On the 4th and 5th March 2013, IFLA, in association with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) hosted a high-level meeting in Mexico City to help prepare the IFLA Trend Report. Ten experts from eight countries were invited to discuss the trends that will affect society over the next ten years, with a particular emphasis on the effects they will have on the information environment in which libraries operate.

The experts submitted papers prior to the meeting that helped formulate the agenda. The submitted papers, along with a literature review and document repository, form the first part of the IFLA Trend Report which will be launched at the WLIC in Singapore in August 2013.  Topics discussed included copyright and the market; public goods and online culture; empowerment, security and political culture; and identity and location. The purpose of the Trend Report is to encourage discussion across the international library community about how libraries can adapt their services to cater for a changing world.

In the next two months further experts will be invited to comment on the meeting’s outcome document. Their submissions and a concluding section will become the final parts of the Trend Report which will be hosted on an online platform available to all IFLA members. IFLA President Ingrid Parent, who participated in discussions alongside President-elect Sinikka Sippila and other members of the IFLA Governing Board, said “I am delighted with the two days of discussions we have had in Mexico City. The depth of expertise in the room was inspiring, and the outcome content will be invaluable for the preparation of a great Trend Report.

The invited experts were:

  • Dr. Olivier M.J. Crépin-Leblond, Chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) At-Large Committee
  • Anriette Esterhuysen, CEO, Association for Progressive Communications  (APC)
  • Divina Frau-Meigs, Professor of American studies and media sociology at the Université Paris 3-Sorbonne,
  • John Houghton, Professorial Fellow at Victoria University’s Centre for Strategic Economic Studies (CSES)
  • Deborah Jacobs, Director of Global Libraries Global Development Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Mariéme Jamme, CEO of SpotOne Global Solutions
  • Fred von Lohmann, Legal Director for Copyright at Google
  • Alejandro Pisanty, Professor of Chemistry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
  • Suneet Singh Tuli, Founder and CEO of DataWind Ltd.
  • Louis Zacharilla, Co-Founder of the global Intelligent Community Forum