Crida d'articles

Deadline:

In recent decades, mental health has evolved from being an invisible attribute of human beings to being recognized as a visible and central part of their overall health. Once hidden away in order to avoid stigma and negative social judgement, today many people speak openly about their mental health issues and feel safer about publicly expressing their psychological distress. As a result, society as a whole is gaining a better understanding of how vulnerable humans are to mental health suffering, and of the importance of adequately addressing these issues, devoting sufficient resources to them, and using empirically validated data for their study.

A significant feature of mental health is its interaction with communication, especially via traditional and new media platforms. In this regard, mental health communication can be conceptualized as a two-way mechanism. First, individuals struggling with mental health issues receive mental health-related communications from institutions, governments, traditional media (news, television programs, etc.), and from social media platforms, to name but a few sources. Conversely, these same individuals are also producers of mental health communication as they share their thoughts and concerns via interpersonal and social media platforms (e.g., WhatsApp, Instagram). These and other dynamics have mitigated the loneliness and feeling of not being listened to suffered by many people with mental health issues, and, especially among young people, have helped to reduce or eliminate the idea that mental health conversations are taboo. Failure to address these issues adequately has contributed to the dissemination of inaccurate information and representations of mental health, and to the proliferation of pseudo-scientific approaches to treating mental health that are not based on any empirical evidence. The resulting picture is a confusing one.

This special issue aims to provide a map of the intersection between communication and mental health. From a holistic perspective, we welcome papers from any remit of communication and mental health that can help to deepen our understanding of the field and its associated disciplines. Although the list below is not exclusive, the special issue can consider the following approaches and topics of interest:

  • Online harassment and mental health
  • Self-image, self-esteem, and communication practices
  • The effective communication of mental heath
  • Effective strategies in communication to prevent mental health issues
  • Critical and systematic reviews regarding any aspect of mental health and communication
  • Addictions and mental health: advertising tactics to promote addiction and resistance strategies.
  • Social media influencers and mental health.
  • Between retention and addiction: digital platforms, user design, and the maximization of the time on devices.
  • Intimacy and privacy on social media and its relationship with mental wellbeing.
  • The representation of mental health issues in media products.

Submission Guidelines: Authors are invited to submit contributions containing original research, conceptual papers, literature reviews, or case studies, on the theme of mental health and communication. Please check the submission guidelines of BID for clarity regarding the process and requirements for submissions. BID only accepts contributions written in English. The recommended length for published papers is about 6,000 words (including references).

For further information, please contact the guest editors of the special issue Hibai Lopez-Gonzalez (hibailopez@ub.edu) and Mark D. Griffiths.

Linked Open Data
Deadline:

Guest editors: Miquel Centelles (UB) and Daniele Metilli (UCL)

It is now more than 20 years since the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) launched its vision and program for the Semantic Web, with the goal of providing automatic systems with automatically processable metadata relating to the information that is published on the web. The creation of automatic systems capable of interpreting data semantically, and of generating autonomous processes based on this capability, was seen as a definitive revolution on the internet. After these 20 years, many technologies and standards have been developed within the framework of this program, and made up the already legendary stack or “layer cake” of the Semantic Web, with their ascending and descending relations, but the degree of their adoption has been uneven. As a whole, we can say that the vision of the Semantic Web is still to be fully realized.

Some technologies have become consolidated and have impacted multiple areas of activity and speciality. This is the case for uniform resource identifiers (URIs), certain serialization formats such as JSON-LD (which in many cases has replaced the original XML-based syntaxes), or ontologies linked, for example, to metadata schemas.

Others have become complements to others that have met with more success in the commercial field. This is the case of the RDF data model, which in many implementations of semantically oriented solutions is complemented (or even replaced) by other graph-oriented models, such as property graphs (Neo4J), or in many other cases even by the traditional relational model. Similarly, the SPARQL query language has sometimes been substituted with far less powerful, but more scalable, alternatives, such as GraphQL.

Finally, there is a group of technologies located at the top of the stack which has never been fully standardized, and in some cases have been postponed or simply abandoned.

In legal and other contexts, the implementation of successful languages ​​and technologies has produced examples of coordinated work on an international scale, and of results that have transcended the limits of the laboratory and the beta constant. This is the case, for example, of the European Legislation Identifier (ELI, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli-register/about.html) a system of online access to European Union legislation , which is driving the development of critical information services for the citizens of this millennium.

