Library and Information Professionals in Zambia Take a Glimpse into the Future

Participants at the ZLA Conference, Siavonga, Zambia

About 90 library and information professionals in Zambia are meeting at Lake Safari Lodge in Siavonga at a three-day Zambia Library Association (ZLA) Conference, 11 – 13 August 2011. The theme of the conference - A Glimpse into the Future: Redefining the Role of Libraries in a Fast Changing Environment, will afford participants an opportunity to discuss, among others, the following:

• Professionalism and education for librarians in Zambia;
• Status of libraries in colleges of education in Zambia;
• Public Libraries: catalyst for information literacy;
• Information ethics in the information age;
• Adopting Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in libraries;
• Use of Web 2.0/social media in public university libraries in Zambia

View of Lake Kariba from the Conference Venue Restaurant

Speakers at the conference will include Dr. Vitalicy Chifwepa, University of Zambia Librarian, who will deliver the keynote address at the Opening Session; Professor Mary Wagner, a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the University of Zambia in the Department of Library and Information Studies, who will make a presentation on Public Libraries: catalyst for information literacy; and Mr. Charles Banda, Reference and Electronic Services Librarian at the Copperbelt University, who will speak about Web 2.0/social media in libraries in Zambia.
Participants at the conference have come from various parts Zambia mainly from public libraries, university libraries, specials libraries, the Department of Library and Information Studies of the University of Zambia and the Zambia Information Communication and Technology College (ZICTC).