Library Buildings and Equipment Section

Recent years have shown the trend that more and more people are reinventing and rediscovering the urban city as a living space. Cities provide work, accommodation, education, neighbourhood, participation in cultural and leisure activities and provide an attractive infrastructure that is compact and easily accessible. The Renaissance of the city center and urban life-style necessitates rethinking of the concept of the library from not only a destination in the city but also a catalyst for urban development and growth. Libraries are a central component of the knowledge environment of modern cities. They are cultural and social transformers of society and strive - especially in times of economic crisis - to include diverse social groups that are the inhabitants of a city and potential users of the library.

The Library Buildings and Equipment Section is looking for papers which highlight the reciprocal relationship of the library and the city in the context of architecture in the knowledge society. Papers should explore and reveal how architecture and interior design can transform libraries into fascinating and inspiring destinations in the city. They should focus on how libraries and their buildings can contribute to the development of city architecture and add value to it. The Section is particularly interested in projects that demonstrate new functional demands for the architecture and the design of libraries and the respective interaction with the city architecture and urban spaces. We would like the programme to have a balance between theoretical approaches devoted to aspects of library and urban planning and best practice case studies, which have proven to have met the different needs of the urban user.

Submission Guidelines

The theme of WLIC 2013, "Future Libraries: Infinite Possibilities" should provide the context of the presentation.

The following should be provided:

• name and institution of presenter(s)
• an abstract of the paper describing the project, campaign or research carried out (1 page, up to 350 words) preferably in English
• relevant biographical information of author(s)/presenter(s)

Please send your proposals by 31th of January 2013 via e-mail to:

Dorothea Sommer
Chair, Library Buildings and Equipment Section
E-mail: dorothea.sommer@bibliothek.uni-halle.de

The abstracts will be reviewed and selected by a Review Committee. The paper can be given at the congress in any of IFLA's official languages. Successful proposals will be identified and announced by 22 February 2013.

If a paper is selected authors must commit to presenting it in Singapore.

All presenters and their papers will be listed in the final IFLA Programme. Therefore presenters must forward the full text of their papers by 15 April 2013 to allow time for review and for preparation of translations. The time allowed for the presentation will be 20 minutes. Papers should be no longer than 20 pages.

In accordance with IFLA's Open Access Statement all papers presented at the WLIC 2013 shall be available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence.

Important dates

• 31 January 2013: Deadline for submitting proposals
• 22 February 2013: notification of successful applicants
• 15 April 2013: submission of full papers

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.