Guyana Library Association + IFLA Strategy: resilient no matter what

Resilience is defined as the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The IFLA Strategy seems to have inspired the Guyana Library Association (GLA) on that front.

Closely aligned to the IFLA Key Initiative 3.2 Support virtual networking and connections, the Guyana Library Association has started to plan an IFLA Strategy workshop to be held virtually in January 2021.

With the coming of COVID-19, many local librarians in Guyana have been struggling to continue to serve their users, and in particular to maintain the social distancing requirements that are necessary for the safety of both staff and visitors. As in the rest of the world, this means that many Guyanese librarians are not able to offer library services during these challenging times.

Nevertheless, the Guyanese librarians seem to have no intention of giving up. On the contrary, the IFLA Strategy seems to have inspired them to continue and overcome the challenges they face.

The President of the Guyana Library Association, Juneann Garnett highlighted the importance of the vision they have established for themselves, coming as an inspiration from the IFLA Global Vision and the IFLA Strategy:

…An examination of the IFLA Global Vision and the IFLA Strategy will show that for almost four years now, IFLA  has been pushing librarians all over the world to transform our services in such a manner that they would be resilient no matter what happens. Today, more than ever that vision provides us with a strategy, a plan, a call to action that helps librarians remain relevant now and in the future.”

Now more than ever, the mission set out in the IFLA Strategy; inspire, engage, enable and connect, must be emphasized at the local level so that librarians can fashion their own solutions as they advocate for the resources they need in order to remain relevant to their users. As people continue to work, students continue to learn and write exams online, librarians in Guyana must and will try to find a way to provide the information they need.

The Guyana Library Association has already started to organise and plan a virtual IFLA Strategy workshop, where the Guyanese library community will be given the opportunity to get together and discuss how to move forward not only locally and nationally, but also to be connected globally.

They hope to partner with the Ministry of Education to host a virtual workshop in line with the IFLA Strategy that will help local librarians devise ways in which they can continue to serve their clients and use the IFLA Strategy to plan for transforming their practice.

IFLA will be following this inspiring activity and will be sharing outcomes with the global library community.

Read more about the IFLA Strategy 2019-2024.

How is your library or library association engaging with the IFLA Strategy? Let us know! Post on your social media, using the hashtag #IFLAStrategy and #WeAreIFLA or send an email to Despina Gerasimidou, IFLA’s Strategic Development Officer at despina.gerasimidou@ifla.org.