New report: Connecting Libraries to Empower Communities – IFLA

24 March 2026

New report: Connecting Libraries to Empower Communities

A new report presents the key findings of the Libraries Boosting Connecitivity (LBC) initiative launched in 2024 to collect crucial data on how libraries are navigating and adapting to the digital landscape. The report offers insights from the selected pilot countries and provides an analysis of library geolocation, connectivity status and the state of the infrastructure, available resources and types of digital-related training that those libraries offer. It also examines the perceived value and impact of these efforts as reported by library staff.

What drove this initiative

When libraries know where they stand in terms of digital access, they are better able to serve their communities. Many libraries and associations around the world have carried out their own assessments to better understand where they are in terms of connectivity, however, many of these efforts remain fragmented.

While individual efforts are valuable, our ambition is to achieve an open access digital space that can provide the global library network with a platform to compare and explore digital-related data between different countries and also serve as a tool for partnership and collaboration with external stakeholders that might be interested in supporting or funding library-led digital initiatives.

Highlights

• While most of the surveyed libraries have Internet access, many have only symbolic connectivity. Which means the speed might be too low and the service too unstable to support meaningful use. These cases are common and often reflect deeper structural issues that also limits libraries’ ability to offer digital training and other services.
• Surveying unconnected libraries is essential as they reveal important stories about local barriers and on how these institutions support community members who lack private Internet access.
• Chilean libraries offer a valuable case study, highlighting additional metrics worth tracking beyond connectivity and taking a more strategic view on how to enhance digital transformation in public and community libraries.
• Comparing the LBC findings with GIGA data also highlights a strong opportunity for closer collaboration between school and library networks when it comes to Internet access and points to practices within the school network that could be valuable for libraries to adopt.

Connecting Libraries to Empower Communities – Insights from the Libraries Boosting Connectivity initiative

Connecting every library to the internet is a powerful way to ensure all members of society, throughout life, have access to information and opportunity. The Libraries Boosting Connectivity (LBC) project is an IFLA initiative piloted between 2023 and 2025. It aimed to collect crucial data on how lib…

View this resource on the IFLA repository

Next steps

Beyond the release of this resource, a pilot website will also be launched in the coming months containing more detailed information on each country profile, geolocation and other metrics. The website will be aligned with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) GIGA initiative, that aims to connect every school to the Internet by 2030. The objective of this alignment is to underscore the natural synergies there are between schools and libraries as two global networks that serve as anchor institutions for equitable access to information across the world.

If your library or association are interested in joining this initiative by coordinating efforts in your own countries in further phases of this project we invite you to contact us.

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