Speakers / PanElIstS

He was born in 1970 in Ankara. Erol Gökduman graduated from Hacettepe University, Department of Librarianship and worked in various sales departments of EBSCO between 1992 and 2024. He is now working as the Vice President of the Turkish Librarians Association, responsible for the branches.

Jane Cowell is a known innovator and speaker on trends in the Public Library industry with over 25 years of experience working in Public Libraries across Australia and is the current President of the Australian Library and Information Association. Jane is the CEO of Yarra Plenty Regional Library which serves the communities in the northeast of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She has participated in significant Statewide research projects to support library advocacy efforts such as Libraries for Health and Wellbeing Framework 2024 and was instrumental in the development of a fully funded ($20 million) early literacy programme for every Queensland public library while working at a previous role at the State Library of Queensland, First Five Forever. Jane also serves on the International Library Federation Association Public Library Section as Chair and enjoys this global collaboration to advance Public Libraries across the world. She blogs at Medium and you can connect with Jane on LinkedIn.

Since March 2025, Juliana Pranke is responsible for international cooperation within the Network of Excellence for Libraries (knb) at the German Library Association (Deutscher Bibliotheksverband dbv) in Berlin. Before that, she was Head of the Public Service Division at Germanys largest Public Library, the Central and Regional Library Berlin. In that role, Juliana Pranke was in charge of user-oriented and customer services and oversaw projects related to the promotion of digital and media literacy. Before joining the world of libraries in 2017, she worked as an events manager and holds a Magistra Artium degree in North American Studies, Teaching German as a Second Language and Modern History (Dresden University of Technology).

Jonathan Hernández Pérez is an associated researcher at the Library and Information Institute (IIBI) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) where he is also a library professor. He has given several invited/plenary talks at national and international conferences. He has also organized seminars and workshops on Libraries and Access to Information, Libraries and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, for academics and library professionals in collaboration with library schools and library associations.  He is a former President of the Professional Library Association of Mexico (CNB), former member of the IFLA Governing Board, and currently Chair of the IFLA Advisory Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE).

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Chair of the IFLA Management of Library Associations Section (MLAS), will deliver a presentation on MLAS' work to strengthen library associations through priority areas that also foster strong communities and societies. Drawing from her experience as an international library leader and from MLAS resources she will provide an analysis on the road to success in building strong library associations, and will highlight examples, best practices, and recommendations from library associations across various regions.

Maia Simonishvili is a graduate of Tbilisi State University, where she studied Philology and Cultural Resource Management. With nearly a decade of experience in journalism and media, she has worked in Georgia and Germany. While in Germany, she was a fellow at the Foundation of Lower Saxony and interned at the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung in 2002. In 2008, Maia completed a fellowship from CEC ArtsLink for Artists and Cultural Managers, during which she interned at Yale University Library. She later began her Ph.D. at Ilia State University and studied at The New School as a Carnegie Research Fellow in 2012.

Since 2006, Maia has worked as a leading specialist in the Public Relations and Cultural Programs Division at the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia (NPLG). Since 2012, she has also been the curator of the Anglo-American Reading Hall at NPLG, where she promotes digital resources, develops collections across library divisions, and fosters collaboration with foreign libraries to enrich archives for emigrants. Her responsibilities include curating foreign book collections, organising cultural events, and maintaining media engagement.

Maia has been a member of the IFLA European Regional Division Committee since 2021 and joined the FAIFE Advisory Committee in 2023. She also collaborates with the National Foundation of Georgian Literature to promote the translation and publication of Georgian works abroad.

In addition to her professional roles, Maia is an active member of ICOMOS Georgia, the International Media Literacy Association, and the Internet Governance Forum. She occasionally contributes her time to support human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, and media literacy initiatives.

In her free time, Maia enjoys art, music, travelling, spending time with friends, exploring innovations, picking up new skills, and learning about different cultures.

Works as a Directorate Manager in LIS for the Government of the Netherlands, and is Chairman of the Board of the Library and Museum Foundation of the University of Amsterdam. He is the Chair of the IFLA Management and Marketing Section, as well as a member of the IFLA Europe Regional Division Committee.

After a career that has seen him hold positions of responsibility in the management teams or at the head of various institutions and associations in the library field, Pascal Sanz is currently an honorary member and Board member of the Comité français international des bibliothèques et de la documentation (Cfibd).

Within IFLA, after having been a member of several successive sections, a member of the Governing Board (2007 -2011) and having been awarded the IFLA Medal (2014), he is currently a member of the Europe Regional Division Committee.