4th International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Ching-chih Chen Professor Emerita, Simmons College, Boston President, Global Connection and Collaboration, Newton Keynote Talk Title:Beyond Digital Libraries/Archives/Museums: How to measure, evaluate and assess their impacts and value?
Abstract: In recent years, it is an understatement to say that creating digital libraries/archives/museums has become an increasingly hot topic. Considerable attentions have been paid to activities such as proposing various types of digital projects, selecting content for digitization, learning how to create proper metadata, processing digital images, objects, and videos, adding multilingual components etc. Yet, aside from the obvious objectives for universal access, preservation and conservation, few have attempted to find ways to measure, evaluate and assess the created digital “products” in terms of their use and value so that these products can be improved and enhanced continuously. This speaker will use her two major global projects – Global Memory Net and World Heritage Memory Net - related to culture and heritage topics to address these essential points. Abbreviated Biography Dr. Ching-chih Chen is a consultant and speaker to over 40 countries. She became Professor Emerita of Simmons College, Boston in June 2010 after 39-year teaching and research and has since become President of a non-profit organization, Global Connection and Collaboration, Inc. She is the author/editor of more than 35 books and over 200 journal articles in areas of new information technologies, such as global digital libraries, multimedia technology, digital imaging, interactive videodisc technology, global information infrastructure, information management, and information resources, etc. For this Conference’s interest, it is worth mentioning that one of her earlier books, entitled Quantitative Measurement and Dynamic Library Service, edited by her, was published by Oryx Press in 1978, some 33 years ago. She produced the award winning interactive videodisc and multimedia CD entitled The First Emperor of China, supported by the US National Endowment for Humanities (NEH). In addition to numerous digital activities, she has led two major global digital library projects supported by the US National Science Foundation’s International Digital Library Project: (1) Global Memory Net, a global image digital library and gateway to the world cultural, historical, and heritage multimedia resources, with collaborators from different part of the world, and (2) World Heritage Memory Net in partnership with the UNESCO’s World Heritage Center. An elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1985), she was appointed by President Clinton in February 1997 to serve as a member of the U.S. President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) under both Presidents Clinton and Bush during 1997 to December 2002. Dr. Chen was Chief Organizer of a series of twelve International Conferences on New Information Technology (NIT) in many continents of the world. She is a recipient of over twenty major awards since 1970. Since 2006, two major awards given to her were the coveted LITA/OCLC Kilgour Award from the Library Information Technology Association in June 2006, and the American Library Association’s major Beta Phi Mu Award in June 2008. A sought-after international speaker in over two dozen countries, she has delivered keynote speeches and made presentations at numerous international conferences including those in countries like Argentina, China, Croatia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, Spain, Singapore, South Africa, Swaziland, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, Vietnam, etc. More information on Prof. Ching-chih Chen can be found in http://globalcc.org/ccc/index.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching-chih_Chen
Mr. Markku A. Laitinen Planning Officer, The National Library of Finland Keynote Talk Title:The Power of Data - Advocating for Library by Showing Evidence of Impact
Abstract: The libraries have a long tradition in collecting statistical data and other evidence - user survey data etc. - about the results of their operations but the information collected may not always be utilized as effectively as possible. However, the evidence of effectiveness and impact of library services may be of crucial importance for libraries to survive in the current economic climate. Good library statistics may give a sound basis for the analysis of library operations but as such, they are not a sufficient tool for impact evaluation. So, it is necessary to move beyond the traditional library performance measurement and to put the focus on the difference that library services make to their users. The new tools of analyzing efficiency, impact and outcomes combine different types of results of analysis and data giving better data and information for advocating, marketing and managing as well as demonstrating the impact of libraries. Abbreviated Biography Markku Laitinen graduated in the University of Turku in 1993 with a Master’s degree on the statistical and epidemiological disquisition of children’s muscular dystrophy. In 1995, he incepted as an Information Specialist in the Helsinki University of Technology about the development of the end user computing of electronic library materials in the disciplines of natural science and medicine. He has been working as a librarian in faculty libraries and in the administration department of the University Library of Turku. At present, he is a planning officer and the deputy of the Customer Relationship Management Unit of The National Library Network Services at the National Library of Finland. His recent interests are the utilizing of statistical data and the developing of the indicators proving the impact and effectiveness of library operations. He has also lectured on the subject at training meetings for library professionals and he is responsible for the developing of the education in the library statistics in Finland. He is also a member of ISO working groups involved in international standardization regarding library statistics, performance measures and quality indicators, and a member and information coordinator of IFLA Standing Committee for Statistics and Evaluation. He is, too, member of the Liber quality Work Group and the National Group for Assessing the Impact of Library Activities in Finland.
