Join Us in Brisbane!
By Suzana Sukovic
This year, LARK is thrilled to announce our first international symposium and the first outside Sydney. With few events in Australia focusing on research in library and information studies, and even fewer dedicated to applied and practice-based research, the Organising Committee is excited to present an outstanding program. This symposium offers a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded colleagues from Australia and around the world.
The LARK Symposium is associated with the IFLA Summit, and we are delighted to showcase significant research by IFLA alongside national and international insights from invited speakers and authors of peer-reviewed papers. Here’s a glimpse of what to expect.
Keynote address
Prof Sylvia Edwards, a renowned Australian academic and inspiring speaker, will deliver the keynote address titled Cloudy with a Chance of…?: What Research Tells Us is Needed to Drive LIS Forward. Her talk will explore some lessons from the past to imagine opportunities, strengths, and challenges of our future.
Morning session: Lightning talks and presentations
- Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA): Mate Maticevski and Hiba Kanj, facilitators of ALIA Multicultural, will discuss the values of the library and information workforce through the lens of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access, highlighting the power of authentic lived experiences.
- Teenagers’ information needs and behavours: Drs Suzana Sukovic and Tony Stojkovski will address a significant topic, recreational drug use, and how to make drug education and information services relevant to young women. Dr Helen Weston will present action research on the impact of gamification on reading for pleasure among Year 7 girls.
- Open Access initiatives: Clare Thorpe will discuss a digital archive supporting community access to information about their local river catchment in a region affected by climate change. Dr Danny Kingsley and co-authors will explore policies and initiatives supporting open-access educational resources.
Afternoon session: IFLA’s Library Theory and Research Section in focus
- IFLA news and research: Prof Susmita Chakraborty, the LTR Standing Committee Chair, will share the news and plans summarising the first year of the LTR Committee after IFLA’s elections. Dr Saif Al Jabri and Jasenka Plesko will present the BSLISE (Building Strong Library and Information Science Education) project, a collaborative research effort to develop guidelines enhancing LIS education globally.
- LIS publication panel: Dr Steven Witt and Prof Chakraborty from IFLA’s LTR Committee will join Dr Mary Anne Kennan, editor of JALIA, to discuss issues in LIS publication, particularly the communication of practice-based research globally.
Closing discussions
The day will conclude with a panel on The future of LIS in Australia-NZ: Co-designing real-world solutions through research-practice-education partnership. Panelists Dr Mary Anne Kennan, Edward Luca, and Dr Bhuva Narayan will invite participants to share their thoughts on the topic. The final plenary session, What can we do for you? How can library groups and associations support LIS researchers? will explore opinions and suggestions to enhance support for LIS researchers.
Join us in Brisbane
On behalf of the Organising Committee, I can say that preparing this event has been a rewarding experience. For me as the LARK Convenor and a member of IFLA’s LTR Committee, it has been inspiring to bring together great work and thinking around practice-based research in LIS.
LARK is also pleased to support attendance by offering free registrations and a travel grant. Please see our Registration and grants page.
We hope to see you in Brisbane.
Please add me to the mailing list for LARK.
Hi Ania, you should receive an invite to join the mailing list. Please get in touch via lark.kollektive(at)gmail.com if you have problems with subscription