The history of the Rizal Library International Conference (RLIC) may be traced to 2002, after the resounding success of the International Seminar-Workshop on “E-Publishing Trends and Issues: Implications to Library Collection Development and Services,” which was sponsored by Rizal Library in cooperation with the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA). This seminar-workshop was a mandate of Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, then President of the Ateneo de Manila University, and was spearheaded by Mrs. Lourdes David, then Director of the Rizal Library. Consequently, she initiated the move to conduct another international conference for librarians and information professionals.

Thus, with the aim of providing a venue for exchanging information and ideas, as well as establishing linkages among colleagues in the profession, the first RLIC entitled “Library Management in the 21st Century” was conducted in March 2004. Since then, the RLIC has been held regularly every two years.