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The purpose of the paper is to describe the current status of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and outline the challenges it faces in the current environment.

The paper is descriptive, based on published literature, internal sources and participant observation.

IFLA, an international non‐governmental organisation founded in 1927, has a history of steady growth, which repeatedly necessitated structural adjustments and innovations. The pace of change accelerated in the 1970s, when IFLA reached out to the developing countries to become a truly international organisation. As IFLA entered the new millennium the rapid changes taking place in the environment of libraries gave rise to much rethinking of its structures, procedures and practices, including its membership, aims and values, governance and structure, core programmes, annual conference and advocacy. A re‐conceptualisation of IFLA based on three pillars – society, profession, and members – is proving useful in rethinking IFLA's future.

An up‐to‐date account of IFLA, of potential value to IFLA members and institutions considering membership.

This paper aims to talk briefly about IFLA's experiences with funders' evaluation requirements and the difficulties of finding an evaluation methodology that is appropriate for the type of international activities IFLA engages in.

This review is based on IFLA's decision to increase the emphasis on evaluating the impact of its activities, especially through the use of impact assessment. The method was used as a trial in 2009 to evaluate FAIFE's activities.

This paper discusses the need for success stories and best practice in IFLA's advocacy work, and suggests that impact assessment offers a way to show the real value of library work to key partners and stakeholders.

The paper presents an overview of current thinking and progress in IFLA.

The purpose of this paper is to present a brief overview of the proceedings of IFLA's 78th General Conference and Assembly, held in Helsinki, Finland from August 11‐17, 2012. It highlights the major themes addressed at the conference, taking note of the growing prestige of the meeting as internationally acknowledged fora, not only for librarians and information science specialists but also for publishers, journalists and media professionals.

The author had the good fortune of attending IFLA‐2012 and took advantage of the opportunity to purposefully take down extensive notes, collect copies of the presentations and papers rendered and gather information from colleagues on issues dealt with at simultaneously held sessions which he could not attend, with a view to grasping the overall theme of the specific presentations. The conference website has also been consulted to obtain factual information in support of this article.

This year's IFLA General Conference and Assembly, as usual, attracted thousands of library and information science professionals, an irrefutable proof that IFLA has proved itself as a prestigious international institution dedicated to the promotion and development of the discipline. In addition, the conference also served as a venue for professionals and businesses in publishing, journalism, the film industry and public media to participate in and showcase their novel products and services.

Emerging themes in librarianship and information services, including open access, Linked Data, inclusiveness, the future of library design, outreaching to local communities, and contemporary library challenges in view of changing times were raised and extensively deliberated upon. It is expected that delegates would apply the lessons thus learnt and apply best practices in their day‐to‐day activities in their specific areas of expertise. It is also hoped that the networking of professionals at such an international event would foster viable future collaborations.

The theme chosen for IFLA‐2012 “libraries: inspiring, surprising and empowering” reflects the importance, for library and information professionals, of envisioning a more dynamic, interactive, attuned and even enjoyable role for libraries of the twenty‐first century and beyond.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of highlights of the IFLA Congress 2010 held in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The paper provides an account of the IFLA Congress in the context of the IFLA strategic plan and midterm strategy.

Various links to IFLA information are provided.

Information about a major internal conference for the information and library profession is given in this paper.

For a number of years problems of research in reading have been given some priority in the work of the IFLA Section on Library Theory and Research. As it is one of the Section's objectives as formulated in IFLA's Medium Term Programme to promote communication and co‐operation among researchers in library and information science as well as to improve the contacts between researchers and practitioners, the organisation of international seminars on research subjects has been one primary task of the Section.

This report aims to summarize selected presentations of the International Federations of Librarians Associations and Institutions (IFLA) 79th world congress held at Suntec City centre, Singapore, and highlight Asian participation in the World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) 2013. In addition to its content, the IFLA congress provides opportunities to discuss emerging issues and best practices with colleagues, vendors, and consultants across the globe.

