Exhibitions and Sponsorship

UKZN and the Organizing Committee wants to extend a heartfelt thanks to the sponsors and exhibitors who made the 5th IFLA Symposium on Artificial Intelligence  possible with generous support, commitment, and partnership.

The IFLA IT section promotes the sharing of knowledge and best practices in implementing IT solutions across various library environments. Each year, the IFLA IT Section conducts symposiums in different locations to enhance global outreach. IFLA AI-SIG focuses specifically on integrating AI technologies in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field. The collaboration between the University of KwaZulu-Natal Library Services, IFLA IT section, and IFLA AI SIG will empower and advance Library and AI research in the Southern Africa region.

AI impacts all aspects of our daily lives with technologies like generative AI having an impact on all aspects of the information landscape. The world around us is evolving at an unprecedented pace, increasing access to knowledge and creating new informational and ethical challenges. AI and related technological development are reshaping the landscape of libraries and the information professions. Libraries worldwide have both an opportunity and are faced with the challenge to envision how libraries and librarianship can evolve, benefit, and empower the profession to best serve their communities. This Symposium will provide a chance for engagement with these tools while also focusing on how we can advocate for responsible use of AI, promote information literacy, and build staff capacity.

By collaborating with the IFLA IT section and AI SIG, this Symposium will examine different uses of AI in libraries; focusing on the Southern Africa region, libraries’ best practices in using generative AI and other AI models, and ethical guidelines for utilizing AI in the Library and Information Science field.