Category Archives: International conferences

Library of the year in Sweden 2020 – not a library by Catharina Isberg

Every year a library in Sweden is nominated as Library of the year. This year there were huge changes.

The nomination is carried out by DIK, the Swedish union for library, culture and information. And this prize has been given for the last 30 years. The purpose of Library of the Year is to draw attention to the libraries’ important role in a democratic society. Every year libraries are highlighted which in different ways and according to their unique conditions, have excelled a little extra.

For the first time – Library of the Year 2020 is not a library. Instead, the prize goes to the people behind it – all librarians in Sweden.

This year, due to the pandemic, DIK has seen creativity and forward-thinking spirit in the libraries and initiative beyond the ordinary and traditional approaches.

With scarce funds and their own concerns for infection, the country’s librarians have used their skills and competences and ensured that libraries are open, switched up their digital activities and delivered books to those who, due to the risk of infection, could not pick them up themselves.

The importance of libraries becomes especially apparent in times of crisis and librarians have shown an enormous willingness to spread culture and information. Together they have proven that a library, it is so much more than a physical place. The librarians have a huge skill and competence which the society benefits from.

Therefor DIK wanted to pay a tribute to this effort and therefore award Library of the Year 2020 to all librarians in Sweden.

Further information is found at: https://dik.se/om-oss/stipendier-och-utmarkelser/arets-bibliotek

Online Conferences and Learning: An Interview with Jane Dysart

Photo: Jane Dysart

I was lucky to speak with Jane Dysart, a member of IFLA’s Knowledge Management Standing Committee and Continuing Professional Development Committee and Workplace Learning Standing Committee! We talked about her work in supporting online professional development learning, LIS trends and what’s in store for her upcoming virtual conference!

Ray: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me! With the shift to digital learning, it is unfortunate that all in-person meetings and conferences have been cancelled or converted to online formats. What are your thoughts on this approach and why did you decide to combine Computers in Libraries & Internet Librarian virtually together?

Jane: Yes, very sad to miss all our fun learning and networking face-to-face events. However, Information Today is hoping to make our first virtual library event, Computers in Libraries & Internet Librarian Connect, an exciting online learning and interactive experience. Computers in Libraries was scheduled for late March in Washington DC and we had to cancel it a few weeks before. Internet Librarian was scheduled for mid-Oct and early in July it became apparent that we couldn’t hold an in-person meeting even though we’d already planned the conference and had shared the program online. We wanted to do a virtual event to honor those who had registered for CIL and agreed to roll their registration over to 2021 and we wanted to reach our fans of Internet Librarian too. We also wanted to experiment and learn the ins and outs of virtual events. So voila! We put two strong, already planned, programs together, checked with speakers, and created a very ambitious 5 day event online!

Ray: What are some exciting sessions that you’d like to highlight from Computers in Libraries & Internet Librarian Connect this year?

Jane: We’re very excited about the format of our new event – each day of the week from Monday September 21 through Friday September 5. We’re starting early in the morning ET and including “Talking with Libraries: Stories from Around the Globe” — interviews by popular European library star, Erik Boekesteijn. The first interview features IFLA President Christine Mackenzie! We have two keynote every day, one early and one late: Lee Rainie, Sarah Boisvert, Clifford Lynch, Nicol Turner Lee, Daniel Russell, Eepmon (Erick Chan), David Feriero, Leslie Weir, John Bracken, Misty Jones, Bryan Alexander, Michael Edson, Dana Mitroff & more! We hope to attract library folks from all over the world and have some content during waking hours in their time zones! We have about 180 speakers — knowledgeable library practitioners, thought leaders, and experts from around the world! Prepare yourself if you look at the list of speakers, on our online platform, they are listed alphabetically BY FIRST NAME!! LOL, obviously not our choice!

Ray: That is funny indeed! What are tips that you’d like to share with the international library community interested in organizing online conferences?

Jane: There is definitely a learning curve with creating virtual events: from choosing a platform (there are many out there; we went with Pheedloop because it could support 5 tracks of content at the same time, much like our F2F events); learning the platform and dealing with its imperfections (or at least handling things differently that we are used to!); ensuring we all know how to deal with the technology (we’re doing training with both our moderators and speakers); marketing a new event (at least library folk are familiar with our F2F brands and we hope will support our digital one!). Our goal was to make this event as interactive as possible so our regular session programs are organized with 5 tracks of sessions over 5 days focusing on Content Discovery & Management; Libraries & Communities; Technology; Management, Marketing & Change; Internet@Schools, Makerspaces & More! You can see more about the daily topics of each track on the website, for example, Track A over 5 days, https://pheedloop.com/cilil2020/site/tracks-a/. Most of our sessions will feature a speaker for 20 minutes followed by 20 minutes Q&A/discussion and then 20 minutes of speaker availability in the networking area as we get ready for the next speaker. I am sure we will all be exhausted by the end of the week, but are really looking forward to the experience and seeing lots of library folks from around the world! We will have a virtual exhibit hall (still working on that), many meet ups (still in process), and lots of networking opportunities. So keep checking out website for new updates!

