Public Libraries Section

Date

12-13 August 2014

Venue

Library of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Organisers

IFLA Public Libraries Section in partnership with:

• The Library of Birmingham
• CILIP and its Public and Mobile Libraries Group and International Library and Information Group
• Society of Chief Librarians

We invite you to submit a proposal for the IFLA Satellite Meeting to be hosted by the Library of Birmingham and CILIP on Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 August 2014.  You might like to propose a panel, a workshop or a debate

Conference theme and focus

In a rapidly changing environment it is timely to examine the future of public libraries. The conference will focus on the themes of the public library as a physical and a virtual space in the digital age and the public library as an economic driver that helps to regenerate and build communities.

The expected audience is likely to include public library staff, cultural workers, students and scholars, other professionals working in the information industry and government representatives.

The conference will be will be hosted by the new Library of Birmingham and provides an opportunity to discuss the latest developments in the public library world in the largest and most iconic public library in Europe.

Proposals

The conference organisers invite proposals on the following issues:

• The future of the public library with a particular focus on breaking down barriers between physical and digital
• The library as community space in the digital economy
• Designing new library spaces
• The library as an economic driver helping to regenerate communities

The Section is also eager to receive proposals under these themes that relate to mobile libraries.

15 minutes will be allowed for a presentation in the Conference followed by 5 minute discussion/question time. The full written paper is not to be read.

Proposals should include

• Title of the presentation
• Abstract of no more than 400 words
• Author(s) name, professional affiliation, postal address, e-mail address
• A brief biographical statement of no more than 50 words

The conference will be conducted in English. All proposals, papers and presentations will be required to be in English.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be sent before Monday 17 February 2014 via email to:

Jan Richards
Email: jrichards@orange.nsw.gov.au

Submissions will be reviewed by the Program Committee with successful proposals identified and announced by 14 March 2014.

To provide for dynamic content, full text papers should be submitted in a Word file by 30 June 2014. Papers should be 3-20 pages long and written in English. Papers must include an abstract and an appendix with practical recommendations derived from the paper. The length of oral presentations will be discussed with the presenters, but is most likely 15 minutes with 5 mins question time... It is intended all submissions will be published on the Satellite website.

The Program Committee may contact you to refine your proposal.

Key dates

17 February 2014	Deadline for submissions
14 March 2014	Applicants will be notified of the selection committee’s decisions
30 June 2014	Deadline for speakers to submit the full text of their paper

 

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 French 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.