2020 ISBN AGM takes place in a virtual environment

The 2020 Annual General Meeting has recently concluded.

This year, the meeting was held virtually on 9 and 10 September 2020 owing to the Covid-19 crisis. It is the first year since 1978 that the International ISBN Agency has been unable to hold a physical AGM.

However, despite the unusual format delegates from all national and regional ISBN agencies were invited to participate as always. This year, that meant that delegates attended one of three identical sessions held online. The sessions themselves were two hours in length, but still encompassed the formal part of the AGM, a keynote speech regarding the effects on the publishing industry of the events of 2020 and several other presentations regarding ISBN and publishing. We were delighted to welcome a total of 109 delegates across the three sessions, most of which represent ISBN agencies across the world.

Morocco has previously been named as the host for the 2021 ISBN AGM. We are very grateful to that agency for its offer, and also to the Norway ISBN Agency: Norway had been due to act as the 2020 host, but has kindly agreed to reschedule for 2022 following the necessary postponement of this year's in-person event.