Social Science Libraries Section with Women
& Information and Libraries Special Interest Group

IFLA Social Sciences Libraries Section in collaboration  with Women, Information and Libraries Special Interest Group is seeking papers on the topic of “Librarians as change agents: finding, using and managing data for social change”.

Librarians, by collecting, organizing, storing and providing access to data, serve as change agents,   helping organizations and individuals access and use data in order to develop more successful societies.

We request submissions  which demonstrate how  libraries and librarians, working with data, support and engage in social change that impact communities.  In effect, has your library been actively engaged in providing data for social purposes?  If so, please share your story with us. All aspects of this topic will be considered, for example:

• Examples of how providing access to data facilitated social change
• Examples of library projects which have facilitated / are facilitating social change by providing access to data for/related to women and girls
• Libraries/librarians and their role in privacy, big data and data mining issues
• Impact on society of new technologies related to data and the role of libraries/librarians
• New roles for libraries/librarians in data: learning this new role and its importance
• Why data management and access to data means better social science/science inquiry  and leads to better societies
• Librarian roles in facilitating data literacy and its importance to citizens
• Examples of partnering with social scientists/researchers and the impact of doing so
• Examples of libraries providing social data in order to facilitate better laws

(PLEASE NOTE:  We prefer submissions that demonstrate real experiences/case studies – papers that tell a story.  Please structure your paper in this way.  Tell us your story).

The papers in this session should provide a series of vibrant examples of the broad concept of librarians as change agents working with data.  The ultimate objective is to build a body of literature on this topic that will help to guide other librarians with these issues. The session will be in two parts – Part 1 will be 2 hours devoted to papers on the general theme and Part 2 will be 1 hour devoted to papers related  to library projects which have facilitated / are facilitating social change by providing access to data for/related to women and girls.

How to submit a proposal

Proposals should include:

• An abstract of paper approximately 500 words
• A summary of the author(s) details (name, institution, position) and brief biographical statement of no more than 50 words.

Proposals should be submitted electronically to:

Sylvia Piggott
Email: [email protected]

copy to:

Dr. Chiku Mnubi-Mchombu
Email: [email protected];
WIL SIG
Email: [email protected]
Beba Stankovic:
Email: [email protected]
no later than 10 March 2014 and indicate ‘IFLA proposal’ in the subject line. 

Selected presenters will be notified by 31 March 2014.

Papers should reflect the 2014 conference theme, “Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge" and IFLA President Sinnika  Sipila’s theme, “Strong Libraries, Strong Societies”.

Full papers

The deadline for the final version of the full papers accepted for the session is 14 May 2014.  Papers should be in English (or in one of the official IFLA languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian or Spanish), with an English translation attached.  The language of the session will be English. Presenters will have 20 minutes in the programme session to deliver their papers, and time will be allowed for an open forum to allow audience interaction.

Please note that the Programme Committee has no funds to assist prospective authors: abstracts should only be submitted on the understanding that the expenses of the attending the Lyon conference (including travel, expenses and conference fee) will be the responsibility of the authors(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers. At least one author will be expected to attend conference to deliver the paper.

Important Dates