For the use of authors contributing chapters to IFLA’s Centenary volume, and others, I’m posting this list of biographies, obituaries, and interviews that I have so far encountered in the course of my research on the history of IFLA. I’ll add to it as I find more.
Click to access published-articles-about-ifla-personalities-2025-12-16.pdf
Peter Johan Lor 
Thank you for assembling these items, Peter. I can now appreciate much more the pioneers of international library cooperation. I recall your South African residence & experience. It’s my impression that, in the course of my work career (1972 – present), IFLA’s stakeholders and active participants now encompass folks from the southern hemisphere too. Are you aware of any personalities with IFLA roles who will leave a similar legacy? (Of course these might be too recent for the scope of the centenary volume.) Best wishes Cecily Gilbert
Hi Cecily
I collected the information about the various personalities while working mainly on IFLA’s interwar period (1927-1940). I didn’t have time to cast my net more widely, but I included what I found. it would be great if anyone who has candidates for inclusion, sent them along to me, or even better, if we turned this into a wiki?
Hi Cecily, Indeed there are a lot of people in the Global South who would deserve a mention in a list covering the period after WW2. Some of them are mentioned in the IFLA centenary volume which is currently in preparation. (It is to be released in July 2027, as part of the centenary celebrations which will culminate at the August 2027 IFLA World Library and Information Congress in London.) There are two chapters in which African leaders, Kay Raseroka and Ellen Tise, are featured.
BTW, Nowadays what used to be referred to as “developing countries” or “Third World” are usually called the “Global South”, where “south” and “north” do not refer to geographic location as to socio-economic status.