Many national and local libraries, archives, and museums have also transformed or mapped their catalogue and authority data into RDF, working towards the adoption of standard ontologies (CIDOC CRM, FRBRoo, RiC-O) to replace their traditional metadata schemas. This model, and the existence of data sets related to entities, as is the case with Wikidata, has opened up a scenario of infinite possibilities for the enrichment of data sets which presented significant limitations in their original versions.

More broadly, the linked data publishing model has also been successfully developed. This model has been prioritized by the Five Star Scheme for Open Data Publishing and, more recently, by the FAIR Principles for Research Data Management. In its evolution, it has been integrated into an ecosystem for the generation and publication of semantically enriched data such as knowledge graphs, which offer both open and proprietary versions. This second version is the basis for the knowledge graphs that are becoming a key asset in the management of corporate knowledge, and, at the same time, a key tool for training data in machine learning applications and for explaining the results.

Against this background, the journal calls on researchers and project and service managers to publish their work in issue #51, which will show the evolution of technologies and standards of the Semantic Web. It will also give an idea of the current state of the model for publishing linked (open) data and knowledge graphs aimed at providing information services for the general public, and for members of institutions and companies.

Lines:

· Management, publication and exploitation of linked open data

· Creation and exploitation of knowledge graphs

· Information services based on linked open data and knowledge graphs

· Artificial intelligence and linked open data

· Textual corpora and linked open data

· Textual corpora and knowledge graphs

· Application of bots in linked open data

· Application of bots in knowledge graphs

· Linked open data and diversity of genres

· Graphs of knowledge and diversity of genres

· FAIR and linked open data

· FAIR and knowledge graphs

· Ontologies and linked open data

· Ontologies and knowledge graphs

· Application of ontologies in information services

 

 

Digital preservation
Deadline:

Editors of the monographic issue: Miquel Térmens (UB), Fernanda Peset (UPV)

Instructions for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines


Digital data is a central part of our society today. Much of these digital data play a purely functional and ephemeral role, disappearing or being destroyed soon after they are used; a good example of this is instant messaging content. However, there are other data that we need to keep and use for longer periods or even permanently because they have economic, legal or cultural values that must be preserved. This is not new, since ancient times there have been documents that, regardless of their material support, have been filed and kept over long periods of time. Digital coding is a new technology that, like other previous technologies, has great advantages in terms of its use, but also has large problems concerning its permanence in the short, medium and long term.


Digital preservation is a set of techniques and procedures that can be used to ensure the preservation and access to digital data in the medium and long term. As computing is in a process of continuous innovation and evolution, it is easy to imagine that digital preservation is also constantly changing.


In this issue of the BID journal we would like to present studies that explain what is currently being done in this field, what is being researched and what are the latest problems that have been identified. We would like to collect experiences related in particular to the field of information management, but also related to the technological environment due to the problems arising from digital obsolescence. We are interested in research on libraries as managers of institutional repositories, archives as protagonists of document evaluations, museums dealing with the complexity of managing NFT artworks, and the publishing world involved in the preservation of multiple versions of magazines and e-books or audios. We are also interested in electronic administration, which must ensure the integrity and reliability of public information, and in the field of research, which needs to determine what should be preserved and how.


Some of the topics that can be included in this monographic issue are:

  • Preservation planning. Preservation policies
  • Evaluation and audit systems
  • Risk analysis
  • Adaptation of the OAIS model to specific environments
  • Metadata schemas applied to preservation
  • Preservation of audiovisual archives
  • Preservation of research data
  • Preparation of data management plans
  • Collaborative preservation systems or consortia
  • Format migration
  • Emulation systems
  • Training and education in digital preservation
  • Costs and financing of preservation
  • Storage and processing in data centres and in the cloud
  • Commissions for evaluating and selecting series of digital documents
  • Regulatory framework
The profession of reporting and the gender perspective
Deadline:

Guest editors: Anna Clua (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) and Aimée Vega (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Instructions for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines

The gender perspective is currently a key issue in the analysis of media content. The feminist perspective on content curation, the shaping of discourses and the construction of media agendas has made it possible to identify and call out the gender stereotypes reproduced by the androcentric and patriarchal logic inherent in the dominant and globalized media system. The treatment of the subject in academia, however, has shown to have little social impact compared to the debates generated from the professional sphere, both locally and internationally.

