Research Applications, Information and Library Studies Conference (RAILS) 2019

Theme: Towards Critical Information Research, Education and Practice

Location: St Mark’s National Theological Centre, 15 Blackall St, Barton, ACT.

Conference dates: 28-29 October 2019

Submission deadline: 15 July 2019

Acceptance notification: 15 August 2019

RAILS is the Australasian conference on Research Applications in Information and Library Studies, the main gathering in Australasia for academic and practitioner researchers and educators in information studies and related disciplines, including librarianship, archival science, and social and community informatics. RAILS has been held annually since 2004. The 15th RAILS conference will be hosted by the School of Information Studies of Charles Sturt University and held at CSU’s Canberra Campus from 28-29 October 2019. The conference will also incorporate the Australasian Information Educators’ Symposium (AIES) 2019.

Increasingly it is recognised that the information professions have a vital role to play in combatting social injustice, social exclusion, digital divides, censorship, filtering, and misinformation, and attempts to undermine democracy, freedom of information and the right to know, be remembered and be forgotten. This role requires practitioners to take a critical view of their own practice, and for this view to be underpinned by similarly critical research, scholarship and professional education. Academic and practitioner researchers, educators, and students are encouraged to submit proposals for full papers, panels, customised sessions and posters on the conference theme, “Towards Critical Information Research, Education and Practice”. The theme should be broadly interpreted, and we encourage all types of theoretical and evidence-based contributions, including professional case studies which describe, evaluate and discuss the implications for practice of a workplace initiative.

Proposals for full papers, panels, customised sessions and posters are invited. All proposals are to be submitted through the EasyChair system by Monday 15 July 2019. Notifications will be sent by 15 August 2019. If you have any questions about the submission process, please contact Philip Hider at phider@csu.edu.au. Proposals with a focus on professional or continuing education and teaching will be allocated to the AIES 2019 component of the conference.

Please note that authors of accepted papers, panels, and posters will be invited to write up their RAILS presentations for submission to a special RAILS issue of the Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, scheduled to be published in 2020. Papers may be submitted as full research papers, research in practice papers or information in practice papers. Instructions for authors are available here: https://tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=ualj21. The due date for these submissions is provisionally scheduled as 31 January 2020.

Submission guidelines

Full Papers

To submit a full paper proposal:-

1. Enter the names and contact information for all contributors (only in the online form);
2. Enter the title of paper;
3. Add 3 to 5 keywords;
4. Choose “Full paper” as the submission type;
5. Upload your extended abstract (i.e. proposal) of up to 500 words (excluding references) in PDF format;
6. As all extended abstracts will be blind peer reviewed, please ensure that author names and affiliations do not appear in the uploaded document;
7. Full papers are not required before the conference.

The presentation of accepted full papers will be allocated 20 minutes, with an additional 10 minutes allocated for Q&A after the presentation.

Panel Discussions

To submit a proposal for 3-member panel discussions on an emerging topic related to the theme of the conference:-

1. Enter the names and contact information for the proposed panel members (only in the online form);
2. Enter the title of panel;
3. Add 3 to 5 keywords;
4. Choose “Panel Discussion or Customised Session” as the submission type;
5. Upload your extended abstract (i.e. proposal) of up to 750 words (excluding references) in PDF format;
6. As all extended abstracts will be blind peer reviewed, please ensure that the names of the proposed panel members do not appear in the uploaded document.

Accepted panel discussions will be allocated 1 hour in total, including about 12 minutes for each of the three panellists’ initial presentations, with an additional 24 minutes allocated for discussion with the floor.

Customised Sessions

To submit a proposal for a customised session of either 1 or 1.5 hours in duration:

1. Enter the names and contact information for all lead contributors (only in the online form);
2. ​​​​​​Enter the title of session;
3. Add 3 to 5 keywords;
4. Choose “Panel Discussion or Customised Session” as the submission type;
5. Upload your extended abstract (i.e. proposal) of up to 1,000 words (excluding references) in PDF format. In the abstract, please specify the proposed duration (1 or 1.5 hours);

Proposals will be considered by the full membership of the Program Committee.

Posters

To submit a poster proposal:

1. Enter the names and contact information for all contributors;
2. Enter the title of poster;
3. Add 3 to 5 keywords;
4. Choose “Poster” as the submission type;
5. Upload your extended abstract (i.e. proposal) of up to 250 words (excluding references) it in PDF format.

 Accepted posters should be of about A1 size. At least of their authors should be in attendance at the conference to present and field questions from delegates.