Join us in Busan for this keynote session on rethinking and readapting the traditional role of libraries and library workers in our fast-changing societies.
Mahaletchumy Arujanan: Libraries, Media and the New Science Commons: Connecting Research with Society
Drawing from her experience as a science communicator, Mahaletchumy reimagines new landscapes of libraries and explore creative, community-driven approaches to science engagement—from storytelling and public debates to theatre, chatbots, and even cultural expressions such as fashion and food. In her keynote, Maha invites participants to rethink their role: not just as providers of information, but as enablers of curiosity, facilitators of conversation, and builders of scientifically engaged communities. Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan is a science communicator from Malaysia, working as the Executive Director of the Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC) and the Country Director for World Agriculture Forum (WAF).
Maha holds a PhD in Science Communication from the University of Malaya and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Petri Dish, Malaysia’s first science newspaper and Co-founder of the Science Media Centre Malaysia.
She was listed among the world’s 100 most influential people in biotechnology by Scientific American Worldview (2015) and included in the Women in Biotechnology Law and Regulation honorific list by Biotechnology Law Report (USA, 2015).
Tommi Laitio: Navigating Coexistence
In a world where many forces pull us apart, libraries can be the training grounds for coexistence. Tommi Laitio suggests that we need to build our work on friction rather than trying to resolve it. Through stories and practices from libraries and other civic spaces across the globe, he shares an inspiring yet pragmatic path to cities where we all can feel like a somebody.
Tommi Laitio is an internationally recognized strategist and civic leader specializing in public life. As the Principal of Studio Laitio, he works with libraries and cities worldwide on pragmatic solutions to coexistence. The work builds on his research on libraries and parks as the inaugural Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellow and his leadership as the City of Helsinki’s first Executive Director of Culture and Leisure. He chairs IFLA’s Metropolitan Libraries Section, writes a popular newsletter on public spaces and is currently developing a book on coexistence centered on Helsinki’s Central Library Oodi.
Exact date and time to be confirmed.