FORO Goals and Objectives

FORO, the Transborder Library Forum, is a volunteer organization that cultivates a venue for the cooperative exchange of ideas, and the discussion of experiences and efforts concerning the provision of library services in the border regions between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

FORO objectives include:

• strengthening links among information professionals concerned with building information bridges across international borders;
• planning and implementing cooperative projects between libraries across geographic borders;
• facilitating the development of resource networks;
• introducing librarians to current commercial library products and services;
• sharing our cultural heritage while promoting literary and library services.

2007 FORO Theme

The 2007 FORO theme Bridging the Digital Divide: Crossing All Borders challenges us to explore and celebrate the ways in which information professionals in our border regions can further cooperate and solve common problems related to our digital information world. We cordially welcome your contributions and friendship as we construct bridges for information sharing through the use of collegial relationships and emerging innovative technologies. Special sub-themes for this conference are topics relating to

• Intellectual Property Rights;
  Copyright in the digital age; Global intellectual property issues, etc.
• Information and Indigenous Peoples;
  Language & culture preservation; Technology & information in remote areas, etc.
• Librarians: Professional Education and Preparation under NAFTA.
  Accreditation issues; Distance education, etc.

Other suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Cooperative initiatives: Border issues (e.g., trade, water resources, environment, heath services, science and technology, etc.) and related information resources; International librarian exchange or cooperative programs; Bilingual user services; Transnational interlibrary loan, document delivery, and other information resource sharing schemes, especially in digital form; Cultural diversity programs and libraries;

Education: Instructional programs within libraries; Distance and continuing education for students, librarians, and other user groups; Literacy programs;

Government/Legal: Sharing government information and documentation, Digitization projects, Intellectual property rights and copyright management, licensing, patent information, etc.

Library Administration: Disaster preparedness, response and recovery; Library management; Human resources, Training information professionals in an era of global information access; New roles for publishers, vendors, and librarians which transcend borders;

Technologies: Preservation; Electronic resources; Technical services/Collection Management; Computing; Virtual initiatives; Digitization; Blogs, wikis, streaming audio/video and other emerging technologies

Special Interest Groups: Genealogy; Medical/Health Sciences libraries and projects, Public libraries; School libraries; Special libraries; Archives and Special collections; Public access web sites; Business and economic information resources; Children's services; Preserving resources for border region history and cultures; Geographic information systems; Latin American Resources on the Internet, etc.

Proposal Formats

The 2007 FORO Program Planning Committee invites members of the information community to submit proposals and to suggest topics or speakers. Since the Committee reviews all submitted proposals for their content, timeliness, and relevance to the conference theme, the Committee reserves the right to combine, blend, or refocus proposals to maximize their relevance and to avoid duplication. While the Committee welcomes proposal suggestions from teams of three or more people, such groups need to designate no more than two official co-presenters per session.

Submissions should be original in that they should not exactly replicate presentations given at other conferences; since the 2007 FORO proposes to publish proceedings, content needs to be unique for copyright purposes. All authors must be willing to sign a copyright assignment to allow for publication of the paper in any format.

Workshops/Training Sessions: The Committee invites proposals for workshop and pre-conference sessions that provide practical information about implementing change, restructuring procedures, developing new skill sets, managing information resources, preservation of materials, etc., within a rapidly evolving global information environment.

Please specify in the proposal the time required for the workshop, and computer or audio-visual equipment needs.

Paper submissions should include an abstract no more than 150-200 words, 3-5 key words, and references following APA style. The final paper is submitted in publishable format, 15 to 20 pages double-spaced and with a 1-inch margin on both sides. Please use Courier or Times New Roman number 12 fonts. While numerous guides and examples exist on the Internet, for those without any access to the APA Publication Manual, the "APA Research Style Crib Sheet" by Russ Dewey is recommended. The presentation of the paper should NOT reproduce the final paper itself, but any slides of the presentations should highlight or illustrate specific aspects of the paper. Slides of the presentations should, as much as possible, include English and Spanish labels.

Poster Sessions: Poster sessions provide an opportunity to share innovative ideas and new applications of technology. They may present a report of a research study, an analysis of a practical problem-solving effort, or a description of an innovative program of interest to the border community. Interpretation will not be provided for poster sessions. Submit a brief abstract only.

Moderators and facilitators for thematic concurrent sessions: Individuals interested in serving as a moderator or facilitator are encouraged to submit a brief statement of the topic(s) for which they would be willing to serve, as well as their particular relationship to, or interest in, the topic(s). Please indicate the preferred language(s) in which you would moderate.

Submission of Proposals and Abstracts

Bilingual authors are encouraged to submit proposals as well as final papers in both English and Spanish.

When submitting a proposal, please include ALL of the following information in this order:

• Proposal title
• Program type proposal
  (Contributed Paper, Workshop, Poster Session, Round Table, Volunteer Moderator)
• Name(s) of presenters [No more than 2 contacts]
• Institutional affiliation of presenters
• Short (50 words or less) biographical description on proposed speakers
• Mailing address(es)
• Telephone number, fax number, and email address(es)
• For Contributed papers, Workshops, and Poster Sessions: a 150-200 word abstract, which clearly states the proposal topic, its relationship to the conference theme, and its relevance for conference attendees.
  For Moderators and Round Tables: a brief statement of the topic(s) for which they would be willing to serve, as well as their particular relationship to, or interest in, the topic(s). Please see above instructions.

Please specify word processing software used for submitted proposal. Microsoft Word is the preferred software.

The Program Planning Committee strongly prefers to receive proposals by email, as electronic attachments; but will accept submissions on diskettes and in print. Diskettes should be labeled with the name of the event (2007 TRANSBORDER LIBRARY FORUM), the piece's title and the author's name(s).

Proposals should be submitted no later than October 31, 2006 to the following:

FORO 2007 Program Planning Committee
e-mail: foro2007@asu.edu 

or

Mail print submissions and diskettes to:

Jenny Mueller-Alexander,
Chair, FORO Program Planning Committee
Reference Services
Hayden Library
Arizona State University
P.O. Box 871006
Tempe, AZ 85287-1006 USA

The receipt of all proposals will be acknowledged by e-mail. If you do not receive an acknowledgement please contact Jenny Mueller-Alexander at foro2007@asu.edu

Review Process  

Proposals will be reviewed by the 2007 FORO Program Planning Committee in a blind review process, and will be selected based on quality, relation of the proposal topic to the general FORO goals and objectives and the 2007 FORO theme (see above). Due to the limited number of program slots, the committee may not be able to accept all submissions.

Presenters and moderators must pre-register for the conference. Notification regarding accepted submissions will be emailed 30 days after submission.

Accepted contributed papers must be received, preferably in electronic format, by December 31, 2006 in order to provide advance copies to the simultaneous interpretation team. Abstracts of all accepted papers, and poster sessions will be made available, in English and Spanish, on the 2007 FORO Web Site prior to the conference.

For questions, e-mail the FORO Program Planning Committee Chair: Jenny Mueller-Alexander at foro2007@asu.edu 

ON THIS PAGE:

FORO Goals and Objectives

2007 Theme

Proposal Formats

Submission Guidelines

Review Process