coordination with government and other sectors.  

We welcome input on ways that we can reach beyond our sector to highlight the necessity of respect for cultural rights both in upholding human rights and as an enabler of sustainable development.

As a federation of library associations, institutions, and individuals, we are interested to work at the international level to find new possibilities and knowledge-sharing opportunities that can better equip our network working at the national level to advocate for greater support for their work as cultural rights defenders.

What can you do now?

• Collections-holding libraries are invited to explore how preservation of and access to your collections can impact on human rights, and cultural rights in particular. How does your work help your users participate in the cultural life of their choosing? Highlight this, and embrace your role as cultural rights defenders.
• All libraries are invited to explore how their collections and programmes might help people connect to the cultural heritage sites, expressions, and traditions in their region and beyond in a dynamic way. How do your collections and programmes help bolster other human rights, such as the right to education, information, and economic possibility?
• Connect to Blue Shield National Committees in your country to ensure the representation of libraries and documentary heritage collections in national-level cultural property protection effortsLet us know!

Let us know! What tools or support do you need to further your work as cultural rights defenders? Email: claire.mcguire@ifla.org 

The results of a survey about serving people with special needs during COVID-19 has been published in the latest issue of International Leads, a publication of the International Relations Roundtable of the American Library Association.

“Serving People with Special Needs During COVID-19: Stories from Around the World” was co-authored by Nancy Bolt, Chair, IFLA Section: Library Service to People with Special Needs, and Aly Velji, Adult Services Manager, Toronto Public Library, Canada.

In the fall of 2020, LSN conducted a survey to get examples of how libraries were reaching out to marginalized populations to continue services to during the pandemic.  The committee received 49 responses. From the responses, the authors gleaned examples of various efforts libraries implemented to serve their varied populations.

These populations included: services to children with disabilities, services in prisons, people with dyslexia and visual disabilities, refugees and immigrants, people with visual and print disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, older adults.

Libraries responding included Vancouver Public Library, Canada; a New Zealand prison; Listening Point Library, Belgium; Greeley Public Library, Colorado, USA; and the Toronto Public Library, Canada.

Read the full article online.

This year's World e-Parliament Conference 2021 organized by the Interparliamentary Union (IPU) covered five main themes:
 1. Towards the digital parliament
 2. Infrastructure
 3. Data in digital parliaments
4. Enabling digital parliamentarians
5. Artificial intelligence  

The IPU invited the IFLAPARL section to organize a panel on June 17 on the topic "Virtual parliamentary research services" under the conference subtheme "Tools and techniques for the digital parliamentarian."

IFLAPARL Information Coordinator, Ellie Valentine moderated the roundtable session discussion of colleagues from three parliamentary library and research services: 

• Janice de Oliveira E Silva Silveira, Library Director, Brazilian Chamber of Deputies
• Christine Ivory, Senior Director, Parliamentary Information, Education and Research Services, Library of Parliament, Parliament of Canada
• Balazs Mellar, Senior Administrator, Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies, European Parliament

This discussion covered recent innovations in library and research services in parliament related to meeting the changing needs of parliamentarians in the technology-rich environments in which they operate, as well as management issues regarding human and technology resources in library and information services. The panelists also addressed some of the technology solutions they employed in facing service challenges caused by the 2020-2021 global pandemic. 

The recording of the session is online here.

The Preservation and Conservation (PAC) Centre hosted at the National Library of Sri Lanka specialises in preserving the country's unique documentary cultural heritage.

Featured among these materials are Palm Leaf Manuscripts – a method of recording knowledge dating back to ancient times. These manuscripts contain inscriptions on subjects ranging from Buddhism, to history, archaeology, traditional medicine, folktales, astrology, and more.

Palm leaf manuscripts are a vital aspect of the cultural heritage and memory of the country. Given their delicate nature and the tropical climate of Sri Lanka, proper storage and handling of palm leaf manuscripts is a critical aspect to their long-term preservation.

PAC Centre Director Udaya Cabral and R.M Nadeeka Rathnabahu, Senior Lecturer, Department of Library and Information Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, have published this new Report detailing best practices for the conservation of Palm-Leaf Manuscripts.

Download the report here.

This report will be highly informative for any institutions around the world that include palm leaf manuscripts in their collections, or for conservators who are interested in methods to safeguard this unique form of documentary heritage.

Find out more about PAC Sri Lanka and access additional guides created by the PAC Centre here.

More questions or requests for information can be directed to the PAC Centre: Information and Contact