Call for Papers

Information Technology Section

Theme:
Inspiring solutions emerging from open source

In the last ten years libraries have witnessed the emergence of stable open source solutions, such as library management systems, digital archiving systems, digital library systems, web harvesting tools, data mining systems, etc. They have been produced and developed by library communities and supporting vendors and their licenses are typically free of charge. These systems perform almost every library operation, but they differ in functionality, capability and level of support. Open source also allows librarians to engage at a technical level in the evolution of the systems they are using.

Since open source solutions address the needs of library communities, they are interesting to all libraries (both developed and with small financial resources). Library communities use existing open source software and adjust it to their needs, often resulting in a highly innovative tool.

Very original open source systems are now emerging that integrate with daily library processes. In this session we would like to gather the most innovative and exciting open source solutions developed and used in libraries. We are specifically interested in efficient solutions that address the real needs of libraries and have a sustainable support community.

Areas of interest

Areas of interest for papers include, but need not be restricted to, the following experiences in libraries:

  • innovative and inspiring use of open source in libraries;
  • examples of establishing regional support for open source solutions;
  • ideas on different business models using open source;
  • taking open source resources to the next level by allowing a deeper level of information discovery through rich mark-up, open web services, integrating with multimedia information retrieval, mashing up related items;
  • inspiring solutions emerging from the developing world, building support communities for IT/open source projects, linking into non-library centric open source communities, experiences in technological "leapfrog", etc.

Proposals for papers should be no more than one page in length. If selected, speakers will have 15 minutes to present their results and 5 minutes for a question and answer period during the conference session.

Proposal should include the following information:

  • Title of proposed presentation
  • Name, title, and institution of speaker(s)
  • Address and email address of speaker(s)
  • Brief biographical statement about each speaker including information about the qualifications of the speaker to address the proposed topic
  • One or two paragraph discussion of the main points of the paper including an outline of the takeaways a conference attendee will obtain by having the topic presented at the conference
  • Language of presentation
  • Contact information for response to the proposal

Important Dates

Paper proposals should be sent by 31st January, 2013 to:

Alenka Kavčič-Čolić
Chair of the Information Technology Section
E-mail: alenka.kavcic@nuk.uni-lj.si.

The subject line of all submissions should be "IFLA ITS Proposal -" followed by your last name. For example, "IFLA ITS Proposal - Kavcic-Colic"

The contact person for each proposal will be informed by 28th February, 2013 whether their proposal has been accepted or not.

Papers selected for inclusion in the program must be submitted in one the official languages of IFLA by 1st May, 2013.

Submissions

All proposals must be in before 31 January 2013.

Please note:

  • The committee is looking for papers that present real-world solutions. Papers that focus on solutions that are usable in multiple library contexts will receive higher consideration for inclusion in the conference program. Papers that are strictly theoretical or inapplicable to other environmental contexts are less likely to be accepted for inclusion in the program.
  • Every paper accepted must be presented in person by one of the authors at the WLIC in Singapore.
  • Authors are required to permit non-exclusive publication of papers chosen for this session on the IFLA website and digital library. Papers that are accepted but not presented in person at the conference will not be made available on the official conference website nor will they be considered for nomination as a best paper of the conference.
  • Authors of papers not chosen for the conference may be invited to submit their paper for publication in the IFLA IT section journal.

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 can be issued to authors.

Congress Attendance Grants

The Singapore National Committee and IFLA have worked hard to secure funds for Conference Participation Grants. Up-to-date information will be available on our Conference Participation Grants webpage.

Last update: 28 November 2012