3 Nov
Loida Garcia-Febo and Robin Kear share their Keynote for Strategies for Library Associations: Include New Professionals now!, a program presented by IFLA Management of Library Associations Section and the New Professionals SIG at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Helsinki this past August 2012. The paper is here and the Power Point presentation is here.
(From Left to Right: Robin, Loida)
24 Sep
During IFLAcamp and at other conferences, virtual meetings have already been a big discussion topic at NPSIG. As a lot of new librarians in our global network usually cannot attend all on-site events in person, it is crucial to look for alternative ways to stay in touch and to collaborate with each other. The #newlibgc webinar series that was established this year already provides good possibilities for professional development in an online environment. On the other side, we have not had virtual business meetings with a larger group of you so far. For this reason, we are very excited that this is becoming possible now!
On 27 Sept (this Thurday), we would like to try a virtual NPSIG business meeting for the very first time and you are all invited to join! The meeting will be a great chance to take a look back at WLIC2012 and other recent activities, but also to talk a bit about plans of the group – and give everyone interested the possibility to see what is going on at NPSIG and to become better involved in its internal operations. To get a first impression of the topics, please have a look at the current agenda.
Date and times of the virtual business meeting:
27 Sept, 2012
2:00 p.m. CST
3:00 p.m. EST
9:00 p.m. CET (21:00 Central European Time)
7:00 a.m. EDT (next day)
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-1/
The meeting will be open to everyone. At the moment, it is unsure for how long we can go on using this platform, so the meeting can be seen as a pilot that hopefully is to be continued. We are looking forward to seeing many of you online to join us for this exciting experiment!
UPDATE:
The recording of the meeting is now available!
17 Sep
Like every year, New Professionals from all over the world came together in August at the World Library and Information Congress. This time, we met in beautiful and lake-dotted Finland for a full week of professional exchange, networking, cycling and sauna.
Prior to the WLIC 2012, 54 mostly new librarians gathered in Hämeenlinna for IFLAcamp, the first genuine barcamp at an IFLA Congress ever. The event took place in Verkatehdas, a new and very well-equipped conference center in the heart of Hämeenlinna. Within the two days, we had an overall amount of 25 sessions with a very broad range of topics.
IFLAcamp
Thanks to the Hämeenlinna Public Library, we enjoyed a Finnish Evening on Day 1 with local food, Finnish folk songs, dancing, and even a sauna (cold lake included). During the whole event, there was a very smooth atmosphere. People had lots of space for discussion during and in between the sessions, so they just went on talking from one spot to another.
IFLAcamp participants
further resources: facebook photo album | youtube playlist | slide show | pinterest pinboard | blog post: IFLAcamp style | blog post: IFLAcamp 2012: una “desconferencia” por y para nuevos (y no tan nuevos) profesionales de la información | blog post: The bright side of competition | facebook event | google+ event
At the first SC meeting of the Management of Library Associations Section (NPISG’s sponsoring section), NPSIG Convenor Sebastian Wilke reported about IFLAcamp and shared further info on recent NPSIG actions:
MLAS SC members were very impressed by the diversity of NPSIG activities and assured us of their ongoing support for the coming years.
further resources: facebook photo album | youtube playlist
“There are no strangers in Molly Malone’s, only friends who haven’t met” – In keeping with this motto, NPSIG held its social drinks on Monday evening in one of Helsinki’s largest pubs. 
further resources: facebook event
On Monday, 13 Aug, MLAS and NPSIG held their joint session “Strategies for library associations: include new professionals now!”. Several international speakers – both new and established professionals – shared their experiences on how to approach this topic from different angles. Moreover, participants were invited to discuss the key themes of the Call for Papers in an interactive round table setting.
We have created a compilation on storify for you to have a closer look at the presentations, the table discussions, and all social media coverage of the session.
further resources: facebook photo album | youtube playlist | facebook event
On the evening of the same day, the Cycling for Libraries crew facilitated a cycling tour for all cycling lovers.
getting ready for the cycling tour
ready for cycling!
The tour took us through the beautiful outskirts of Helsinki to a nice spot, where we spent the whole evening having a good time while doing barbecue, having sauna, and taking a bath in the river.
sauna and barbecue in the countryside
IFLA President-Elect Sinikka Sipilä had invited all conference delegates to the planning session on her theme “Strong libraries = strong societies: democratizing access to knowledge through libraries” on Thursday, 16 Aug. The session started with an introduction to the theme, followed by short presentations on different subthemes. In his presentation, NPSIG Convenor Sebastian Wilke called for rethinking professional communication in library associations:
After the short presentations, different dimensions of the Presidential theme were discussed in a World Café format by the session participants.
World Café
For more details on the session and the discussions check out the full story on storify!
further resources: facebook photo album | youtube playlist | facebook event
Communication within IFLA was a big issue this year. In several business meetings with IFLA representatives it became clear that many IFLA officers and activists are not quite satisfied with the current practice within IFLA. As a result of one of these discussions, the IFLADIAL working group was created, that several NPSIG activists form a part of. In its opening statement, the group invites all IFLA friends to contribute to an open and web-based discussion on how to improve current communications within and outside of IFLA for the benefit of all. Please feel free to share your comments and ideas as well!
