Call for Papers — Open Sessions

Evidence for Global & Disaster Health (E4GDH)

• 5 February 2020, 12:32

Theme: "Engage, enable and connect in global and disaster health: increasing access to multi-language evidence"

Background

The Evidence for Global and Disaster Health Special Interest Group (SIG) is holding its Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Dublin, Ireland, August 15-21, 2020 on the theme of multi-language evidence. The committee welcomes proposals for presentations at the session.

Making sure that all people have access to the best available evidence to inform their health and well-being is a critical issue. The SIG is working to ensure that policy makers, professionals and the public themselves are aware of the role that librarians have in global and disaster health, as well as providing guidance on skills and competencies, and producing practical resources to help people find the evidence they need.

According to the WHO (https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/6/15-020615/en/) most of the world’s population has little or no access to relevant and high-quality resources to inform their health and well-being because it is in English. This session will explore ways in which librarians can help tackle this issue, working with partners to improve the ways that research, policies and guidelines, and public information resources are produced, disseminated and used.

Issues to be explored include:

• What is the size and extent of the problem in relation to global and disaster health?
• What impact does this have on equality and accessibility for different users (public, health workers, policymakers)?
• What are the opportunities and barriers to producing resources in different languages?
• What are the current and potential roles for librarians in this area?
• What are the ethical and quality implications for librarian involvement in developing and disseminating information in different languages?
• How does technology increase or improve the barriers to language access?

The IFLA Evidence for Global & Disaster Health (E4GDH) SIG wishes to engage a broad consideration of this theme, through lightning talks which explore strategy, skills, and practical activities in ensuring access to multi-language resources.  We are especially interested in hearing the perspectives of those working with colleagues from other sectors and professions.

The Lightning Talk format allows presenters to articulate a topic, share an experience or present an argument in a quick, clear and insightful manner – for this session talks will be 8 minutes long. We look forward to a fast and thought provoking 1-hour session.

Format of presentations

Selected presenters will be required to prepare a maximum of four slides, including a title slide, and will have eight minutes in which to speak. Questions and a panel discussion will be held at the end of the talks.

• Title of proposed lightning talk.
• Subtheme / Topic that best fits your session.
• Name(s) of presenter(s) plus position/s and/or title(s).
• Employer/affiliated institution.
• Contact information including Email address, telephone number(s).
• Short biographical statement of presenter(s) (no more than 100 words).
• Abstract of the proposed lightning talk (no more than 500 words).
• Keywords (3 – 5) of your own choosing that describe the contents of your talk.
• Confirmation able to attend IFLA congress and present lightning talk in person if selected.
• Technical + logistical requirements: any technical or other requirements including video, sound, accessibility, etc.

You are welcome to get in touch to discuss your proposal. Members of the programme committee will be pleased to explore ideas with you.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit abstracts by Monday 16 March 2020 as an attachment in MS Word, with the subject line IFLA E4GDH open session proposal to both:

Emma Farrow
Email: E4GDHteam@gmail.com

and

Feili Tu-Keefner
Email: feilitu@sc.edu

Receipt of all submissions will be confirmed. Please contact us if you do not receive an acknowledgement email within 10 days.

All submissions will be reviewed by the E4GDH programme team and submitters will be notified by 17 April 2020.

Submission of a full paper is optional. Papers should be original work not presented or published before and 5000 words maximum. All papers that are presented will be made available online via the IFLA Library under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Important Deadlines

Deadline for submission of abstract: 16 March 2020

Deadline for notification to presenters: 17 April 2020

Deadline for final submission: 1 June 2020

Dissemination routes:

We hope that presenters will share learning from this session more widely, the choice of route will depend on nature of your submission but could include:

• Papers being added to the IFLA Library.
• Inclusion in a write up for our newsletter.
• Submission for IFLA Library Map of the World.
• Presentation during an E4GDH webinar.

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.