Date: 12.09.2023

On September 11, 2023 Dr. Piotr Chmielewski presented the lecture Blockchain is no just cryptocurrencies. What it actually is and what are the possibilities of this technology.

The lecture was divided into two main parts. In the first, Dr. Chmielowski introduced the participants to the blockchain technology, i.e. "chain of blocks". He discussed the relevant historical aspects that influenced the emergence of this technology and argued why it is worth taking an interest in it, stressing that "sooner or later each of us will become its user, consciously or not." The lecturer pointed out that the technology is approaching its full maturity and will be more widely adopted by various entities in the coming years. He supported this statement with numerous examples from various economic sectors, such as Coca-Cola or BMW companies, which have been using it for several years.

Piotr Chmielewski also conducted a "breakdown" of the technology under discussion into smaller components, and discussed each of them in detail. In addition, he explained to the audience the meaning of terms such as miner, excavator, and smart contract. During the lecture, he also referred to the results of his own research, presenting eight potential areas where libraries could successfully use blockchain technology.

The second part of the lecture was of a practical nature and focused on issues related to "first steps" in the blockchain issues. The lecturer presented an excerpt from an article containing relevant recommendations and then gave practical solutions related to each of these recommendations to the audience.

The lecture was followed by a short Q&A session during which the speaker expanded on some of the issues raised during the lecture in response to questions from the participants.

Date: 05.06.2023

On 30 May 2023, Dr Magdalena B. Król from the Pedagogical University of Cracow delivered the lecture Effective management and interpersonal skills.

The lecture was attended by Dr Barbara Budyńska, President of the Polish Librarians’ Association, who welcomed participants representing various types of libraries.

Dr Magdalena B. Król began with presenting the conceptual scope of competencies, interpersonal competencies, project manager competencies, as well as selected theories of motivation theories and elements of verbal and non-verbal communication, essential in effective management. The other part of the lecture was devoted to own experiences in the field of management. The speaker presented the author’s model of interpersonal skills of an effective project manager, together with the conclusions from the implementation of the author’s project ‘UPoluj kulturę‘! (Hunt the culture!) among the students of information management and digital publishing at the Pedagogical University of Cracow.

In conclusion, Dr. Król emphasised the specific role of interpersonal competencies as a decisive factor for efficient management, including projects.

Questions about ways to motivate employees were asked during the Q&A session.

Date: 17.04.2023

On April 13, 2023 Dr Przemysław Krysiński from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń presented the lecture Presence of innovative solutions implemented in different areas of information space and embedded in the assumptions of the smart city concept, considering in particular the GLAM sector institutions.

The speaker began with a definition of a smart city, referring to Rudolf Giffinger's concept, determining its 6 key elements: smart economy, smart mobility, smart environment, smart people, smart governance, and smart living.

Next the lecturer presented implementations of the smart city concept in the information sector and beyond. Among the types of entities operating in the information sector, he mentioned libraries and scientific and technical information centres in one of four groups (besides theatres, schools, news agencies, mass media, and publishing houses, among others).

Substantial part of the lecture dealt with the role of libraries in a smart city, which dr Krysiński illustrated with concepts offered by Mariusz Luterek and Mayukha Bagchi. He also referred to J. Schöpfel's article, according to which a newly defined roles and new principles of libraries in the ecosystem are: smart services, smart people, smart site, and smart management.

Next the speaker presented initiatives undertaken in Polish libraries from the perspective of: smart business, digital literacy/ social participation, smart services/ digital literacy, smart services/ sustainable development, smart infrastructure/ digital literacy.

The final part of the lecture was devoted to presentation of the projects implemented in foreign libraries.

Concluding, Dr Krysiński emphasised that libraries in smart cities are becoming central points on their maps, significantly strengthening the potential of cities. Librarians, on the other hand, „are increasingly taking on the role of moderators and tutors, becoming active participants of this process. They are no longer just guides through the world of information, but first and foremost knowledge managers, serving with their competences not only to the inhabitants, but also local entrepreneurs”.

Extensive reference list concerning the lecture's subject is a part of the presentation.

Those who are interested in learning on the topic, we kindly invite to the website of the Digital Archive of the PLA Scientific and Educational Publishing House, where full texts of publications on smart cities can be found under the heading Smart cities and villages.

Date: 21.03.2023

On March 20, 2023 Prof. Małgorzata Kowalska-Chrzanowska from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń presented the lecture The role of altmetric indicators in the promotion of research output.

The speaker divided the lecture into two parts. The first was aimed at introducing the audience to the issue of altmetric indicators. She began by indicating the most important legal regulations for research output evaluation. Then she moved on to outline the role, advantages, and disadvantages of bibliometric indicators in that process. The latter provided the impetus for discussing the idea and importance of altmetric indicators, i.e. alternative metrics derived from electronic channels of scholarly communications, such as blogs, social media, platforms dedicated to scholars, reference managers, open repositories, websites for sharing of multimedia presentations, bookmarks management, and recommending scholarly artefacts. The lecturer explained not only where the interest in altmetrics came from, but also what the most common types of altmetrics are. She also characterised functionalities of selected tools aggregating them.

In the second part of the lecture, Prof. Kowalska-Chrzanowska discussed three case studies demonstrating the potential of using altmetrics. Through them, she evaluated research output of a particular researcher, an entire scientific discipline, and a specific research field.

Finally, the speaker presented the benefits of using altmetrics, and the risks associate with their unreflective implementation in the process of evaluation of research output. She also attempted to answer the questions of whether the alternative measurements are an antidote to the limitations of bibliometric indicators, and whether they have a chance to become an essential part of research output evaluation in the future.

