New Abstract
submission deadline: 28 February 2013, 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
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
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
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
*******************
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 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
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
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