Law Libraries Section with the Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section and the Government Information and Official Publications Section

The IFLA Law Libraries Section, along with the Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section, and the  Government Information and Official Publications Section, are seeking proposals for papers to be presented at a session to be held at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Lyon, France, August 16-22, 2014. 

Session Theme

This program will focus on the topic of open access to official, authenticated legal information. Countries around the world are moving towards providing free access to government information, complying with enacted laws on the right of the public to access legal information. After creating online versions of such publications as their official gazettes (which publish texts of laws and other important official documents), many countries are discontinuing the print versions.  However, without the protection of some technology-based authentication method, the electronic version of a legal publication is vulnerable to alteration. Legal information in electronic format must be reliable and trustworthy if it is to be designated as the official version. It is important for the content to be authenticated, preserved, and accessible.

We plan to highlight several countries which are currently authenticating their official gazettes, such as France and Brazil, as well as some regional organizations that are promoting standards for authenticating official publications. We anticipate that speakers will provide a basic explanation of authentication methods currently employed, share examples and experiences, and recommend best practices and guidelines to assist other countries in addressing issues of authentication, preservation, and accessibility. 

We invite papers that analyze case studies and innovative experiences:

• Local and regional efforts for authentication of official legal information
• Technology and technical mechanisms
• Local and/ regional challenges / efforts in setting standards for official gazettes
• Best practices and guidelines.
• Issues related to access to electronic/digitized laws
• Long term preservation efforts challenges and efforts
• Continuity and sustainability, reliability of the infrastructure (e.g. obsolescence)
• Accessibility, searchability, and usability of the data

Reflecting on the conference theme, Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge, papers that highlight best practices for providing safe law with a strong collaborative cross-border or international dimension would be appreciated.

The program will feature up to five presentations of 15-20 minutes each with additional time for questions.  

For information on IFLA’s general guidelines for papers see: http://conference.ifla.org/past/2013/general-guidelines-for-authors-of-papers.htm

Language of the session: Papers should be in one of the seven IFLA official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish.

However, abstracts should be in English.

Important dates and submission details

15 February  2014 10 March 2014:  Deadline to submit proposals/abstracts. 

Proposals should include:

• Title of proposed presentation
• Abstract of proposed paper (no more than 300 words)
• Name(s) of presenter(s) plus position and/or title
• Employer or affiliated institution
• Contact information including e-mail address, telephone number
• Short biographical statement of presenter(s)
• Language of final presentation

Send proposals via email to:

Marisol Florén-Romero
Email:  florenm@fiu.edu

31 March 2014: Proposals will be reviewed and successful candidates will be notified.

30 May 2014:  Deadline for selected presenters to submit formal paper (for inclusion on the IFLA conference website and the Section’s website).  Details regarding the format and length of the final paper will be sent to candidates whose abstracts are accepted.