Special Sessions and Workshops of QQML 2012 Conference
You may send proposals for Special Sessions (4-6 papers) or Workshops (more than 2 sessions) including the title and a brief description to the Conference Committee at: secretariat@isast.org or from the electronic submission at the web page: http://www.isast.org/abstractpaperregister.html You may also send Abstracts/Papers to be included in the following sessions, to new sessions or as contributed papers at the web page http://www.isast.org/abstractpaperregister.html Contributions may be realized through one of the following ways a. structured abstracts (not exceeding 500 words) and presentation; b. full papers (not exceeding 7,000 words); and c. posters (not exceeding 2,500 words). In all the above cases at least one of the authors ought to be registered in the conference. Abstracts and full papers should be submitted electronically within the timetable provided in the web page: http://www.isast.org/importantdates.html The abstracts and full papers should be in compliance to the author guidelines http://www.isast.org/abstractpaperregister.html
SESSION TITLE: Bibliometric research Coordinator: Teresa S. Welsh, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Library & Information Science University of Southern Mississippi, USA Scope & rationale: Bibliometrics literally means the measurement of books but it has come to mean the analysis of patterns of information related to usage data or publication data in print or electronic format. This session will focus on research such as citation analysis and content analysis of scholarly literature, Web sites, databases, or collections.
SESSION TITLE: Historical and comparative case studies related to librarianship Coordinator: Teresa S. Welsh, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Library & Information Science, University of Southern Mississippi, USA Scope & rationale: Historiography is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the writing of history. Krzys defined library historiography as the writing of the history of agencies, people, and movements within or contributing to the development of librarianship; written history of those agencies, people, or movements (1975, p. 294). This session will focus on historiographies or comparative case studies related to libraries, special collections, or library programs/services. Krzys, Richard (1975) Library Historiography. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science 15: 294-330.
SESSION TITLE: Trends in health information services Coordinator: Maria G. N. Musoke, Ph.D., Professor, Library & Information Science and University Librarian, Makerere University, Uganda Sub-themes: Research by health information professionals, Role of librarians in implementing Evidence based medicine/practice, Prospects and challenges of implementing Research4Life in low income countries.
SESSION TITLE: Quality evaluation and promotion of infodocumentary institutions services methods Coordinator: Angela Repanovici, Prof. Dr., Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania Scope & rationale: In the information society we often hear the question: Why do we need libraries when we have everything on internet? What do you want to change, keep or move in your library? In this section and in the papers presented here, we will find answers and methods to promote library services, and to evaluate these services using web 2.0 technologies. We accept case studies, research, and evaluation methods on the following topics: User education in informational recourses The importance of personal involvement Accreditation of digital libraries Development of a network of peers Cataloguing is changing Customer services Management/administration OPAC 2.0 - the catalogue on web The benefit of change Electronic library Digital repository management
Presenters: 1. Antonio Carpallo Bautista and Esther Burgos Bordonau, Madrid University, Spain Binding descriptions within a universal collective catalogue. 2. Luiza Baptista Melo, Universidade de Evora, Portugal The impact of electronic information resources in higher education in Portugal: a contribution to its analysis in the context of libraries. 3. Octavia-Luciana Porumbeanu Madge, University of Bucharest and Crina Mihailescu, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” – Bucharest, Romania Evaluation of usage patterns and promotion of electronic resources in academic medical libraries: the case of the Central Library of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” – Bucharest, Romania. 4. Octavia-Luciana Porumbeanu Madge, University of Bucharest, Romania Developing a model for information services based on a librarian-users partnership in medical clinics in Bucharest. 5. Angela Repanovici, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania and Manolis Koukourakis, Crete University Library, Greece Assessment of information literacy courses for PhD students.
