Call for Papers — Open Sessions

Government Libraries

• 2 February 2020, 16:26

Theme: "Evidence based policy making – maximising the influence of library services"

The Government Libraries Section (GLS) invites proposals for short presentations (maximum 15 minutes) to be presented at a two hour session at the forthcoming IFLA World Library and Information Congress to be held at Dublin, Ireland in August 2020.

Linking with the overall Congress theme of “Inspire, Engage, Enable, Connect”, the session aims to consider how the concept of evidence based policy relates in practice to government libraries and information services, the policy makers/stakeholders they collaborate with, and outcomes for the citizens they serve. Is evidence based policy making a part of the wider governmental process or are librarians too often involved in finding evidence to fit the policy – effectively policy based evidence making?

Under this broad topic, presentations could involve, but are not limited to, the following subjects:

• Advocating for evidence based policy in government
• Establishing mechanisms with policy makers to support evidence based policy
• Enabling citizen input into policy making
• Curating repositories/databases of evidence
•  Building capacity and skills to support evidence based policy

GLS supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals and in particular SDG 16 “to build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”, so submissions also relevant to this goal are welcome.

Submission Guidelines

The abstract must be submitted electronically and contain:

• Title of presentation
• Abstract for proposed presentation (800 words maximum)
• An indication of the sub-theme the abstract is focusing on
• Name(s) of presenter(s) plus position(s) and/or title(s)
• Your institution details
• Contact information including email address and telephone number.
• Confirmation that at least one author can attend the IFLA Congress in Dublin and present in person if selected.

Please submit abstracts by 27 March extended to 3 May 2020 in a suitable format (eg. Word or PDF) by email to:

ifla.governmentlibraries@gmail.com

Receipt of all submissions will be confirmed within 7 days. GLS officers will review all submissions and you will be notified of acceptance or rejection in April.

The session will be conducted in English with no translation facilities available. All proposals and presentations will be required to be in English. Final papers can be in one of the official IFLA working languages. If the paper is written in an official IFLA language other than English, an accompanying translation must be attached.

Important dates

3 May 2020 (Sunday): Deadline for submission of abstract.

May 2020: Notification of acceptance or rejection.

1 June 2020 (Monday): Deadline for final changes to printed programme (presenter information, etc.).

8 June 2020 (Monday): Deadline for submission of full paper.

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.