Friday, May 20, 2022

Introducing the IFLA North America Regional Division

 The IFLA North America Regional Division is a new division of IFLA, the global voice of libraries.  We are reaching out to national and regional Library Associations across the USA and Canada to build more powerful advocacy with policy makers and to ensure that the benefits of engaging with IFLA are well known across North America.

 

Our NA Regional Division members are seeking your assistance!

 

By working cooperatively with existing library associations, other IFLA Regional Divisions and IFLA Headquarters, the NA Regional Division is identifying priorities for the region and defining and delivering on action plans that respond to these priorities. It is our goal to extend IFLA’s membership and reach and to work closely with you and your members to strengthen the voice of libraries.

As a support to the launch of the regional divisions, IFLA conducted a survey of our colleagues across the USA and Canada which informed our choice of the following key initiatives for the 2021-2023 term:

 

·         Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Ensure library workers in North America have the advocacy skills needed to demonstrate how libraries contribute to city, state and local governments efforts to achieve progress on the SDG’s. Our goal is to deliver webinars that will help libraries share stories about how we support the SDGs.

 

·         Enrich the IFLA Library Map of the World (LMW) with content from across NA
The LMW can be a powerful advocacy tool. It is intended to be a source of country-level library statistics, information about the library environment in each country and a unifying platform that provides access to Sustainable Development Goals stories. We will be adding the library descriptions and statistics for our countries so this can be a global resource about libraries in the USA and Canada.

 

·         Global Advocacy with a focus on Copyright

Raise awareness of library copyright issues among policy makers and governments. We will connect with library associations working in this area to learn what is needed for support and intend to collect copyright impact stories from the United States and Canada.

 

·         Regional Advocacy with a focus on Digital Inclusion
Perform a 360 degree review of North American initiatives, facilitate webinars, and develop recommendations of best practices.

 

·         Supporting Outreach – focus on expanding IFLA membership and build awareness across NA
Develop a white paper and deliver a webinar series to promote all the benefits of IFLA membership, encouraging library workers to join IFLA and participate in our global library community.

 

We are stronger together. Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of our NA Regional Division Members. We look forward to connecting with you soon!


Michael Bailou Huang, MLS, MEd, MS, L.Ac.
SUNY Distinguished Librarian
Director, Global Library Initiatives
Stony Brook University
Health Sciences Library
Health Sciences Tower, Level 3, Rm 136
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8034
Phone: 631.444.3794

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