SESSION TITLE: E books: Changing hearts and minds Coordinator: Bethan Bligh, Learning Resource Centre Manager, Warrington Collegiate, UK Scope & rationale: As we enter an age of mobile hand held devise and screens large enough to hold a page we are duty bound to keep up with technological advances and introduce the e book to our eager students. Books that are always on the shelf, always up to date, always have every page available and not missing the vital chapter for unit 12! Our mission is to provide fabulous ebooks that are able to be used effectively by FE students doing a myriad of courses from fashion to motor vehicle and HE students who are desperate for all the latest functionality that an e book offers. Our challenge is to not only to make these books available but to make them user friendly as attractive and welcoming as a well thumbed bedtime story. Our students have the advantage of being weaned on technology and have a penchant for reading from a screen – it’s how things are. In contrast, tutors are a little inhibited by the world of e and secretly hope that their text is only available as a printed tome. It is our job as information providers to embrace the fear of e and rather than sneer, to embrace the inhibitions and break down all the imagined and actual barriers of working with an electronic book. We need to celebrate the advantages of e books with their virtual book shelves, note taking facility, capacity to include citation, highlighting key passages whilst understanding that folding the corner of a page and underlining with an hb pencil is a difficult habit to break. We must highlight the fact that e books won’t weigh down your rucksack and can be viewed anywhere at anytime by as many people as wanted, whilst reminding ourselves that there are those that feel reassured by carrying the printed word and don’t have access to a pc outside of the learning environment. We mustn’t get carried away with our love of all that it e and forget that some people find the whole business terrifying and are too afraid to speak up and ask for help for fear of looking inadequate–your tutor may be having sleepless nights. With financial saving needed and the inevitably of technology shaping our lives we must move forwards and collectively embrace e books overcoming the challenges and educating, educating, educating in an empathetic way accommodating learning styles galore and making an electronic book the norm. Our job is not to replace the printed word but to celebrate books in every format and encourage our users to flirt with this new technology and hope that one day they will fall in love with e. Presenters: Bethan Bligh, Learning Resource Centre Manager, Warrington Collegiate, UK, bbligh@warrington.ac.uk Sylvia Haggett, ILT Manager, Warrington Collegiate, UK, sylvia.haggett@warrington.ac.uk Patrick Veale, IT Support Advisor Warrington Collegiate, UK, pveale@warrington.ac.uk
SESSION TITLE: Core Skills, Competencies and Qualifications for Today′s Reference Librarians Coordinator: Serap Kurbanoglu, Professor, Hacettepe University, Department of Information Management, Ankara, Turkey Scope & rationale: The main aim of this session is to encourage a discussion on core competencies needed by today's academic librarians in order for them to perform daily reference tasks successfully and provide reference services adequately in their constantly changing work environment which is impacted mainly by advances in technology, changes in user needs and expectations, and the rapid transition to e-services. In this session, a multi-nation (fourteen countries are involved) research project which aims to determine skills and qualifications most needed by academic reference librarians today and in near future will be introduced. Results from eleven nation-wide surveys, namely from following countries: Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey and USA, will be presented. Issues such as the most important competencies for academic reference librarians, competencies needed to be more developed in new LIS graduates, and its implications for LIS education will be discussed. Furthermore, challenges and opportunities in conducting such a large scale multi- nation survey will also be addressed.