Date: 02.03.2023

On February 27, 2023 Dr. Dorota Siwecka from the University of Wrocław presented the lecture Digital humanities and libraries.

Dr. Barbara Budyńska, President of the Polish Librarians' Association, welcomed the participants representing different types of libraries.

Dr. Dorota Siwecka divided the lecture into two parts. The first one was an introduction to the issue of digital humanities. The speaker began with a few exemplary definitions of digital humanities, its history, and factors conducive to the development of such projects. She also discussed the fields of interest of digital humanities, the object of its research, methods, tools, and processes. Dr. Siwecka described the competences of a digital humanist, which, in addition to domain knowledge, include ICT knowledge (software, programming languages, the ability to create websites, the knowledge of tools for visualising research results). She mentioned numerous examples of digital humanities projects, such as digitization, medialabs, the development of tools and infrastructure, or narrower ones, such as studies on computer gaming or social networks.

In the other part of the lecture, the speaker discussed the role that libraries play in the development of digital humanities. She pointed specifically to digitization of research objects, development of metadata as a basis for research, creating research aids and manuals, and collaborating with researchers. She also answered the question of who is a librarian in digital humanities, focusing on the range of skills that she or he has to demonstrate, and emphasising those that librarians lack. Dr. Siwecka described also the problems librarians face "while participating in the development of a new, digital face of the humanities", such as: insufficient training opportunities, lack of support for the initiatives, or inflexible infrastructure, among others.

Concluding the lecture, she presented numerous examples of digital humanities projects implemented in libraries.

We cordially invite those interested in deepening their knowledge of digital humanities to visit the website of the Digital Archive of the PLA Scientific and Educational Publishing, where the list of full-texts concerning this issue can be found under the aforementioned label.

Link to this resource

Date: 05.01.2023

On December 20, 2022 Dr. Magdalena Paul of the University of Warsaw presented the lecture Fake news – a new daily reality or a weapon in an information war?

Dr Barbara Budyńska, President of the Polish Librarians’ Association, welcomed the participants representing different types of libraries.

Dr. Magdalena Paul began her speech by presenting the definition of fake news and its relatively short history. She described the types of fake news, and alternative terms used in regard to such phenomena. She devoted quite a large part of her presentation to the issue of perception of true and false information, and drew attention to linguistic features of fake news. The speaker presented also how false information have been used in politics, and referred to the social consequences of this phenomenon. Disinformation was discussed among other examples, as a basis for the invasion of Ukraine. The other topics discussed by the speaker were deepfakes and post-truth. She reminded the attendees that post-truth was the word of the year 2016 of the Oxford Dictionary. Dr. Magdalena Paul referred to the idea of fact-checking, presenting (among other thigs) the Code of Ethics of the International Fact-Checking Network. She also mentioned existing fact-checking agencies. She devoted quite a large part of her speech to the role of libraries in the fight against disinformation, and concluded the lecture with the question: Can fake news have positive consequences?

The lecture Fake news – a new daily reality or a weapon in an information war? was the last one scheduled for the year 2022. We cordially invite to the following meetings in the New Year.
Check for the details soon.

Presentation Recordings of lecture

Added: 12.12.2022

On December 7, 2022 Dr. Bożena Jaskowska from the Pedagogical University of Cracow presented the lecture Information design considering UX.  

Dr. Barbara Budyńska, President of the Polish Librarians' Association, welcomed the audience.

Dr. Bożena Jaskowska began by pointing out some examples of graphic information, then moved to issues related to information design, information architecture, and communication design. She focused in particular on the term "user experience", referring to interesting examples; she also discussed the relationships between user experience and information. The „Maximalist or Professional” test performed by the participants was another element of the lecture, aimed to introducing the decision-making theory. The speaker also discussed the topics of the use of UX in design process. A large part of the lecture was devoted to the users studies, with particular reference to librarianships and UX librarians.

During the Q&A session there were questions concerning the possibility of implementing qualitative research with a low (zero) library budget, the UX librarian profession in Poland, or the role of patterns in design.

The lecture was enriched with a number of quotes that corresponded perfectly with its content.

Presentation Recordings of lecture

Added: 12.12.2022

On November 29, 2022 Dr Anna Matysek from the University of Silesia in Katowice delivered the lecture Personal information management systems as the way to cope with information overload.

The lecture was attended by Dr Barbara Budyńska, President of the Polish Librarians' Association, who welcomed the participants representing different types of libraries.

Dr Anna Matysek began with presentation of reasons and consequences of information overload and information redundancy. She also characterized the diseases resulting from overload, and the ways to reduce it. A large part of the lecture was devoted to methods of time management and personal information management. The other part was a presentation of digital tools to cope with overload. Concluding, the Speaker emphasized the importance of the awareness of the phenomenon of information overload, the competence of individual (and others) time management, and development of individual system of personal information management.

The Q&A session included questions about how to raise awareness and help people who are addicted to the Internet.

Presentation Recordings of lecture

Date: 10.11.2022

We have just started the project with the lecture „Academic training for librarians. Experiences of national centers in the context of changes” presented by Dr. Renata Malesa from the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin.

The main goal of the lecture was to focus on the offer of academic training for librarians and changes in curricula. It was attended by more than 100 participants from libraries of different types.

During the Q&A session, participants asked about the future of LIS education and comments on the deregulation of the profession. They also mentioned the problem of decreased interest in this work and the chances for the change of current situation.

Dr. Barbara Budyńska, President of PLA, attending the lecture, offered the participants the opportunity to continue the discussion in the "Librarian" [Bibliotekarz] monthly journal.

Presentation Recordings of lecture