#wlic2018 Archives | American Libraries Magazine

New Zealand delegates sing a traditional Maori song to welcome IFLA members to Auckland for WLIC 2020.

IFLA Looks toward Athens and Auckland

By Amy Carlton | August 30, 2018

Honors and awards Vicki McDonald, representing IFLA’s Professional Committee, awarded the organization’s new Dynamic Unit and Impact Award, which recognizes outstanding examples of the work and impact of IFLA units, to the Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section. Catharina Isberg, secretary of the section, accepted the award. The runners-up, the Public Libraries Section and … Continue reading IFLA Looks toward Athens and Auckland →

IFLA President-Elect Christine Mackenzie at the World Library and Information Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Let’s Work Together

By Amy Carlton | August 29, 2018

Five speakers each focused on one of the 10 different opportunities listed in the IFLA Global Vision Report through the lens of collaboration. Allison Dobbie, principal development advisor for the Auckland (N.Z.) Council, addressed Opportunity 10: “We must give young professionals effective opportunities to learn, develop, and lead.” Dobbie and Mackenzie cofounded the International Network … Continue reading Let’s Work Together →

Clockwise from top left: Stephen Wyber, policy and advocacy manager.for IFLA; May Chang; Helga Schwarz; and Sandy Hirsh

Blockchain in a flash

By Amy Carlton | August 28, 2018

Helga Schwarz, corresponding member of the IT section, opened with a quick tutorial on blockchain and how it works. Possible uses for the technology include decentralized energy use, e-payments, research data management, and real estate transactions. Disadvantages include its slow speed, massive energy use, inability to delete transactions (even inaccurate or illegal ones), and overall … Continue reading Blockchain in a flash →

“Marrakesh Treaty in Force” presenters, from left: Hiroshi Kawamura, Victoria Owen, Dipendra Manocha, and moderator Kirsi Ylänne.

Marrakesh and More

By Amy Carlton | August 28, 2018

Victoria Owen, chief librarian at the University of Toronto Scarborough, provided an overview of several guides on Marrakesh implementation—published by IFLA, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), the World Blind Union (WBU), and other organizations—and their target audiences and purposes. Some guides are geared for libraries and librarians, while others are more suited for government decision … Continue reading Marrakesh and More →

Muy Cheng Peich, director of education, contents, and training for Libraries Without Borders, describes the Ideas Box at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Safe Spaces and Social Media

By Amy Carlton | August 27, 2018

Leonee Ariel Derr, team leader at Stonnington Library and Information Service in Melbourne, Australia, came down squarely against the safe-space idea, explaining through examples drawn from her many years working in several Melbourne-area public libraries that safety for patrons and staff—whether physical or emotional—cannot be guaranteed. The risks of working in an all-welcoming public space … Continue reading Safe Spaces and Social Media →

Multiple IFLA leaders take the stage in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. From left: Claudia Lux, IFLA Secretary General Gerald Leitner, Ellen Tise, Sinikka Sipilä, Ingrid Parent, Glòria Pérez-Salmerón, and Donna Scheeder.

IFLA President’s Program Reunites Leaders

By Amy Carlton | August 26, 2018

Traditionally libraries have looked to the past: collections, archives, and access to existing information. However, she said, libraries have an obligation to create citizens, not consumers. What do the citizens of the future need? Touching on themes from her Opening Session address, Pérez-Salmerón urged delegates to resist passivity and maintain optimism despite social, political, and … Continue reading IFLA President’s Program Reunites Leaders →

Gamelan musicians perform at the 2018 IFLA WLIC Opening Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

IFLA Honors the Transformative Power of Libraries

By Amy Carlton | August 26, 2018

The congress theme, “Transform Libraries, Transform Societies,” includes the tagline “Reaching out to the hard to reach.” Many sessions and programs this year are emphasizing the role of libraries in national development. There are also strategies for increasing awareness of the value and impact of library services. “Libraries must continually innovate and evolve to best … Continue reading IFLA Honors the Transformative Power of Libraries →

Latest Library Links

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Casey Newton writes: “At the moment, no one knows for sure whether the large language models that are now under development will achieve superintelligence and transform the world. And in that uncertainty, two primary camps of criticism have emerged. The first camp, which I associate with the external critics, holds that artificial intelligence (AI) is fake and sucks. The second camp, which I associate more with the internal critics, believes that AI is real and dangerous. Today I want to lay out why I believe AI is real and dangerous.”

Platformer, Dec. 5
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Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
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Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
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Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
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Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9
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Karen O’Grady writes: “I am the embedded librarian for the Hahn School of Nursing at the University of San Diego. I am surrounded by nursing faculty, staff, and students rather than by librarians. This has proven to be an incredible gamechanger for the way I see things. Every student in my school knows me by name. I am often stopped in the hallway to answer questions. Every correct answer I give increases my authority and builds trust. Through these casual mini-lessons, this foreign animal called ‘librarian’ slowly becomes an approachable, knowledgeable person.”

College & Research Libraries News, Dec.

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