Call for Papers

The OCLC APRC17 program is designed and driven by member leaders

Library leaders across all library types will come together to share ideas, learnings and insights, helping the entire community move forward to succeed in an increasingly “smarter” world. We invite you to contribute to the conversation.

We are seeking member proposals that will spark conversations around aspects of being a “smarter library,” more specifically those that will help the community:

  • Reimagine customer experiences—be more personalized, effective and intuitive
  • Leverage data—improve services and outcomes
  • Confirm professional values—strengthen the communities you serve
  • Innovate continuously—keep pace with change

Please submit a topic for a 15-minute presentation that provides insights, ideas and experiences around the theme areas listed below. The proposed presentation should be applicable to library leaders across all library types.

Submission details

  • Selected speakers will receive complimentary registration to the APRC17 meeting. Speakers are responsible for their own travel and hotel expenses.
  • Deadline for submission is 30 August 2017. Speakers will be notified of the program selection by mid-September.
  • To begin the submission process, you will need to complete the form that can be found at the link below with your details, presentation title and abstract. Please provide all requested information for your presentation submission.
  • Questions can be directed to communications-apac@oclc.org.

Idea starters

Listed below are some topics that support dialogue around the idea of becoming a “smarter library,” and that connect back to the four aspects noted above. Please do not limit yourself to these suggestions; we are seeking your ideas and experience to generate discussion and conversation around these key areas.

  • Reshaping the customer journey
  • Personalized customer/patron services
  • Balancing human engagement with automation
  • Use of artificial intelligence/robots
  • Smart spaces—reconfiguration/reuse of space
  • Service customizations
  • Embedding the library in the community
  • Customer engagement
  • Research Data Management (RDM)
  • Analytics
  • Driving decisions with data
  • Big collaboration using big data
  • Data mining to create new knowledge
  • Aggregated data to enhance workflow, services, impact
  • Library as social infrastructure
  • Libraries and librarians curating knowledge and access
  • Preserving and sharing community knowledge and local memory
  • Critical thinking to evaluate fake news
  • Workforce readiness in the age of the Smarter Library
  • Social equity and civic engagement
  • New service models
  • Innovative technology applications (Robots, AI)
  • Library as platform—creating and sharing
  • Taking risks and doing things differently
  • Community collaborations and engagement
  • Digital technology impact, ideas, direction

Submit your proposal