IFLA officially Launched the Lyon Declaration in Lyon, France

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/