Thanks everyone for the active involvement in NPSIG and for filling the group’s activities with life! It is amazing to see so many new librarians from all over the world coming together in one place and getting inspired by each other. Let’s keep this spirit alive!
#wlic2013
We are already looking very forward to next August, when IFLA goes Singapore! NPSIG and its activists will be there for IFLAcamp² and many other acitivities. Who knows, maybe we will even be cycling and having sauna.
28 Aug
On Saturday, August 11, at the very start of the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2012 in Helsinki, all Section officers – including Special Interest Groups’ Convenors – were invited to the Leadership Brief arranged by the Professional Committee (PC). There was great interest in this meeting – the room was full at 8AM.
The formal agenda had four information items; the final point was devoted to “questions and discussion”. Many of the participants clearly wanted a more participatory meeting, and said so during the debate. Debates and decisions ought to be more transparent to newcomers and the library world outside IFLA. People want much more dialogue and mutual learning, rather than a steady stream of guidelines, deadlines and reports. Ann Okerson, who heads the PC, was later interviewed by IFLA Express and expressed her strong interest in innovation.
At the Division IV Leadership Brief on Sunday, August 12, we had a lively discussion about communication within IFLA, ably led by Division Chair Anna Maria Tammaro. As a result, Division IV decided to set up a small Working Group, coordinated by NPSIG Convenor Sebastian Wilke, to address the communication issue and to develop proposals for the PC. The Working Group had its first meeting on Tuesday, August 14.
IFLA as an organisation is definitely moving towards greater openness, participation and web awareness. We recognise and appreciate this development. At the same time we – like many others – feel that IFLA needs to speed up the process.
IFLA is changing, but the world is changing faster. As an institution IFLA is still five to ten years behind the “best cases” of open, participatory, web oriented organisations.
The IFLA language is forward looking. It stresses inspiration, participation, empowerment and the need for change. But much of the organisational practice is rather bureaucratic. The real decision processes are not transparent, and there is very little open debate about contested issues.
We want IFLA to “walk the talk”. The best way to change this situation is to combine initiatives from the top – Governing Board, Professional Committee, IFLA HQ – with initiatives from below. This means:
In order to help us drafting a paper on communications, we would like to start a conversation on these issues on the open web, which we invite all friends of IFLA to join. Please let us have your suggestions and ideas on how to improve the current situation regarding communications within IFLA by Saturday September 15.
As members of the Working Group, we will be active in presenting our own views in open fora. We will also do our best to follow and collect contributions from you that we will incorporate to the paper on communications to be presented by Anna Maria Tammaro for discussion at the PC meeting in December 2012.
To make this process easier, we will use existing blogs, the IFLA mailing list and other online platforms; please use #ifladial for any posts, tweets and other contributions.
We have also created a short online survey which we would be grateful if you could complete to give us your views. The survey, available in English at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M8W7FZR will close at the end of Saturday September 15.
Additionally, we will have two #ifladial chats on Twitter on Saturday September 1 and Saturday September 8 to give you further possibilities to join the discussion. The twitter chats will last for one hour and the starting times are as follows:
1st of September:
| Vancouver (Canada – British Columbia) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 02:00:00 | PDT | UTC-7 hours |
| Chicago (U.S.A. – Illinois) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 04:00:00 | CDT | UTC-5 hours |
| New York (U.S.A. – New York) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 05:00:00 | EDT | UTC-4 hours |
| Buenos Aires (Argentina) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 06:00:00 | ART | UTC-3 hours |
| London (United Kingdom – England) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 10:00:00 | BST | UTC+1 hour |
| Berlin (Germany – Berlin) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 11:00:00 | CEST | UTC+2 hours |
| Cape Town (South Africa) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 11:00:00 | SAST | UTC+2 hours |
| Moscow (Russia) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 13:00:00 | MSK | UTC+4 hours |
| Bangkok (Thailand) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 16:00:00 | ICT | UTC+7 hours |
| Singapore (Singapore) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 17:00:00 | SGT | UTC+8 hours |
| Tokyo (Japan) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 18:00:00 | JST | UTC+9 hours |
| Sydney (Australia – New South Wales) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 19:00:00 | EST | UTC+10 hours |
| Corresponding UTC (GMT) | Saturday, 1 September 2012, 09:00:00 |
8th of September:
| Vancouver (Canada – British Columbia) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 10:00:00 | PDT | UTC-7 hours |
| Chicago (U.S.A. – Illinois) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 12:00:00 | CDT | UTC-5 hours |
| New York (U.S.A. – New York) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 13:00:00 | EDT | UTC-4 hours |
| Buenos Aires (Argentina) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 14:00:00 | ART | UTC-3 hours |
| London (United Kingdom – England) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 18:00:00 | BST | UTC+1 hour |
| Berlin (Germany – Berlin) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 19:00:00 | CEST | UTC+2 hours |
