Call for Papers — Open Sessions

Library History

• 7 January 2020, 10:35

Theme: "Librarians learning from the past to inspire, connect, enable and engage"

The IFLA Library History Special Interest Group invites proposals for papers to be presented at its open session on “Librarians learning from the past to inspire, connect, enable and engage”  during the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Dublin, Ireland.

The Library History Special Interest Group is about to embark on a series of projects on oral histories of the world’s librarians, hence the theme for its session at this conference.  The project is ambitious and will have many approaches to it and we would hope that librarian oral histories include not only the history of their library at the time, but also the librarian’s immersion in social and political issues of their day, and how they faced the new issues presented to the profession at that time.

We invite papers that cover issues on librarian oral history/ies to include some of the following approaches:

• Your country’s/region’s collection of such oral histories;
• Why they were collected;
• How they are being managed;
• How they are being shared;
• Lessons learnt from this historical engagement with librarians of the past;
• Plans to collect future oral histories of librarians.

Submissions

Your paper might be the result of an historical research project, or describe the historical experiences of your librarian/s.

Selection of papers is based on the abstract (up to 500 words) which should consider:

• – how it relates to the theme of the session;
• – a description of the historical approach to the topic;
• – lessons learnt from the historical experience/s;
• – interesting discoveries from the historical experience/s;
• – if a research project, implications and outcomes for library practice and any research limitations;
• – other matters of relevance and importance to the topic.

Both abstracts and full papers should be submitted as an MS Word file by e-mail.

Please email your abstract to: 

Dr Kerry Smith, Convenor, IFLA Library History SIG

Email: kerrylib@westnet.com.au

If your abstract is selected, your paper should follow the IFLA Guidelines for Authors, which will appear soon on the IFLA 2020 conference website.

Depending on the number of submissions accepted, we are expecting that up to 20 minutes will be allowed for a summary delivery of the paper at the Conference; the full written paper is *not* to be read. It is strongly recommended that the presentation is supported by a visual element using presentation software such as PowerPoint.

• The author(s) should indicate his/her personal full contact details and include a brief biographical note with the abstract and the paper.

Language of the Session

The language of the session is expected to be English. However, presenters may also give their talk in any of the IFLA working languages. As simultaneous translation is not guaranteed presenters are strongly encouraged to provide the PowerPoint in English to facilitate understanding of the ideas presented.

Important Dates

21 February 2020: The deadline for submitting a detailed abstract and full author details including email contact. Each abstract will be reviewed by members of the Library History Special Interest Group Committee.

31 March 2020: Authors will be notified whether they have been successful or not.

31 May 2020: The full paper is due and must be an original submission not presented or published elsewhere.

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.