World Refugee Day Webinar

Libraries Supporting Displaced Persons: International Guidelines (IFLA) and Global Experiences

This webinar commemorating World Refugee Day 2025 (June 20) highlighted the recently published IFLA Guidelines for Libraries Supporting Displaced Persons: Refugees, Migrants, Immigrants, Asylum seekers (December 2024) and was complemented by presentations on international experiences and/or research on providing library and information services to refugees and other displaced persons, with commentary on how the Guidelines are/may inform their work.

Speakers:

• Despina Gerasimidou, Community Mobilization and Capacity Building Consultant, IFLA - From Shelves to Shelter: Libraries Making Room for Displaced Communities – IFLA Guidelines

• Magdalena Gomulka, Curator, Silesian Library in Katowice, Polish Librarians Association - Ukrainians in Poland: How Did Libraries Help Refugees?

• Lisa Hussey, Professor, School of Library and Information Science, Simmons University - School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) Library: Working with Afghan girls in Rwanda

• Ana Ndumu, Assistant Professor, College of Information, University of Maryland College Park - Partnerships and power: Reflections on the ILPI Project amid hardline anti-immigrant policies

The webinar was co-organized by the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), the American Library Association (ALA), and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).