Eight University of Illinois Graduate Students and Alumni Attend BOBCATSSS Library and Information Science Symposium in Prague
BOBCATSSS is an acronym for the cities where the universities which originally established the annual conference are located: Budapest, Oslo, and Barcelona account for the "BOB" of Bobcatsss. Each year students plan and implement both the content and the management of the conferences as a part of their studies. The pattern since 1993 when the Symposium was first established has been to pair a school from central and eastern Europe with a school from western Europe. All participants profit from the cross border team work. In January of 2007 the Symposium was held in Prague and was organized by students from the Institute of Information Studies and Librarianship, Charles University, Prague; Media University, Stuttgart and the University of Applied Sciences, Konstanz. The symposium takes place under the auspices of EUCLID (European Association for Library and Information Education and Research). Professional librarians, faculty and students from schools of library and information studies were in attendance from most of the European countries.
The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has supported student participation in this unique library and information science event for the past six years. Terry Weech, who teaches at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, has worked with the students and often co-authored papers that the students present at the conference. He is also one of the American Library Association elected representatives to IFLA’s Education and Training Section and currently serves as Chair of that section.
In January of 2007 Terry Weech traveled to Prague, Czech Republic, with seven graduate students and one alumnus from the School to attend the BOBCATSSS conference. The theme of BOBCATSSS for 2007 was Marketing Information Services. A copy of the 2007 program can be found at http://www.bobcatsss.org/BOBCATSSS_PROGRAMME.PDF
The Illinois Contingent from Left to Right: Tiger Swan, Angela Maycock, Kelly McCusker, Lena Singer, Hana Field, Jill Coe, Sara Thompson, Karla Lucht, and Terry Weech.
Two papers and five posters were presented by the Illinois contingent.
Angela Maycock and Terry Weech presented a paper on Relationship Marketing and Academic Libraries.
Hana Field and Terry Weech’s paper was on Marketing Public Library Services to Older People.
The other Illinois participants presented posters as follows:
Tiger Swan: Marketing for Inclusion: Reaching the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Communities
Kelly A. McCusker: The Human Factor – Networking – Effectiveness of different methodologies to transfer cultural and heritage preservation information
Lena Singer: Social Networking Websites and Library Reference Services: The Kids are Doing It and We Should, Too
Jill Coe: Marketing Library Service - The Role of the Genealogical Librarian In the Marketing Process
Sara Thompson: Quality, Actuality and Diversity: Libraries, Languages and the Long Tail: Implications for the Marketing of Information Services
Karla Lucht and Bryan Voell: Many Ways to Ask One Question: Virtual Reference and Consummate Service at the Library
The published proceedings are available in the University of Illinois library under the call number 658.83 In821p.
BOBCATSSS gave the students the opportunity not only to share their research with others, but also to discover what kind of research in library and information science is being conducted throughout the world. It introduced the students to library programs they might never come across here in the states. Hana Field explains, "It is one thing to discuss issues in LIS with university colleagues, but another to discuss it with students from around the world. Similarly, it feels entirely different presenting to my classmates, and presenting to an international audience. Each presentation, poster, and conversation I had added to my knowledge, curiosity and desire to know more about LIS and the world around me."
For more photos of Bobcatsss 2007, see:
http:///Bobcatsss07