ALA has strong ties with IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and puts programs sponsored by it into the conference program. IFLA president Vicki McDonald from Australia, and president-elect Leslie Weir from Canada, attended and spoke at the ALA annual conference. IFLA’s North American Regional Division held its business meeting in San Diego. Chaired by Diane Koen, McGill University Library, Canada, the meeting featured presentations from the other IFLA Regional Divisions (Asia-Oceania; Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East and North Africa; and Sub-Saharan Africa) that focused on their activities during the year. Separately, IFLA held a session introducing the association and another one about what it’s like to serve on a section standing committee.
As is traditional at ALA annual conferences, its International Relations Roundtable Committee (IRRT) set up an area for delegates from outside the USA to gather. IFLA had a table directly across from it, primarily to interest librarians in attending the Information Futures Summit, to be held in Brisbane, Australia, 30 September through 3 October, 2024. According to McDonald, “The Information Futures Summit is a new event format for IFLA, focused on bringing the energy, expertise and rich diversity of our field together to find solutions to the information challenges facing us today and in the coming years.”
Poster session on Global Solutions
The IRRT also sponsored a poster session on global solutions. Not all the presenters were from outside the USA, but it seemed to me that those who were hailed more from Asian countries than other parts of the world, perhaps because of the San Diego location being easier to travel to from Asia. Contributions to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals at ADA University in Azerbaijan is supported by the library, reported Vafa Mammadova. It promotes education and research, professional development and lifelong learning, supports local business initiatives and entrepreneurs’ research ideas; helps reduce social and economic inequalities; and utilizes inclusive and green technology for sustainable environment. Another poster highlighted success stories in sustainable library development in Nicaragua and Ethiopia. Three of the presenters, Connie Chemplin, Peter Deeke and Janet Lee, are former Peace Corps volunteers, while the fourth, Carolyn Ziering is at Nahant Public Library
A study on international metadata practices to describe research data in the social sciences by Li Yang and Margaret E. I. Kipp at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee started with an analysis of metadata schemes used in 40 worldwide data repositories, which they categorized by their origins. Next up is creating a framework to study the schemas and examine their relationships.
In Nigeria, Rita Dumbiri, Delta State College of Education, is investigating the challenges and opportunities for libraries to support digital literacy and digital empowerment in developing countries. Empowerment in the educational realm is the focus of EUsolis researchers Kosjenka Dumancic, Ivana Maric, Davorka Jukica, and Marija Šimunovic who looked at empowering vocational education and training (VET) students. Tangible results of their research bridge the EU knowledge gap and provide educators with practical skills to shape a Europe characterized by solidarity, diversity and sustainability.
Jenna Kammer, University of Central Missouri; Edward Mensah Borteye, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology; and Kodjo Atiso, University of Kansas, surveyed Ghanaian students about their confidence with digital citizenship. Confident in their technical skills, the students lacked confidence in evaluating information and worried about scams, abusive language, privacy violations and cyberbullying.
In South Korea, KERIS researchers Hyejin Byeon and Wonjin Gils explained RISS, a national integrated research information sharing system. At the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), reported Tomke Beyer, a new workflow reinforced the importance of the library within the institution. The historical context of libraries in the Philippines, a poster presented by A. B. Gideon N. De Castro and Elvira Lauz, University of the Philippines Diliman, is one of colonialization. Today new media such as TikTok is used to promote librarianship as a career. At the Taipei Public Library, building a virtual library via Minecraft engages library users.
IRRT activities
In addition to the poster session, the IRRT Chair’s Program presented talks on international collaborations that strengthen library global Impact, which epitomized ALA’s interest in and commitment to being an international organization while retaining its status as a national library association. Another IRRT session introduced the joys and travails of working in another country. It covered leveraging networks to find work abroad, cultural preparation, adapting to regional librarianship as well as cultural standards, and the practicalities of life as a librarian abroad.
The culmination of the international aspects of the ALA annual conference was the International Librarians Reception, held on the top floor of the San Diego Public Library. I look forward to more international activities at the 2025 conference, to be held in Philadelphia, 26 June to 1 July.