KIWIS AT IFLA WLIC 2019:

Louise Lahatte; (BA, Dip Lib, FLIANZA, RLIANZA) is LIANZA’S Immediate Past President. She is currently Te Pouarahi o Te Kura Tawhiti/head of Research, Heritage, the Central Library and Records & Archives at Auckland Council and leads LIANZA’S Standing Committee on Freedom of Information. Louise has worked in public and university libraries for over 30 years, and previous LIANZA involvement includes chairing CATSIG, membership of the Hikuwai regional committee and the LIANZA copyright committee. That makes her sound ancient, but she has heaps of energy for the transformative potential of libraries in people’s lives, and how library associations can support that. MY WLIC2019 ATHENS

An IFLA congress can be overwhelming, but the New Zealand cohort are amazing at supporting each other over the seven days of the conference – it is long and huge with over 3600 delegates this year in Athens. The full programme is available in the very good event app (WLIC 2019) – worth downloading now if you want a taste of the breadth of topics, and some sessions listed also include conference papers.

There are always more sessions I want to attend than I can fit in, with interests this year including public libraries, library buildings, special collections, IFLA strategy, freedom of Information, measurement & evaluation, and also how to deliver a successful IFLA congress! Every interest you might have seems to be catered for at an IFLA congress.

A little sample of some sessions I attended:

■ Role of public libraries in disasters. Iran experienced massive flooding in 2019 and public libraries were both collation points for donations and “springs of kindness” for communities, with storytimes, movies and outreach giving children some lightness in a difficult time. Others talked about the role of libraries providing information before, during and after a crisis, and the need for libraries to be proactive not passive in a crisis.

■ Library disasters – “Forward thinking to lessen effects of disasters.’’ Plan ahead! – but solutions vary depending on local environments. In Japan earthquakes are the highest

risk so best practice is underground stacks which also support uniform temperature and humidity. In Paris floods are the risk so the National Library building with seven levels below ground requires extensive and complex engineering solutions to keep water out. In other sites they have everything boxed to aid fast removal in a disaster. In the State Archives of Greece a lack of funding for repairs and maintenance resulted in leaking issues from rain and HVAC. With little money they focus on minimising risk by understanding the most vulnerable parts of the building and the most valuable collections and planning layouts accordingly. In Iraq, where war and deliberate destruction were the biggest risk – digitisation was the key strategy so that at least the content was protected, if not the artefacts.

■ All IFLA congresses have satellite events before and after the main congress. I went to one in Rome (squeee!) on The evolving concept of “library” and its impact on design. This included presentations about amazing buildings like Oodi in Helsinki, Tūranga in Christchurch, Free Library of Philadelphia, Tampines Library in Singapore and Biblioteca Parque Villalobos in Brasil. There was a workshop facilitated by Traci Lesneski @Lesneskitraci “Built for inclusion: library design that welcomes all.” We worked in groups with some example library plans, and using the lens of different personas with some aspect of accessibility issues, redesigned the library to better meet their needs.

■ I was moved by the stories and bravery of the two Ainu women from Japan in the indigenous matters session talking about cosmetic multiculturalism (Fashion, Festivals, Food) and the invisibility of Ainu in Japan because of government policies, what is taught in schools and how they are portrayed in museums.

■ I was excited by the Library Building of the Year awards (Oodi won), and learned heaps from sessions on measurement and outcomes.

Apart from sessions there is immense value in meeting people, in sessions, in workshops, in breaks, at social events, poster sessions and visiting exhibitors. I have made friends, shared my stories, learned from others.

Would I encourage anyone to attend one? Hell yeah! See you in Dublin in August 2020 (and Rotterdam 2021, and AUCKLAND in 2022!)