In this issue of BiD we aim to give an account of the problems currently affecting women working in the information and communication sector in different countries. We are asking for articles that discuss initiatives, projects and campaigns driven by the gender perspective, both in the context of documentation and information management in the media and in the context of journalism. The international focus will allow us to reflect on the social and political situation in different countries. The plurality of contributions will allow, in turn, a discussion of the imposition of limits on the very concept of "gender", and a joint reflection on the rights that govern the "profession of reporting" from a position of freedom and equality. The challenge is to ensure that this reflection builds bridges between the debates in academia and the demands arising from the exercise of the profession and also from feminism.

Contributions should focus on the following topics:

● Pioneers of feminism in the information and communication sector

● New debates on gender in the information and communication sector

● Opening the gap: Laws of equality and against gender violence in the information and communication sector

● Case studies on equality plans and protocols against harassment of women workers in the information and communication sector

● Online and offline violence against female journalists

● Data Feminism

● Slow information / Slow journalism and the gender perspective

● The gender perspective and economic models in the sectors of documentation, content curation and journalism

● Denial and gender misinformation

● Associations, initiatives and campaigns with a gender perspective in the information and communication sector

Storytelling on social media and life stories
Deadline:

Invited editors: Concha Rodríguez (UB), Antoni Roig (UOC), Gemma San Cornelio (UOC) and Aurora Vall (UB)
Instructions for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines

Traditionally and in any culture, storytelling has served to transmit knowledge and value, and to share feelings and emotions. Stories appeal to empathy, making it easier to overcome barriers that distance us from people we perceive as unlike ourselves. Personal stories (Burgess, 2013) give us a vision of the world and share emotional knowledge through the universality of themes like loss, belonging, hope for the future, friendship or love.

Digital environments enable us to share knowledge and life experiences, as well as to make our personal narratives public (Raman, 2017). The danger of the use of "universal themes" in a globalized context lies in the influence of media culture and the narrative imaginaries established in the logic of narration on social media, reinforcing myths and stereotypes. What motivates us as researchers is the need to go deeper and look for alternatives that go beyond these clichés.

Likewise, the information units and institutions dedicated to preserving memory seek to turn personal and collective memory into an inclusive instrument of social cohesion and for staving off forgetfulness. Life stories or tales, human libraries are ultimately revolutionary tools for understanding the life experience of the other, and they make it possible to break down stereotypes, promote empathy, overcome fears, and construct a more equitable and more human project for the future (Giraldo, 2012, 2019).

Issue 48 of BiD is dedicated to papers that address narrative practices in professional, institutional, academic and research contexts, from any knowledge domain and from any theoretical or practical approach. Narrative understood in a broad sense, whether from a discursive, oral, narratological or mythological perspective, uses communication as a creative tool or as a tool of social awareness, to establish a particular story line. Research or experiences that explore hybrid frameworks for understanding these narratives, such as the concept of small stories (Georgakopoulou, 2017), in life stories or in the personal accounts of daily life are especially interesting. Other elements to consider have to do with the temporality of the stories and, ultimately, a more contextualized and diverse vision of personal stories, which appeal directly to the participants. All of this without forgetting the visual and narrative aspects of the image-based platforms, such as Instagram or TikTok, which involve more sophisticated methodological challenges.

 

Some of the ideas and issues to be included in this monograph are the following:

- Personal narratives. Personal and identity-related stories.

- Human library, life stories, memory workshops, etc.

- Collective memory as a factor of identity or guarantee of continued existence in time: Creating or gathering, conserving and disseminating to reclaim, enjoy, share this memory.

- Storytelling actions related to dissemination of knowledge, raising awareness of personal and social challenges, transmission of heritage etc.

- Speculative personal narratives with meaning for specific groups.

- Speculative narratives about possible futures and oriented towards action and social transformation.

- Collective creation and activism: Interactive documents, participatory processes, etc.

- Involvement and participation of audiences in collective narrative experiences.

- Experimental narrative experiences on social media. Stories, micro-stories and fictional experiences.

- Digital narratives based on data and visualizations.

- Educational experiences told through narratives: Social media, promotion and encouragement of reading, book recommendations, book clubs, etc.

- Celebrities on social media. Aspects related to stories by influencers, YouTubers, booktubers, Instagrammers and other agents.

- Memes.

- Fandom and activism on social media.

Collaborative creation of shared knowledge
Deadline:
Invited editors: Enric Senabre and Núria Ferran
Instructions for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines

The current range of possibilities for knowledge co-creation (or collaborative creation) represents a phenomenon that provides a new way of connecting scientific disciplines, contemporary challenges, social actors and the wide range of collective approaches to doing things, problem-solving and learning.

