Attendees of the Interlending and Document Supply (ILDS) Conference.
Doha: Qatar National Library, in partnership with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has for the first time hosted the “Interlending and Document Supply (ILDS) Conference,” from September 20-22.
The conference discussed how libraries rose to the challenge of document delivery and resource sharing during COVID-19 with the lack of access to physical collections.
Before the conference, three training sessions were provided for librarians, students, researchers and teachers interested in learning more about resource sharing and its principles. The training sessions come as part of the activities of the HERMES initiative, which aims to improve the sharing of digital resources between libraries globally.
The conference was opened with a welcome speech by Tan Huism, Executive Director of Qatar National Library, and Tina Baich, Chair of the IFLA DDRS Committee, followed by a keynote speech by Stephen Wyber, Director of Policy and Advocacy at IFLA. Librarians and researchers from numerous countries attended the three-day conference titled: “Sharing to Heal: Resource Sharing Through the Pandemic and Beyond,” which was initially scheduled to take place last year but was postponed in the wake of the pandemic’s outbreak.
Discussions about the impact that the pandemic left on the resource sharing community and the challenges that librarians faced topped the agenda of the conference. It had a focus on how the community redesigned its services and leveraged new technologies to address emerging challenges through initiatives like “Resource Sharing during COVID-19” and collaborative projects such as HERMES. The conference also featured projects that are enhancing resource sharing for the future.
The QNL Executive Director said, “We are pleased to finally host the 17th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply conference here at the library. In the last two years, the pandemic has had a tremendous global impact in economic, educational and social terms, forcing many libraries to close and restricted the access to resources for users.
“But the pandemic has also provided us an opportunity to consider new strategies, solutions and stronger collaborations to bolster the sharing of knowledge and resources,” she added.
Stephen Wyber, Director of Policy and Advocacy at IFLA commented: “It’s always great to visit Qatar National Library, not just because of the great welcome and organisation, but also because there’s always the sense that there’s so much else going on at the same time within the building and beyond. The library field benefits so much from institutions that have the ability to look to the long term and take initiatives that can inspire and inform others, and Qatar National Library is just such an institution.”
