Call for Papers — Open Sessions

Art Libraries & Subject Analysis and Access Sections

• 20 December 2018, 19:18

Theme: "Libraries, archives and museums in dialogue: Improving access to complementary collections"

Translations: [Español] [Portuguese] [Русский]

Cultural heritage institutions are dealing with an immeasurable number of resources. They include images, both originals and reproductions, as well as different types of “cultural objects”. Modern cataloguing rules, metadata formats and semantic web standards support the conversion and linkage of descriptive data related to the manifold collections of cultural heritage institutions, and help to overcome the hitherto regrettable isolation of complementary resources on the web. Apart from the necessity to make many ‘hidden’ collections more discoverable and accessible, the interaction and the machine-supported analysis of semantic correlations of data from heterogeneous sources are becoming more and more important.

Linked to the IFLA Conference theme, “Libraries in dialogue for change”, the Art Libraries and Subject Analysis and Access Section will be hosting a 3-hour open session during the 2019 conference in Athens, Greece, in which we would like to discuss how to improve the user’s subject access to our complementary collections, and how professionals can be supported by interlinking objects between different collections through the use of new technologies and tools as well as metadata standards and shared authority data. We would also like to include in our discussion digital format image collections, which play a great role in linking libraries, archives and museums, especially in thematic virtual exhibitions, and lead to new forms of collaboration.

Subthemes

Papers may include but are not limited to the following topics and questions:

• How can we overcome the issue that connections between resources that are related to each other are not always made explicit in our catalogs?
• Is the compilation of a comprehensive network of interrelated and interconnected data and documents provided by cultural institutions a practicable solution?
• And if so, what are the requirements for action, who are the stakeholders, how should tasks be assigned?
• Are archives, museums, and libraries working in the same direction, e.g. with regard to authority data and metadata standards, to respond to the user’s needs, or are we still working in silos?
• Are the images or texts describing or indexing practices based on the user’s needs? Could image indexing be a good way for non-textual information recovery?
• New approaches and tools to establish connections between resources (texts, images, sounds, etc.) that are related to each other.

Any professional issue about these topics may be discussed, also including more “theoretical” approaches which go beyond mere best practice examples.

Language of the session

The language of the session is English. However, presenters may also give their talk in any of the IFLA working languages. Simultaneous translation has been requested, but is not guaranteed; therefore, presenters are encouraged to provide the presentation slides in English to facilitate the understanding of ideas presented.

Important Dates

15 February 2019 – Deadline for submitting a 500 word abstract and full author information.

30 March 2019 – The committee will evaluate the submitted abstracts against criteria which include: innovative content, topical relevance, clarity of exposition, originality, and overall quality. Presenters will be notified whether their proposals are accepted no later than 30 March 2019.

1st June 2019 – Full texts of papers and brief biographical statements of the presenter(s) are due. Both abstracts and full papers should be submitted as a MS Word file by email.

Submissions

Proposals must be submitted by email and must contain:

• Email subject line “IFLA Athens Paper Proposal”
• Title of proposed presentation
• Presenter(s) name, position and affiliation, email address, and biographical note (150 words maximum)
• An indication of the sub-theme the abstract addresses
• An abstract in English (500 words)
• Language of the paper
• Language of the presentation

Please submit your proposal no later than 15 February 2019 to:

Lucile Trunel
Chair of the IFLA Art Libraries Section
Email: [email protected]

And to

Andreas Oskar Kempf
IFLA Subject Analysis and Access Section
Email: [email protected]

Please note:

• Papers should not be more than 4,000 words.
• Papers must be original submissions not presented or published elsewhere – (IFLA rule).
• The length of the presentations should be approximately 15 minutes with 5 minutes for questions/discussion.

At least one of the paper’s authors must be present to deliver a summary of the paper during the program in Athens. Abstracts should only be submitted with the understanding that the expenses of attending the conference will be the responsibility of the author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers.

All papers that are presented at the WLIC 2019 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 author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers.

Congress Participation Grants

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