The International Symposium on Libraries was held in September 2019 by the National Library of China in Beijing.

With the theme of Keeping Pace with the Times, the symposium was attended by Gerald Leitner, Secretary General, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

The symposium featured subthemes including open and shared document resources construction, user-oriented information and knowledge services, technology-driven library transformation and development, win-win library exchanges and cooperation, and multi-participation for reading. It also introduced to the world the latest development of China’s librarianship and shared newest ideas and concepts of the international library industry.