A speaker at the Indigenous Knowledges conference.
UBC Library attracted people, inspiration and ideas from around the globe in 2012 with a range of prestigious international conferences.
In April, the Library hosted the spring meeting of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), held at UBC’s First Nations Longhouse. The theme of the meeting, Indigenous Knowledges, addressed how libraries can expand their capacity in serving Indigenous communities.
The following month, the World Confederation of Institutes and Libraries in Chinese Overseas Studies held its fifth annual conference, which drew more than 200 participants who attended 28 panel discussions at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Keynote speakers included UBC Professor Henry Yu and Professor Guotu Zhuang of Xiamen University. Presentations from the conference are available in cIRcle, the University’s digital repository launched by UBC Library in 2008.
Also in May, the 18th annual conference of the Academic Libraries Advancement and Development Network (ALADN) welcomed fundraising professionals from across North America. Co-organized by the Library Development Office, the conference featured “opportunities for discussion, professional growth and program development in both library advancement and communications,” according to Rebecca Smith, Executive Director of Advancement at the University of Kansas Libraries.
In September, UBC hosted the UNESCO Memory of the World conference, which focused on permanent access to digital documentary heritage. More than 700 international delegates attended the downtown Vancouver event; speakers included Ingrid Parent, University Librarian and Allan Bell, Director of Digital Initiatives at UBC Library. Courtney Mumma, a UBC alumnus, said she was “especially impressed by the quality and diversity of the presentations from a uniquely international perspective.”
Read more from UBC Library’s Community Report (2013).