• 15 November 2016, 08:52

Theme:

"Branding: Bridging: Building: Telling and Selling the Space Story"

[Deadline extended to: 15 February 2017]

Translations:  [中文] [Español] [Français]

The IFLA Library Buildings and Equipment and the Management and Marketing Section are seeking proposals for papers to be presented at their Joint Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland: Libraries: Solidarity: Society.

Libraries today are knowledge banks, learning hubs, research repositories, digital media laboratories, scholars’ portals, information resource centres, 3D printing services, cyberspaces, cultural destinations, 24-hour bookstores, coffee shops, learning commons, places to work, data visualisation laboratories and social collaboratories. Libraries are found in cabinets and corridors; huts, houses, vending machines, mobile vans, palaces and shopping centres; in neighbourhood nooks, community centres and the downtown of large urban cities; on mobile devices and in virtual reality. They are designed as new-builds or as repurposed uses of space. Some are intended to last for generations as heritage cultural monuments and others as temporary pop-ups.

Securing support for new library buildings and renovations of libraries is challenging and engages many people – library clients, organisational decision makers, community members, faculty, funding agencies, donors, governing authorities, librarians, architects, library managers, interior designers and planners. A new story must be told and getting to the end game demands carefully crafted approaches and wide-ranging skills. Telling the right story involves getting all participants together, defining a unified vision, communicating effectively, managing processes successfully and productive teamwork.

We invite papers that address:

• What is the story that must be told? What is the vision?
• What strategies can be used to develop and share the vision?
• To whom is the story told? How does the message get communicated to each target market?
• How is the library message/ story presented as a convincing solution to today’s social issues?
• What approaches/platforms are used to deliver the message?
• What is the role of social media in space design and/or project communication?
• How is a promotional campaign put together?
• How is the library brand differentiated in the market-place?
• What processes determine the impact of the place and the space?
• How do we position the library campaign for the present and the future?
• What are the best solutions to user-centred design?
• What tactics can be used to build support and find champions?
• What are the best means of dealing with de-railing influences and negativity?
• What is the role of the Master Plan in the marketing campaign?
• How do librarians morph into effective marketers and fund-raisers?

Proposals submitted must explore and discuss visionary approaches, highlight innovative developments and describe farsighted concepts of marketing library design projects throughout the world. They must reflect the Wroclaw 2017 conference theme, “Libraries: Solidarity: Society”. Proposals may be individual or team presentations, reports of research studies, case studies or panel discussions. Speakers will have 20 minutes to present and 5 minutes for a question and answer period following their presentation. Visual imagery in the presentations must support information content.

Important Dates

Proposal abstracts must be submitted by: 1 February 2017 15 February 2017.
Selected presenters will be notified by: 31 March 2017.
Paper for inclusion in the program must be submitted by 16 May 2017.

Proposals must be in English and include the following information:

• Title of proposed presentation.
• Abstract of the proposed paper (no more than 300 words).
• Name(s) of presenter(s) plus position/s and/or title/s.
• Language of presentation.
• Employer/affiliated institution.
• Contact information including email address, telephone number.
• Short biographical statement of presenter(s) (no more than 100 words).

Please submit proposal abstracts via email to:

Diane Koen
Email: diane.koen@mcgill.ca

Please note

The contact person for each proposal will be informed by 31 March 2016 whether her/his proposal has been accepted. The authors of the accepted proposals will be required to submit the complete text of the paper for inclusion in the program, by 16 May 2017. Papers should be no longer than approximately 12 pages and must be written in one of the official languages of IFLA. Papers are expected to be supported by visual presentations during the course of the Congress.

All papers that are presented at the WLIC 2017 will be made available online via the IFLA Library under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Authors of accepted papers must complete the IFLA Authors’ Permission Form.

All expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation etc., are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by IFLA, but a special invitation letter can be issued to authors.

Congress Participation Grants

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