The 80th
IFLA World Library and Information Congress going on in Lyon, France is
the biggest library event which brings more than 4,000 participants is running
under the theme 'Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for
Knowledge'. The congress shall end on August 22.
Yesterday,
IFLA officially launched the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and
Development that outlines the need for access to information to be recognised
in the United Nations post-2015 development framework. The Lyon Declaration
will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is expected to set the
agenda for development for the next decade. According to the IFLA media release
the framework which has been signed by more than 125 institutions and
associations from within and beyond the library sector, including development
agencies, media organisations, gender, ICT and education campaigners have
signed pre-launch, already making the Lyon Declaration the most successful campaign
of its type that IFLA has ever undertaken.
IFLA
further noted that the framework will give IFLA members and libraries the tools
to advocate for the inclusion of access to information in the final goals, and
to be ready to support national governments in implementation of the framework.
IFLA therefore encourage librarians to meet with Member State representatives to
promote the Lyon Declaration and highlight the role that specific library services,
such as government information, literacy, children's services and ICT can play
in supporting development. For the coming ear IFLA shall continue to seek
signatories to the Declaration and will continue to create more awareness of
the framework to governments through UN.
The Lyon
Declaration is the new development agenda that UN is discussing to succeed the
MDGs that is expected to guide all countries on approaches to improving
people’s lives, and outline a new set of goals to be reached during the period
2016-2030. Through the framework, sustainable development is to be achieved through
a sound library system that ensure everyone has access to, and is able to
understand, use and share the information to promote democratic societies.
The Lyon
Declaration is available at http://www.lyondeclaration.org/
