At the first International Summit of the Book, Serageldin gave a keynote speech entitled The Book, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow , which received a standing ovation from a huge gathering of leaders in academia, libraries and technology. Organized and hosted by the prestigious Library of Congress, the event was also open to the public, and was the inaugural summit of a global dialogue that will be held annually to debate and discuss the powerful role of the book in information transmittal.
Speakers at the two-day event included Caroline Brazier, director of The British Library; Anton Likhomanov, director general of the National Library of Russia; Glòria Pérez-Salmerón, director of the National Library of Spain; Ramón Mujica Pinilla, director of the Biblioteca Nacional del Peru; and John Kgwale Tsebe, national librarian of the National Library of South Africa.
The next Summit will be held in Singapore in August 2013.