Library Buildings and Equipment Section

Architecture can open up new perspectives into sites and situations. Library buildings are able to speak to us in their own unique way for experiences that are both private and public, personal yet collective. The use of a library is not only dependent on the functional requirements and their relation to space, but also on the representational aspects of a building and the sense of spaces it conveys to its visitors. At the same time emerging new technologies and collaborative learning and research environments act increasingly on learning, reading and research. Library architecture has thus to find solutions to evoke the sensibilities of the users to the spaces around them.

The Library buildings and Equipment Section is looking for case studies, plans or visionary sketches that identify trends, highlight the shape, design and atmosphere of current best-practice and future library architecture and spaces.

Papers should answer the following questions:

• What defines a space in a library in the future?
• How does the library respond to its context?
• How do architects and stakeholders create a collaborative, creative and emotional place that relates to regional culture and context?
• What means are used to create atmosphere and reach the senses of users?
• How does library architecture communicate with us on an emotional, psychological, visual and intellectual level?

Presentations should reflect the theme of WLIC 2015, "Dynamic Libraries – Access, Development and Transformation" and relate to the IFLA Trend Report.

The following should be provided by those responding to the call:

• name and institution of presenter(s), postal address and e-mail address
• title of the paper
• an abstract of the paper describing the project or research carried out (1 page, up to 350 words) preferably in English
• relevant biographical information of author(s)/presenter(s)
• Email subject line "IFLA PROPOSAL"
• Proposed papers must be original and not have published before.

Please send your proposals by 15 February 2015 via e-mail to:
Dorothea Sommer, Chair of the LBE Section,
Email: dorothea.sommer@bibliothek.uni-halle.de

The abstracts will be reviewed by a Review Committee and the papers selected will be announced by 7 March 2015. Successful papers can be given at the congress in any of IFLA’s official languages.

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

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 May 2015 to allow time for review and for preparation of translations. Presentations should not take longer than 25 minutes to deliver and papers should be no longer than 20 pages.

In accordance with IFLA's Open Access Statement all papers presented at the WLIC 2015 will be available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Authors of submitted papers will need to sign IFLA’s Author form. The papers and presentations will be made available through the IFLA Library.

Important dates

Please note

Please note that it is the presenters’ responsibility to find funding for their participation (registration fee, travel, accommodation and associated costs). IFLA is not in a position to fund attendance at the Congress, but a special invitation letter can be issued to authors. An exception can be made for speakers from outside the profession who would not normally attend the congress. These can register free of charge for the day on which they speak.

Congress Participation Grants

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