Call for Papers — Open Sessions

Committee on Standards

• 16 January 2020, 13:15

Theme: "IFLA Standards and Library Practices in Conversation"

IFLA standards and library practices are in sustained conversation. Their connection is mutually inspiring and reinforcing. IFLA Standards are enabling libraries to assess and align their operations and performance, and library accomplished practices are inspiring the creation and the revision of some IFLA standards.

This continuous flow between IFLA standards and professional practices and the extended connections within and beyond the library field, inspired the best practices, enabled the development of high and rigorous standards and engaged libraries and librarians with other communities – within shared vision and common interests -, to rethink their practices, align their standards, or to collaborate on the development of standards and guidelines.

In line with the conference theme: “Inspire, Engage, Enable, Connect”, the IFLA Committee on Standards will be hosting a 2–hour open session during the 2020 conference in Dublin, Ireland.

We are soliciting papers that showcase the mutual effect and the reciprocal exchange between IFLA standards and professional practices; that is: how professional practices and needs inspired the development of some IFLA standards and guidelines, and how IFLA standards and guidelines inspired library practices or contributed to enhance them.

IFLA Standards encompass the whole range of technical documents produced by all IFLA professional units, including the conceptual models, the bibliographic standards, the guidelines, the best practices, the kits and the toolkits.

Subthemes

The papers may address one or more subthemes under any of three strands:

Standards creation and making

• IFLA standards that started out from a need or an inspiration: how some IFLA standards or guidelines were developed driven by the needs of libraries and library professionals, or how some standards were revisited or rethought inspired by some practices within or beyond IFLA or the whole library field.
• IFLA Standards that started out from, or debuted as, a connection: effect of collaboration with other institutions or communities on the creation or enhancement of standards and guidelines, including connections within and beyond the library field that inspired the development of new standards, case studies of joint projects and initiatives that were concluded by the conception of, or led to revamping, some standards and guidelines.
• Standards exploitation: reuse and repackage of some IFLA Standards to create new or update existing standards or guidelines, including those that mixed IFLA’s and national and/or international relevant standards and technical documents to draft new standards or guidelines.

Collaborative approach to standards development

• Collaborative approaches to the development of standards driven by common needs or shared goals, either between two or more IFLA professional units, or between IFLA and other communities beyond the library field.
• Models of cooperation and roles in the standards’ development process, including recruitment, external expertise, consultancy, outsourcing, and recurring to other IFLA Sections,… throughout the workflow of standards/guidelines creation, from the conception to the delivery.

Standards impacts

• Impact of IFLA Standards on library practices and on the ways in which library professionals carry out their work: how IFLA standards and guidelines inspired creative ways to perform services, streamlined operations, improved or enhanced practices, raised efficiency or contributed to librarians professional development and capacity building, or enabled to further library workers’ careers within institutions.
• Case studies of IFLA standards or guidelines that influenced national practices, or policies, impacted regulations and laws, improved libraries communication with their stakeholders, served in advocacy or empowered libraries and library professionals.
• Mutual impact between IFLA bibliographic models and standards and/or their effect on national cataloguing codes and international metadata standards in the library and cultural heritage fields.

Proposal Guidelines

Proposals must be original work of author(s), address the theme of the session and at least one of its subthemes, be written in English, and include:

• Email subject line “WLIC2020 Paper Proposal”
• Title of the proposed paper
• An abstract (500-700 words) outlining the project described, the standard(s) or guideline(s) developed or used, and how the proposal relates to the theme of the session
• An indication of the subtheme(s) the proposal addresses
• A short bio for all intended authors of the paper, including name, email, and institutional affiliation (as appropriate)
• Language of the paper
• Language of the presentation (preferably English)

Proposals should be submitted as MS Word file no later than 17 March the extended deadline of 8 April 2020 to:

Rehab Ouf, Committee on Standards
Email: rehab.ouf@gmail.com

and

Renate Behrens, Committee on Standards
Email: R.Behrens@dnb.de

Proposals will be reviewed by members of the Committee on Standards Open Session Planning Group. Selection will be based on a number of criteria including innovative content, fit to the overall theme of the session and to the subtheme(s) it addresses, clarity of exposition and sound approach.

Important Dates

8 April 2020 – Deadline for submitting proposals for papers including an abstract (500-700 words) and authors’ information.

23 April 2020 Notifications sent out to presenters and all who submitted proposals

15 June 2020 – Deadline for submitting full paper (7-12 pages), final version of abstract and of the brief biographical statements of authors/speakers.

July 2020 – All presenters will be notified of the time of the program.

Language of the paper

Papers may be submitted in English or any of the other IFLA official languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian or Spanish) provided it is accompanied by an accurate summary in English. Attempts will be made to provide translations into other official languages.

Language of the session

The language of the session is English. Presenters may also give their talk in any of the IFLA working languages. However, presenters are encouraged to provide the PowerPoint presentation in English to facilitate the understanding of ideas presented.

Please note:

At least one of the paper’s authors must be present to deliver a summary of the paper during the program in Dublin. Abstracts should only be submitted with the understanding that the expenses of attending the conference will be the responsibility of the author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers.

The paper must be an original submission not presented or published elsewhere. All papers that are presented at the WLIC 2020 will be made available online via the IFLA Library under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Authors of accepted papers must complete the IFLA Authors’ Permission Form.

All expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation etc., are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by IFLA, but a special invitation letter can be issued to author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers.

Congress Participation Grants

List of opportunities for support is available on the Apply for Grants & Awards webpage.