CANCELLED: Global Libraries As Advocates For Information Policy Change

The pandemic has raised our awareness and understanding of the need for information policies that support the ability of libraries to serve their communities. What are the persistent and new policy issues that libraries around the world must focus on? How can we strengthen our ability to influence legislative and legal change, and participate in the political process on the local, national and global levels?

The range of policy issues of relevance to libraries is extraordinary: intellectual freedom and the rising challenges to the books and other resources we make available in our collections; privacy and the threats that we and are users face on protecting their identities; civil liberties and the constraints on freedom of action and speech; open access to research and educational resources, funding for libraries, and for education and research programs; copyright and the importance of fair use and the exceptions that enable libraries to carry out their services; the expansion and quality of access to the internet and the challenges of the digital divides in our communities; telecommunications policy and the growth of social media monopolies and issues like net neutrality; government information and the importance of guaranteeing that records of the work of our governments are openly and readily accessible; the survival of school libraries which are so essential to our library ecosystem; and there are many more specific to local, national and global contexts.

Libraries must be at the core of the debates on information policy issues, as their success and effectiveness will increasingly be the ability to influence, interpret and apply new policy directions. By information policy, we mean those laws, regulations and programs established by governments and other organizations that define the strategies for the advancement and management of such things as technology, telecommunications and electronic information. It permeates all other policy areas, such as: education, foreign relations, science, culture, health, and perhaps most fundamentally, commerce, workforce development and business. Information policy is increasingly recognized as central to economic progress and social change.

This pre-conference will provide opportunities for learning about and sharing the impact of the pandemic on information policy around the world, provide a detailed look at several key policy areas, and inform how library professionals can be effective advocates in the legislative and legal arenas.