Meeting our future professionals
| Pages | 161-163 |
| Date | 13 June 2008 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830810880289 |
| Published date | 13 June 2008 |
| Author | Elke Greifeneder |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
EDITORIAL
Meeting our future professionals
Elke Greifeneder
Institute of Library and Information Science,
Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect about future professionals, hybrid publications and
conference blogging.
Design/methodology/approach – This is an opinion piece, based on the participation during the
BOBCATSSS conference.
Findings – Our young professionals are aware that the library profession is at a crossroads and that
it is up to them to find the best way to deal with current issues. The paper emphasizes that we need a
combination of new ideas and work experience.
Practical implications – Practical implications are observations about conference blogging and the
impact of hybrid publishing.
Originality/value – This paper identifies the potential we have within our future professionals.
Keywords Publications,Conferences, Libraries
Paper type General review
BOBCATSSS is not the name of a cat or even a tomcat. BOBCATSSS (BOBCATSSS
Conference, 2008) is a conference. It is the acronym of an exceptional symposium,
which library and information science students from one eastern and one western
European university organize annually. The letters stand for the first letters of the
cities of the universities that initiated the BOBCATSSS symposium in 1993: Budapest,
Oslo, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Tampere, Stuttgart, Szombathely and
Sheffield. This year BOBCATSSS took place in Zadar, Croatia, in January and was
organized by students from the universities of Zadar and Osijek, as well as by students
from Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Applied Science in Potsdam.
The target group was students from the library and information field as well as young
and older professionals.
Three aspects make this symposium different from others.
First, the proceedings were published in a hybrid form: both as a book (Hauke, 2008)
and as an online open access publication (Edoc-Server, n.d.). The latter fits with the
conference theme: “Providing access to information for everyone”. The statistics for the
electronic proceedings show the success of this approach. Each paper had an average
of about 80 accesses, from a minimum of 40 to a maximum of 220 in a period of two
months. For a small conference this seems impressively high.
Second, BOBCATSSS 2008 was a blogging conference. From the beginning the
organizers implemented a blog (BOBCATSSS Conference Blog, 2008) with conference
news on the web page. Following the principle that people should pick up only the
information that they want, the organizers tried to minimize the numbers of emails
they send out to people and expected participants to get their information through the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Editorial
161
Received 13 March 2008
Revised 14 March 2008
Accepted 17 March 2008
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 26 No. 2, 2008
pp. 161-163
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830810880289
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