Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Laura Saunders

Laura Saunders is a Professor and Associate Dean at Simmons University School of Library and Information Science as well as the Director of the Simmons Center for Information Literacy. Her teaching and research focus on the areas of information literacy including news/media literacy and mis- and disinformation as well as reference services, and academic libraries.

Short biography

She was part of an expert panel that helped develop theAssociation of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and served on an American Library Association’s Public Programs Office project to develop the framework, practitioner’s guide and workshops for the Media Literacy for Adults in Public Libraries project. Her most recent books include the Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, 7 th edition, co-edited with Melissa Wong and the open access textbook Instruction in Libraries and Information Settings: An Introduction, co-authored with Melissa Wong. Laura has a PhD and a Master of Library and Information Science, both from Simmons University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Boston University. She is the 2019 recipient of Simmons University’s Provost Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.

Keynote address title: Information Literacy and Intellectual Freedom at the Nexus of Social Justice: Imagining a Path Forward

David White

David White is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and President of the Association for Learning Technology.

Short biography

David‘s career began with online innovation for the BBC Natural History Unit and has led to his current role as Dean of Academic Strategy at the University of the Arts London (UAL). He has taught and researched at the University of the West of England and managed the development of the University of Oxford’s first online courses. In his current role David is responsible for leading thinking on emerging technologies, such as AI. He is also the academic lead for UAL’s new fully online Postgraduate courses. Through this work he supports the university to constructively respond to the educational opportunities and risks of digital technologies.

Keynote address title: The Inconvenient Library: Friction and Dissonance as Central to Developing Critical Literacy

Receiving an answer (of any quality) without the act of ‘seeking’ facilitates little to no learning, there is no change in the person. If this is done by regularly cognitively offloading to Generative AI, then a lack of learning extends to the suppression of critical evaluation which in turn can lead to cognitive surrender. In this talk I will argue that contrary to the dominant model of AI, ‘successful’ information seeking cannot be 100% convenient. Given this, a super-efficient, seamless, library will fail to embody its social, civic and scholarly values. Instead, what is required are consciously designed seams and joins which encourage individuals to question and critique. I will propose that library staff are the most important ‘seams’ in this model and should be empowered to generate ‘constructive friction’ through dialogue and acts of mindful dissonance.

Round Table Panellists

Monika Batur

Monika Batur is a Research Assistant at the Department of Information and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her work focuses on bibliographic organisation, inclusive library services, and local heritage studies.

Short biography

Monika Batur holds a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences from the University of Zagreb, where her doctoral research examined the organisation of local heritage materials in digital environments. Prior to her current position, she worked as a cataloguer at the National and University Library in Zagreb and gained professional experience in academic and research libraries.

She is currently involved in research projects, including Participation of Youth in Culture and the Croatian Emigrant Press Project. She publishes in scholarly and professional journals, is a member of the Croatian Library Association, and a recipient of the Dr Ljerka Markić-Čučuković Award and the Eva Verona Award.

Dejana Golenko

Dejana Golenko is an Assistant Professor and Head Librarian at the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka. Her work focuses on academic librarianship, information literacy, and information behaviour.

Short biography

Dejana Golenko completed postgraduate studies in Knowledge Society and Information Transfer at the University of Zadar.

At the Faculty of Law in Rijeka, she teaches several courses focused on information literacy in the field of law and collaborates on numerous research projects. She has authored numerous scientific and professional papers and has presented extensively at national and international conferences.

Sunniva Evjen

Sunniva Evjen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Archivistics, Library and Information Science at Oslo Metropolitan University. Her research explores librarianship, library policy, and the societal role of libraries.

Short biography

Sunniva Evjen received her PhD from the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen. Her research focuses on library development, public library use, and the professional and relational dimensions of librarianship.

Her recent work examines the relational aspects of library practice, as well as the broader cultural and policy contexts shaping the library profession. She is actively engaged in international research on libraries and their evolving societal roles.

Mario Hibert

Mario Hibert is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, where he works at the Department of Comparative Literature and Information Science. His research engages with critical librarianship, information ethics, digital culture and media literacy.

Short biography

Mario Hibert holds a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences from the University of Zagreb. His work focuses on critical approaches to librarianship, the political economy of information, and the impact of digital and postdigital transformations on knowledge production and education.

He has published extensively and is the author of Digital Degrowth and Postdigital Commons: Critical Librarianship, Disruptive Media and Tactical Education (2018). He has also contributed to research and policy projects on media and information literacy, including the development of strategic documents in this field.

He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Open Information Science Journal (De Gruyter) and has been involved in a range of academic, cultural, and international initiatives. His work directly engages with questions central to this panel, particularly the relationship between libraries, knowledge production, and broader structural transformations in higher education.

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