Ray: How exciting! Finally, what are some trends you see that the international library community should be exploring more?

Jane: Interesting question. I really believe we need to reset, not look for a new normal or try to fit the old ways into the new environment, but really rethink what we want to accomplish in our communities. We definitely need to build up our digital collections in libraries with many different learning and discovery avenues, such as couch safaris to different places, zoos, museums, art galleries, aquariums, etc; virtual bird watching expeditions using webcams all over the world; as well as open access to our research and scientific resources and lots more. I think we need to build more relationships with our communities (academic campuses, municipalities, enterprises, schools), bridging many of these communities in our geographic locations. We also need to look for strong partners as IFLA always says – stronger together. We need support from many new and diverse partners. I’m looking forward to our discussion in this session:

Health Crisis: Stress Test?

What did we learn in the past 6-plus months? Where did our libraries and communities fall short? How can we improve our services and readiness now and into the future? Vint Cerf recently said the virus was a really effective stress test of technology and technology companies, but what about libraries? How did we do with this stress test of our services. Where did we pass, where do we have more work to do and what does that look like? Hear about recent community experiences and share yours!

Thanks again for letting me share my passions – libraries, learning, information discovery and management, communities, building relationships and sharing our knowledge and experiences. Hope to see lots of IFLA members online and will look forward to your feedback following the event!

Here’s another link, Jane’s blog calling our ambitious program a librarypalooza, https://dysartjones.com/2020/08/sept-21-25-librarypalooza-cil-il-connect/

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JANE DYSART, Founding Partner of Dysart & Jones and Curator of Curiosity, She specializes in designing learning and leadership events and customized conference planning. Jane has brought together experts and facilitators, keynote speakers and presenters for more than 100 successful events in Canada, the US and the UK.

Information Professional Caucus Camp for Kenyan New Professionals by Nyakundi James Nyambane

(IPC camp organizers and participants March, 2020)

The IPC Camp event was hosted by the KNLS Nakuru at the American Corner on 6^th of March 2020. The event attracted new professionals from all over the country. It was themed “Invigorating New information Professionals” The New professionals comprised of students, new employees and senior employees as well.

The camp received a grant from the Kenya Library Association of USD 500 dollar in support of the event. The event attracted 160 new information professionals and other invited guests.

Aim of the KLA New Professionals Camp

The aim of The KLA New Professionals’ Camp was to attract new professionals who have the spirit and motivation to run with the new vision. Hot and trendy topics in the library world were deliberated upon with an aim to give working solutions in the Kenyan contemporary society of information. The camp also presented an immense opportunity for networking and professional interaction.

Objectives of the Camp

To empower new professionals in the library and information career to get involved in the national association and with KLA, thus prompting them to be local and international thinkers and leaders.
To increase the librarians’ network by linking new professionals with each other and existing gurus, thereby sharing experiences, opportunities, social interaction and laying strategy for further virtual interaction through social spaces.
To offer first quality free training and knowledge exchange opportunities through open programmes and future satellite meetings.

Mapping New Professionals’ Camp Concept

There has been a new and awakening trend in the library profession to have camps, otherwise referred to as ‘unconferences’. These are refreshing yet informal setups that have been attributed to seeing the sharing of new ideas, rise of motivation among peers, fostering of unity in librarians and key discussion of future trends which have a direct impact on the professional. Impressive ideas pertinent to the career were shared. From the participants who attended the event, the camp was more than a success. For The KLA professionals, it is a matter of catching up with the in-thing, as we have a lot more to share than to ignore in this profession.

Proposed schedule of events

The venue was settled at the American Spaces Nakuru KNLS, Venue provided by Nakuru KNLS Librarian Purity Kavuri. Experienced presenters who are information professionals from within the country and the Globe dedicated it to exploring a variety of trends. In addition to the lively discussions, the IFLA SG- Gerald Leitner sent the new professionals a message of encouraging such events and gatherings for new professionals. Below are some of the presenters.

