Dear colleagues

As many of you will know, IFLA President Vicki McDonald has let us know that the Governing Board plans to reinstitute the IFLA President’s meeting, with a view to holding such a meeting in Brisbane, Australia between 29 September and 2 October 2024. 

I know that the Board has some more thinking to do about what that meeting would look like.  For now, I wanted to let you know that if the meeting proceeds, we will canvas availability for in-person attendance at a CDNL meeting (either in Brisbane, or in my own library here in Canberra, the national capital) around those dates. 

We also plan an online meeting earlier in the new year – likely in March – and thank those of you who have sent us suggestions for topics. 

I will get back to you as soon as possible on these potential meetings, as I know your 2024 diaries will be filling fast. 

Regards

Marie-Louise

Dr Marie-Louise Ayres  |  Director-General  |  she/her/hers
02 6262 1390  |  mayres@nla.gov.au  |  National Library of Australia

Chair: Conference of Directors of National Libraries – cdnl@nla.gov.au

Dear colleagues

For those who were able to travel to the 2023 IFLA World Library and Information Conference (WLIC) in Rotterdam and the 2023 CDNL in person meeting, I trust you returned to your national libraries with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

For all colleagues – a list of 2023 CDNL participants and copies of the presentations that explored artificial intelligence and the implications for National Library leaders are available on the CDNL website. Discussions on the day were most engaging and AI appears to be a challenge many of us will need to continue to engage with for years to come.

As your CDNL governance committee commence planning our activities for 2024, we are of course aware that the invitation to hold the 2024 World Library and Information Congress in Dubai has been withdrawn and that, as a result, there will not be a WLIC in 2024.

As CDNL in-person meetings have traditionally leveraged WLIC attendance, it is likely that we will revert to online meetings only in 2024. I plan to meet virtually with our remaining Deputy Chair, Leslie Weir, in coming weeks to discuss this proposal and would appreciate your views on two matters:

• That CDNL meet online in the first and third quarters of 2024
• Topics you would like to discuss as a conference of National Library leaders

Finally, you will recall that Janne Andresoo vacated one of the CDNL deputy chair roles following our meeting in Rotterdam. Leslie Weir and I will make a call for nominations for the vacant position on the CDNL governance committee in coming months with a view to voting on our new deputy chair at our next CDNL meeting.

With warm regards

Marie-Louise

Dr Marie-Louise Ayres  |  Director-General  |  she/her/hers
02 6262 1390  |  mayres@nla.gov.au  |  National Library of Australia

Chair: Conference of Directors of National Libraries – cdnl@nla.gov.au