JANUARY 1, 2025

The African Library and Information Association and Institutions (AfLIA), the Library Association for Africa, focuses on the development of libraries, information centers, library and information personnel to offer cutting-edge modern services to people on the African continent to improve their livelihoods.

AfLIA will hold its 6th Conference as an Association and the 8th African Library Summit for

  • LIS leaders
  • LIS practitioners
  • LIS educators
  • LIS policymakers
  • Young and emerging LIS leaders
  • Organisations and Professionals working in partnership with African libraries
Date18-23 May 2025
VenueWindhoek International Convention Centre, Mercure Hotel, Windhoek-Namibia

Events

EventDate
Pre-Conferences19th May 2025
Conference20th – 22nd May 2025
AfLIA General Meeting23rd May 2025

Conference Theme: Open Knowledge: present, future and African realities

Sub-Themes

  1. Whose Knowledge? Open practices, technology and African scholarship
  2. Sustainable open knowledge Communities of practice (CoP) in Africa
  3. Open research infrastructure in Africa
  4. Open knowledge and Intellectual property legislation in Africa
  5. Open knowledge, AI and the African book sector: present and future
  6. Open knowledge, acculturation and African ethnic identities
  7. AI, Open Knowledge and African datasets
  8. Open knowledge, climate change and food security in Africa
  9. Open knowledge, citizenship education, democracy, good governance
  10. UNESCO OER Recommendation and African educational systems
  11. Open knowledge through Wikimedia projects: impact in Africa
  12. Looking into the future: AI, Open Knowledge, Technology and quality education in Africa

Special Sessions

In addition to the paper, poster and ignite talk presentations, AfLIA, in collaboration with its partners, will organize special pre/in/post conference sessions including;

  1. Semantic Authority file through Wikibase for National Libraries: Workshop
  2. Information integrity, and digital rights within the Open knowledge framework
  3. Managing perceptions about libraries for stakeholders engagement
  4. AI and Openness: the inflection points
  5. AfLIA / Figshare / TCC Africa – Research Data Management Workshop

Expected Outcomes of Conference/Summit

It is expected that by the end of the Conference and Summit, participants would have been able to:

  • Understand the realities of different strands and possibilities within the open ecosystem present and future in Africa.
  • Be conversant with various principles, practices, educational technology and African scholarship  
  • Expand their knowledge as pertains to the sustainable Open Knowledge Communities of practice (CoP) in Africa
  • Recognize the African Open research infrastructure and the critical place of libraries within the framework
  • Identify the linkages between AI, Open Knowledge, and African datasets as well as projections of how these paradigm shifts affect libraries and the book sector within the continent
  • Realize how to widen the intersections between Open knowledge, citizenship education, democracy and good governance in Africa
  • Understand the interplay between intellectual property legislations and open knowledge in Africa
  • Gain more knowledge of the relationship between Open knowledge, climate change and  food security in Africa
  • Recognize the role of Open knowledge in cultural exchange, acculturation and African ethnic identities
  • Understand how the UNESCO OER Recommendation can be a driving force for quality education in Africa
  • Clearly identify the impact of Open knowledge through Wikimedia projects in Africa
  • Explore the possible future of AI, Open Knowledge, Technology and quality education in Africa

Conference Registration

Online Registration is open from January 1, 2025. Registration for early bird discount ends on March 31, 2025. Registration will still be open for late registration and on-site registration till the start of the conference. Participants and exhibitors are encouraged to register online and on time too to enjoy the early bird discount. Click on the following buttons to register as a delegate or exhibitor for the conference:

REGISTER [INDIVIDUAL]
REGISTER [EXHIBITOR/SPONSOR]

Conference Fees

Conference Fees are as follows:

CategoryFees
Conference Participants [IN PERSON] Early bird: Registration between January 1, 2025 – March 31, 2025

Members of AfLIA    $420.00
Non-members          $520.00
Conference Participants [IN PERSON] On Site registration (Late registration)  

Members of AfLIA   $470.00
Non-members         $570.00

Please note that payment for participation and exhibition can either be made electronically via debit or credit card, or via SWIFT Transfer.

In-person and virtual participants will have access to the conference, presentation slides and session recordings. Kindly refer to conference handouts for individuals and exhibitors for more details.  

Exhibition and Sponsorship

Below a brief information about the available exhibition packages for the 6th AfLIA Conference and 8th African Library Summit. Kindly refer to the Exhibitors page for detailed information about the available exhibition rates and sponsorship packages. Click here to go to the exhibition and sponsorship page  

Size of Stand & No. of PersonsCost (USD)
3m x 3m Non-AfLIA member – with 2 free persons to manage the stand$2500.00
3m x 3m AfLIA member – with 2 free persons to manage the stand$2400.00
2m x 2m Non-AfLIA member – with 1 free person to manage the stand.
Any additional person will pay $520.00		$2300.00
2m x 2m AfLIA member – with 1 free person to manage the stand.
Any additional person will pay $420.00		$2200.00
Display Table and no person to manage the table but with paid conference fee$500.00

Enquiries

For any further enquiries about the conference please email us at afliacomm@aflia.net with a copy to secretariat@aflia.net. For more information please visit AfLIA website regularly.