The 2030 Agenda and information science: the contribution of libraries and information centers

Abstract

The United Nations held a summit meeting in 2015 where it was approved the 2030 Agenda. This Agenda is ambitious and aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals across the universe. The 17 SDGs target all sectors of society, including libraries, archives, and documentation centers. These institutions allow access to information and support information literacy, digital and other actions, help local governments to understand the information needs necessary by communities. This work aims to present the role of libraries and information centers in supporting and implementing Agenda 2030 and the SDG. To this end, a bibliometric and quantitative analysis of scientific production on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs and libraries and archives indexed on the Web of Science and Scopus was carried out in the period from 2015 to 2019. From the analysis performed, we recovered a total of 40 articles, highlighting the role of libraries and documentation centers in general, and public libraries and higher education librari es. In most articles, the role of these institutions in the implementation of the SDGs is well known, and in individual terms, SDG 4-Ensuring inclusive education, the one that stands out. The role of the IFLA is highlighted, as the main international entity that represents the interests of the information services and its users and that has worked to promote the library area as a generating force of an informed society.