Two ways to participate

Library leaders across all library types will come together to share ideas, learnings and insights, helping the entire community move forward to succeed in an increasingly “smarter” world. We invite you to contribute to the conversation.

Member Proposals

Representatives from OCLC member libraries across the region are invited to present 15-minute speeches on a variety of themes central to the concept of the “smarter library.”

Learn more about Member Proposals

Lightning Talks

Is your Scotland-based library working on reshaping your customer experience? We'd love to hear from you. You can propose a five-minute “lightning talk” that describes your programme.

Learn more about Lightning Talks

Member Proposals

The OCLC EMEARC18 programme is designed and driven by member leaders

We are seeking member proposals that will spark conversations around aspects of being a “smarter library,” more specifically those that will help the community:

  • Reimagine customer experiences—be more personalised, effective and intuitive
  • Leverage data—improve services and outcomes
  • Confirm professional values—strengthen the communities you serve
  • Innovate continuously—keep pace with change

Please submit a topic for a 15-minute presentation that provides insights, ideas and experiences around the theme areas listed below. The proposed presentation should be applicable to library leaders across all library types.

Submission details

  • Selected speakers will receive complimentary registration to the EMEARC18 meeting. Speakers are responsible for their own travel and hotel expenses.
  • Deadline for submission is 1 October 2017. Speakers will be notified of the programme selection by mid-October 2017.
  • To begin the submission process, you will need to complete the form that can be found at the link below with your details, presentation title and abstract. Please provide all requested information for your presentation submission.
  • Questions can be directed to communications-emea@oclc.org.

Idea starters

Listed below are some topics that support dialogue around the idea of becoming a “smarter library,” and that connect back to the four aspects noted above. Please do not limit yourself to these suggestions; we are seeking your ideas and experience to generate discussion and conversation around these key areas.

  • Reshaping the customer journey
  • Personalised customer/patron services
  • Balancing human engagement with automation
  • Use of artificial intelligence/robots
  • Smart spaces—reconfiguration/reuse of space
  • Service customisations
  • Embedding the library in the community
  • Customer engagement
  • Research Data Management (RDM)
  • Analytics
  • Driving decisions with data
  • Big collaboration using big data
  • Data mining to create new knowledge
  • Aggregated data to enhance workflow, services, impact
  • Library as social infrastructure
  • Libraries and librarians curating knowledge and access
  • Preserving and sharing community knowledge and local memory
  • Critical thinking to evaluate fake news
  • Workforce readiness in the age of the Smarter Library
  • Social equity and civic engagement
  • New service models
  • Innovative technology applications (Robots, AI)
  • Library as platform—creating and sharing
  • Taking risks and doing things differently
  • Community collaborations and engagement
  • Digital technology impact, ideas, direction

Lightning Talks

Libraries of Scotland: share your story at the OCLC EMEA Regional Council meeting in Edinburgh

Are you working in a library in Scotland? This is the chance to share your thoughts with us. On 20 and 21 February 2018, OCLC will hold its annual EMEA Regional Council Meeting in Edinburgh. To follow each year’s tradition, we have organised a series of five lightning talks. The lightning talks will take place on Tuesday, 20 February.

How will the Lightning Talks work?

We would particularly like to know innovative ideas and practices that make your library “smarter.” Here are a few ideas for talks that focus on the many aspects of our theme:

  • Innovative uses of library spaces
  • Personalised customer/patron services
  • Balancing human engagement with automation
  • Use of artificial intelligence/robots
  • Service customisations
  • Embedding the library in the community

The proposal should consist of no more than 150 words in English, describing a project or programme you are working on either in your library or within your community.

The Executive Committee of OCLC EMEA Regional Council will consider all proposals and contact you by 31 January 2018. We will waive the conference fee for the selected speakers (please note that we cannot subsidise travel and accommodation). The audience will vote for the best talk and the winner will receive a prize.

Please send us your inspiring stories, so that we can share them with an audience of librarians from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Please follow the link button below to complete and submit the form by 24 January 2018. We look forward to hearing your stories!

Submit a Lightning Talk


For further queries please contact us at communications-emea@oclc.org.