List of papers Serap Kurbanoglu, Laura Saunders, and Mary Jordan. A Multi-Nation Study on Academic Reference Competencies: An Overview. Laura Saunders & Mary Jordan. Reference Competencies in American Libraries: A Comparison of Public and Academic Library Qualification. Serap Kurbanoglu.Core Reference Competencies for Academic Librarians and its Comparison with LIS Curricula in Turkey. Joumana Boustany. Reference Competencies in Academic Libraries in France: Current Situation and Practices. Gaby Haddow.Core Skills, Competencies and Qualifications for Today's Reference Librarians: An Australian Perspective. Angela Repanovici. The Reference Department in Romanian Academic Environment. Tania Todorova. Bulgarian Vision of Today's Reference Librarians. Egbert Sanchez Vanderkast and Rocio Caridad Herrera Guzman. Library and Information Services Policy: Is There a Need to Reconsider This Issue? Paul Simon Svanberg and Ane Landoy. Core Skills, Competencies and Qualifications for Reference Librarians in Norwegian Academic Libraries. Sirje Virkus. Competencies Needed for Academic Librarians in Estonia. Daniela Zivkovic and Ivana Hebrang Grgic. Reference Librarians in Croatian Academic Libraries.
Authors′ affiliations Joumana Boustany, Ph.D., Professor, Paris Descartes University - Researcher, DICEN, CNAM, France, jboustany@gmail.com Ivana Hebrang Grgic, Ph.D. Department of Information Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia, ihgrgic@ffzg.hr Rocio Caridad Herrera Guzman, Ph. D. Student UAM – Ixtapalapa, Mexico.hergu974@yahoo.com.mx Gaby Haddow, Ph.D., Department of Information Studies, Curtin University, Australia, G.Haddow@curtin.edu.au Mary Jordan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, USA, mary.wilkinsjordan@simmons.edu Serap Kurbanoglu, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Information Management, Hacettepe University, Turkey, serap@hacettepe.edu.tr Ane Landoy, Academic Librarian, University of Bergen Library, Norway, Ane.Landoy@ub.uib.no Angela Repanovici, Ph. D., Professor, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania, arepanovici@un.itbv.ro Laura Saunders, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, USA, laura.saunders@simmons.edu Paul Simon Svanberg, Academic Librarian, University of Bergen Library, Norway, Paul.Simon.Svanberg@ub.uib.no Tania Todorova, Ph. D., Associate Professor, State University of Library Studies and Information Technology, Bulgaria, dr.tanya.todorova@gmail.com Egbert Sanchez Vanderkast, Ph. D., National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico, egbert@unam.mx Sirje Virkus, Ph. D., Associate Professor, Tallinn University, Estonia, sirvir@tlu.ee Daniela Zivkovic, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Information Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia, dzivkovi@ffzg.hr
SESSION TITLE: Social Justice in Library and Information Science Coordinator: Bharat Mehra, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, bmehra@utk.edu Scope & rationale: Social justice in library and information science involves achieving action-oriented socially relevant outcomes via information-related work that furthers community-wide progressive changes partnering with, and, on behalf of people on society’s margins. This session will present speakers who engage in research and teaching while keeping their focus on social impact and community involvement in LIS practice, education, service design, and program implementation.
