Come join us as the European Association of Aquatic Sciences Libraries and Information Centres (EURASLIC) celebrate its 20th biennial conference!

The conference Sustainability and infodiversity: (aquatic) libraries strengthening biodiversity knowledge will be held as an in person conference in Brussels, Belgium from 3-5 May 2023.

Registration now open: 

Conference fee

·         Members: 100 € (121 € VAT incl.) + bank charges

·         Non-members: 120  € (145,2  € VAT incl.) + bank charges

Please fill in the following REGISTRATION FORM

**Conference fee includes: coffee breaks, lunches, conference dinner and field trip!**

This promises to be an inclusive, knowledgeable, interactive and entertaining conference. 

The conference will be hosted by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). 

Dear current EURASLIC Members,

The poll is Now Open for voting and we need your vote! Closes: 2 May 2023 Please vote in the poll below. Two members are to be chosen for the membership committee. Thank you, Kristen LaBonte, Chair of the Membership Committee Go to poll page https://iamslic.wildapricot.org/Sys/Poll/43058 POLL DESCRIPTION: Please vote in the 2023 EURASLIC election.  The candidates are: President: Stephanie Ronan - CV Vice-President: Olga Kopytova - CV Membership Committee Representative: Snejina Bacheva - CV Olivia Diehr - CV Andreas Walker - CV The Nominating Committee: Olga Kopytova - Chair Barbara Schmidt Natalija Kondratjeva Best regards, IAMSLIC

The IAMSLIC Conference committee is delighted to officially announce the 49th Annual Conference of the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC), and the 34^th meeting of the Cyamus regional group. The conference will be hosted virtually by the University of British Columbia Library from Monday Oct 23 to Thursday Oct 26, 2023.

The conference committee is also pleased to announce at this time that the call for proposals is now open!

Every bit of warming matters, every year matters, every choice matters.

- IPCC 

Inspired by the UN IPCC’s core message, the IAMSLIC 2023 conference theme is What we do matters: Libraries, climate change, and transformation.

This theme speaks to the roles of libraries and library workers in supporting research and learning; building connections and supporting communities; and undertaking the transformative change that is needed in our communities, our institutions, and ourselves.

We are all connected and the changes we make can have far reaching impacts. To achieve “transformative systemic change” (IPCC), we seek inspired approaches to investigate and imagine new futures, accelerate change, and most importantly, work together. Throughout the conference, we will explore how these core messages relate to libraries and library workers.

In British Columbia, we see this theme of transformative change captured in the salmon, as a biological and culturally significant entity. Salmon transform throughout their life cycles, moving from stream to ocean to stream, and their health is closely tied to all of these places, inseparable from the health of Southern Resident Killer Whales, eagles, rivers, oceans, forests, bears, and human communities who rely on salmon for food, culture, and identity.

In 2022, heat and drought caused by climate change led to streams and rivers drying up and the death of thousands of salmon. Such events are expected to increase as we lose an estimated 95% of our glaciers in our lifetimes, decreasing fresh water levels and increasing water temperatures. While we witness these changes and resulting impacts, there are efforts to prioritize and teach Traditional Indigenous Knowledge, restoration, climate solutions, and climate justice.

Tracks 

We welcome presentation sessions and posters related to climate change, libraries, and the following sub-themes:

• Access
• Action on climate change and biodiversity loss
• Change and transformation
• Citizen science and monitoring
• Climate justice and equity
• Community and collaboration
• Data and research
• Historical sources
• Impacts and adaptation
• Library priorities and culture
• Misinformation, disinformation, and information literacy
• Restoration work
• Traditional practice and knowledge
• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Submitting a Proposal

There is further information on the Call for Proposals page on the conference website, and you can submit a proposal via the online portal. We are accepting proposals until May 1 2023.

See the submission FAQ page for more details about required materials and important dates. Conference registration is required in order to present an accepted paper or poster. Please indicate the presentation format that would be most suitable for your proposal.

Presentation Format Options: 

• Presentation (15 mins, including question period)
• Presentation (30 mins, including question period)
• Panel discussion (up to 45 mins, including question period) 
• Poster (poster, 1-3 min video, poster presentation and question period)

Please see the conference website for more details.

Please save the date for the 49th IAMSLIC Conference, to be held virtually on Monday, October 23 - Thursday, October 26 from Vancouver, Canada.  More details coming soon, so please stay tuned!

IAMSLIC has launched the Member Sponsored Membership drive for the third year in a row. This has been a great success for retaining active and valuable IAMSLIC members. The purpose of this fundraising effort is to support memberships for library and information science professionals that are already part of IAMSLIC but cannot pay for their membership fees. If you would like to support this effort, please go to the Support Us page.

