Arnold Hirshon, associate provost and university librarian, will begin a round-the-world speaking tour in November.
Hirshon is an internationally recognized speaker who has presented in nearly 50 countries on six continents.
Hirshon will start his tour in Malaysia, Singapore and Chendu, China, in sessions sponsored by an Asian publishing group. After his stop in China, he will move on to Riga, Latvia. At each location, Hirshon will address the factors impacting higher education globally, the opportunities for libraries to evolve within the academic environment and the advances made at Case Western Reserve University.
In Asia, Hirshon’s presentations will focus on the higher education ecosystem. He will address how the library can and must continuously assess, predict and respond through effective visioning, planning and implementation. Hirshon will highlight shifts and emerging trends in global societies (including economic and political factors), information content, and technology that can and should affect libraries and information organizations.
In Latvia, Hirshon will speak at and participate in the work of the annual General Assembly of a non-profit non-governmental organization, Electronic Information for Libraries, which is dedicated to building the intellectual property and content infrastructure of libraries within 50 developing countries and countries-in-transition throughout Africa, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. Hirshon has worked with the group since its inception 15 years ago, initially serving as an educator and consultant, and currently as the chair of its board of directors.
In his presentations, Hirshon will highlight the strategic planning process developed and deployed by the Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve, and will discuss how it can serve as a model to advance teaching, learning and research within academe.
“Academic libraries today operate on a global scale, securing and providing access to information, and creating vibrant centers in which collaborative interaction occurs. Libraries have become hubs of innovation where knowledge is both discovered and created, fostering campus-wide collaboration through advances in digital scholarship, deployment of new forms of scholarly communication, and supporting the entire research lifecycle,” Hirshon said. “We also continue to play a vital role as a social center for intellectual pursuits that create a climate and culture that encourage vigorous and diverse thought. All of these efforts are essential for libraries to continue to support institutional recruitment, retention and global reputation.”