IFLA Trend Report 2024: Facing the future of information with confidence

Michael Dezuanni and Kim Osman

The goal of the 2024 Trend Report – and indeed of so much of IFLA’s work – is to provide the tools, structures, inspiration and energy necessary for libraries and library and information workers to face the future with optimism. [...] In focusing on wider knowledge practical suggestions for how to use the and information trends, and by calling report within institutions and associations, on the inputs of experts from outside of as well as in individual practice the library field, the goal is for it to be a A set of references used in developing the basis also for conversations with external literature and scenarios for further. [...] The only way to combat harmful forms of artificial Media and Information Literacy intelligence is to cultivate human consists of the knowledge, the attitudes, intelligence.” Pew Research surveyed and the sum of the skills needed to digital society experts to predict know when and what information is potential trends in digital life in light needed; where and how to obtain that of the rise of AI an. [...] In contrast to the Reducing the turnover of digital systems ‘take-make-waste’ linear model, a circular and hardware in response to the trend of economy is regenerative by design and accelerating redundancy of technology aims to gradually decouple growth from could address issues related to the loss the consumption of finite resources.” of memory and content, along with wider Re-using resources suc. [...] AI is evolving, and we are still, in 2024, In the context of libraries, AI has its learning the broader implications own role in the search and curation of – socially, economically and most sources in addition to the clustering and importantly, ethically of the technology.