Theme: “Bridging the Gap from School to Library: Best practices for Planning, Participation, and Assessment of Internships, Practicums, and Mentorships in LIS Education”

The IFLA Education and Training Section jointly with the School Libraries Section and Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section invite interested professionals to submit proposals for the open session to be held in Wroclaw, Poland, from 19-25 August 2017.

Internships, practicums, and mentorships during LIS education play important roles in preparing students to be competitive in the search for the first professional position and to be prepared to succeed in the position. Internships and practicums may be required for completion of LIS education and/or certification of LIS professionals (especially school librarians), and mentorship programs may be formal or informal. Clearly diverse perspectives and experiences exist within internships, practicums, and mentorships within LIS educational programs and much may be learned from the various approaches to these learning opportunities.

This session’s goal is to garner ideas as to best practices for planning, participation, and assessment of internships, practicums, and mentorships in LIS education. Descriptions of successful and innovative internship, practicum, and mentorship programs are welcome. The conference theme is “Libraries. Solidarity. Society;” since practicums, internships, and mentorships prepare LIS students to meet society’s needs, our program fits into the conference’s theme well.

We are particularly interested in proposals which explore these issues:
1.Working with preceptors, mentors, and institutions to successfully plan and implement mentorships, practicums, and internships
2.Assessments of mentorships and internships by students and by LIS programs
3.Creating and refining goals and competencies for mentorships, practicums, and internships

Language of the session

The language of the session is English. However, presenters may also give their talk in any of the IFLA working languages. Simultaneous translation is not guaranteed; therefore, presenters are encouraged to provide the PowerPoint in English to facilitate understanding of the ideas presented.

Submissions

All proposals must be in before 17 March 2017.

Proposals should include:
1.Title of proposed presentation
2.An extended structured abstract of the proposed paper of 1,000 words maximum; for information about structured abstracts, see http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/authors/guides/write/abstracts.htm
3.Name(s) of presenter(s)
4.Position or title of presenter(s)
5.Employer or affiliated institution of presenter(s)
6.Email address
7.Telephone/fax numbers
8.Short biographical statement(s) regarding the presenter(s)

Details on the format and length of the final paper  will be emailed to those candidates whose abstracts are accepted.

Please email your proposals to:

Lisa Travis
 Email: kyrie72@gmail.com
 and
Joan Weeks
 Email: jwee@loc.gov

Important dates

17 March 2017 – All proposals must be received;

7 April 2017 – Successful candidates will be notified;

16 June 2017 – Submit the full paper along with the accurate title of the paper on an author permission form so that the paper may be posted online.

Please note

At least one of the paper’s authors must be present to deliver a summary of the paper during the program in Wrocław, Poland. Abstracts should only be submitted with the understanding that the expenses of attending the conference will be the responsibility of the author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers.

All papers that are presented at the WLIC 2017 will be made available online via the IFLA Library under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Authors of accepted papers must complete the IFLA Authors’ Permission Form.

All expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation etc., are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by IFLA, but a special invitation letter can be issued to authors.