IFLA Repository
The IFLA Repository was established to collect and disseminate works by the global IFLA community. Here you can explore IFLA Standards, key publications, core documents and much more. Items in the repository are integrated with our main website, IFLA.org, as “Resources” and displayed in a separate Resources page of the website, as well as in relevant unit or topic pages.
If you have questions about this site, please contact repository@ifla.org.
Recent Submissions
Libraries on the Agenda: Lobbying and Advocating for Library and Information Professionals
(De Gruyter Saur, 2024) Lux, Claudia; De Gruyter Saur
Libraries on the Agenda shows how to engage in lobbying and advocating for libraries. The book analyzes political elements of power, policy making and human values. Political decision makers from local communities up to the international level need to be convinced, why libraries need their support. This title has an international approach to advocacy and shows many international examples. It presents tips and tools for successful advocating.
Minutes of meeting Professional Council 27 March 2025
(IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions), 2025-05) IFLA Professional Council
Minutes from the 27 March 2025 meeting of the IFLA Professional Council
BIBFRAME Interoperability Group: Tackling Implementation Challenges Across Institutions
(International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), 2025-03-19) Li, Xiaoli; Mathios, Kalli; Possemato, Tiziana
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Advisory Committee on Standards hosted a symposium on metadata, with the theme “Metadata Standards Matter: Building a Sustainable Future for Information” at the National Library of Greece, Athens, on 19 March 2025.
As libraries and cultural heritage institutions move toward adopting BIBFRAME (Bibliographic Framework Initiative), achieving interoperability between different implementations has become a critical challenge. BIBFRAME aims to modernize bibliographic data by following Linked Data principles, which enable richer connections between data and allow for more flexible sharing across systems. However, for BIBFRAME to work effectively in diverse environments, there needs to be greater consistency in its application. Without this consistency, data exchange, integration, and discoverability can become difficult.
To address these challenges, the BIBFRAME Interoperability Group (BIG) was formed in June 2022 by the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). BIG consists of thirteen organizations including national libraries, OCLC, Share-VDE, and academic libraries. The primary goals of the BIG are to develop guidelines to ensure BIBFRAME data can be shared consistently and accurately across systems, as well as to create the tools and infrastructure needed for large-scale adoption.
In 2024, BIG focuses on three key initiatives:
Tabular Application Profiles: Developing standardized “interlingua” profiles for monographs and serials to harmonize BIBFRAME data representation across various systems.
Validation Tools: Enhancing tools like DCTap (Dublin Core Application Profile) and SHACL (Shapes Constraint Language) to ensure data consistency and structural integrity.
Data Exchange Tests: Conducting real-world test projects to evaluate and refine profiles and tools.
This presentation will introduce BIG’s mission, governance, and progress to date, with a particular focus on the areas mentioned above. Presenters will explore how the development of application profiles, validation tools, and test projects is advancing BIBFRAME interoperability. They will also discuss the broader impact of BIG’s work on the library community and share insights on future directions.
The work of BIG is laying the foundation for a more flexible, interoperable bibliographic ecosystem—one that can meet the evolving needs of today’s information landscape. We look forward to sharing our progress at the symposium.
Conversion of MARC21 Bibliographic to LRM/RDA/RDF: Setting the stage and creating the tools
(International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), 2025-03-19) Yragui, Crystal; Zapounidou, Sofia; Kartus, Ebe; Akerman, Laura
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Advisory Committee on Standards hosted a symposium on metadata, with the theme “Metadata Standards Matter: Building a Sustainable Future for Information” at the National Library of Greece, Athens, on 19 March 2025.
This presentation falls under the Technology Matters subtheme which focuses on the technological advancements that support metadata standards and emerging technologies, including AI.
Emerging linked data technologies promise innovative uses of legacy bibliographic library data in new information landscapes. While many of the necessary technological tools for implementing legacy data as linked data, including models (i.e. IFLA LRM), vocabularies, and mappings, already exist, what is missing is the data itself. To bring legacy bibliographic data into the linked data landscape, it must be represented using entity-based conceptualizations as defined in the core model the library community shares: the IFLA Library Reference Model.
The University of Washington Libraries initiated an open source project to create a robust mapping between the MARC21 bibliographic format and the IFLA LRM as expressed in the RDA/RDF vocabulary, along with a corresponding conversion tool, in 2021. The project aspires to provide a groundwork for adoption of LRM/RDA/RDF based on experimentation with a test dataset. In support for the ongoing integration of IFLA bibliographic standards worldwide, the LRM/RDA/RDF combination of standards was selected because it leverages RDA-based records and is compatible with the ISBD for Manifestation (ISBDM). The project’s selection of a granular data model (the LRM/RDA/RDF ontology) was strategic, as it allows for downstream conversion to less-specific metadata schemas and bibliographic models such as Dublin Core and BIBFRAME in a way that is not possible in the opposite direction.
The Phase I milestone, set for publication in early 2025, focuses on the conversion of the MARC21 fields and subfields defined in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Bibliographic Standard Record (BSR). The test dataset consists of a broad pool of legacy MARC21 bibliographic records. The presentation outlines the scope of Phase I, clarifying key decisions related to selection of MARC21 fields/subfields, minting and deduplication of entities, handling of aggregates and serials, and more. Most importantly, the presentation highlights key challenges faced during the project, such as minting entity URIs, reusing identifiers from other vocabularies and datasets, identifying and expressing specific relationships between entities based on MARC21 tags and relator terms, identifying aggregates and their types, publishing supplemental RDF value vocabularies, and handling non-RDA entities. Approaches to these key challenges may differ depending on cataloging policies implemented in the dataset to be transformed. Highlighting those challenges may trigger adaptations of the project’s mappings or transformation code by prospective libraries wishing to leverage the project’s outputs to transform their bibliographic data.
IFLA-UNESCO School Library Manifesto Poster
(International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), 2025-05-12) International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA); Hopley, Ceire
The IFLA-UNESCO School Library Manifesto 2025 is an updated edition of the former IFLA/Unesco School Library Manifesto: The school library in teaching and learning for all (1999). The new edition reflects the many changes in technology, society and education, and represents an important and useful tool for school library advocacy for quality and inclusive education. The text is the outcome of a collaborative work within IFLA, IASL and the global school library community. It was jointly released in English by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee and the IASL - International Association of School Librarianship on the 12th of September 2021, and approved by the IFLA Governing Board on the 17th of April 2023. It was further approved in the 13th Session of the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO's Information for All Programme (IFAP) in April 2025.