Call for Papers

News Media Section

Theme:
Local – African – Global: the dynamics of news media and how libraries cope with it

The News Media Section (formerly Newspapers Section) is seeking proposals for papers to be presented at a session during the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Cape Town, South Africa 15-21, August 2015 (exact date of the open session to be announced later).

Information is a key factor for sustainable development, democratic societies and economic growth. The equitable right and freedom of access to information contained in news should be guaranteed by  libraries. Citizen journalism, social media and the growing sector of new information channels entail enormous changes for democratic development, and, on the other hand, libraries face new challenges in preserving them as historical resources for tomorrow. This session will give attention to library as well as political aspects of the theme, with a particular focus on the African news and news channels.

Open Session Theme:  Local – African – Global: the dynamics of news media and how libraries cope with it

Sub-themes:

  • Local news and newspapers as cultural heritage and historical sources
  • Local media in Africa and their role in community building and society: representation, agents of change, and critical relationships?
  • News in new channels, social media, networks (and their function for social movements, etc.)
  • Research on African news media
  • Collecting news media in Africa, including legal deposit of news in any media
  • News media in digitization strategies of libraries

Other proposals relevant to the main conference theme will also be considered.

Submission Guidelines

Proposal abstracts for the IFLA Open Session must be submitted by 6 March 2015, must be in English or French and should clearly include:

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

Language of the paper and presentation: English or French.

Proposal abstracts should be submitted to (yes to all 3 reviewers!):

Krista Kiisa
Email: krista.kiisa@nlib.ee

Ulrich Hagenah
Email: hagenah@sub.uni-hamburg.de

Mazelan bin Anuar
Email: mazelan_anuar@nlb.gov.sg

Selected presenters will be notified by 16 March 2015.

Accepted papers

  • Complete accepted papers should be 3000-6000 words in length and be an original submission not published elsewhere
  • Complete accepted papers and accompanying presentation slides must be submitted by the end of June 2015
  • Final papers should be written in any of IFLA's official languages
  • 12-15 minutes will be allowed for the delivery of the paper
  • The papers will be made available on the Conference website and eventually in the IFLA Library
  • Author(s) must agree to make their paper available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

To discuss any matter relating to this Call for Papers, please contact:

Krista Kiisa (krista.kiisa@nlib.ee)
Ulrich Hagenah (hagenah@sub.uni-hamburg.de)
Mazelan bin Anuar (mazelan_anuar@nlb.gov.sg)

Registration

Registration information will be posted on the conference website at the beginning of 2015.

Important dates

6 March 2015:  Abstracts due
16 March 2015: Acceptance notices sent to authors
30 June 2015: Completed papers and presentation submitted

Submissions

All proposals must be in before 6 March 2015.

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 letter can be issued to authors.

Congress Participation Grants

List of opportunities for support is available on our Conference Participation Grants webpage.

Last update: 26 January 2015