If you are a current or former member who would like one of these supported memberships, please visit the Membership page and follow the link to the form after you have signed in to your account to confirm that your membership expires before or on 1 Jan. 2023. The deadline for applications will be 4 Feb. 2023 with applicants being notified no later than 15 Feb. 2023. The Membership Committee will review the applications.

If you are a potential new member interested in joining IAMSLIC, please also use the same form to apply for a sponsored membership. IAMSLIC generously funds up to five three-year sponsorships for new members in low and middle income countries and up to five one-year sponsorships for new members in high income countries. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to the chair of the Membership Committee, Kristen LaBonte. 

Now let's meet #IAMSLIC2022 keynote presenter, Manuel Hidalgo Oconitrillo. Manuel will be speaking to us on Day 1 of the conference about "SIDALC Alliance: Innovation focused on products and services for the agricultural sector".

Manuel is Costa Rican, a computer engineer, and graduated with a Master's Degree in Computing with an emphasis on Telematics from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica (ITCR). He has 29 years of experience in the area of information systems, with seven years working for the Tropical Agricultural Research and Teaching Center (CATIE), and the last 22 years for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) as a Specialist in Systems and Information Technologies of the SIDALC Alliance. He has a title granted by the Secretary of Peace of the Government of Guatemala that accredits him as Ambassador of the Culture of Peace. He was a consultant to FAO in Rome, for the office of knowledge exchange, research and extension. He is currently applying for the Master's Degree in Industry 4.0 at the University of La Rioja, Spain.

Next let's meet #IAMSLIC2022 presenter, and IAMSLIC membership database manager and Membership Committee chair (plus former Treasurer), Kristen LaBonte.

Kristen is a Research & Engagement Librarian at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the United States. She is a subject liaison to multiple life and environmental science departments. Kristen earned a Bachelor's Degree in Geography from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1999 and a Master’s of Library Science in 2004 from Southern Connecticut State University. She then joined the CSU Channel Islands faculty as the Digital Resources and GIS Librarian and in 2011, she returned as a Reference & Instruction Librarian to the UCSB Library.

Kristen will be presenting in person at the conference on "Strategic planning for shifting academic librarian roles: Moving from subject librarianship towards functional, skill-based teams".

Professionally, Kristen is interested in reference librarianship, subject librarianship, and science librarianship. Personally, she is interested in winemaking, organic gardening, community gardens, travel, live music, birdwatching, hiking, bikepacking and backpacking, so you can chat with her about all this and more in person next week!

If you're planning to register for #IAMSLIC2022, time is running out! The last day for virtual participant registration is Monday, October 17, 2022. We really want your participation as we encourage each other and learn about all the great work that is happening in aquatic and marine science librarianship Worldwide. Let's show up to support our Latin American members and host!

***Don't miss the boat!***
Visit the conference website to learn more about the conference and register (remember to log in first) before it's too late!  See you soon!

Next up we have presenter, and Cyamus regional representative, Amanda Whitmire.

Amanda describes herself as an oceanographer by training and a librarian by chance. She is Head Librarian at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. She earned her BS degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara and a PhD in Oceanography from Oregon State University. Amanda loves the variety of the day-to-day duties of running a branch library, but most enjoys working with faculty and students, and curating both the historical and born-digital data collections of the marine station.

At #IAMSLIC2022 Amanda will be presenting on "Collection connections: a library vignette on democratization of aquatic science knowledge". She will be presenting in person.

Professionally, Amanda is interested in collections as data, open knowledge networks, and data curation. At home, Amanda is an avid gardener, crafter, carpenter, and keeper of chickens. So there is lots to chat with her about during the conference!

Now let's meet Majbritt Bolton-Warberg, who is the Blue Bioeconomy Programme Manager at Ireland's Marine Institute.

Majbritt has 17 years’ experience in marine research topics, ranging from aquatic toxicology to aquaculture. In her current role as a Programme Manager in the Policy, Innovation and Research Support (PIRS) Service Group, she has responsibility for designing and implementing a national support and coordination function for the blue bioeconomy sector. This includes engaging with Higher Education Institutes, Public Research Bodies, industry, and researchers to promote, raise awareness of and deliver R&I projects focusing on strengthening Ireland’s competitiveness in this area. In addition to this national role, Majbritt has responsibility in a number of international initiatives including the BlueBio ERA-Net Cofund, the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership and a JPI Oceans Joint Action in Blue Carbon.

At #IAMSLIC2022, Majbritt will be presenting on "Blue Bioeconomy: What is it and how can libraries help raise awareness". This will be a live online session, so have your questions ready for her!