List of papers 1. Kevin Rioux, Division of Library and Information Science, St. John's University, New York, USA, rioux.kevin@gmail.com Teaching Social Justice in an Information Literacy Course: An Action Research Case Study The master’s program in Global Development and Social Justice (GDSJ) has been offered by the Center for Global Development at St. John's University since July of 2006. Since then, nearly 100 students, most of them from developing countries, have earned the degree. A graduate-level course entitled “Information Resources for Development Professionals” is the foundation for this degree program, which is globally distributed using both face-to-face and distance learning methods. This paper will describe the evolution of this course, and will report on some emerging outcomes related to positioning a professional-level information literacy program within a social justice framework. 2. Vandana Singh, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, vandana@utk.edu Open Source Software in Libraries: Implications for Social Justice Open source software has become very prominent in the last decade and its adoption is on an upward trajectory. Especially in these economic times; limited by budget – libraries are looking to save money by using Open Source options. In this paper we will present results of adoption of Open Source Integrated Library Systems in different types of libraries (Academic, Public, Special, and School) and the impact that has had on the library and the community. We will present a framework of implications for social justice based on qualitative analysis of librarian’s perspectives. 3. Deborah Estreicher, Peter A. Lee, Lili Luo, Cyndy Thomas, and Glenn Thomas, School of Library and Information Science, San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA, lili.luo@sjsu.edu [corresponding author: Luo] Social Workers in the Library: An Innovative Approach to Address Library Patrons’ Social Service Needs Many library patrons need access to information regarding local social services available in their community. Public libraries offer a unique venue for developing new approaches to expanding access to social service programs, resources, and information. Creating effective partnerships between social workers and public libraries offers new opportunities to meet community needs. With those opportunities in mind, faculty from the San Jose State University’s School of Social Work partnered with the San Jose Public Library and the local chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, launched the Social Workers in the Library (SWITL) pilot program in 2009. Professional social workers volunteer their time to meet face-to-face with library patrons for brief consultations. To date, SWITL patrons have received assistance with social service issues ranging from adoption and foster care, stress in family relationships, unemployment, homelessness, and recovery from substance abuse. Library personnel and volunteers promote the program, facilitate the appointments, and provide supplementary information to patrons. SWITL expands access to information regarding social services in a unique collaborative model between social workers and information professionals. We hope to share the experience of initiating, implementing, managing and assessing the SWITL program. 4. Peta Wellstead, School of Information & Social Sciences, Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Waterloo, New Zealand, Peta.Wellstead@openpolytechnic.ac.nz Supporting the Unmet Information Needs of Australian Men Experiencing Stressful Life Events. A Social Justice Imperative The development of the community library movement was a social justice initiative. Social reformers considered that social inequity could be ameliorated through the power of information and self education. Social improvement and community engagement were the goals of early library philanthropists and patrons alike. Recent use of terms such as information rich, information poor, and digital divide reflect that the social justice imperative of equitable information provision continues to resonate within the community. This paper reports qualitative research that investigated strategies for more effective delivery of information to support the health outcomes and community engagement of Australian men, a group who have poor health outcomes and high suicide rates. Based on the research findings this paper will discuss the social justice imperative, in this era of corporatisation of information, that librarians embrace their professional roots and continue to support information delivery that reinforces personal wellbeing, community cohesion and active citizenship. 5. Bharat Mehra, Kimberly Black, Vandana Singh, Jenna Nolt, K. C. Williams, Susan Simmons, and Nancy Renfro, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, bmehra@utk.edu [corresponding author Mehra] The Social Justice Framework in the Information Technology Rural Librarian Master’s Scholarship Program: Bridging the Rural Digital Divides The paper applies a social justice framework to reflect on the experiences in the Information Technology Rural Librarian Master’s Scholarship Program (ITRL) that has recently been funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the School of Information Sciences (SIS) at the University of Tennessee (UT). The purpose of the ITRL is to recruit and train sixteen paraprofessionals working in the Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) rural libraries to complete their master’s degree part-time from June 2010 – August 2012 in the UT SIS’ synchronous distance education program. The grant combines work experience in regional libraries with a graduate curriculum that focuses on information technology (IT) and rural librarianship. Applying the social justice framework to the ITRL identifies underlying motivations that are shaping its conceptualization and implementation to address rural digital divides experienced in the SCA region.
