The objective of the Conference is to reposition the academic libraries in Asia by harnessing potentials of modern ICT tools and management techniques, and develop a road map which can be used by governmental agencies for upgrading the library systems in Asia as well as in India.

The conference will provide opportunities to identify the strengths and gaps in the academic library system, and to suggest new management models, mechanisms, policies, and national and international programmes for reshaping academic libraries into next generation libraries for the higher education. It also aimed at to come up with a vision for next generation academic libraries in order to meet the challenge of knowledge society, in giving the country a competitive edge in knowledge economy.

The conference will provide an international platform to all stakeholders to address emerging issues of importance to academic libraries, discuss and debate roles that academic libraries can play in the higher education system in developed and developing countries with particular reference to India by 2020.

This conference is scheduled to convene in two parts. A pre-conference tutorial on Virtual Referencing will be organized by experts from Online Computer Library Center Inc. (OCLC) on 5 October 2009. Main Conference will be held during 6-8 October 2009. The Conference will have a number of plenary and parallel technical sessions based on sub-themes of the conference, viz. (i) Vision & Roles of the Future Academic Libraries; (ii) Technology, Policy and Innovation; (iii) Change Management; (iv) Library Vendor-Publisher Interface; (v) Management Models and Frameworks; (vi) Stronger Library-Faculty Relationships; (Vii) User Centric Services; (Viii) Digital Repository Management, (Ix) Knowledge Sharing and (x) Library Advocacy.

Conference registration is open to information professionals from India and other countries till 15 September 2009.