Greetings to the BOBCATSSS community! I would first like to thank the Board for electing me as the Chair of the Board for 2023-2024. It is my great pleasure to serve the BOBCATSSS community in this way.
Thank you to the outgoing Board Members Paavo Arvola (Tampereen yliopisto, Finland), Carla Colombati (Università degli studi di Teramo, Italy), Jesus Gascón Garcia (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) and, former Chair, Tania Todorova (University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Bulgaria).
Welcome to the new Board Members Juan-José Boté (Universitat of Barcelona, Spain), Jamie Johnston (OsloMet University, Norway), Alica Kolarić (University of Zadar, Croatia) and Dóra Szabó (University of Debrecen, Hungary). I look forward to working with the 2023-2024 Board to carry forward and build upon the work and initiatives by the previous Board.
Thank you to the organizers of the BOBCATSSS 2023 Conference and to all of you who participated. The diversity and high academic quality of the paper and poster presentations made for a very dynamic and rich scholarly exchange. Many new connections were made during the conference’s sessions and social activities that will be central in growing our LIS community in the years to come. The BOBCATSSS 2023 Proceedings and IFLA Special Issue will be published in the next few months. Currently, BOBCATSSS 2024 is being organized by the University of Coimbra – Portugal with co-organizers the State University of São Paulo (UNESP) in Brazil and the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT) in Bulgaria. The conference theme will be the Information Profession and Sustainable Development. We hope to see you in Coimbra!
New initiatives are underway! We are currently working to establish BOBCATSSS as a legal entity. This will allow us to develop and grow our community in ways that will be of greater benefit to community members. The BOBCATSSS Newsletter has two new editors, board members Jamie Johnston and Juan-José Boté. They are currently applying for an ISSN number and will be working to include more reader contributions, such as short articles, opinion pieces and updates. A new column titled Community Spotlight will highlight the current research and professional activities of BOBCATSSS community members. In this issue, we hear from lecturers and students from the Information Management study program at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany. Check it out!
Warm Regards, Joumana Boustany