School Libraries and Resource Centers Section
& Information Literacy Section

The IFLA School Libraries and Resource Centers Section and Information Literacy Sections are seeking proposals for a joint programme to be held at the IFLA Conference in Singapore in August 2013.

Information literacy covers a broad spectrum of literacies required for success in the 21st century. Of the multiple literacies encountered, there is the essential challenge of developing literate citizens who are equipped to participate and contribute to the local and broader community. The program will present papers that address this challenge through school libraries and collaborators with school libraries, such as public libraries, university libraries, community entities, government agencies etc.

Papers should address one or both of the two main concepts of civic literacy

1. Civic Literacy

• Participating effectively in civic life through knowing how to stay informed and understanding governmental processes
• Exercising the rights and obligations of citizenship at local, state, national and global levels
• Understanding the local and global implications of civic decisions

2. Civic Literacy

• The knowledge of how to actively participate and initiate change in your community and the greater society.

Papers chosen for presentation should address, but are not limited to:

• definitions, concepts of civic literacy
• the process of the origination of individual civic literacy
• civic literacy in heterogeneous/multicultural environments
• the relationship/interactions between information literacy and civic literacy
• the role of contributors to civic literacy: schools, school libraries, public libraries, university libraries
• the contribution of school libraries to civic literacies
• examples or case studies of efforts to develop civic literacy
• civic literacy exams (sense and nonsense)

Submission Guidelines

Papers can be written and given in any of the official IFLA languages: English, French, German, Russian, Spanish. However, abstracts should be submitted in English.

Proposals for School Libraries and Information for Civic Literacy Papers must be submitted by December 31, 2012, must be in English and must include the following:

1. Title of proposed presentation
2. Outline/abstract of the proposed paper/presentation (no more than 300 words)
3. Name(s) of presenter(s)
4. Position or title of presenter(s)
5. Presenter(s) employer or affiliated institution
6. E-mail address
7. Telephone/fax numbers
8. Short biographical statement regarding the presenter/s
9. Language of presentation

15 minutes will be allowed for a summary delivery of the paper in the Conference (followed by 5 minute discussion/s). The full written paper is not to be read.

Important dates

Submission deadline December 31, 2012. Please indicate "IFLA Proposal WLIC 2013" on the subject line.

The Review Committee will evaluate all submitted materials and successful applicants will be notified by February 4, 2013.

Complete accepted papers must be between 3000 and 6000 words in length, be an original submission not published elsewhere and are due by May 31st 2013, so that translations can be organised.

All papers will be published on IFLA.org

The Proposals should be sent to:

Barbara Schultz-Jones
Secretary of the School Library Section
E-mail: Barbara.Schultz-Jones@unt.edu

For more information, please contact:

Randi Lundvall
Chair of School Library Section
E-mail: randi.lundvall@baerum.kommune.no or
Dr. Franziska Wein
Co-Convener from Information Literacy Section
E-mail: franziska.wein@uni-erfurt.de

Please note

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.