Call for Proposals – African Public and Community Libraries Virtual Summit 2025

The African Library and Information Association and Institutions (AfLIA) is committed to strengthening and advancing the development of libraries and information centres across the continent while equipping library and information personnel with essential 21st-century skills. AfLIA empowers public librarians to deliver cutting-edge and modern services, positioning public and community libraries as critical engines of exploration and innovation, vital for promoting and creating new communities of discovery and knowledge throughout the African continent. In pursuance of the foregoing;

AfLIA will hold an African Public and Community Libraries Virtual Summit for:

• LIS practitioners in Public, Community and National Libraries
• LIS educators
• LIS policy makers
• Organisations and Professionals working in partnership with African public libraries

Theme: “Libraries without borders: Connecting the dots”

Sub-themes:

• Digital transformation and access to knowledge
• Inclusive public and community Libraries: serving diverse, multilingual and marginalised communities
• Cultural and documentary heritage through public and community libraries
• Green libraries and environmental stewardship
• Strengthening African public and community libraries networks
• Civic engagement, democracy and community building
• Connecting national policies on education and learning to public and community libraries
• Play and interactive learning in libraries

Date:  3^rd & 4^th December 2025

Fee: No fees would be charged for the virtual summit.

Expected Outcomes of the Summit

By the end of the Summit, participants will have been able to:

Guidelines for Submission of Proposal and Presentation Slides

Proposals must address the theme or any of the eight sub-themes and could be written in English and French. It must be an original work of the speaker(s) and must include:

• Title of proposed paper
• Name(s) of speaker(s)
• Official Title of speaker (s) or Professional role
• Speaker’s institutional affiliation, if any
• Speaker(s) e-mail address, telephone/fax numbers
• Short professional profile (five lines) of speaker(s)

Proposal Structure

• The proposal should be a minimum of 800 words and must not exceed 1000 words.

• Authors should acknowledge sources of information. Plagiarised works will not be accepted and may incur penalties.

• The citations of references (APA) within a proposal should be added to the end under a References section and would not count in the 800-1000-word limit of the proposal.

• The proposal should not have been part of any presentation in other conferences or previously published online or offline, or under consideration for acceptance as a presentation or publication in any other place.

• The proposal must have the following components: objectives, scope, research methodology, where applicable, results, observations, conclusions, and recommendations.

• The proposal must include at least four keywords.

Important Dates to Note

• Submission of Proposal -31^st October 2025.
• Notification of acceptance/rejection – 10^th November 2025
• Submission of PPT Slide 12^th to 22^nd November 2025.

Technical Details

• The proposal should be an MS Word file.
• Fonts: Times New Roman, 12-point typeface
• Line spacing: Maintain 1.5 within paragraphs and 2.0 spacing in between paragraphs.
• The first line of each new paragraph should be indented.
• Please do not insert headers or footers in your proposals

Presentation slides

• Slides should have key talking points with appropriate visuals, clips and video and should not be overly crowded with words.
• Each presentation must have 12 -15 slides.
• Kindly acknowledge the sources of pictures or images in your slides in small print underneath the image or picture

Submission of Proposals

Proposals should be sent to programofficer@aflia.net and a copy to neosuigwe@aflia.net