The message below accompanies the January 2023 edition of the IFLA Newsletter.

IFLA Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 1

For those cultures celebrating a new year, January is a time to think about how we can do things differently – how we can innovate in order to achieve our goals. Many of us may be making resolutions for our own personal lives, but it can also be a chance to reflect on our professional practice, and even our work as an organisation.  

Innovation is therefore the topic of this first IFLA newsletter of 2023. Of course, innovation can take many forms – we cover all of them in the articles shared below. 

There’s technological innovation of course – new tools and services that we can use – in line with our values – in order to enhance how we fulfil our missions. The potential – and risks – of artificial intelligence are particularly high in many people’s minds, and you’ll find great insights from our volunteers below on this. 

But innovation is not just about products, but also about the way we do things. The pandemic underlined clearly that our field is full of innovators, ready to use their imagination and creativity in order to update practices to match needs. You’ll also find stories below highlighting just a few examples of how libraries are innovating in this way also.   

A key moment of innovation for IFLA this year will be our World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) in Rotterdam. We are looking to break new ground for ourselves in terms of making the most of hybrid formats to get the whole global field involved. Find out more about our preparatinons in the WLIC section below. 

Beyond this, there’s plenty more news to dig into! We’re looking to the future with the latest update from IFLA’s Governing Board and its work to deliver on its plan for sustaining IFLA’s future. You can read more about our upcoming elections, as well as some of the issues our policy and advocacy team will be working with this year.  

Read on, also, to find out about our new members, upcoming events, and more.  

Happy reading!