SESSION TITLE: Using qualitative and quantitative methods in digital library education and research Coordinators: Sirje Virkus, Lecturer, Tallinn University, Institute of Information Studies, Estonia, sirvir@tlu.ee & Aira Lepik, Associate Professor, Tallinn University, Institute of Information Studies, Estonia, aira.lepik@tlu.ee Scope & rationale: This session aims to encourage the discussions and provide examples of usage of qualitative and quantitative methods in digital library research. This session comprises six papers each of them will be presented by individual authors. All six authors are related with Digital Library Learning (DILL) master programme–two are current master students, three are DILL graduates and one is faculty member. Authors explore in their papers the issues of digital library education, social, economic, educational and organizational aspects of digital libraries, and social networking issues in the different regions of the world using a quantitative and qualitative inquiry. The students' papers of this session are based on research done within their Master Thesis projects in the Digital Library Learning (DILL) programme at Tallinn University or their PhD Thesis projects. DILL is a two-year Master Programme for information professionals who intend to work in the complex world of digital libraries. DILL is offered in cooperation between Oslo University College (Norway), Tallinn University (Estonia), and Parma University (Italy), http://dill.hio.no/ & http://www.tlu.ee/~sirvir/DILL/DILL/Index.html
Presenters: Getaneh Alemu, Brett Stevens, Penny Ross,getaneh@gmail.com, LIS Researchers’ Perspectives on Standards-based vis-a-vis User-driven Metadata Approaches Juan Daniel Machin Mastromatteo, judamasmas@gmail.com, Using social networks in a LIS learning experience: a revision of the methods Andrew Wabwezi, awabwezi@mulib.mak.ac.ug, The role knowledge sharing in fostering innovation in higher education: a case study of Tallinn University Aira Lepik, aira.lepik@tlu.ee, Implementing virtual Entrepreneurship seminar into Human Resources Management/HRM course: a case of Digital Library Learning /DILL Master programme Audrey Anday, aganday@gmail.com, Knowledge management in open and distance learning Ewelina Melnarowicz, emelnarowicz@gmail.com, Research data management in an academic setting
SESSION TITLE: LibQUAL+(R) in Ireland and elsewhere (Workshop) Convenor: Martha Kyrillidou, Senior Director, Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Statistics and Service Quality Programs, USA Scope & rationale: This workshop will bring together libraries in Ireland that have implemented LibQUAL+(R) to share their experiences. Participants from other countries that have implemented LibQUAL+(R) are also welcome. The workshop will take place over a 2.5 to 3 hours and a detailed agenda will be submitted if accepted including representatives from many academic institutions in Ireland that have participated in LibQUAL+(R).
SESSION TITLE: Demonstrating the Value of the Library in the Academy (Panel) Convenor: Bruce Thompson
ARL Profiles: Research Libraries 2010: Capturing digital developments through qualitative inquiry by Colleen Cook (McGill) and Martha Kyrillidou (ARL) ARL Library Scorecard Pilot activities by Martha Kyrillidou (ARL) Preliminary Results from the LibQUAL+(R) Triads Protocol: Using Ipsative Measurement to Assess Highly Desired Outcomes by Bruce Thompson (Texas A&M University) and Martha Kyrillidou (ARL) Measuring Value: an Update from the LibValue project
SESSION TITLE: Performance Measurement and Competitiveness Scope & rationale: This session aims to declare the relationships between performance indicators and performance results. Especially it examines: The criteria of performance indicators (PI) selection for libraries and the kinds of PI. The different methodologies proposed for library assessment, The technological effect, Financial indicators, Organizational performance, The comparison among governmental and non-governmental organizations' performance.
SESSION TITLE: Financial Management for Excellence Scope & rationale: This session seeks about how libraries and information centres are currently budgeting. Some relevant topics are: Survey research, interviewees and annual reports, within a single library and/or samples of libraries and information centres across multiple countries, are the methodological tools, Budgeting processes, in connection with the operational and strategic planning, are primarily the conceptual organizational problem that usually justifies the Excellency, Cost assessment and cost effectiveness are crucial decision making factors that justify the competitiveness of the organization, Fund raising methods, best practices and lessons learned, Risks Assessment and Control measures.
SESSION TITLE: Development and Assessment of Digital Repositories Scope & rationale: Establishing quality control into digital libraries, institutional repositories, disciplinary repositories, learning object repositories or cultural heritage repositories meant various complex issues including technical support for quality evaluation, automation of quality assessment for log files or implementation of the their organizational framework. Nowadays, Librarians and Information specialists are challenged to manage and organize these digital libraries, storage, digital knowledge mining, digital reference services, electronic information services, and manage the archive and their access. The session is targeted shedding light on trusted digital repositories and their challenges, such as: Preservation of their records for the next generations. Demonstration on fiscal responsibility and sustainability. Development of new metrics of their usages. Evaluation and best practices.
