Dear colleagues

I was delighted to see many new faces as well as old friends in our beautiful room at the Wereld Museum in Rotterdam – meeting with 87 library leaders from 70 countries is an experience I will reflect upon for many months to come – our conversations were warm and enlightening, and your highly collegiate approach to discussions and activities during our meeting ensured that we all came away with much to think about as we consider implementing artificial intelligence into our Libraries.

Importantly, as we grapple with the challenges of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright, implementation of AI at scale, and transparency and other ethical considerations, it is clear that we do not need to rush. Indeed, we can and should take our time, explore new ideas and improve our understanding of the opportunities and risks as we progress our AI journeys.

I have attached copies of our two speaker presentations – my thanks to Dr Pauline McBride of the University of Glasgow and Isabelle Nyffenegger on behalf of Laurence Engel, President, National Library of France for their deep consideration of AI and the matters we need to take into account as leaders of knowledge institutions. Your presentations certainly generated much discussion during the breaks in our program.

Please also find attached a list of meeting attendees and our group photograph.

Finally, you will recall that Janne Andresoo will shortly vacate one of the CDNL deputy chair roles. Leslie Weir and I will make a call for nominations for the vacant position on the CDNL governance committee in coming months.

I trust your journeys home were safe and that you will return to your libraries enthused about the opportunities and challenges ahead.

With warm regards

Marie-Louise

Dr Marie-Louise Ayres  |  Director-General  |  she/her/hers
02 6262 1390  |  mayres@nla.gov.au  |  National Library of Australia

Chair: Conference of Directors of National Libraries – cdnl@nla.gov.au