International Librarians Network

The International Librarians Network (ILN) peer mentoring program is a facilitated program aimed at helping librarians develop international networks. We believe that innovation and inspiration can cross borders, and that spreading our networks beyond our home countries can make us better at what we do.

Participants in the program are matched with others outside their country, based on the information they provide to the program coordinators. Partnerships are made for a fixed term, and during this period the partnerships are supported by regular contact and discussion points led by the program coordinators. Supported partnerships have an end date, however it is our vision that participants would develop a widening network of independent professional relationships.

Since launching earlier this year the ILN website has already had over 7,500 views from 91 countries across 5 continents. Currently, the International Librarians Network is midway through a pilot phase with 92 participants from 20 countries. The aims of the pilot are to test the model for both its effectiveness and sustainability before launching a full round in September 2013.

Welcoming participants from any type of library and any point in their career, the program is keen to attract librarians from as many different parts of the world as possible to give it a true international flavour and ensure a widespread sharing of ideas. Much more information about the program, including how to sign up can be obtained from the program website.

Our vision for the International Librarians Network is that it will be run by volunteers all over the world. We are currently calling for expressions of interest for Country Coordinators. If you are interested in becoming involved please visit our website for more information.

—

Kate Byrne, Outreach Team Leader, University of New South Wales and Program Coordinator of International Librarians Network, Australia.

IFLAcamp²: registration open now

Register now

The registration for IFLAcamp² is open now. Attending IFLAcamp² will be free of charge. To make the barcamp run smoothly, there will be a limit of 100 participants. So make sure to get your ticket today!

15-16 August 2013
Li Ka Shing Library
Singapore Management University
Singapore
100 participants

Following-up the first IFLAcamp in 2012, the New Professionals Special Interest Group and the Asia and Oceania Section welcome you to IFLAcamp², the WLIC2013 unconference for new and established professionals!

IFLAcamp² is a two-day satellite meeting in the mode of an unconference that provides plenty of space for ad-hoc sessions and group discussions. The participant-driven approach will allow for active involvement of all attendees and including all kinds of topics of interest.

We are going to meet in the Li Ka Shing Library of the Singapore Management University. Located in the heart of Singapore, we will not only spend two intensive days of unconferencing, but also have the chance to explore this exciting metropole and enjoy some culinary adventures.

See you in Singapore!

NPSIG/CPDWL WLIC 2013 session: final program available!

We are happy to share with you the final program of our WLIC2013 session, jointly organized with the Continuing Professionals Development and Workplace Learning Section. There will be four exciting workshops with hosts from all over the world, and mostly IFLA first-timers!

New Librarians Global Connection: best practices, models and recommendations

#wlic2013 #newlibgc

Thursday, 22 August 2013 | 10.45-13.00 | Room 6, Session 210

“New Librarians Global Connection: best practices, models and recommendations” was established in 2012 as a free quarterly series of webinars. It has been very well received by new and established professionals around the globe. As the topics covered so far continue to be of big interest to our community, we would like to bring the most popular themes from the 2012 webinar cycle to Singapore and build an open session around it.

Agenda

Keynote

___

Parallel workshops, each 90 min

• “Library Residency Programs: Early Career Development for the Future of Libraries” by Angela Boyd, Suzanne Im and Yolanda Blue, University of California, Santa Barbara
• “New librarians, global connections: the world is your oyster” by Megan Fitzgibbons, Librarian, University of Western Australia, Perth
• “Leadership is more important than management debate” by Christine Busby, Business Information Librarian, Wellington, New Zealand
• “Know thyself: advancing your leadership potential“ by Eva Revitt, Chair, Access and Discovery Services, Grant MacEwan University, Alberta, Canada

See you in Singapore!

WLIC2013 workshop hosts by country

WLIC2013 First Timer workshop hosts

join the 4th virtual NPSIG business meeting on 25 April!

Come and join us on 25 April for the fourth virtual NPSIG business meeting! Let’s all catch-up on the latest developments and take a look at upcoming events of the NPSIG network and plans of the group. Here is the current agenda.

Date and times of the 4th virtual business meeting:

25 April, 2013
06:00 a.m., New York
11:00 a.m., London
12:00 p.m., Berlin (–> noon)
06:00 p.m., Singapore
09:00 p.m., Sydney

check out your time zone

length: 90 min

As a platform, we are going to use Adobe Connect that includes chat (IM, voice/video chat), sharing documents with each other and many more options. The meeting will be recorded for later use. To enter the virtual meeting room on Thursday, please use the following link:

https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/virtual-npsig-business-meeting-4/.

The meeting will be open to everyone.

See also: Facebook event for the current meeting | archive with recordings of earlier meetings

UPDATE: The recording of the meeting is now available - enjoy!

IFLAcampLab registration closes on 21 April – get your free ticket today!

