Let’s Rethink - come to the EBLIDA-NAPLE conference

If you haven’t register for the EBLIDA-NAPLE conference Let’s Rethink in Aarhus on 4 May 2017 it is time to do so.

With Aarhus' being Cultural Capital this year, there are many conferences and tourists in town so do it now http://conferencemanager.events/eblida2017/accommodation.html.

Invitation to the 25th EBLIDA Annual Council Meeting & EBLIDA-NAPLE Conference, 3-4 May 2017

Theme: Let’s rethink

Let’s rethink is the actual theme of Aarhus, European Capital for Culture 2017, and it seemed fitting to adopt this motivating theme and make it ours after 25 years of existence, to rethink our work, our mission and our impact through a one-day conference on 4 May 2017.

Design thinking, 24/7 information accessible everywhere, from all devices, hyper-connected citizens, the Internet of things, big data, smarts cities, information overload, artificial intelligence, androids, mass-digitisation, books, music, movies, literacy, trans-literacy, e-books etc.  Those are some of the key words that are used in our daily environment and are having an impact upon the ways in which librarians work.

Besides these usual suspects, the global shift towards digitisation disrupts traditional ways of working. It offers new opportunities for us to better serve our patrons but it also presents new challenges, as new business models compete with the services that libraries offer.

Ultimately, European society (and more broadly, society as a whole) is facing new challenges in the form of unemployment, illiteracy, migration and terrorism to name but a few, while communication from one end of the earth to the other has never been easier.

In this ever evolving environment where human attention is now a scarce commodity, librarians need to rethink their role and how their missions can benefit citizens.

A rich mix of three main sessions  - that will allow the audience to actively contribute to the debate – are offered: 

• A round table that will address the issue of Rethinking in a competing environment;
• A world café on Rethinking Library Advocacy.
• A session in the form of a retroactive look throughout the years to Rethink our achievements and the way forward.

The agenda and further details for the EBLIDA Council on 3^rd May, including dinner on the 3rd, have been sent to EBLIDA members by post.

We hope you will join us in Aarhus to rethink together.