Geo-strategist Parag Khanna, bestselling author of How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance, asserted that the great ages of mankind are the Stone Age, the Agrarian Age, the Industrial Age, and the Information Age; but now, he said, we are entering the “Hybrid Age,” a time when technology is erasing … Continue reading Geo-Strategist Parag Khanna Ushers IFLA into the “Hybrid Age”
“What is the fate of the public in an age of individual choice?” That’s the central question posed by Cherian George, journalist and professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. George’s speech launched the fourth day of IFLA’s 79th World Library and Information Congress. George … Continue reading At IFLA 2013, Singapore Journalist Cherian George Delivers Scathing Indictment of Mass Media
It’s designed to assess “the impact of new technology on our global information environment,” said IFLA President Ingrid Parent, introducing the new IFLA Trend Report August 19 during the World Library and Information Congress in Singapore. Commissioned in 2012 and involving social scientists, economists, business leaders, educators, legal experts, and technologists, Riding the Waves or Caught … Continue reading New Report Portends Global Societal Trends, as IFLA Continues in Singapore
The 79th World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), whose theme is “Future Libraries: Infinite Possibilities,” began with a bang August 18 in Singapore. Beating drums and a long, colorfully lit dragon welcomed some 3,500 delegates from around the world with the music and dance of … Continue reading IFLA Opener Showcases Singapore’s Asian Multiculturalism
Some 200 US delegates to the August 17–23 IFLA annual conference in Singapore caucused August 16 at the Suntec convention center to identify top programs and developments in international librarianship. Speakers named a forthcoming trends study, a new online library, conference programs designed to engage new professionals in international librarianship, and the election of an … Continue reading American Caucus Strategizes as IFLA Prepares to Open in Singapore
The activists behind Libraries Without Borders (Bibliothèques Sans Frontières) understand that priority must be given to food, water, shelter, and medicine. They also recognize that little attention is paid to another basic human necessity: the knowledge resources needed to cope with catastrophe. Founded in Paris in 2007, Libraries Without Borders (LWB) provides targeted books and … Continue reading Disaster Relief … with Books
On April 16, ALA staff members gathered for a reading of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as part of a worldwide celebration marking its 50th anniversary. ALA was one of 207 sites around the world where King’s letter was being read aloud today. Although part of a larger, international … Continue reading ALA Celebrates 50th Anniversary of “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
ALA Immediate Past President Molly Raphael had the opportunity to visit China last fall to speak to the library community there about some of the struggles that many American libraries face as they try to provide ebooks and digital content to the public. Her speaking tour included stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Guangzhou, Dongguan, … Continue reading International Libraries Confronted by Ebook Library Lending
The homicide rate in Honduras is among the highest in the world. Decades of corruption have gnawed through government and police forces from top to bottom. Trafficking of cocaine and drugs—destined north to Mexico and the United States—is rampant, as is underemployment throughout the country. And as in any culture, Honduran children are especially susceptible … Continue reading In Central America, Community-Minded Libraries Become Community Funded
Visible from nearly half a mile away, an enormous rooftop Samsung banner leads the casual observer to suppose that the imposing new building in Bucharest is the Romanian headquarters for the electronics giant. Not so. A small plaque near one of the massive entrance doors says that this is the National Library of Romania. The … Continue reading Romania’s New National Library Remains a Dream Yet to Come True
“We forgot a long time ago what situation constitutes normal and what situation does not,” said Saad Eskander, director of the Iraq National Library and Archives, after almost a decade of war that followed the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Since the American troop withdrawal last year, “life has not changed for the overwhelming majority … Continue reading Terror Has Not Withdrawn: Daily Life for Librarians in Iraq
Last-minute wrangling in the Florida legislature produced a deal to preserve state funding for libraries at the current-year level. At just before midnight on April 26 the House, which originally wanted to zero out all funding for the State Aid to Public Libraries program, accepted a Senate offer to restore it to the FY2009 appropriation … Continue reading In Midnight Deal, Florida Legislature Reprieves Public Library Funding
