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New Abstract submission deadline: 28 February 2013, http://www.isast.org <http://www.isast.org/> It is our honour to announce the Plenary Speakers of the 5th Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference (QQML2013), 4 - 7 June 2013, “La Sapienza” University, Rome Italy. Workshops Impact evaluation workshop / Organized by Mr. Markku A. Laitinen, Planning Officer, The National Library of Finland and Ms. Anna Niemelä, Service Coordinator, The National Library of Finland The libraries have a long tradition in collecting statistical data and other evidence - user survey data etc. - about their operations. In practice, the utilization of data collected may not be as versatile as possible. However, the evidence of effectiveness and impact of library services may be of crucial importance for libraries to survive in the current economic atmosphere. Hence, we invite library experts around the world to unite their forces to find new good practices to show impact and value of libraries! In the workshop, we seek together answers to following questions: - To which quarter do you prove impact and value of your library? - How do you show that services provided by your library give additional value to your customers/target group? - What kind of information or data is necessary to collect in order to show the impact and benefits of your library? The workshop is carried out in 3 sessions with same content during the conference Information Grounds: A field method and design workshop for supporting how people experience everyday information in informal social settings / Organized Dr. Karen E. Fisher, Professor, University of Washington Information School, USA Information Grounds are informal social settings where people create, remix, and share everyday information all while attending to another activity—cafes and pubs, hair and tattoo salons, grocery stores, football games, waiting rooms, parks, libraries and book stores, public transport, the beach… online settings too, including Warcraft, Etsy, Pinterest and more. Fisher (writing as Pettigrew, 1999, p. 811), defined information grounds as synergistic “environment(s) temporarily created when people come together for a singular purpose but from whose behavior emerges a social atmosphere that fosters the spontaneous and serendipitous sharing of information,” and later developed propositions and a typology (Fisher, Landry & Naumer, 2007; Counts & Fisher, 2010; pie.uw.edu). In this all-day, two part-workshop, participants will (a) learn the information ground “people-place-information” conceptual framework and basic field methods for studying information grounds, (b) conduct fieldwork in Rome, and (c) analyze their observations using a design thinking approach that considers how their information ground might be served and utilized by tweaking people, place, information factors via applications, services and policy. Implications for how libraries can be promoted as information grounds are a key highlight. Note: this workshop is a blast—very conceptual, but practical and hands-on: bring your walking shoes, sun block, note pad/sketch book, digital camera and Euros for espresso and biscotti. Counts, S., & Fisher, K. E. (2010). Mobile Social Networking as Information Ground: A Case Study. Library & Information Science Research, 32.2, 98-115. Fisher, K. E., Landry, C. F., & Naumer,, C. M. (2007). Social spaces, casual interactions, meaningful exchanges: An information ground typology based on the college student experience. Information Research, 12.2. http://informationr.net/ir/12-2/paper291.html Plenary Speeches Looking Out and Looking In - The Universe of Information Lynne Marie Rudasill Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Member of the IFLA Governing Board We are all aware of the fact that the forces of globalization are not just felt in the spheres of economics, politics, and sociology. Library and information science is also facing the challenges brought on by vast technological changes that are having an increasingly foundational impact upon the field. The concepts of interdisciplinarity, problem-solving, and big data are explored here in an effort to understand the intricacies of measurement in a rapidly changing field, the tools that can be provided to our institutions and, most importantly, to our users. Beginning with a look at a galaxy of clickstream data that provides a striking example of interdisciplinarity, we can explore the information universe where competing methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative, demand our attention and resources. We will also try to see the expanding edges of our universe to understand where we might be going next. Lynne Marie Rudasill is Associate Professor and Global Studies Librarian at the University Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is fully embedded in the Center for Global Studies, a Title VI National Resource Center supported by the U.S. Department of Education, and holds the unique distinction of being the first professional full-time digital librarian in the emerging field of global studies. Lynne provides library instruction, reference services, and collection management support in the fields of global studies, European Union studies, political science and United Nations documents. Like most professional university librarians, Lynne regularly offers subject-area training and instruction for students, faculty, K-12 teachers, and specialized audiences, such as the military. In her capacity as Associate Professor of Library and Information Science, Lynne has taught graduate courses at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science including, “Information, Libraries, and Society” and “Social Science Research Methods and Resources”. GSLIS is the top-ranked library school in the nation, and the University Library is the largest public university research library in the United States. With her colleague, Barbara Ford, Director of the Mortenson Center for International Librarianship, Lynne currently teaches an undergraduate global studies course “The Power of Information in Development,” which provides a multidisciplinary and information-intensive approach to the study of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. Lynne’s scholarly research focuses on access to information, especially access by users to information on digital platforms and access by scholars to fugitive literature. She isauthor of numerous journal articles, book chapters, reference works, conference presentations, and edited books, the most recent of which is Open Access and Digital Libraries: Social Science Libraries in Action (2013), co-edited with Maria E. Dorta-Duque of the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales (ISRI) in Cuba. This volume isthe first fully bilingual publication in the IFLA “greenback” series. Lynne isa member inlong standing of the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL). She was awarded the ACRL Law and Political Science Section’s Marta Lange/CQ Press Award in 2009 for her contributions to that group. She has served as the Chair of the Social Science Libraries Section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and currently is a member of the IFLA Governing Board and Professional Committee as Chair of Division 1, Library Types. In her teaching, research and her professional service, Lynne emphasizes the importance of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship to help solve the problems of a population of over 7 billion people inhabiting the same planet. *********************** Collaboration—the most wicked enabler to fabulously successful research