LIBER Winter Event 2024 – Highlights

On 26-27 November 2024, the third edition of the LIBER Winter Event welcomed over 100 participants to the city of Maribor for two days of learning, knowledge exchange, and engaging with the LIBER network.

LIBER Winter Event is designed for the core LIBER community: members of LIBER libraries, project partners, steering committee members, and stakeholders from our diverse portfolio of collaborative initiatives. Every year, the event takes place at one of our LIBER member libraries and this year we were hosted at the University of Maribor in northern Slovenia.  

The Winter Event programme is powered by the active LIBER community – featuring workshops and interactive sessions on key topics, including open access, library services, publishing practices, research data management, leadership – and much more. Workshop organisers were invited to submit their topics based on this year’s theme, “Expanding Horizons: Research Libraries and Social Engagement.” 

At the Opening Ceremony, moderated by LIBER Executive Director Martine Pronk, we heard welcoming words from our local hosts – Dr. Zdravko Kačič, University of Maribor Rector, Dr. Jure Gašparič, State Secretary at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Slovenia, and Mag Dunja Legat, University of Maribor Library Director – as well as LIBER President Julien Roche. The welcoming speeches were followed by a Keynote Speech by Dr. Dan Podjed, moderated by Barbara Petrovič, University of Maribor Rectorate. 

The speech, titled “The relevance of the book in the age of digital transformation”, mapped out the transition from the past two decades that has led to the ‘age of the self’ where people’s concentration has shifted from the medium of the book to push notifications on their mobile phones. This anthropological interpretation of the ongoing digital transformation marked several takeaways for delegates to consider: delete the redundancies and seek solitude outside of the digital realities.  

Watch Dan’s full speech below: 

The day-and-a-half–long programme featured 12 unique workshops, including sessions led by LIBER Working Groups on Educational Resources, Copyright & Legal Matters, Open Access, Leadership Programmes, and Research Data Management. Among LIBER’s core activities, our open-access journal LIBER Quarterly organised a workshop in collaboration with Open Science NL. Representatives from LIBER’s international projects—LibrarIN, ORE, and CeOS SE—also contributed sessions. Additionally, workshops were hosted by organisers from Leiden University (the Netherlands) and OpenAIRE AMKE, one of LIBER’s partners. The Winter Event, centred on community engagement, provides an opportunity to collect feedback and input from our our members, such as during the workshop on our LIBER Strategy on Rights and Values.

Next to the Keynote Speech and workshops, the programme was enriched by several plenaries as well as an open format session UnConference – Engage!. The latter was a continuation of two successful prior editions where participants could submit topics of their choice for open and informal discussion. Fostering open dialogue with low barriers to participation, the session remains a dynamic space for networking and discussion.  

Beyond learning and networking, the Winter Event is a channel for the LIBER organisation to hear directly from our community. The plenary Where Are We with Rights and Values continued the quest for developing the strategy component ‘Upholding Rights and Values’ within the LIBER strategy 2023-2027. The Closing Session followed the tradition from past Winter Event editions – including a Feed Forward Session, led by Hilde van Wijngaarden from the LIBER board.  

Within the two days, participants could also get a taste of Slovenian culture – both for food and performing arts. Situated just across from the University of Maribor Rectorate building where the event took place, the official Winter Event dinner was hosted at the Slovenian National Theatre Maribor – home to many cultural events in the city, including opera, drama, and ballet. During the evening, dinner guests enjoyed a performance by the Maribor Octet.

Event materials

To look back on the LIBER Winter Event 2024, you can find all event photos on our Flickr page.

Presentation slides will be soon available on the LIBER Zenodo community, find them here. To learn more about the featured workshops, stay tuned for additional blogs written by our workshop organisers – to be published on the LIBER website.

Stay tuned for the location of Winter Event 2025, announced on LIBER channels in early 2025.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Would you like to attend future editions of the LIBER Winter Event? Join LIBER and gain the benefits of our network of research libraries, as well as other perks such as discounted tickets to the LIBER Annual Conference and a range of training programmes and resources. 

[Photos LIBER Europe / captured by Boštjan Lah]