UN-LINKS Meeting 2025 - Navigating Change Together: AI, Adaptability, and Authentic Collaboration
UN-LINKS Meeting 2025 – Navigating Change Together:
AI, Adaptability, and Authentic Collaboration
Publication Date: November 25, 2025 | Author: ECA Library | Type: Story
ECA Library hosted the 2025 UN-LINKS meeting, bringing together information and knowledge professionals from across the UN system and partner organizations.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics, machine learning, natural language processing, and digital knowledge platforms are transforming libraries and knowledge services, enabling faster and more accurate information retrieval, real-time knowledge discovery, enhanced user experience, and increasing operational efficiency. New applications and a range of user-centred services have emerged, including applied AI cataloguing, indexing, and metadata generation; chatbots and virtual assistants; personalized user services; digitization and optical character recognition (OCR); semantic search; predictive analytics, etc. From manual, through automated and digital systems, AI has brought new opportunities, but equally new challenges to libraries and knowledge services in constant mutation.
ECA Chief of Staff Mr. Abou Diaw and the Deputy Ambassador of Mexico to Ethiopia,
Isaias Noguez Tinoco, delivered keynote addresses at the opening of UN-LINKS 2025
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It is in the waves of these transformations and increasingly limited resources that the UN-LINKS 2025 meeting was hosted by the ECA Library, from November 17 to 21, 2025. The hybrid meeting brought together information and knowledge professionals from across the UN system and partner organizations, under the theme “Navigating Change Together: AI, Adaptability, and Authentic Collaboration”. The objective of the meeting was to promote experience sharing, peer-to-peer learning, and strategic dialogue on how libraries and knowledge services can remain agile and relevant in a rapidly changing information ecosystem. |
The Deputy Ambassador of Mexico, Isaias Noguez Tinoco, and UN-LINKS members posed for a photo with ECA Library staff and community librarians in Ethiopia.
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Presentations from participants addressed both opportunities and risks, including responsible use of AI, ethical considerations, and the need to bridge knowledge and digital divides between regions and duty stations. Practical demonstrations and case studies further showcased innovative solutions already being implemented in UN libraries and knowledge services. The meeting emphasized the human dimension of libraries and their role in transforming our societies and lives. UN-LINKS 2025 provided a space for discussion on new competencies for library and knowledge specialists, evolving user needs, and the roles of collaboration, co-creation, and peer support in navigating and sustaining change. It equally provided an opportunity for participants to connect across regions, share lessons learned from their own institutions with peers, and identify areas for future collaborative initiatives. |
 A panel of UN-LINKS members discussing a presentation |
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The meeting was an opportunity for ECA Library to highlight its ongoing transformation into a “living knowledge space,” including redesigned physical areas, new digital platforms, and knowledge mainstreaming initiatives. Through guided tours, interactive sessions, and informal exchanges,The meeting emphasized the role of libraries and knowledge services as strategic partners in implementing the UN’s mandate, and in supporting evidence-based policy formulation, strategic decision-making, and actions to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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