This post is by Lorraine J. Haricombe, who managed the Hot Topics program of the IFLA ARL Committee.<\/p>\n
IFLA\u2019s Academic and Research Libraries (ARL) Standing Committee hosted its annual Hot Topics session on August 13, 2024.The Hot Topics event is ARL\u2019s signature event that attracts significant interest from WLIC attendees every year. \u00a0In the absence of WLIC in 2024, ARL hosted its Hot Topics session as an online webinar to accommodate a global audienceon zoom.<\/span><\/p>\n This year\u2019s theme focused on Current & Future Literacies: Libraries Leading Literacy Development\u201d<\/span> with three speakers addressing three specific topics including<\/span>: AI in LIS education<\/span>; <\/span>Advancing Biblio-Equity: Digital Preservation and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in a Post-Covid-19 World<\/span>; and <\/span>The Role of The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library in Global Transitions <\/span>with a focus on advancing digital literacy<\/span>.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>Our three speakers represented different global regions including Uganda, the UK and Hong Kong. \u00a0Each speaker presented an eight-minute lightning talk via zoom to an online audience followed by a Q and A session where lively discussion ensued including comments in the chat box. \u00a0The three presentations and slides are listed below.<\/p>\n Presentation 1: AI in LIS Education in Uganda: A Response Strategy by Dr. Sarah Kaddu, Dean, East Africa School of Library and Information Science,\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n Presentation 2: Advancing Biblio-Equity: Digital Preservation and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in a Post-COVID-19 World by Alicia Wise, Executive Director of the CLOCKSS Archive,\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n Presentation 3: Advancing Literacy in the Digital Age: The Role of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library in Global Transitions by Lily Y. Ko. Head, Research & Learning Support, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library,\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n This structure of the session mimicked the format we typically use in the in-person sessions at WLIC where the audience is seated in a large room at round tables and where they listen to lightning talks by three speakers for the first half of the hour-long session. \u00a0After the presentations, each speaker picks a table to engage in Q and A with those interested in their topic for the last half hour of the session.<\/p>\n As the team lead for ARL\u2019s annual Hot Topics session, I would like to share my observations of the different experiences I have observed when the session was held in-person and online.<\/p>\n The annual in-person Hot Topics sessions at WLIC usually attract strong interest and offer lively and fluid conversations at round tables where the audience can engage directly with presenters. In-person sessions offer the audience the flexibility of walking around from table to table that facilitate collaborative brainstorming and different points of view and where creative solutions can be shared. They can also build positive relationships with other colleagues from different global regions. The round table structure is intentional to ensure equity and inclusion of all voices in the room. The impact of these interactions cannot be overstated as colleagues learn from and directly share their stories with others. People often stay and mingle or continue discussions long after the round table discussions have ended. At our last in person session in Rotterdam in August 2023 the Hot Topics session attracted more than 365 individuals in a large room with standing room only. \u00a0Despite the lack of round tables in that room on that day, attendees formed circles of small groups and continued their discussion long after the session ended. If the topic is of interest (and hot!), they are more likely to attend sessions when they are onsite. Simply put, those who invest in travel time and costs to attend WLIC are there to listen, learn, engage and network with others. \u00a0The downside of in-person meetings is that only a small percentage of librarians globally attend WLIC while the larger professional community is left out. \u00a0Social media and recordings of the presentations have been helpful to ameliorate this challenge. Hot Topics session recordings are usually available on YouTube soon after the IFLA WLIC meeting. See: YouTube<\/span>:\u00a0here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n In the absence of WLIC in 2024, ARL-SC offered its annual Hot Topics session in the form of a zoom webinar. \u00a0While the webinar was free it required registration and more than 200 people registered. \u00a0One of the challenges with a global zoom webinar is to determine the best date and time for the event. Even with a firm date, the time will never suit all those who may be interested. Despite more than 200 registrants for the event the size of the online audience varied between 65-67 during the one-hour session which was held on August 13 at 12h00-13h00 (GMT). The zoom session provided an equal opportunity for many more professionals to attend the presentations, at no cost or time to travel to a specific destination. However, challenges with online connectivity, environmental distractions, conflicts, or the time of the session (day or night) are all solid reasons why more people did not or could not participate in the onlinewebinar.<\/p>\n ARL was among the first groups to use IFLA\u2019s new zoom platform. Thanks to IFLA staff we received excellent training and support to manage the new platform for an effective, engaging and seamless webinar experience. \u00a0The new platform allowed us to promote the speakers before the event including a brief bio and crisp images for each. A nice feature of IFLA\u2019s new platform allowed speakers to gather backstage to check in and to discuss protocols before going \u201con stage.\u201d Similarly, they could \u201cexit\u201d the stage to return backstage. \u00a0Those who were backstage could hear all the presentations and make comments without being seen or heard. \u00a0One drawback of the experience was that presenters could not see the audience and all questions during the Q and A session were directed to speakers via chat.Unlike the in-person sessions, the zoom session was scheduled for one hour and left no flexibility for further discussion. We did not follow up with registrants or participants for their feedback,a feature that will be helpful to understand how to improve the online experience for future online sessions.<\/p>\n Pros and cons abound for online vs in-person meetings. \u00a0While I have listed more advantages for in person Hot Topics sessions than for the online zoom session, I am not promoting one over the other. Online sessions should not be ruled out, rather, we should try to maximize the accessibility and participation of in-person and online sessions and work to strike the right balance between in person and online meetings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post is by Lorraine J. Haricombe, who managed the Hot Topics program of the IFLA ARL Committee. IFLA\u2019s Academic and Research Libraries (ARL) Standing Committee hosted its annual Hot Topics session on August 13, 2024.The Hot Topics event is ARL\u2019s signature event that attracts significant interest from WLIC attendees every year. \u00a0In the absence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1060,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[32209],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-arl-hot-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1040,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/arl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}