Art Libraries Section:

Call for Proposals The IFLA Art Libraries Section is seeking proposals for papers to be presented at our Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2022 in Dublin, Ireland.

Session Title: Crisis and creativity: art libraries, outreach, and serving our users.

As the global pandemic threw the entire global community into crisis, how did art libraries use our existing tools, new innovations, and creativity to serve their users? In Art Libraries, we chose to embrace the positivity that resulted from this situation and share our success over the obstacles we faced. We will explore how art libraries in lockdown embraced challenges to bring their unique collections to a world in crisis. What will we continue to do? What were the failures and successes of our abrupt new reality? Did we meet the needs of our varied users? Many of our libraries redefined outreach work: did we outwit the pandemic for our users? If indeed “necessity is the mother of invention”, let us share the stories of our creativity in crisis.

Our session is centred around the Connection theme, as it is essentially an examination of how libraries transform to serve the needs of their users. The session will also explore how Art Libraries engage in the future with our users. We seek to engage our remote users who were unable to physically interact with our spaces. The creative problem solving that needs to happen in order to perform effective outreach requires inspiration. Librarians harnessed new and existing technologies in innovative ways to enable these users to experience our collections as they never had before. Our session highlights how Libraries adapt in the future for new challenges and enable our users to access and reach our collection and services through new tools and methods.

We would like to invite papers particularly, but not exclusively, on the following sub- themes:

  • Collections, access, and outreach: libraries in lockdown Connection theme: creative ways of connection in hard times
  •  Art library collection development in pandemic times
  •  Future engagement opportunities in a post-COVID world
  •  Art libraries exploring technology and solutions for our users
  •  Leaving room for failure: what works, what doesn’t in trying times?

Each presentation will be 15 minutes and in English. Time for Q&A will be scheduled after the paper presentations. Presenters will be expected to bring the final version of their presentation on a USB memory stick or external hard drive on the day of the conference. Please arrive 30 mins early so that we can test the presentation works.

Proposals must be submitted in an electronic format and must include the following information:

  • Title of proposed presentation
  • Abstract of the proposed paper (no more than 350 words)
  • Name(s) of presenters, country of residence, and positions and or titles
  • Employer or affiliated institution
  • Contact information including email address and telephone number
  • Short biographical statement of no more than 100 words
  • Note a willingness to comply with IFLA’s Authors’ Permission
  • Papers / PPTs will be published in IFLA’s online Library following conference
  • Confirmation that you can attend the IFLA congress and present in person if selected

Send proposal abstracts (500 words or less) by 29 April, 2022 to: Rana Abdulrahman– Email: Rana.a.alani@gmail.com or Elsa Loftis – Email: eloftis@pdx.edu

Important dates:

  • 29 April 2022 (Friday): Deadline for submission of abstract
  • 20 May 2022 (Friday): Notification of acceptance
  • 7 June 2022 (Tuesday): Deadline for submission of presenter information
  • 22 July 2022 (Friday): Deadline for submission of slides Please note: At least one of the paper’s authors must be present to deliver the presentation during the Open Session in Dublin.

The presentation and any accompanying paper must be an original submission not presented or published elsewhere. All papers that are presented at the WLIC 2022 will be made available online via the IFLA Repository under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Authors of accepted papers must complete the IFLA Authors’ Permission Form.

All expenses for attending the Satellite Meeting (e.g., travel, accommodation, etc.) are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided.