By: Shannon Brennan

At our final ILCE Meeting of 2025, Natalia Devlin, an ILCE Steering Committee Member, shared a presentation on her trip to the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2025 over the summer. Here is what she shared:

In August 2025, Natalia Devlin represented Colorado and Arapahoe Libraries at IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2025 (IFLA WLIC) in Astana, Kazakhstan, with poster presentation “Leveraging Community Partnerships to Serve Immigrant And Multilingual Communities”.

IFLA WLIC is one of the world’s largest and most diverse library conferences. This year the conference welcomed 160 delegates from 110 countries with largest delegations representing the US, Kazakhstan, and China. 

Recurring themes in presentations included AI, Technology, Digital Future of Libraries, Media Behavior of Information Users, Issues with Misinformation and Fake News, as well as challenges related to Equality & Inclusion. 

The host country of Kazakhstan did a fantastic job welcoming delegates from around the world and introducing them to Kazakh culture, Kazakhstan’s history and modernity, and especially to Kazakhstan’s libraries. 

In conversations with local librarians, Natalia learned that many Kazakhstan libraries created “American Corners” – spaces for cultural exchange and learning with books, programs, and activities, that introduced Kazakhstan youth to American culture. With the US Department of State sunsetting the funding for this program, Kazakhstan’s public libraries are concerned about the future of cultural exchange through libraries between our nations.

Nevertheless, Kazakhstan’s librarians and communities continue to maintain relationships with other countries and cultures across the world. In a bookstore in Astana, one can find books in Kazakh, Russian, English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, German, French, and so on. Local youth seem excited about graphic novels, international bestsellers, and so on. But local academic and school librarians are concerned how the world of AI is changing what youth considers important when seeking out quality resources and texts – a global concern shared across many countries.

Check out Natalia’s photo report here.

Next year’s IFLA WLIC is taking place in Busan, South Korea in mid-August.