Purity Kavuri- “Library Advocacy” KNLS-Nakuru Branch Librarian

Raymond Pun, International “Librarianship and academic publishing” (California, USA)

Prof. Tom Kwanya, “Invigorating New information Professionals” Knowledge Management Expert. Director, School of Information and Communication Studies The Technical University of Kenya.

New professionals’ camp was about daring to give the body freedom of being an important part of creative processes, provoke mind and connect it with ideas through the different “logic”, also to brush up the ability of alternative from spoken word ways of communication. The participant-driven approach allowed for active involvement of all attendees.

In conclusion, librarians are encouraged to find ways to include new professionals in library association projects. We encourage senior librarians to provide mentorship and guidelines for new professionals.

Nyakundi James Nyambane,

Librarian User services, USIU-A.

IFLA CPDWL Member

New Resources for Library Advocacy by Loida Garcia-Febo

Each librarian is an advocate. Each library worker is an advocate. Library associations like IFLA and ALA, and library schools have developed a myriad of materials, including courses, to help library advocates continue advocating to keep libraries open, funded and equipped. As we know, programs and services provided by libraries are essential to better the education and lifelong learning of the communities they serve at academic, public, school and all types of libraries.

This past year, while I presided the American Library Association, I worked with the incredibly talented ALA staff members and my Presidential Advisory Board to develop new library advocacy resources which I am very happy to share in this post.

A comprehensive website that became a one-stop clearinghouse for all-things Advocacy: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/

Videos to help libraries use the power of storytelling to impact advocacy:

Video #1 – Advocacy 101: Getting Your Library Story in your Local News

Page includes a checklist for reaching out- http://www.ala.org/advocacy/media

Video #2 – Advocacy 101: Inviting Your Elected Leaders to Visit Your Library

Page includes a visit checklist- http://www.ala.org/advocacy/tour

Video #3 is a playlist! – The many reasons why ALA members advocate for libraries #IamALA (Fabulous campaign you can customize for your own library association!) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY6JdvV7ZFZvjSwPO2Wj7MIkS40uKC8E1

Additionally, I would like to share that as a part of the ALA’s 2019 National Library Week celebrated last April, and ALA’s year-round advocacy work, ALA released two new superb tools to help library advocates and libraries across the USA share their story on digital platforms: a Live Stream and Video Storytelling Checklist and a Social Media Advocacy Toolkit! The resources were rolled out in conjunction with the amazing #MyLibraryMyStory initiative, a video and social media effort that aimed to encourage library advocates and users to create and share videos and content about their libraries on social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

I hope you can review these resources and adapt them to the needs of the libraries in your city, region and country. I am happy to connect with you about them!

Loida Garcia-Febo

International Library Consultant

Immediate Past President, American Library Association

IFLA Governing Board Member 2013-2017

IFLA CPDWL Member

German library conference 2019

The German library conference took place this year in Leipzig. It is the biggest annual librarian`s conference in Europe. More than 260 lectures, workshops and hand-on-labs were presented together with a huge exhibition of hard-, software and services. Under the title “Libraries for change” 4000 librarians from Germany, neighbouring countries and abroad met to discuss a huge variety of topics. Societies are changing and libraries have to follow these dynamics with innovative concepts and lifelong learning staff members.

The last three years ALA was partner of the German library associations. This year the official partnership switched to the Netherlands where the libraries are very active to promote “the library as a third place”.

One of the recurring themes were fake news and the best way to deal with. “Put the focus on the victims and the outcome instead of only looking at the offenders and give them another platform to be famous” a journalist proposed.

More and more frequently, false information is scattered across all communication channels in order to influence public opinion or to discredit other-minded people. Portrait photos with quotes take out of context, which are often distributed via social networks, are just the tip of the iceberg. In their role as information brokers, libraries must counter this and empower more and more people to distinguish fake news from actual news. There were plenty of suggestions for such formats for work on the ground – especially for the youth. And of course the education and strengthening of our own staff is very important not only in this context.

More than 400 presentations are already uploaded online for those who want to recap or had not the chance to participate in Leipzig. Most of the follow-ups are in German but some are in English, too. And more will be uploaded in the next weeks. At the BIB Opus publication server you can also find the presentations of the past German and Austrian library conferences, the articles of some German library journals in fulltext and more.

IFLA Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL) Section Blog

Inspiring information professionals write about continuing professional development and workplace learning in order to build strong librarians and libraries for the future!