Project Incubator follow-up: IFLA-AMICAL Book Project

This is the fourth in a series of posts about outcomes of the Project Incubator at AMICAL 2023

The IFLA-AMICAL book project team, comprised of Meredith Saba (American University in Cairo), Michael Stoepel (American University of Paris), and Christine Furno (American University of Sharjah), has slowly developed this project throughout the past year. Initially started as a project of AMICAL’s Information Literacy Initiatives Committee, we co-presented a panel and poster session at last summer’s IFLA conference in Dublin, Ireland in July 2022. At the same conference, we attended a presentation that promoted publishing opportunities with IFLA. Meredith followed up with the IFLA series editor, Janine Schmidt, to discuss a potential book project idea that would showcase authorship across AMICAL and IFLA through the lens of public and research-support services.

In early May 2023, we received positive news that the book project proposal was approved by the IFLA Professional Council and DeGruyter Book Series editor and corresponding track, Reference and Information Services Section (RISS).

About the book: Changing information services and user experiences

This book publication will focus on changing information and research support services across international academic libraries in the post-pandemic era. The scope of the book will focus on 4 main areas addressing the following themes:

• The user experience
• Tracking user journeys
• Marketing and outreach efforts
• User-centered learning and research support services

We are accepting submissions from both IFLA and AMICAL members.

AMICAL Conference 2023: Project Incubator and Feedback session

Turning towards the recent AMICAL conference, the Collaboration Sprint was an invaluable experience for us to launch the project management initiatives. During this time, we accomplished several key targets:

• finalized call for chapters,
• established a project timeline for proposal submissions, first and final draft due dates, and a publication deadline,
• created the book project website that outlines the call for chapters, submission guidelines, form, and deadlines, about the project and editors,
• created the email amical.ifla.book@gmail.com, and
• designed a rubric for accepting/declining submissions

This site has already been successfully used as a promotional tool to solicit chapter submissions across the IFLA and AMICAL communities.

Our interaction with AMICAL participants during the “Feedback Session” was another beneficial exercise in garnering interest and receiving feedback from colleagues. We had the opportunity to discuss the book project with a variety of members with whom we could pitch and promote our project, demo the book project website, and receive constructive feedback. Upon reflection, we reviewed the project timeline and adjusted deadlines to better accommodate the schedules of our potential authors.

At present

The call for chapters has launched!

• We are currently accepting chapter proposals until Tuesday, August 15, 2023.
• Further details including the submission form are available here: Call for Chapters
• 2 of 3 Q & A Zoom sessions have been completed with 1 more scheduled for:
  • Thursday June 29, 5:00 p.m. Paris time (see local time)
  • Request the Zoom link for this Q&A session by emailing amical.ifla.book@gmail.com.

Next steps

• We will host 1 more Q & A Zoom session on June 29, 2023.
• The rubric for proposal acceptance/decline will be added to the website once it is finalized.
• Review of submissions will begin soon after August 15, 2023.
• Consult on the process with the new IFLA Editor, Joseph Hafner, McGill University, who will be taking over from Janine Schmidt later this year.

We look forward to hearing from our AMICAL community regarding your potential contribution. Please contact us at amical.ifla.book@gmail.com,

The team for the IFLA-AMICAL edited book project

Colleagues currently working on the IFLA-AMICAL Book Project: Changing Information Services and User Experiences:

• Meredith Saba, Instruction and Reference Librarian (AUC), meredith.saba@aucegypt.edu
• Michael Stoepel, User Services Librarian (AUP), mstoepel@aup.edu
• Christine Furno, Engagement and Outreach Librarian (AUS), cfurno@aus.edu