| Cape Town (South Africa) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 19:00:00 | SAST | UTC+2 hours |
| Moscow (Russia) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 21:00:00 | MSK | UTC+4 hours |
| Bangkok (Thailand) | Sunday, 9 September 2012, 00:00:00 | ICT | UTC+7 hours |
| Singapore (Singapore) | Sunday, 9 September 2012, 01:00:00 | SGT | UTC+8 hours |
| Tokyo (Japan) | Sunday, 9 September 2012, 02:00:00 | JST | UTC+9 hours |
| Sydney (Australia – New South Wales) | Sunday, 9 September 2012, 03:00:00 | EST | UTC+10 hours |
| Corresponding UTC (GMT) | Saturday, 8 September 2012, 17:00:00 |
In October we will make the draft paper available for comments and suggestions.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks in advance for your contributions,
Sebastian Wilke, Convenor of the New Professionals Special Interest Group (NPSIG)
Maria Cotera, Convenor of the Women, Information and Libraries Special Interest Group (WILSIG)
Tord Høivik, Secretary of Statistics and Evaluation Section
Ulrike Lang, Co-Chair of the Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section (CPDWL)
Dace Udre, NPSIG activist
Sanita Maleja, NPSIG activist
Dierk Eichel, Information Coordinator of NPSIG
Catharina Isberg, Information Coordinator of the CPDWL Section
Silvia Cecilia Anselmi, Web Editor of the Latin America and the Caribbean Section (LAC)
(the announcement was also posted on the GLOSSA blog, the CPDWL blog, the NPSIG blog, and the IFLA website; a Spanish version was posted on the LAC blog)
21 Aug
NPSIG is happy to contribute to the 2nd Virtual Conference Redux of the NewFeds this Sunday (see announcement below). I will be giving a report on IFLAcamp and the IFLA Congress in Helsinki and share my fresh impressions on both events. You are all invited to join this free webinar!
Times:
10:00 a.m. CST
11:00 a.m. EST
5:00 p.m. CET (17:00 Central European Time)
3:00 a.m. EDT (next day)
—
We hope you can join us for the 2nd Annual NewFeds Virtual Conference Redux!
Who: The NewFeds Professional Development Sub-Committee is coordinating the Redux with participation from several NewFeds and Special Guest, Mr. Sebastian Wilke from IFLA’s New Professionals Special Interest Group (NPSIG).
When: Sunday, August 26 at 11:00AM (Eastern)
Where: Online via AdobeConnect: https://collaboration.fda.gov/r54772385/ AND with conference call dial in: 1-626-677-3000, participant code: 8124885
NOTE: We intend to record the Redux, so if you are not able to join us “live” you will be able to listen to the recording at your leisure.
Why: Learn from your peers about key takeaways and highlights from the conferences they have attended this summer. Join the discussion and Q&A after the presentations to share your own experiences. Alternately, we invite you to write a conference-related guest post on our site (http://newfedsinfo.wordpress.com/). It would be a great way to “re-purpose” a trip report you wrote for work.
Please contact Caralyn Champa if you have questions about the Redux.
1 Aug
The World Library and Information Congress in Helsinki is approaching with big steps. High times to give you more details on conference session 95 in the morning of 13 Aug, entitled “Strategies for library associations: include new professionals now!” and jointly organized by NPSIG and the Management of Library Associations Section. First, here is some background on the intention of the session from the Call for Papers:
In these days library associations are under pressure. Faced with multiple challenges, tight budgets and a lack of new members represent, above all, the most urgent warning signs that call for transformation. It seems vital to revisit the associations’ message to their (non)members and to think about their roles and responsibilities within an ever-changing LIS profession and the larger society. But are library associations sufficiently equipped to respond to these challenges?
One thing is for sure: In the strategy of strengthening library associations more attention must be paid to attract and facilitate New Professionals. They are a true force for change. Can you imagine your library association as inspiring, surprising, empowering? Not yet? Then it is high time to include New Professionals! How else will you know what your changing field of professionals demands?
We are very excited about a good number of speakers from all around the world who are going to talk about experiences in their own countries, present models to support new librarians, and provide insights into the identity of new professionals and the library profession at large. You can be looking forward to new as well as established professionals approaching the topic from different angles.
Moreover, the session will allow for the audience to get actively involved. Between the presentations, all participants are invited to take part in table discussions built around the four areas of interest from the Call for Papers (more details will be provided during the session):
At each table, one new and one established professional are supposed to supervise the discussion and report back to the audience afterwards. In the end of the session, a panel formed out of some of the speakers and table supervisors will provide further feedback and lead to a plenary discussion.
The input of both new and established professionals is most welcome and very important to make this session a success. All participants will be able to learn from the best practices presented, reflect the status quo in their own countries, and get in touch with many other colleagues. Take this chance and join us on Monday morning! Please let us know in advance (via comments or email), if you are up for supervising one of the table discussions. This will be an even better opportunity for you to get actively involved with the topic and the participants. For all of you who are planning to attend: We have created a Facebook event for the session.
See you soon in Helsinki!
Update: printable program (pdf)
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clux1
deichel
Claudia S.
lmpeifer
Antonin Benoît DIOUF
mollycaitlins
novevariant
sebastianwilke
sisterama
Dace
ukachingozi
mace