Abstract
With two exceptions, the papers in this issue are all edited versions of papers presented during the Helsinki World Library and Information Congress in 2012, and as usual present a variety of professional topics from a variety of countries around the world.
The two exceptions to the ‘Helsinki rule’ are both from Nigeria: ‘Poverty alleviation through strategic public library services in Nigeria in the 21st century: a model’, by Bappah Magaji Abubakar, and ‘Re-training of librarians for the digital work environment by the Nigerian Library Association’, by Ezra Shiloba Gbaje. Africa is also represented in the Helsinki conference paper, ’Libraries supporting national development goals in Namibia’, by Ellen Ndeshi Namhila and Ritva Niskala, which provides a practical example of library advocacy at work in a sometimes hostile administrative environment.
A philosophical approach to the nature of librarianship is presented in ‘Locating librarianship's identity in its historical roots of professional philosophies: towards a radical new identity for librarians of today (and tomorrow)’, by Sara Wingate Gray, while former IFLA President Alex Byrne discusses the problems of ‘Uniting the corpus of our collections through visualization’ in an era when an increasing proportion of library ‘collections’ are in digital formats that cannot be easily visualized in the same way as book collections.
Different aspects of academic library services are the subjects of two more papers, ‘Academic librarians and research data services: preparation and attitudes’, by Carol Tenopir, Robert J. Sandusky, Suzie Allard and Ben Birch, and ‘User-centered decision making: a new model for developing academic library services and systems’, by Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Donna Lanclos, David White, Alison Le Cornu and Erin M. Hood, while another kind of academic activity is described in ‘Form@doct: Designing innovative online tutorials for PhD students in France’, by Marie-Laure Malingre, Alexandre Serres, Alain Sainsot and Hervé Le Men.
In addition to the regular News section, this issue also includes a brief outline of the President-elect's Theme: Strong Libraries, Strong Societies, by Sinikka Sipilä, IFLA President-elect 2011–2013.
The next issue of IFLA Journal will present more Helsinki conference papers, including: ‘Information infrastructure for user needs: all power to the structured data’ by Vincent Boulet, ‘Commonwealth of uncertainty: How British and American professional models of library practice have shaped LIS Education in selected former British Colonies and Dominions’, by Mary Carroll, Paulette Kerr, Abdullahi I. Musa and Waseem Afzal; ‘Leadership in libraries in times of change’, by Petra Düren; ‘Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement’, by Charles Forrest and Sharon L. Bostick; ‘UNIMARC - Understanding the past to envision the future’ by Rosa Maria Galvão and Maria Inês Cordeiro’, ‘Techniques to understand the changing needs of library users’, by Susan Gibbons; and ‘Measuring the public library's societal value: a methodological research program’, by Frank Huysmans and Marjolein Oomes. If space permits, one or two other submitted papers will also be included.