Dear members of the Information and Library Science community,
For the fifth time, Koç University Libraries are organizing the 5th International Library Staff Week in Istanbul, between 13-17 May, 2024. The event brings together professional Library staff with varied backgrounds working in universities or other research orientated libraries with an interest in sharing ideas and networking with colleagues.
Our experience from similar events, started in Spring 2018, when we organized and hosted for the first time an International Library Staff Week, with the participation of 18 International Academic Librarians from 13 countries and 5 continents. Continuing, later on the same year 8 colleagues from the American Beirut University Libraries spent a week at Koç University and later on, in October, the Library hosted the Greek and Turkish Library Staff Week. In April 2019 we celebrated Spring and the Library profession with colleagues all over the world with our 2nd International Library Staff Week. In May 2022, we organized the 3rd International Library Staff Week. In total 23 attendees from 17 different institutions and 13 different countries attended our event. In May 2023, we organized the 4th International Library Staff Week with again an excelent librarian group from various countries around the world.
We strongly believe that international events as such, offer the opportunity to share different professional and cultural backgrounds and experience in a friendly and relaxed environment and is a great start for potential joint projects.
In addition, Istanbul is a unique place to visit and Koç University stands strong in the international educational and research arena. Don’t miss the chance to be part of the experience!
The main theme of the 5th Istanbul International Library Staff Week is Digital, in every sense. This theme encompasses various subjects under the digital transformation in academic libraries. The program will respond to emerging areas of librarianship such as digitization of cultural heritage, digital reference services, digital lending. It also will cover a broad spectrum from use of AI in the enrichment of metadata and cataloguing records to chatbots, risks for copyright infringements or plagiarism and many more in the evolving digital environment.
During this week, library staff and visitors will have the chance to engage into fruitful discussions and exchange of professional and personal experiences, which will broaden horizons on digital transformation. This event will strengthen skills and knowledge, and hopefully plant the roots for future collaboration on joint projects.