• 8 December 2015, 14:30

Theme:

"Bringing the Law to the Library: connections, collaboration and community in support of access to justice and the rule of law"

The IFLA Law Libraries Section, Public Libraries Section and Government Information and Official Publications Section is seeking proposals to be presented at their joint session on Bringing the Law to the Library: connections, collaboration and community in support of access to justice and the rule of law, to be held at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, Ohio (USA), August 13-19, 2016.

Session Theme

People around the world need government and legal information, but often they are not located near a physical law library collection and they lack the means or knowledge to access to online legal resources. For most users, navigating the finer points of legal materials in any format requires some assistance. Public librarians have front-line access to people who want to use legal resources but they are not trained in the use of those resources, in print or online. This session will focus on how law libraries and public libraries around the globe are finding ways to facilitate access to justice resources through innovative collaborations and initiatives.

We invite papers that:

• Explore how collaborations between law librarians and public librarians, in particular with respect to trainings for public librarians, are better able to assist a wider range of patrons with their legal needs.
• Highlight models for collaboration among law librarians and public librarians and other innovative initiatives that are serving to connect people with the legal information they need.
• Describe the types of open access and free web resources that law libraries and public libraries are using to connect people with the legal information they need for their scholarship, their work, and their personal.

Papers should reflect the conference theme, “Connections. Collaboration. Community.” The program will feature keynote speakers who will present PowerPoint presentations of 15-20 minutes each.

Language of the session: Papers should be in one of the seven IFLA official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish, however, abstracts must be in English.

Important Dates

Proposal abstracts must be submitted by 15 January 2016.

Selected presenters will be notified by 15 February 2016.

Submissions

Abstracts must be in English and should include:

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

Proposal abstracts should be submitted via email to:

Yolanda Jones, Florida A&M Law Library
Email: Yolanda.jones@famu.edu

All proposals must be received by 15 January 2016.

Please note

At least one of the paper’s authors must be present to deliver a summary of the paper during the program in Columbus, Ohio. 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 2016 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.