Athens to Host World Library and Information Congress in 2019

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. Photo Source: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (Yiorgis Yerolymbos).

Athens in August 2019 will host the World Library and Information Congress (WLIC), which is organized by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

The WLIC brings together over 3,500 participants from more than 120 countries. It sets the international agenda for the profession and offers opportunities for networking and professional development to all delegates. The congress also offers an international trade exhibition with over 80 exhibitors.

“Following the opening of a new national library building (at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center – SNFCC), and its designation as 2018 World Book Capital, Athens will in two years’ time play host to the biggest truly international gathering of the library field,” IFLA said in an announcement.

IFLA in April 2017 held its President’s Meeting and Global Vision Discussion at the SNFCC in Athens, with the participation of more than 300 librarians from around the world.  “I am thrilled that we are returning to Athens, where we started the IFLA Global Vision process earlier this year,” said IFLA Secretary General Gerald Leitner. “We are building a united library field, one that is empowered not just to react to change, but to shape it,” he added.

The event offers numerous opportunities for discussion on how the library field is meeting the challenges of today, and ensuring that libraries make an ever greater contribution to growth, education, innovation and social cohesion. “Libraries are motors of change, and WLIC is the biggest single opportunity each year to refuel,” IFLA president Glòria Pérez-Salmerón underlined.

Founded in 1927 in Edinburgh, IFLA today counts more than 1,400 members in over 140 countries around the world, representing the interests of library and information services and their users.