Only a little more than one month to go until the NPSIG network is going to meet in Kaliningrad for IFLAcampLab which means three exciting days of barcamping and cycling with international library lovers and friends. The registration will close on 21 April, so get your free ticket today!

There is still enough time to get your visa. The Kaliningrad centralized library system will provide invitations for you. Please contact your local Russian Consulates and Embassies to be sure about visa procedures, a list of documents needed and the possibility of getting a cultural visa which is free of charge.

To provide you an invitation we need the following information from you:

1. Full name (as in passport)
2. Citizenship
3. Date and place of birth
4. Passport number
5. Place of work (name, address, tel, fax) and position.

Please let us know if you need a confirmation letter about your participation in the IFLAcamp Library Creative Laboratory for your employer: email – zgblist@gmail.com, or phone: +7 4012 53 35 47.

See you in Kaliningrad in May!

meet the President-elect: new librarians global connection webinar

“New Librarians Global Connection: best practices, models and recommendations.”

For the second consecutive year, IFLA Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning and IFLA New Professionals Special Interest Group are partnering with the American Library Association to present a series of free quarterly webinars on issues of interest to new librarians, library associations and library schools, library-decision makers, and all library workers. This is a great opportunity for membership participation.

Following our tradition of excellence, this year our keynote speakers for each of our quarterly sessions come from different regions of the world. This time the keynote is by IFLA President-elect Sinikka Sipila.

Keynote by Sinikka Sipilä, IFLA President Elect and Secretary General of the Finnish Library Association. Keynote topics: Strong libraries for equal and innovative societies, advocacy, how IFLA works and how to join.

Susanne Riedel, former President of the German Library Association for Library Professionals, Head of Support Team  Publication Services at the Electronic Services Department, Bielefeld University. Topics include professional development, intergenerational librarianship, mentoring, librarians and change.

Kate Byrne, Outreach Team Leader, University of New South Wales and Program Coordinator of International Librarians Network, Australia.

April 16, 2013

• 9:00 a.m. CDT
• 10:00 a.m. EDT
• 4:00 p.m. CET
• 10:00 p.m. Singapore

World Clock
Virtual meeting room to replay the webinar

Webinar length is one hour. The webinars are archived, therefore you can join them, ask questions and participate in conversations with international colleagues live, or you can listen to them later, anywhere at any time. For more information about the 2013 ”New Librarians Global Connection: best practices, models and recommendations” series, visit the webinar homepage.

Questions and requests for information:
Loida Garcia-Febo
Series Coordinator
loidagarciafebo@gmail.com

new librarians global connection webinar

UPDATE: now available –> recording of the webinar | storify summary

Bibcamp 2013 Day 1

Finally in the land of the prezel.
The 6th edition of the legendary German library unconference Bibcamp takes place in the Franconian capital of Nuremberg wich is famous among other things for their tasty prezels. At least 5 different tastes of prezels among them a chocolate covered sweet one, thats what haven must be like. But enough of the prezels.

Nearly 150 librarians from all over Germany, Austria, Swizerland and Italy organized a professional program of 14 Session on Day 1.
Among them such intresting ones as “fail nicely” about how the Germans should overvome the angst of failing. You see in Germany we have no culture of failing, so in the library community we only have successful projects or the ones which must not be named aka the failed ones. But we could learn so much from our mistakes.
Another Session spareked a discussion about new technologies in libraries and how to facilitate the inevitable change process so that no librarian is left behind. Again the main motive of resitance was identified as angst. The fear to to loose ones tasks which had been perfected over the decades, for wich one is beeing valued. The fear to change as irrational as it might seem to the restless New Professional must not be underestimated. One interesting solution could be the appointement of an comfort manager to make the change process as smooth as possible for everyone. On the other hand I want to share an off the record qoute: “innovation must hurt”.
One of the later sessions adressed the issue of open innovation in the way of an interactive workshop. First the participants together with the moderator defined what the concepts of “innovation” (implement new, different or refine products, services or structures) and “open”(participation of users, non users, potential users, investors, external experts, internal staff as well as openess toward the outcome and thinking outside the box) ment in the context of the library. By adhering to the model of innovation as the intersection of the users desirability, technical feasibility and economic viability a brainstorming followed on how to come up with ideas for innovations in an open way. In the last part of the workshop the participants constructed a conceptual workflow on how to implement an open innovaton process in a library, guided by the moderator as a certified innovation manager. The workflow includes a not to large (10-12) group of people as defined under the “open” definition wich for a not to long period of time (10-20 min.) brainstorm a lot of ideas and then voting for the best ones (3-1) followed by a testing of a simple prototype of the ideas on the intended user group. To conclude: this was one of the most productive sessions on this day do to the demanding workshop concept and an engaged audience.
The first day of #bib6 ended in casual discussion with lots of pizza and beer.
Until tomorrow