Nigel Browne, Information Manager at IHS, was present at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress in Athens.
More than 3300 delegates from over 130 countries came to Athens, the cradle of democracy and the world’s first public library. The floor was given to more than 500 speakers at over 250 open sessions, nearly 200 poster sessions and 30 lighting talks. Over 20 Satellite Meetings were held in the surrounding region and gave in-depth attention to a broad range of subjects. Nigel attended a satellite meeting on Grey Literature at the new location of the Greek National Library and he gave a presentation at the session of the IFLA Government Libraries Special Interest Group, highlighting the new IHS Sustainable Development Goal #11 Knowledge Hub.
Government libraries form a Section of their own within the conference, aimed at the community of libraries which are part of and work for a body with a governing task and which have, in any way, a political responsibility or connection. This focus goes along with grey literature (materials include working papers, government documents, white papers and evaluations). IHS produces such materials quite often, alongside with publications resulting from academic research, which only reflects our orientation as a capacity development and at the same time, academic institute. A large portion of our publications originates from advisory and project-related activities.