New For You Conference: Call for Papers and Workshops
The Mercian Collaboration are pleased to announce the call for papers for our second annual conference, this year titled New for You! This year, the premier Midlands academic library conference is being held at the University of Birmingham, Tuesday 11th September 2018.
Change and innovation are activities which have become commonplace within every institution and library service, yet how library staff manage, deal with and deliver on such activities always varies. Because each of our working cultures, available resources or strategic directions differ, our resolutions to similar challenges contrast in exciting, vibrant and insightful ways.
Some changes may be radical or trailblazing, others might be smaller in scale and nuanced. They might draw on prior research or practical experiences. Yet, all such activities will have provided opportunities for personal and professional growth, alongside improving services, processes and performance in ways which are new within their organisation.
Themes
Hence, we invite any library staff from Mercian Collaboration member libraries who have instigated any change or innovation, big or small, within their services, to come and share their experiences with regional colleagues.
We want to hear about any new developments you have initiated: from expanding team skills to revolutionising reading lists, from enhancing user experiences to pioneering uses of data, and any everything in between. Quite simply, anything goes: if it was New for You!, we want to hear about it.
Format & Submissions
This year the conference has opportunities for short presentations (40 minutes) and longer, interactive workshops or focussed discussions (1 hour). The conference team especially welcomes submissions from first-time conference presenters, and will be happy to offer any advice or support.
The Mercian Conference Group will review submissions for quality, originality and alignment with the conference theme, with applicants notified in July 2018. Please email Jo-Anne Watts (J.Watts@keele.ac.uk) with any questions relating to prospective papers, making a submission or to request help with shaping your session.
For general questions about the Mercian Collaboration, as always, contact the Collaboration Officer.