This presentation flags UNESCO’s vision of libraries as libraries are indispensable public infrastructure for ensuring that digital and AI transformation serves inclusive, rights-based knowledge societies. UNESCO congratulates IZUM on its renewal as a Category 2 Centre and affirms the value of regional library information systems in connecting institutions across borders for the next eight years.
Against the backdrop of the 25th anniversary of UNESCO’s Information for All Programme (IFAP), the presentation examines how libraries advance its priorities of access, literacy, preservation, ethics, development and multilingualism. It also highlights UNESCO’s partnership with IFLA, including the Public Library Manifesto (2022), the School Library Manifesto (2025), and the IFAP Issue Brief Global Network of Libraries and Local Impact. A forthcoming brief will extend this analysis to AI specifically. The IFLA collaboration further extends to a Digital@UNGA affiliate session exploring how Universal Service and Access Funds can support libraries as cost-effective drivers of digital inclusion.
The presentation also considers how UNESCO’s WSIS-aligned approach to AI governance complements the mandates of libraries, including their capacity to support multilingualism, positioning libraries as indispensable actors in ensuring AI technologies serve linguistically diverse, rights-respecting knowledge societies.
