BOBCATSSS 2013 - 21st International Conference on Information Science

Topics
From Collections to Connections: Turning Libraries “Inside-Out”
The world of libraries and librarians is now, more than ever, set for change. The focus is shifting towards creating connections between people and online resources, rather than static collections focused on the physical book. Part of our role as information specialists is to facilitate and help the users navigate through this jungle, and in due course find our own place in this ever changing world.
Serving Society in a Digital Age
The world is changing faster than we know it and everybody has a say in the matter. People are creating and sharing online in a way never experienced before: they tweet, make Facebook updates and they want to make an impression. How can we be sure that both new and old is preserved; what is important to keep and what are the demands of the digital population?
Information Professionals as Change-Agents
Challenges demand creative thinking, entrepreneurship and innovation. One of the digital challenges for the users is to be able to navigate through the digital jungle of information. A part of being an information professional is to help people become E-literate. How do we meet the challenges in our profession and how can we influence the agenda?
Designing New Library Spaces
Today it’s not enough for a library to be able to contain collections. The space itself has to be engaging and inspiring to facilitate the users need for information, experiences and cultural inspiration. A plethora of libraries being built today are not only new icons but are also trying to reach the above mentioned goals in new ways. How can we the information professionals encourage this trend?
Mobile Information Services
We live in a world of hand held devices, and information has to be instantly accessible. More and more information is being digitized, and the volume alone is staggering. One of the tasks of the information professional is to create accessible designs, not compromising the content. Ideas can come from unlikely sources however. Are we capable of listening outside our own ranks?
Developing New Competencies
Lifelong learning is a term easy to use, but hard to master. Which competencies do we expect the users to need, and what can they expect from us? Are we as information specialists sufficiently prepared to guide them? Are we able to combine the need-to-have with the nice-to-have skills the patrons want to a satisfying degree and how do we keep improving?