World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly

"Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage"

23-27 August 2009, Milan, Italy

Call for Papers

Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Section

Theme: "The Interlending, Document Delivery and Resource Sharing tradition: evolving with the changing knowledge economy"

The IFLA Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Section invites librarians and other interested parties working in the field of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery and Resource Sharing to submit proposals for papers in the 2-hour open session in Milan.

We invite papers that explore, but are not necessarily limited to:

The tradition of Interlending, Document Delivery and Resource Sharing – historical overviews tracing the origins and evolution, and considering the declining requests globally (with the notable exception of the United States – any research into the reasons for this is especially of interest);
Moving away from tradition - the evolving Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative – case studies of practical implementation of, for example, the Get IT! Button, home delivery and other initiatives;
The impact of digital format publishing (including the increasing number of born digitals) and contract, licensing and digital copyright issues, on traditional Document Delivery and Resource Sharing. Case studies with models for solving these challenges are of special interest.

Please send a detailed abstract (1 page or at least 300 words) of the proposed paper (which must not have been published elsewhere) and relevant biographical information of the author(s)/presenter(s) by 31 January 2009 by email to:

Kim Baker
Chair: Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Standing Committee
E-mail: kbaker.nlsa@gmail.com

Please use the header "Milan - proposal - (title of proposed paper)" in the subject line of your e-mail, as proposals are also being received for the ILDS in Hannover, so a clear distinction is needed that the proposed paper is for the Milan open session.

The abstracts will be reviewed by members of the Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Section's Standing Committee at their mid-term business meeting in February 2009. Authors of successful proposals will be notified towards the end of February 2009. Full papers will be due by 15 May 2009. Papers should be no longer than 20 pages and 15-20 minutes will be allowed for a summary delivery of the paper during the Section's open programme in Milan.

Please note that the expenses of attending the Milan conference (including travel, expenses and conference fee) will be the responsibility of the author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers, and at least one of the presenters/authors must be present for the programme.