Dr. Karen E. Fisher University of Washington Information School Collaboration signals bringing together people whose assets—professional skills and expertise, social capital, work styles, personalities, and more work in harmony towards achieving a common goal. A complex notion, collaboration ranges in degree of formality, whether required or voluntary, and extent and type of participation. Most research, like other human endeavors, comprises some element of collaboration. Yet stories approach urban myth of collaborations that were hard to create, wasted time, damaged relations, and left unfinished business leading to nowhere. However, collaboration can go remarkably well, showing the power of many, the creation of gold from dust. Two such examples are shared—macro and micro—that have several commonalities and yet vary widely in team size, budget, resources, and genesis. The U.S. Impact Study (2010-12) of how people use computers and the Internet in public libraries led by Fisher, Crandall and Becker was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum & Library Services. In addition to the PIs, assistants and consultants, the study comprised an expert committee and partnered with about 500 libraries. Mixed-methods—an unprecedented web survey (continuing today), telephone survey and case studies—were used to study 50,000 people. The second study, InfoMe, is an ethnographic-design study that brings together public libraries, community-based organizations, corporate agencies and university researchers to understand how ethnic minority youth seek information and use technology on behalf of other people, especially older family members, and how this information mediary phenomenon can be supported through information technology, services and policy. This study—being exploratory, qualitative and design-focused but also involving survey techniques and community training workshops is vastly smaller in nature and entirely dependent on collaboration for success with its myriad partners. Funded by Microsoft and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, InfoMe led from the U.S. Impact Study that showed 63% of people used library technology on behalf of another person in the past 12 months, which has strong implications for how we design information systems, support information literacy, and determine impact. Together these two studies illustrate how collaboration can elevate the doing of research, turning every moment into a state of flow and igniting research programs with long-reaching effects. Dr. Karen E. Fisher is a Professor in the University of Washington Information School and Adjunct Professor of Communication. She teaches and conducts research on how people experience information as part of everyday life, with emphasis on the interpersonal aspects of information behavior, the role of informal social settings or “information grounds” in information flow, as well as the broad impacts of information and communication technologies. Her current work supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and Microsoft asks how ethnic minority youth seek information and use technology on behalf of other people, especially older family members, and how this phenomenon can be supported through information technology, services and policy. A second current area involves online dating as an information problem, the development of instrumental ties, and relevance to other dyadic relationships—business, creative—especially long-term. Dr. Fisher’s 2009-2011 work addressed the multiplex value of public libraries in communities across the United States. In this mixed methods study (with Crandall, Becker, et al.,) of 50,000 people conducted for the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a key finding is that 63% of people use library technology on behalf of another person, which has strong implications for how we design information systems, support information literacy, and determine impact. Co-author of Theory in Motion: Using theories of information behavior to design applications, policy and services (in progress, with S. Erdelez), Digital Inclusion: Measuring the Impact of Information and Community Technology (2009, with M. Crandall), Theories of Information Behavior (2005, with S. Erdelez & L. McKechnie), and several monographs about community services in public libraries, her supporters include the National Science Foundation, Microsoft Research, the United Way of America, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Recipient of the 2005 and 2008 ALA Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research, Dr. Fisher has been recognized for her research by the Hawaii Int'l Conference on System Sciences, American Society for Information Science & Technology, and the Association for Library and Information Science Education. An alum of the University of Western Ontario (PhD & MLIS) and Memorial University of Newfoundland (BA), she held a postdoc at the University of Michigan, and was a Visiting Researcher at Microsoft Research, and a NORSLIS Visiting Professor at Oslo University College, Norway. She serves on the international program committees for ISIC: The Information Behavior Conference and i3: Information: Interactions and Impact; and was co-program chair of the 2011 iSchool Conference. A past member of ASIST’s Board of Directors, Prof. Fisher was inducted to the ASIST SIG USE Academy of Fellows in 2009. To learn more, visit infome.uw.edu and tascha.uw.edu/usimpact. The only Newfoundlander in Seattle, Karen lives in Seattle’s Fremont houseboat community and can be found biking the Burke-Gilman Trail when she’s not at hot yoga, belly dancing at the Visionary Dance Studio or contemplating moving to Tuscany. ************************* New Abstract submission deadline: 28 February 2013. Indicative themes are in http://www.isast.org <http://www.isast.org/> ******************* Special Sessions – Workshops You may send proposals for Special Sessions (4-6 papers) or Workshops (more than 2 sessions) including the title and a brief description at: [log in to unmask] . You may also send Abstracts/Papers to be included in the following sessions, to new sessions or as contributed papers at the web page: http://www.isast.org/abstractregistration.html Contributions may be realized through one of the following ways a. structured abstracts (not exceeding 500 words) and presentation; b. full papers (not exceeding 7,000 words); c. posters (not exceeding 2,500 words); d. visual presentations (Pecha kucha). All abstracts will be published in the Conference Book of Abstracts and in the website of the Conference. The papers of the conference will be published in the <http://www.qqml.net/> e-journal QQML after the permission of the author(s). Student submissions. Professors and Supervisors are encouraged to organize conference sessions of Postgraduate theses and dissertations. Please direct any questions regarding the QQML 2013 Conference and Student Research Presentations to the secretariat of the conference at: [log in to unmask] On behalf of the Conference Committee Dr. Anthi Katsirikou, Conference Co-Chair University of Piraeus Library Director Head, European Documentation Center Board Member of the Greek Association of Librarians and Information Professionals <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] Professor Carla Basili, Local Co-Chair EnIL - The European network on Information Literacy, co-ordinator Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Istituto di Ricerca sull'Impresa e lo Sviluppo sede di Roma via dei Taurini, 19 - 00185 Roma, Italy If you don't like to receive messages regarding the QQML2013 Conference, please click here: Unsubscribe <mailto:[log in to unmask]>