It's another busy conference schedule for the National Libraries section as our main session takes on the way that national libraries are evolving their spaces to offer new services and reach new users. SIG-NOIR brings in ambassadors from the embassies of Canada and Qatar to discuss the role of cultural diplomacy in international relations, while SIG-NILP offers a truly international line-up of speakers to assess how library policies can support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Full details below, we hope that you can join us!

Session 249, National Libraries: Evolving Spaces – National Libraries

Thursday August 29th 08:30 – 10:30 Mitropoulos

Chair: Guy Berthiaume (Ottawa, Canada)

Chair: Gerard Bouwmeester (The Hague, Netherlands)

Chair: Mark Sweeney (Washington DC, United States)

1. But how are we all supposed to work together?!

Stuart Hamilton (Local Government Management Agency, Dublin, Ireland)

2. Librarians and Architects: opponents or allies?

Filippos Tsimpoglou (National Library of Greece, Athens, Greece)

3. A Building that Reflects the Vision: the new National Library of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide

Oren Weinberg (National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel)

4. The experience of the Egyptian National Library in renovating and transforming its Bab Al-Khalq historic building

Hesham Azmi (National Library and Archives of Egypt, Cairo, Egypt)

5. Ensuring new missions with new partners

Guy Berthiaume (Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada)

6. Re-designing library spaces: let's keep on reinventing ourselves

Laurence Engel (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France)

7. Living knowledge : thinking about dynamic management of collections (remote sites, long-term storage, etc.)

Liz White (British Library, London, United Kingdom)

8. Celebrating the written word

Lily Knibbeler (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, Netherlands)

9. Developing a Visitor Experience Master Plan for the Library of Congress a User-Centered Approach to the Historic Thomas Jefferson Building

Mark Sweeney (Library of Congress, Washington DC, United States)

 

Session 139, International Relations – East meets West – National Organisations and International Relations (SI)

Monday August 26th 16:00 – 18:00 Trianti

Our session aligns with the conference topic "dialogue for change" by shedding light on the following aspects: – how to change, influence and promote the importance of international relations to our work – how to update our traditional roles and to ensure that stakeholders understand our value and impact. In the second part of our session, we are very pleased to host a round table discussion on cultural diplomacy with diplomatic representatives from the Athens´ embassies of various countries.

Chair: Katharina Beberweil (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Chair: Francesco Mangianello (Canada)

Part I: Analysis of the revised IFLA Strategic Framework to identify areas where International Relations (IR) work may advance IFLA’s interest.

  • Stuart Hamilton (Local Government Management Agency, Dublin, Ireland)

Part II: International Relations (IR) and Cultural Diplomacy – a) Tools to further the IR role played by national organisations / National Libraries

  • Francesco Manganiello (Libraries and Archives Canada, Canada)

Part III: International Relations (IR) and Cultural Diplomacy – b) Reflections on Cultural diplomacy in action

  • His Excellency Mark Allen, Ambassador of Canada to Greece, Embassy of Canada to the Hellenic Republic/High Commission of Canada to the Republic of Cyprus, Athens, Greece
  • His Excellency Abdulaziz Ali Al-Naama, Ambassador of the State of Qatar in Athens, Greece
  • Debbie DesRosiers, Counsellor (Political, Economic, Public Affairs), Embassy of Canada to the Hellenic Republic/High Commission of Canada to the Republic of Cyprus, Athens, Greece
  • Brigitte Döllgast, Head of the Göthe Institut Library Department, Athens, Greece

Ekaterina Feodorova, Division of International Activities, National Library of Russia, Russian Federation

 

Session 264, National Information and Library Policies in Support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – National Information and Library Policy (NILP) SIG

Thursday August 29th 10:45 – 12:45 MC 3

Chair: Winston Roberts (Wellington, New Zealand)

1. National information and library policy development in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: the case of Fiji in a Pacific context

Elizabeth Fong (University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji)

2. National Information and Library Policies in Support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Perspectives in India

Charoibam Ibohal Singh (Manipur University, Canchipur, India), Sangrang Brahma (Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar, India), Lamkhogen Vaiphei (Moreh College, Moreh, India)

3. National information and library policies in support of the UN SDGs: the case of Uganda

Ruth Nalumaga (Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda)

4. Policies and strategies of social responsibility in Central America: a proposal of FECEAB

Nitida Carranza (Asociacion de Bibliotecarios y Documentalistas de Honduras (ABIDH), Tegucigalpa, Honduras), Gustavo Cruz (Asociacion Nicaraguense de Bibliotecarios y Profesionales Afines, (ANIBIPA), Managua, Nicaragua)

5. Free access to information in Iran, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Mahboubeh Ghorbani (National Library and Archives of Iran, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of), Saeedeh Akbari-Daryan (National Library and Archives of Iran, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of)

6. National information and library policies in support of the UN SDGs: the situation in Switzerland

Josephine Siegrist (Bibliosuisse – Swiss National Library Association, Zurich, Switzerland)

7. Libraries and sustainability – the building of a Canadian federation

Katherine McColgan (Canadian Federation of Library Associations/Fédération canadienne des associations de bibliothèques, Ottawa, Canada)