SESSION TITLE: Technology transfer and Innovation in library management Scope & rationale: The recent technological developments and the economic crisis have their impact to libraries and the interdependent context they act. The session seeks the strategies and lessons learned relevant to libraries management for survival. The transformation of the library involves initiatives and the organization commitment. Consequently, the redesign of responsibilities for the staff is a matter for research. Innovative management Human resources management Competence management Communications in organizations Intercultural management Information technology and knowledge management Library's ethics and social responsibility.
SESSION TITLE: The Change of Libraries and the Managerial techniques Scope & rationale: Libraries are in a phase of continuing changes. The challenge of competitiveness and excellence guide to modern management strategies. In order to survive, libraries start re-thinking and redesigning their administrative services. It is a matter of research, how does organisational culture and structure effect on the choice and implementation of modern managerial processes. It is also researchable if libraries resist or not to the improvement of efficiency and the flexibility of organisational structure, Human resources management, Organizational challenges, Strategic management, Re-engineering change in higher education, Fast-responded library, Learning organization.
SESSION TITLE: Information literacy: Information sharing, Democracy and lifelong learning Scope & rationale: The session seeks the new trends in information literacy, the innovative ideas and the methods of the implementation and the assessment of information literate people. The session focuses on the following topics: Information Literacy and citizenship, Strategic approaches to Information Literacy, New pedagogic challenges for libraries Collaborative work between librarians and academic staff, Independent learning skills, online information skills and lifelong learning, Concepts of learning, teaching and the developments in networked technology, Staff development and Information Literacy, New areas of practice and research, Information literacy projects on special scientific disciplines, Advocacy, marketing and promotion, Benchmarking, Evaluation and assessment.
SESSION TITLE: Library Cooperation: Problems and Challenges at the beginning of the 21st century Scope & rationale: Library’s cooperation should be developed widely. The relations among libraries are dependent on the network environment and technology. However, the cooperation and needs organizational infrastructure and human support. Some common items on library cooperation and sharing are the following: Union catalog and storage equipment, Collection policy and collection development, Joint acquisitions (purchasing, access, inter-library loan and document delivery), Joint digitization’s projects, Local, regional and country heritage, Human resource in local, regional and country level, Organizational culture The management and the economics of the cooperation.
SESSION TITLE: Information and Knowledge Services Scope & rationale: The importance of the Information and Knowledge Services advanced because of the support of technology. The new conditions bring new theories and technologies, new processes, tools and standards, and team work. Especially, the session focuses on: Resource development policy, Resource project description, Research and development of the services, Knowledge discovery and knowledge creation, Knowledge mining, Team building and management.
Trends in the Development of Information and Knowledge Services on the Public Library Territory
Coordinator: Rumyana Koycheva, Global Libraries-Bulgaria; Consultant Innovative Services, Bulgaria
Scope & rationale: Public libraries experience big transformations within the context of the overall digital environment. Being actors on an expanding and dynamic information market scene they need to redefine their role in the society. What more can public libraries offer than Google and the other players of the information infrastructure? Traditionally concerned with diversity, public libraries in the time of globalization face much more fragmented societies. What are the challenges before libraries today? Do they take the new information needs of the diversified societies as their job and do they incorporate them into their policy? In order to manage the growing information needs of their communities and to strengthen their position on the information market, libraries need to learn from business and to constantly reinvent their services regarding specific groups and communities needs. In other words, they need to function like creative industries. What solutions they use in regard to their resource development and how far public private partnerships are applicable in their service development? Then, to what extend can we situate the paid information services into contemporary libraries’ service map? Another advanced aspect of libraries’ information and knowledge services comes from nowadays intensive blur between production and consumption of knowledge. Thanks to the rapid technological advancements, today everyone is a researcher and a journalist. Can we think of public libraries as places which encourage their patrons’ production of knowledge? May it be considered a trend in public libraries development? These are from the most important topics and questions to be discussed in the presentation.
Methods. The main method will be comparative case study.