One of the best initiatives out there for openly and collaboratively creating and sharing knowledge on a global scale is Wikipedia, which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021. The altruistic project has landed a spot on the internet's top ten most visited sites, thereby highlighting the potential to share huge amounts of knowledge in a decentralized way and, in doing so, outshining other more dated, centralized models. Meanwhile, recent times have witnessed the emergence of a range of initiatives seeking to involve citizens in scientific pursuits, with instances of transdisciplinarity such as citizen science and open science. Mention must also be made of the initiatives and spaces that have been popping up to pool knowledge and apply it to real-life situations; these include citizen labs, fab labs and fabrication athenaeums, and new participation-based projects carried out by public libraries. Moreover, a number of collaborative tools and platform economy initiatives have recently emerged. Beyond their usefulness with respect to contemporary goods and services, these new tools and initiatives generate valuable knowledge (or have the potential to do so) thanks to the collaboration between people. These examples only skim the surface of current initiatives. Thus, we can firmly state that co-creation and open knowledge are ever more tightly tied together.

However, there continue to be pressing challenges surrounding the who, the how and the why of knowledge co-creation, both in online environments and face-to-face settings. We also require more metaknowledge in this regard, meaning knowledge about the co-created knowledge itself and the methodologies, principles and conditions that make it possible. At the same time, we need further reflection and more critical perspectives and long-term outlooks focused on the unresolved technology, gender, training and participation issues hindering knowledge co-creation. We should also strive to uncover what type of knowledge (and subsequent usefulness) is most easily generated within this framework, whether in academic, labour, community or political spheres (to name a few), and what type of knowledge will thus be left out.

Considering the abovementioned points, the present monograph is open to contributions in the form of articles honing in on any of the following topics of knowledge co-creation (or any topic of a similar nature) from a methodological, conceptual or practical perspective. Contributors may be researchers, academic experts, or professionals or participants in co-creation initiatives, as long as they follow BiD's formatting guidelines and instructions for authors.
  • Wikipedia revised: new approaches or advancements in the project (or any other project carried out by the Wikimedia Foundation) to mark its 20th anniversary. 
  • Transdisciplinarity and participation in research: citizen science, open science, the research-action interface or any other science-related collaborative field.
  • Analysis of the flow of information, documentation and decision-making in decentralized organizations involved in knowledge co-creation.
  • Experiences with and models of face-to-face co-creation: hackathons, co-writing sprints, creative retreats, participatory workshops, edit-a-thons, etc.
  • Criticism and exclusionary barriers within co-creation: gender or culture gaps, diversity integration, the digital divide, difficulties reaching goals, etc.
  • Co-created cultural experiences as a way of learning and sharing knowledge: participatory theatre, digital art, performance art, exhibitions, etc. 
  • Digital co-creation spaces (tools, platforms or specific online communities) or face-to-face ones (citizen labs, fab labs and fabrication athenaeums, living labs, new museum or library models, etc).
  • The platform economy and the generation of shared knowledge, beyond the distributed exchange of goods and services.
Beyond Fake News. Anatomy of Misinformation
Deadline:

Coordinators: Antonia Ferrer Sapena (UPV), Pere Masip (URL)
Guidelines for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines


The spreading of false information across different media has been a recurrent theme in recent years. Publications of misleading stories and their dissemination are fuelled by a range of circumstances. In some cases, people are overly hasty in sharing the latest information to reach them, often without taking into account the channel, the medium or the interests of whoever published it; in other cases, there are specific intentions behind the dissemination, with people aiming to achieve ends that may be political, ideological or economic.

Fake news poses a threat to democracy. For this reason it has been denounced by governments, by international organizations such as the European Commission, and by civil movements and organizations such as Xnet (a platform dedicated to the defence of digital rights and freedom of expression), albeit with different and in some cases divergent postulates.

Ensuring the veracity of the information that is disseminated is a responsibility that involves many groups – for example journalists, documentary filmmakers and scientists – and each group uses different techniques to fulfil this responsibility. This monograph aims to encompass articles that reflect on how false information impacts society, on the techniques that currently exist for its control and detection, and on how educating people to assess the quality of information can help generate critical consumption.

