On September 30, the National Library of Armenia ceremoniously opened the annual conference of the international organization "Electronic Information for Libraries" (EIFL). Reputable scientific publishing houses and representatives from the library sector from 48 countries were invited to Armenia. In her opening remarks, Anna Chulyan, Director of the National Library of Armenia and President of the Association of Digital Libraries of Armenia, emphasized the significance of Armenia's dedication to open access and open science. Alfred Kocharyan, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, then greeted the attendees. He emphasized the value of collaboration with EIFL in advancing Armenia's educational and scientific frameworks. EIFL Director Rima Kuprite gave an update on the organization's current programs after Emilia Banionite, Chair of the EIFL Management Board, welcomed the participants.

Program coordinators spoke about a range of EIFL projects։ •Iryna Kuchma - Open Access Programme (EIFL-OA) •Teresa Hackett - Copyright and Libraries Programme (EIFL-IP) •Britt-Marie Wiedeberg - Negotiations and Licensing (EIFL-Licensing) •Ramune Petuchovaite - Public Library Innovation Program (EIFL-PLIP) The first day of the conference included a number of thematic sessions: “Open Science and Information in Armenia” Rafael Barkhudaryan (YSU Vice-Rector for Scientific Affairs) and Anna Chulyan (NLA Director) delivered speeches, presenting the current state of open science journals, repositories, and national policies.

Anne-Catherine Fritzinger (Sorbonne University) and Jeroen Bosman (Utrecht University) spoke about the experiences of France and the Netherlands in “Reforms in Public Science and Research Assessment”. It was explained how the Sorbonne switched to open and free platforms, specifically OpenAlex, and stopped subscribing to the Web of Science and Clarivate toolkit. Utrecht University's experience demonstrated how transparency and public influence, rather than conventional rankings and impact factors, are the foundation for recognizing and promoting scientists. "Discussions with Publishers" (exclusive to participants from EIFL nations). The terms of collaboration with respectable international publishing houses were discussed during the session.

The program for the first day also featured professional conversations, a group photo, and participant experience sharing. The conference will continue on October 1-2. Current issues in artificial intelligence and digital repositories, Diamond open access publications, the use of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) tools, and copyright and republishing rights are all on the agenda. The EIFL annual conference is an important platform where representatives of the international library and academic communities come together to exchange knowledge, strengthen collaboration, and advance the principles of open science.