Columbus setting the stage for IFLA’s international audience
For somebody unfamiliar with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress, it becomes more impressive the more you learn about it.
In that way, IFLA’s Congress is similar to its upcoming host city: Columbus, Ohio.
Yes, Columbus is a city in the Midwest.
But no, it’s not a dull, bland town with nothing to offer an international audience.
And when it comes to libraries? Ohio has more than a few.
“We hosted the IFLA selection committee in December of 2013, and they were blown away,” said Carol Pitts Diedrichs, director emeritus of Ohio State University Libraries and co-chair of the 2016 IFLA conference taking place in Columbus from Aug. 13-19.
IFLA’s Congress visits one of seven different global regions each year, with stops in Cape Town, South Africa; Lyon, France; Helsinki, Finland and San Juan, Puerto Rico in recent years. Next year it heads to Wroclaw, Poland.
Similar to how the Olympic selection committee picks a host city, the IFLA committee selects the site for its annual congress based on a number of criteria, at the heart of which is the city’s ability to host and entertain an international gathering, along with the quality of its library community. With a strong base of both, Columbus this year edged Seattle and Washington, D.C. to become the first U.S. city since Boston in 2001 to host the IFLA Congress.
“You go to Seattle or Washington D.C. and kind of know what you’re going to get,” said Diedrichs, a charter founder of OhioLINK in 1992. “But people come to Columbus with zero expectations.”
Between the library community, the Greater Columbus Convention Center (which will host the gathering) other available venues, the city life, the high quality hotels and various events that will be offered in August, Columbus went to the top of the list.
“We had signs they were enthusiastic about our proposal, but we couldn’t be sure until it was officially announced,” Diedrichs said. “It’s such a cool thing to be there waving your flag; we were really, really excited.”
Diedrichs co-chairs the congress with Patrick Losinski, Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) CEO, who Diedrichs credits with spearheading the effort to bring IFLA to Ohio. OCLC (the largest library cooperative in the world, headquartered in Columbus) and Experience Columbus also contributed greatly to the proposal effort.
“Pat has been such a great representative of the city,” Diedrichs said. “That was one thing we’ve been told later is that in other cities, the engagement of the libraries felt more like an afterthought, it was the city going after the bid. That was a selling point for us that this library community was very committed to hosting the congress.”
Once Columbus was selected, the work ramped up to support the 3,000-plus attendees from around the globe who will attend the seven-day conference. Among the major projects for the local team were organizing, training and managing 350 volunteers (a project coordinated by Ohio State’s Wes Boomgaarden) planning the opening ceremony and planning the Cultural Evening.
“The opening ceremony is the launch of the congress, and it’s our chance to highlight the U.S., Ohio and Columbus,” Diedrichs said. “Our theme is innovation and invention, and it includes OhioLINK, which is being highlighted as a library innovation.”
OhioLINK will have a substantial presence throughout the week’s activities, with staff members attending meetings, volunteering, participating in workshops and networking with out-of-state and international colleagues at some of the cultural activities.
The Cultural Evening on Aug. 16 will be at COSI, which will be divided to represent different regions of the United States, featuring food and entertainment from each region.
“Like any conference, the congress is designed to have intellectual stimulation, but also things to do in the city and opportunities to meet other librarians from around the world,” Diedrichs said.
IFLA will offer a slew of local and non-local library tours. The local library visits will include everything from Columbus-area high schools and colleges, Ohio State libraries – Thompson and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library – OCLC and Columbus Metropolitan Libraries. Along with OSU, an OhioLINK library on the local tour includes the Courtwright Memorial Library at Otterbein University.
The non-local libraries will include trips to Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the University of Kentucky Libraries. OhioLINK libraries on these tours include University of Cincinnati Libraries, the Cleveland Clinic Library, the Cleveland Institute of Art Library, the Robinson Music Library – Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Dayton Libraries, the Oberlin College Library, Case Western Reserve University libraries and the Cuyahoga County Public Library.
Along with helping set up the entire congress, part of the expectation of hosting IFLA is providing scholarships for international colleagues to attend. And while the goal was to raise $250,000, Jim Neal, university librarian emeritus at Columbia University, raised more than $400,000 for scholarships that will go to international and U.S. colleagues.
“It’s a true international congress, and it really is the only one that represents the whole world for librarians,” she said. “The participants come from all over the world; the issues and programs reflect that.
“The other piece is about Columbus for me, I do think people will be surprised at what Columbus has to offer and how much fun they’ll have here.”