In particular, this is a call for papers on:
- Misinformation and post-truth
- Big data techniques to detect false information
- Bots and dissemination of false information: who is behind the mass spread of false or manipulated information?
- Algorithmic transparency: the role of platforms in the control of disinformation
- Education on the use of quality information sources
- The simplicity of messages and the speed of dissemination
- Social media and its impact on the spread of untrue information
- The effects of spreading false information on democratic quality
- Narratives of disinformation
- Fact-checking techniques
- Fake science
- The viability of regulating against disinformation

Deadline:
Issue 45 (December 2020)
Focus on: New trends in media education
Coordinators: Daniel Aranda (UOC) and Roberto Aparici  (UNED)
Deadline for receiving originals: 20th June 2020
Instructions for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines


Over the course of the past century, various different teaching methods have been implemented in the field of media literacy. Each medium that has been invented (print journalism, film, photography, etc) has had its own pioneers who developed applications to the field of education: over a hundred years of media education while hardly any ambitious approaches have been implemented.

From the experiences of French educator Célestin Freinet and lessons on the language of images, to the silent movies of the early twentieth century and the digital explosion, numerous initiatives have been developed seeking to provide media literacy in different contexts and from different perspectives.

In the second half of the twentieth century, a variety of theories were expounded that studied the educational possibilities of the different forms of mass media and their different languages, with the predominant trends of that period of time falling into the following categories:
  • Firstly, the 'inoculator' perspective, which viewed the media as a danger to children and young people. From this perspective, it was important for students to have knowledge of the media in order to protect them from their effects.
  • Then, the currently prevalent perspective of technocentrism, the objective of which is to turn young people into technology users and producers of acritical content.
  • Finally, the critical perspective, which is interested in studying the media to provide a comprehensive knowledge of its language. This allows students to become meaningful creators of content through the processes of appropriation, evaluation and critical analysis, and enables them to not only understand the media, but also analyse how those forms of media represent reality.

Len Masterman, one of the pioneers of the field in the English-speaking world, created a theory focused on critical media literacy, which he introduced in his book Teaching the Media. Simultaneously, but separately, both Mario Kaplún and Daniel Prieto Castillo were also working on the development of this field in Latin America, along with other prominent figures such as Ismar de Oliveira and Guillermo Orozco.

The effectiveness and the focus of current media education is now being questioned in a number of academic circles. Most contemporary approaches are centred on the need to justify the use of media education from a commercial point of view, in terms of the sale of technology, or by promoting media education as a tool to benefit outdated pedagogies and experimental dynamics that show no evidence of its use.

The purpose of this monograph is to reflect upon the future of media education based on a disruptive and critical pedagogy of uncertainty.

Our perception of current media education is that it fails to distinguish between media and technology, and doesn’t address the need for a reflection on cultural issues. Such reflection would include a critical evaluation of the digital system from a cultural perspective that would provide young people with autonomy, a critical perspective and, consequently, greater freedom of choice and a greater enjoyment of the media that encourages more critical and mobilized citizenship.

The following topics are central to the present and future of media education:

1.    Algorithms and big data 
2.    Misinformation, post-truth and control
3.    New status of image in the social media age and the new audiovisual ecosystem (YouTube, Netflix, etc)
4.    Education as a pedagogical market
5.    Smartphones and applications designed for consumption and interruption
6.    Asymmetries in the information and communication society
 
Women and Memory: The Fight Against Oblivion and Invisibility
Deadline:

Issue 44 (June 2019)
Focus on: Women and Memory: The Fight Against Oblivion and Invisibility
Coordinators: Remei Perpinyà (UAB) and Anna Villarroya (UB)
Deadline for receiving originals: 1 December 2019
Instructions for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines

 


