ALA president announces international relations resources

CHICAGO — American Library Association (ALA) President Loida Garcia-Febo today unveiled a variety of programs and tools to engage, retain and expand ALA’s international members. From free webinars to opportunities for engagement with librarians from various countries, Garcia-Febo in conjunction with her International Relations Advisory Committee, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the ALA International Relations Office, will work to increase awareness regarding international topics impacting our world and profession. Developing free international relations resources is part of Garcia-Febo’s commitment to international librarianship.

“Regardless of where they reside, libraries and library workers are essential in helping transform lives and communities through multicultural understanding and resources,” said Garcia-Febo. “In an effort to assist the profession with supporting diverse populations, ALA and member leaders are offering a series of webinars to increase awareness of international issues.”

Free webinars will feature themes such as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations with the first one scheduled for July 19. Updates regarding available webinars are available at http://www.ala.org/rt/irrt/initiatives.

Garcia-Febo continued, “International members are valuable to ALA. We have a great number of international members and we want to engage them more in ALA’s programs and initiatives. We will expand ‘I am ALA’ to highlight an ALA International Member each month. My goal is to encourage and welcome International members to apply for opportunities available to their colleagues in the United States.”

Other efforts to support international collaboration include a Library Map of the World. Developed by IFLA, the map will be displayed at both ALA Midwinter and Annual Conferences. Librarians from different countries will staff tables and offer resources to encourage international collaboration.

In addition, Garcia-Febo will bring her “Libraries = Strong Communities” advocacy campaign to regions of the world where ALA already has long standing commitments by formally launching a Global Tour of libraries. Current annual commitments include The Guadalajara Book Fair (FIL) and the German Library Association Annual Conference, with which ALA has a partnership until 2019. Others will be added as she continues to coordinate with ALA staff.

President Garcia-Febo is collaborating with her International Relations Advisory Committee to coordinate these efforts. The Committee consists of Raymond Pun, Robin Kear and ALA Past President Barbara Ford. Members are collaborating closely with ALA’s International Relations Office.

For additional information regarding Garcia-Febo’s International Relations efforts please visit http://www.ala.org/rt/irrt/initiatives , or follow #LibrariesStrong.