For its first full-scale international forum, securing multilingual accessibility was the challenge
The National Library of Public Information (NLPI) is a national-scale public library in Taichung, Taiwan. Founded in 1923 as the Taichung Prefectural Library, it is today a large facility with five above-ground floors, two basement floors and a total floor area of 41,797 m², serving as the hub of public library services across Taiwan.
Having held the first “Asia-Pacific Public Library Forum in Taiwan (APPLFTW)” in 2024, NLPI hosted the second edition again on May 14, 2026. Under the theme “Strategic, Innovation and Future of Reading Promotion,” it became a large international forum with 14 experts from 8 Asia-Pacific countries & regions (Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and Taiwan).
While the former IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) president Ms. Vicki McDonald AM FALIA, IFLA subject section chair Professor Takashi Nagatsuka, Professor Chen Zhaozhen and others took the keynote and panel stage, the audience was mostly Chinese speakers. As the main language was English, building a setup in which two-way EN–ZH interpretation and subtitles let every attendee access the content equally became the NLPI secretariat’s biggest challenge. We also cover the operational know-how for multilingual events in tips for multilingual meetings.
Making the forum multilingual with QR-code subtitle sharing and a custom glossary
While using the Felo Translator app, the NLPI secretariat learned of Felo Subtitles and considered it as a multilingual subtitle foundation for the forum. We summarize how it differs from other real-time translation tools in a comparison of web-meeting translation tools. The deciding factors were three: two core features that support the attendee experience, plus a contract structure supporting concurrent parallel operation on the organizer’s side.
① QR-code subtitle sharing — delivered straight to attendees’ devices
A mechanism where attendees simply scan a QR code with their smartphone to receive two-way EN–ZH real-time translated subtitles on their own device. Independent of seat location, it delivers equal accessibility to every attendee even in a large venue. Because no dedicated devices need to be handed out, it also greatly reduces the organizer’s preparation workload.
② Custom glossary — pre-registering library and IFLA terminology
Proper nouns and titles in the international library community—such as APPLFTW, IFLA, subject section chair, AM FALIA—are prone to mistranslation by generic translation. By pre-registering library-industry and IFLA-related terminology with the Felo Subtitles custom glossary feature, stable translation accuracy in line with the forum’s context was secured. We cover the actual workflow for creating multilingual subtitles in detail in how to create multilingual subtitles.
③ Parallel operation through multi-account linkage
To run multiple sessions by 14 speakers within a single-day forum, a structure was built in which the entire operations team could use linked multiple accounts. From the opening ceremony and keynotes to breakout sessions and the closing ceremony, an environment was secured that could withstand the organizer’s concurrent parallel operation. The same mechanism works in web meetings such as Zoom and Teams; details are explained in using Zoom AI simultaneous interpretation.
Connecting speakers from 8 countries & regions with two-way EN–ZH multilingual subtitles
On May 14, 2026, the NLPI-hosted APPLFTW ran as planned from 9:00 to 17:30 in the International Conference Hall and the first-floor meeting room of the Taichung main building. The keynotes, panel discussions and case studies by 14 speakers from 8 countries & regions were provided simultaneously to every attendee through Felo Subtitles’ two-way EN–ZH real-time subtitles.
The remarks of keynote speakers with different native languages—such as former IFLA president Ms. Vicki McDonald and IFLA subject section chair Professor Takashi Nagatsuka—could be read in real time by attendees on their own device accessed via a QR code. Independent of seat location, this ensured multilingual accessibility so that everyone present could understand the content equally. We also summarize concrete methods for captioning English keynotes in a guide to subtitles for English meetings.
In addition, proper nouns and technical terms such as APPLFTW, IFLA and subject section chair maintained stable translation accuracy thanks to the pre-registered custom glossary. Translation grounded in the context of the international library community supported attendees’ understanding throughout the forum. For the flow of multilingual support in online seminars, please also refer to a guide to multilingual support for online seminars.