Inclusiveness through Openness
IFLA Satellite Conference at Erasmus University, Rotterdam
18- 19 August 2023
The Academic and Research Libraries section of IFLA invite proposal submissions for a satellite conference preceding the World Library and Information Congress 2023 in Rotterdam in collaboration with Erasmus University and the following partners:
  • Continuing and Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section
  • Serials and Continuing Resources Section
  • Health and Biosciences Libraries Section
  • IFLA Open Access Group
  • Women, Information, and Libraries Section
  • Max Planck Digital Library – Open Access 2020 Initiative
  • The British Library
The conference intends to look forward to an increasingly open world of research, data, and publication and identify the opportunities and challenges of living in such an environment.  We are particularly concerned to engage with the issues from a global perspective, especially in in the global south, emerging economies, and circumstances of political and/or financial constraint.  How do we ensure that open access to science will be truly open for researchers and readers worldwide?  Themes that may emerge include:
  • How will scholarship, including the sharing of that scholarship, operate in this future?
  • In this new environment, what will rise to be the primary challenges to ensuring the creation and dissemination of scholarship from and to all parts of the world?  Where all may read, how do we ensure that all may be heard?
  • What would be the baseline requirements to allow for a system of scholarly communication which could be considered equitable and accessible?
  • How will the roles of the various participants in the scholarly communication lifecycle need to adapt in this new environment?
  • Public access to open research. How does access look across the globe?
Proposals must be submitted in English by 27 March 2023 using the submission form.  The following information is required:
  • Title of proposed presentation
  • Abstract of the proposal (400 words)
  • Name/s of presenters and positions and/or titles
  • Employer or affiliated institution
  • Contact information including email address and telephone number
  • Short biographical statement of no more than 100 words
Further information about conference program, participation grants, and more can be found on the satellite conference call for proposals page, or send questions to: