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Feret and Rożniakowska, Part 5

The participants summarized problems presented at the conference with the following conclusions:

  1. Libraries cannot aim only at their survival, which will mean social and cultural death. They are able and should change themselves along with the changing society proving to be places of learning and creativity, and along with the changing technologies.

  2. Libraries should change themselves in such a way that one can say about library development, that it integrates the library with education, research and culture, or otherwise: an immersion into the structure of these worlds.

  3. Libraries should not be afraid of novelties and trends, but instead should understand them and choose those what improve library practice and make it more effective (also more economical).

  4. Libraries should act wisely and make decisions with thoughtful attention to their roles and missions, not to fall into chaos in the jungle of offers and proposals.

  5. Libraries (especially Polish libraries) should not only benefit from the experience of libraries in the developed countries, but also aim at being an integral part of the world network of libraries.

  6. A broad discussion is necessary and a successive transformation in library management, including library organizational structures, is needed in order to create hybrid libraries in accordance with a new model of the library and librarianship coming into existence and caused by:

    • digitization
    • new kinds of library services
    • Google/Amazon technologies
    • other multi–search engines
    • personalized information tools

  7. Sponsored presentations confirm that the commercial market offers addressed to libraries has become more and more intense. We still should learn how and to what extent we can make use of these offers.

  8. It is necessary for the library (as an institution and a team) to be a learning and teaching organization continuously and to work out effective educational programs directed to the information needs of the users.

  9. A well–functioning library requires constant and comprehensive studies of its effectiveness based on the surveys of:

    • Users’ satisfaction
    • Use of electronic resources

  10. The users’ opinions and data relating to the quantity and quality of visits — virtual or traditional — will have an impact on the picture of the 21st century library.

All conference sessions were transmitted live online via the Internet, thanks to the sponsorship of the Lodz Metropolitan Area Network (LODMAN). Archives of transmissions are available at: http://live.man.lodz.pl/archiwum/31. The conference Web site in English and Polish is http://bg.p.lodz.pl/konferencja2006/index_eng.htm.

Conference participants had a full choice of interesting cultural, culinary and architectural events. These attractions were opportunities for the participants to relax after long and intensive conference sessions. Organization of the conference for nearly 200 people has been also possible thanks to the support of the sponsors. The biggest of them were: the City of Łódź Office, CSA, RefWorks, Sirsi Dynix, LODMAN, EBSCO, Knovel, AKME, Potronics–Łódź, ProQuest and Forster Polska. The success of the 2004 and 2006 conferences have encouraged the organizing committee to continue the series at the Library of the Technical University of Lodz with the next one planned for 2008.