In recent years, numerous concerns have been expressed about women’s presence in the world of culture, especially with regard to the lack of recognition and visibility of their works.
Archives, libraries, museums, monuments and heritage in general, as well as other cultural facilities and events, have allowed gender stereotypes and sexist attitudes to be echoed throughout history, thereby hindering knowledge of women’s groups and of women’s under-representation in certain areas of cultural production, leading to their marginalization by society, which regards their contributions as secondary. 
In this regard, cultural venues throughout history have seldom preserved, studied or disseminated works by women or works in under-represented genres, thus making their contributions virtually invisible in past societies.
However, it is important to recognize the onus and power of archives and conservation facilities to promote gender equality, given that they are responsible for acquiring, preserving and managing the documents that shape historical memory.
The objective of this monographic issue is to explore how memory has been managed throughout history from a gender and cultural diversity perspective. We are therefore calling for papers that study, preserve, research, disseminate, underline and enhance collective memory from a gender perspective. Another goal is to reflect on the significance and impact of gender mainstreaming in approaches to collective memory, focusing on cultural interventions that have highlighted women’s contributions to a country’s heritage and culture both at a national level or in other contexts,  and that have therefore promoted its diversity. In this regard, we welcome analyses that address gender mainstreaming in stock acquisition policies and projects for the creation of proactive policies to search for documentary collections produced by women and/or providing evidence of women’s activities in society.
In particular, the aim is to reclaim and highlight the works and contributions of women who did not receive the social recognition they deserved at the time or were not allowed the same degree of presence as men. We also welcome innovative projects on the archiving of women’s memory in the digital context.
In short, the intention is to gather research that helps raise awareness about gender inequalities on different fronts of cultural production, as well as projects that have promoted fresh ways of building narratives and new forms of knowledge.
Particular consideration will be given to studies in the fields of archival science, documentation and cultural management, in addition to disciplines such as anthropology, history, museum studies, communication and sociology. Papers with an interdisciplinary and international perspective will be especially welcome.
It is hoped that this monographic issue will draw attention to empirical and theoretical research that promotes a less biased view of the distant and recent past.
Texts on the following subjects will be considered for publication in the monographic issue:
  • The presence of women in private archive and library collections.
  • Communication from a gender perspective.
  • The role of gender in the professionalization of disciplines such as archival science, documentation, communication and cultural management.
  • The function and profile of women archivists.
  • History of feminisms.
  • Archived documents authored or written by women.
  • Gender mainstreaming in the analysis of sources for historical research.
  • Gender mainstreaming in the management of archives, libraries and museums.
  • The preservation, acquisition, study and exhibition of women’s works by archives, libraries and museums.
  • The role of women in memory preservation policies.
  • Projects aimed at communicating, reclaiming and increasing the visibility of women’s memory.
  • Media and informational literacy projects from a gender perspective.
  • Gender mainstreaming in public cultural policies.
Deadline:
Issue 43 (December 2019)
Focus on: The future is today: libraries at the service of a changing society
Coordinators: Ciro Llueca (UOC) and Maite Comalat  (UB)
Deadline for receiving originals: June 2019
Instructions for authors: https://bid.ub.edu/en/authors-guidelines


The capacity of libraries to adapt to change and meet the needs of their users has been a key element in their ability to evolve and remain a part of the day-to-day existence of their societies and institutions. As in other sectors, the enthusiastic integration of technologies has led to considerable improvements in services, something considered inconceivable a few decades ago. Today, this ability to adapt to change and anticipate needs has made libraries the undisputed stars of municipal culture: we enjoy the honour of being included in the political agenda.

However, numerous voices warn of the urgent need for reflection on this evolution and on the need to adapt quickly to new social changes that affect learning and public participation processes.

Skills traditionally associated with libraries which today are considered essential, such as the importance of autonomy in learning, critical awareness in the post-truth society, and literacy understood as the need to read different formats and mediums, have become uniquely relevant and place libraries in a new context of threat–opportunity: evolve or disappear. 
 
Thus, learning the skills required to navigate a diverse society – with its different types of information, where ability to access information has to go hand in hand with the ability to select and interpret – should make libraries points of reference. They must not (or not solely) exist as physical spaces, but also as reliable, recommendable and recommended sources. The question is: Have we been able to generate platforms that, beyond simply meeting the goal of collecting information, are known, recognized and adopted by users? Have we provided the support needed by teachers to achieve their teaching aims? Have we spread the spirit of open access in our institutions?

Increasingly, knowledge is a shared experience and libraries must be able to offer the necessary spaces and resources for such knowledge to be generated. It is taken for granted that users occupy a central position, that they are the focus of attention around which all other elements revolve: the collection, space, services, personnel... but is this really the case? Do we think about these elements from their perspective? Do we gather their needs and assess their experiences to improve our services? Have we created proposals that meet users’ needs?
 
This issue aims to highlight these initiatives, where libraries work to contribute to a better informed and more participative society. Thus, we focus our attention on the opportunity that change in our society represents for libraries.  
 
Texts on the following topics will be considered for publication:
            
•    Rethinking new spaces: the library beyond its walls.
•    Dynamics of working with other agents: sharing co-creation projects.
•    Indicators for new needs: collecting data for new projects.
•    Digital skills: the fight against fake news. 
•    Lifelong learning: services and products with impact.
•    Universities and the Big Deal: coexistence or struggle.
•    Digital fracture: the library as social agent.
•    Data collection platforms: open access for knowledge generation.
•    From bibliometrics to social transformation: how do we assess research?
•    The professional growth of personnel at the service of libraries.