Librarians Without Borders unConference this Friday May 11 in Toronto

I will be participatinge in the inaugural Librarians Without Borders unConference this Friday (May 11, 2012).  Feel free to join us!

Innovation from the Margins: What Libraries can Learn from Global Partnerships

The theme is built around the conception that knowledge is created in the developed world and flows, one way, to the developing world.  Necessity, however, is very often the mother of invention.  There are numerous examples of communities and populations, often collaboratively, inventively creating ways to fulfill their information needs.  We can learn from these successes (and failures), and apply the ideas and lessons learned at the “margins” in our own professional context.

Event Particulars

The vision for the event is that it be participant driven, lively, and collegial.

We envision an optimal length for presentations of around 10-12 minutes.  This will allow for (hopefully, lively!) debate and informal social discourse between and among panelists and participants.

Event location:

University of Toronto

Faculty of Information Bissell Building,

140 St. George St.
Room 728

Event agenda:

6:30: Doors open, refreshments served

7:00: LWB description & mission

7:05: Brief intro of speakers

7:10 Stephen Abram: Innovation in librarianship

7:20 Katherine Palmer: Indonesia after the tsunami

7:30 Mike McCaffrey: Documenting underrepresented communities

7:40 Helaine Becker: Airlift to LA project

7:50: Open Discussion/Questions

8:50: Move to the Fox & Fiddle (280 Bloor W., at the corner of Bloor and Huron) for socializing, etc.

We’ll also have a full slate of volunteers at the door, providing refreshments and introducing speakers.

If you’re around on Friday night this week in Toronto, please feel free to join us.

Stephen

Here’s an example of LWB’s work:

http://informationactivist.com/2012/05/08/librarians-without-borders/