Libraries have always been about preserving and giving access to information. In recent years, governments and others have made increasingly frequent statements stressing the contribution that allowing citizens to obtain and make use of knowledge on an equitable basis can make to a range of policy objectives.

Perhaps the most important is the UN 2030 Agenda, which calls for all countries to ‘ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms’. While libraries contribute to achieving all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in this areas they have a unique and indispensable role.

This document emphasises the need to deliver of the SDGs, give access to marginalised groups, resist pressure for censorship from state and non-state actors, ensure that libraries are adequately supported, and promote literacy and eLending.