Information for Civic Literacy: call for papers

An IFLA pre-conference, taking place 8-10 August 2012 in Riga, Latvia, is Information for Civic Literacy. It is organised by the Access to Information Network - Africa (ATINA) & Information Literacy Section & Africa Section of IFLA. It is hosted by the Riga Central Library and the National Library of Latvia, in collaboration with the Education, Culture and Sports Department of the Riga City Council.
The conference "will explore the role of information professionals, educators and public actors in promoting civic literacy and informed public choices by citizens. This is not a matter of advocating particular political or public policy positions, but of education for responsible citizenship through the ways in which we provide information for citizens' decision making in the public forum." This can include issues such as: reference and information services to encourage democratic choice & citizen participation; "awareness of selective information delivery, propaganda and media bias as a new component of information literacy training"; helping citizens source information about governments etc.
"Special areas of interest to the conference include the development of civic literacy in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as increasing professional and public awareness of information control and manipulation in the Western democracies."
Proposals for papers should be submitted by e-mail (subject line "Riga 2012 proposal"), deadline 15 March 2012, sent to Frank Kirkwood, kirkwood.professional@sympatico.ca, copied to Denise Rosemary Nicholson, denise.nicholson@wits.ac.za ; Antonin Benoît Diouf, antoninbenoit@gmail.com ; Dalia Naujokaitis, dalia@sympatico.ca ; Franziska Wein, franziska.wein@uni-erfurt.de
Include: Abstract in English (250 words) summarizing the paper or other proposed program element (panel, exhibition, interactive discussion); Speaker's name, professional affiliation, postal address, telephone numbers, e-mail address and brief biographical note.
If selected, papers may be submitted and delivered in English, or in French, Spanish, German, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian or Estonian with an accompanying English translation. Authors must be prepared to give presentations in person at the satellite meeting in Riga.
An online conference registration form and other detailed info is at http://www.lnb.lv/iflariga2012
Photo by Sheila Webber: snowdrops, Sheffield Botanic Gardens, February 2012

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