Erik Boekesteijn, Senior Advisor at the KB, has won an IFLA Medal. This award honours people who make an exceptional personal and professional contribution to the library sector worldwide and to IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. 

Boekesteijn was presented with the award at the World Library and Information Congress in South Korea. IFLA praises him for his distinguished contribution to IFLA, and to advancing public libraries, connecting people and inspiring creativity and innovation in libraries and in professional practice across an inclusive, global library field'. 

About Erik Boekesteijn 

Erik Boekesteijn began his career in the library sector at DOK, Delft’s library. Partly thanks to his work, DOK has become a model for community-focused working, creative programming and the integration of art, music and technology. He showed what a library could be like, according to the colleagues who nominated Boekesteijn for the prize. Boekesteijn currently works as a Senior Advisor at the KB, where he is committed to supporting national and international libraries. The KB plays a coordinating role within the network of public libraries.  

About the prize 

To win an IFLA Medal, you need a nomination. Ronald Huizer (member of the KB management team), Marie Oestergaard (director of Aarhus Public Libraries), Jeremy Silver (British Library) and Erna Winters (EBLIDA) wrote a recommendation for Boekesteijn. This was supported by Christine Mackenzie (IFLA member), R. David Lankes (Bowden Professor of Librarianship, University of Austin, Texas) and Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer (The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision). Boekesteijn is the 2nd Dutch person who wins the award. Ex-General Director of the KB Wim van Drimmelen won it in 2007.