Welcome
It gives me an Immense pleasure to welcome you all to the 3rd international Conference on Information Literacy (ICIL – Africa 2024) hosted for the first time at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a center of creativity, a place for preserving heritage, a house of expertise for all disciplines, and an edifice that scholars and thinkers flock to visit. It has claimed its place in the international cultural scene through its diverse initiatives, services, activities, and events, as well as through establishing partnerships with leading organizations and institutions of learning all over the world.
Recently, the BA has established a collaborative partnership with North - west University (NWU) and Pretoria University in hosting the 3rd round of the ICIL biannual conference which is a sister conference to the European Conference of Information Literacy ECIL. This comes as a realization of the critical need to spread awareness about Information Literacy especially in the digital era and the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence. Information literacy has, also, proven to be the solution to protect people from mis/disinformation and fake news especially in the arousing times of conflict depicted in different regions around the world.
Information literacy according to the American Library Association is " a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information”. Building up on this concept, a group of influential information professionals and exciting keynote speakers from all aspects of library and information science and several other related sectors have gathered to disseminate their knowledge and experience around information literacy’s related topics and fields in the light of the latest technologies transformation.
I actively encourage practitioners and researchers to submit their abstracts and to take part at the conference which is taking place from the 14th to the 17th of October, 2024 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference center with the theme of: Information Literacy Revolution: Get Ready. The conference is a chance to share knowledge, and get inspired in a fantastic and supportive environment.
Looking forward to see you all there!
Ms. Dina Youssef
Head of Library Sector
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to our 3rd International Conference on Information Literacy (ICIL-Africa 2024) to be hosted at the Library of Alexandria, Egypt. What is more exciting about this forthcoming edition of our ICIL-Africa series is that for the first time, the conference is hosted in a different country than the previous conference editions. Congratulations to Egypt, for being the first country outside South Africa, to host such a prestigious event. Allow me to share that after Egypt 2024, the 4th edition in 2026, will be hosted by Ghana and we are looking forward to this event as well. The dates for the conference are 14 to 17 October 2024. Registrations open on the 15th of April 2024. As you now know, ICIL is hosted as a sister conference to the European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) and we hope to receive guests from all over Egypt, the rest of Africa, and the world at large. The conference theme for 2024 is Information Literacy Revolution: Get Ready. With this theme and its attendant sub-themes, we hope to deliver yet again, an exciting and very interactive conference, which not only responds to the influence of technology on information handling but also tapes into the future of Information Literacy, in a fast-changing information landscape. Our host, the Library of Alexandria is a renowned memory institution throughout the world……therefore, it is an event not to miss. With our first call for abstracts gone out already, we expect to receive as many abstracts focusing on information literacy in the age of the fourth industrial revolution in general and Artificial Intelligence in particular. The conference is presently scheduled as an in-person event, and as usual, we are looking forward to drawing keynote and general speakers from all over the world. It is certainly a conference not to miss for policymakers, data, Information, and knowledge specialists, academics, and researchers, among others. Please plan to join us in Alexandria, Egypt, and enjoy the hospitality of the city and its caring people!
We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Dr Mathew Moyo
General Chair: ICIL Africa,
Chief Director: Library and Information Service
North-West University, South Africa