ICIML proceedings published

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The department of Information Management at the iconic University of the Punjab, Lahore, has added another feather to its cap by publishing the proceedings of the International Conference on Information Management and Libraries (ICIML) which was organized successfully last winter.

The book has been appropriately titled ‘Looking Back, Moving Forward’ which was the theme of the conference. The 650-page hardbound publication is worthy to be recognized as a more than useful resource material for the library and information science professionals besides its crop of students. 

Prof Dr Kanwal Ameen, the Conference Chair, also the Chairperson of the Information Management department, has continued to lead by example by having edited the proceedings and she was assisted in this arduous task by Dr Nosheen Fatima Warraich, a fellow faculty member and a versatile young scholar. 

Acclaimed as the oldest seat of learning in Asia, the department set a healthy tradition by having organized the International Conference on Information Management and Libraries to mark the centenary in a memorable manner and they seem to have immortalized the occasion by documenting its proceedings in book form. 

The 100 years of the department was marked befittingly in 2015 and, by publishing the proceedings of the ICIML in such impressive form, they have started their journey towards double century with a bang. 

The University of the Punjab University was the third institution in the world to offer formal learning in the field of Library and Information Science and by the look of things they appear determined to make their legacy count. 

The department of Information Management merited greater recognition and credit for having celebrated the centenary in an organized manner which earned tremendous goodwill to the institution.

It was the result of sound planning and the implementation of the visionary ideas which has allowed the ICIML to become one of the most talked about events in the scholastic circles. It proved to be an icing on the cake of their centenary celebrations. 

Although the ICIML was held at Lahore in November 2015, the idea was first discussed in a faculty meeting way back in January 2014. It was after extensive brainstorming sessions that the conference took the shape and a series of other events took place to celebrate the completion of first century of the department. 

Prof Sanda Erdelez, Prof Yaşar Tonta and Prof Widad Mustafa El Hadi were the three keynote speakers in the ICIML, who enlightened the delegates with their thought-provoking research and narrations. 

Prof Sanda Erdelez, Program Chair in Library and Information Science at the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri, USA, spoke about Information and ‘Library Services in a Connected World.’ 

‘Developments in Education for Information’ was the topic of the keynote address by Prof Yasar Tonta, holding graduate degree in library and information studies from the University of California at Berkeley. 

Prof Widad Mustafa El Hadi, supervised many doctoral theses in terminology and its role in information mediation at the University of Lille 3, France, shared her thoughts about ‘Digital Libraries and Digital Humanities.’