The Trend Report
The IFLA Trend Report 2024 builds on the initial Trend Report, published in 2014, but adds a new dimension.
It explores seven key trends that affect libraries, those who work in libraries, and those who use libraries. As a key planning tool, the Trend Report provides a solid base when considering the future of libraries and the communities they serve.
The trends are:
- Knowledge practices are changing
- AI and other technologies are transforming society
- Trust is being renegotiated
- Skills and abilities are becoming more complex
- Digital technologies are unevenly distributed
- Information systems are using more resources
- People are seeking community connection
The full report expands upon these themes, presents several scenarios concerning what happens when these trends meet and interact, and provides exercises based on the trends to stimulate thinking about how the trends will play out going forward.
The report is meant to be a working document, designed for active usage by libraries and their constituencies.
The Strategy 2024-2029
IFLA's most recent strategy statement is based on extensive communication with its member and volunteer community. It covers the data of IFLA's centenary and almost to the end of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. It identifies key priorities and sets out three impact areas:
Impact area 1: Libraries are connected and energised through vibrant, global professional communities
Impact area 2: Libraries are recognised, represented and valued as partners
Impact area 3: Libraries are enabled to deliver meaningful change at all levels
The Brisbane Declaration
The Brisbane Declaration sets out ten key principles for the future of knowledge and information and reflects the collective inputs from participants at IIFS. The Summit had a strong emphasis on exploring not just the trends shaping the environment in which libraries work, but also on how information professionals can shape this in a way that fits with their own values and missions.
This Declaration draws on the 2024 Trend Report, the UN’s Pact for the Future, the keynote and discussions sessions in Brisbane, and the contributions of library and information workers and allies from around the world. It builds and elaborates on the Lyon Declaration of 2014, responding to the changes we have seen in the intervening decade. The full Declaration can be found in the IFLA Repository
These three important documents underscore the importance of IFLA as the global voice of libraries and spur the thinking of information professionals so they can face the future with confidence.