Reports from the viewpoint of an IFLA 2013 congress participant and paper presenter; presents an overview of the selected events with more detail on some of the presented papers and Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL) workshop. IFLA congress attracts librarians from all sectors and work environments from around the globe. It is difficult to document the entire conference happenings in a single report because of its huge and diverse nature; therefore a selective approach is used.

The WLIC in Singapore was one of the most exciting social and professional events of the year. Over the years, the author finds that IFLA congresses deliver the best value in professional development; the educational value of the IFLA congress that author has had attended is consistent and cost-beneficial.

It is not possible for any one person to cover all aspects of IFLA; it contains presentation summary of selected papers maybe of particular interest to readers who missed these sessions.

The Singapore congress was worthwhile and enlightening, revealing the diversity of current developments in library service delivery worldwide. This report summarizes information about the congress useful for professionals who did not attend.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of the highlights of the IFLA Congress 2011 held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The paper provides an account of the IFLA Congress in the context of the four strategic directions of the IFLA Strategic Plan.

This paper provides information about IFLA's five key initiatives for 2011‐2012.

Information about a major international conference for the information and library profession is provided in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the evolving IFLA approach to impact evaluation through three of its international programmes: Freedom of Access to Information, Building Strong Library Associations (BSLA) and the International Advocacy Programme (IAP). This review positions these three programmes within the wider discourse of the international evaluation community.

Each of the three programmes is considered in turn to show what they were trying to achieve and how thinking about impact evaluation at IFLA is evolving.

This paper reports key evaluation findings for relevant phases of the BSLA and IAP programmes in general terms.

The views presented are those of the evaluation consultants who advised each of these programmes (and in the cases of BSLA and the IAP conducted the programme evaluations).

The processes described and the conclusions drawn should be of interest to anyone involved in international or national library evaluation, especially of public libraries, library associations and national libraries.

The paper suggests that more systematic impact evaluation of public libraries, library associations and national libraries is necessary to ensure their future survival.

The authors were uniquely placed to see and participate in IFLA impact evaluation discussions over the past decade.

The purpose of this paper is to report the 2023 conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference activities for 2023 as held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands from 21 to 25 August.

A report of the events that spanned five days, especially the aspects that hinged on technology use in libraries globally are highlighted. Narrative of the experiences during the conference is made from the participatory observation standpoint.

Librarians globally are connecting and collaborating. They use technology in their libraries and research into ways and means of collaborating more. Library associations globally are making impact especially in the use of artificial intelligence in service delivery. All sections of IFLA are active in working together and librarying!

The IFLA 2023 conference is one-of-a-kind experience in the library association world. Libraries and librarians globally are finding out new things yearly and the year 2023 is no different.

There has been a significant increase in activity over the past few years to integrate library metadata with the Semantic Web. While much of this has involved the development of controlled vocabularies as “linked data”, there have recently been concerted attempts to represent standard library models for bibliographic metadata in forms that are compatible with Semantic Web technologies. This paper aims to give an overview of these initiatives, describing relationships between them in the context of the Semantic Web.

The paper focusses on standards created and maintained by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, including Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, Functional Requirements for Authority Data, and International Standard Bibliographic Description. It also covers related standards and models such as RDA – Resource Description and Access, REICAT (the new Italian cataloguing rules) and CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, and the technical infrastructure for supporting relationships between them, including the RDA/ONIX framework for resource categorization, and Vocabulary Mapping Framework.

The paper discusses the importance of these developments for releasing the rich metadata held by libraries as linked data, addressing semantic and statistical inferencing, integration with user‐ and machine‐generated metadata, and authenticity, veracity and trust. It also discusses the representation of controlled vocabularies, including subject classifications and headings, name authorities, and terminologies for descriptive content, in a multilingual environment.

Finally, the paper discusses the potential collective impact of these initiatives on metadata workflows and management systems.

The paper provides a general review of recent activity for those interested in the development of library standards, the Semantic Web, and universal bibliographic control.