The Metropolitan Libraries Section supports and promotes the work of library organizations serving cities or municipalities with a population over 400,000 inhabitants.

The Metropolitan Libraries Section (MetLib) was formerly known as the International Association of Metropolitan City Libraries (INTAMEL). The foundation meeting of INTAMEL took place in Toronto in 1967. In 1976 it became an IFLA roundtable of the Division of Libraries and a Section in 2004. Each year, MetLib hosts an annual conference hosted by a standing committee member of the section.

Current membership in the Metropolitan Libraries Section hail from all parts of the globe including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States, China, the Middle East and European Nations (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden). Membership include Library Institutions, International Associations, National Associations and personal affiliates.

The Work of the Section

The Metropolitan Libraries Section (MetLib) aims to refine and update our value proposition to be directly relevant to the multi-faceted but unique needs of metropolitan library systems and their related stakeholders. We do this by creating a firm foundation and basis which anchors the curation of MetLib activities according to the needs of our relevant audiences. We believe that when we meet the needs of our respective audiences, we strengthen our appeal to regional and sectoral stakeholders and strengthen their involvement in IFLA’s capacity building initiatives through the MetLib section.

The Section continues to reach out and engage its current and former membership, as well as other IFLA sections, through enhanced communications and annual conferences. This effort has become more essential in a post-Covid world as we seek to identify strategies and tactics for libraries to work through and ultimately thrive with a greater understanding as to how the extraordinary changes the pandemic presented impacts the profession, our communities, work-habits and connectedness.

In this vein, Metropolitan Libraries will continue to pursue opportunities to ascertain the impact of libraries on the lives of the people we serve through developing impact measurement strategies. We will continue to seek a partner in the data collection and analytics arena to help best determine the measurements that define meaningful impact through measurable outcomes.

Staying in touch with the Metropolitan Libraries Section members

During the coming year Metropolitan Libraries will launch a Facebook page to improve connectedness, communication and collaboration among its 70+ members.

We will continue to update the MetLib Section page in the ILFA Site with news, updates and stories from MetLib members.

Basecamp will continue to be an avenue for MetLib Standing Committee Members to review and update documentation and prepare for conferences.

This unit is part of the Professional Division A.