EBLIDA Strategic Plan 2019-2022

28 June 2019

 

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Eblida: Advocating for the values of and requirements for establishing a strong library and information community in Europe

The European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations is an independent umbrella association of library, information, documentation and archive associations and institutions in Europe.

Vision

Eblida is the community hub for all library organizations in Europe striving towards an equitable, democratic and sustainable society.

Mission

The mission of Eblida is:

• to promote freedom of information and free access to information, education and culture for all citizens in Europe;
• to engage libraries in taking care of people and their rights by encouraging democratic participation of citizens in society;
• to advocate for the interests of the library and information sectors and professionals in Europe.

 

Objectives

Taking stock of EBLIDA’s past achievements and Members’ expectations, these are the objectives of the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan:

• To identify key areas for EBLIDA´s short and medium-term development;
• To provide visibility for EBLIDA activities through tools and services that can easily be used by EBLIDA members;
• To increase EBLIDA’s membership and influence on European library policy and society.

 

EBLIDA Strategic Plan: Four strands

Strand One: The Political Level

Reading, information literacy and learning for all are core elements of human dignity and main factors for a sustainable Europe, and European libraries provide wide opportunities to access them to every citizen. EBLIDA will advocate that libraries are prioritized in all relevant European strategies and will support initiatives and programmes aiming to increase the visibility of libraries with Members of European Parliament.

Strand Two:The Legislative Framework

Appropriate legislative frameworks in Europe and in Member States must empower libraries to provide the citizens of Europe unhindered access to reliable information and knowledge in a digital society. Copyright is a pervasive issue as it concerns future libraries’ developments and strategies seamlessly. In cooperation with other library associations and organisations, EBLIDA will act to make sure that European copyright as well as e-lending rules are applied at national level to the advantage of libraries.

EBLIDA´s role will be essential in comparing legislation, exchanging good practices and suggesting appropriate regulations when, for instance, European states will change their public library acts

Strand Three: Policy-Making

Library policy is not the same as library legislation; it is about library objectives, indicators and result evaluation. EBLIDA, through the adoption of an innovative approach to qualitative assessment of libraries performances, will help library managers and administrators to share a common culture for evaluating the social, cultural and economical impact of libraries and to better define the nature, identity and diversity of the European library infrastructure.

Strand Four: The Socio-Educational Impact

EBLIDA advocates the importance of a culture for sustainability by developing appropriate tools for libraries (such as an EBLIDA SDG European House and the EBLIDA Matrix) and by linking SDG-oriented projects in European libraries to European funding opportunities. EBLIDA is fully committed to widen libraries educational impact by supporting informal learning and also by paying attention to library products and services which may help citizens to improve their critical thinking skills and to defend themselves against fake news and misinformation. EBLIDA will support the diffusion of open access publications of educational material to be distributed in public as well as in academic libraries.

(The Strategy 2019-2022 was approved  by the 27th EBLIDA Council, Dublin, Ireland, 24 June 2019 and adjusted in 2020)

 

 

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