International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Identifies Five High Level Information Trends in New Report
The 79th Annual World Library & Information Congress (aka IFLA Conference and Assembly is now underway in Singapore and today the organization released a report (multiple resources) that, “identifies five high level trends shaping the information society, spanning access to education, privacy, civic engagement and transformation. Its findings reflect a year’s consultation with a range of experts and stakeholders from different disciplines to map broader societal changes occurring, or likely to occur in the information environment.”
Note: Most of the report is only available to IFLA members. A 16 page summary document (linked below) is available to all.
The Five High Level Trends
Here are the trends discussed in the report:
1. New Technologies will both expand and limit who has access to information.
2. Online Education will democratise and disrupt global learning.
3. Hyper-connected societies will listen to and empower new voices and groups.
4. The global information environment will be transformed by new technologies.
Insights Document
- “Insights” From the IFLA Trends Report (16 pages; PDF)
A “conversation starter for the library community”.
The full text of this document is available to all.
Additional Links
- Trends Report Web Site
Most of the links here go to items available only to IFLA members.
Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Libraries, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.